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Fiction. Romance. HTML:#1 New York Times bestseller Iris Johansen pairs an exotic locale with an irresistible man in this classic love story that proves anything is possible when a woman knows in her heart that it’s right….Don’t look for me. I’ll come back when I’m ready. Pandora Madchen wrote those words when she ran off six years ago. In that time she’d become a sensation with the rock group Nemesis, toured the world, and grown up, but she never forgot the promise she made show more herself. Now Pandora was ready to return to the desert state of Sedikhan and the man she’d loved too soon and too much. Sheik Philip El Kabbar was a businessman whose power and influence extended throughout the world—but for six long years he’d been unable to find the woman he still considered it his duty to protect. She’d come back on her own terms and to take the kind of erotic gamble that Philip always won. Only this time he wasn’t sure that in winning they wouldn’t both lose what matters most. Or that in loving her, he wouldn’t be hurting them both. show less
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Another 20¢ flea-market find. Not as impressive as the last (In Their Footsteps), but it was worth what I paid for it. And the Desert Blooms is a book that you really have to suspend all disbelief for. If you don't, the fact that our sheikh hero isn't remotely Arabic will make you want to throw the book against the wall. There's also a bit of a Sleeping Beauty mythos to it--the heroine disappears from the hero's world from the time she's 15 until she's 21--just like Sleeping Beauty, she's out of touch until she's grown up. Ah, I knew that fairy tale seminar I took in college would come in handy some day.
Pandora grew up under the protection of shiekh Philip El Kabbar and fell in love with him. But she knew he would never see her in a show more romantic way, so she ran away from home at the age of 15... and became a world-famous rockstar. Now, six years later, she's back, and offering him a deal: she wants to be his Khadim--his mistress--for three months, in exchange for the usual financial rewards he gives his various mistresses.
Of course, Pandora is gambling that she can convince Phillip he can't live without her, despite the fact that he's famous for never keeping a mistress for more than a few months. And of course it works.
Then comes the doubt and mistrust--they're both upset because they think the other one doesn't want a commitment, and only wants sex, but their solution is just to have more sex, and then to avoid rejection by being the first to push the other away.
Despite the parts that are hard to swallow--the complete absence of any sort of cultural authenticity, the transition from destitute runaway to international rockstar in 4 years, and the transformation of Mr. Promiscuity into Mr. Monogamy--it is a readable story. I did find myself enjoying the characters' predicaments, and the subplot of Pandora's problems with her father.
And it's a nice object lesson in the hazards of substituting sex for verbal communication. show less
Pandora grew up under the protection of shiekh Philip El Kabbar and fell in love with him. But she knew he would never see her in a show more romantic way, so she ran away from home at the age of 15... and became a world-famous rockstar. Now, six years later, she's back, and offering him a deal: she wants to be his Khadim--his mistress--for three months, in exchange for the usual financial rewards he gives his various mistresses.
Of course, Pandora is gambling that she can convince Phillip he can't live without her, despite the fact that he's famous for never keeping a mistress for more than a few months. And of course it works.
Then comes the doubt and mistrust--they're both upset because they think the other one doesn't want a commitment, and only wants sex, but their solution is just to have more sex, and then to avoid rejection by being the first to push the other away.
Despite the parts that are hard to swallow--the complete absence of any sort of cultural authenticity, the transition from destitute runaway to international rockstar in 4 years, and the transformation of Mr. Promiscuity into Mr. Monogamy--it is a readable story. I did find myself enjoying the characters' predicaments, and the subplot of Pandora's problems with her father.
And it's a nice object lesson in the hazards of substituting sex for verbal communication. show less
I found this book very romantic. I liked how the heroine Pandora was a rock star, and the hero Philip was a sheik. This book had nice settings and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
21 year old Pandora has her heart set on 38 year old Philip. Steamy passages.
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176+ Works 59,289 Members
Iris Johansen was born on April 7, 1938. She started writing when her two children were in college. A year later she finished her first novel, a contemporary romance. After writing many best-selling historical romances and fantasies, including the Sedikhan and Clanad series, she turned to suspense fiction. Her works include And Then You Die, The show more Ugly Duckling, Pandora's Daughter, Killer Dreams, Dead Aim, No One to Trust, The Perfect Witness, Night Watch, the Eve Duncan series, the Catherine Ling series, and the Kendra Michaels series. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original title
- And the Desert Blooms
- Original publication date
- 1985
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- Members
- 163
- Popularity
- 200,310
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.72)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 9
- ASINs
- 4
