The single mom's new job: chauffeur to the sheikh! Zahir was surprised to find he had a beautiful new driver. This chauffeur did not blend into the background. Oh, no. Diana Metcalfe talked. She laughed. She took him on unplanned detours. And he had more fun than he'd had in years. But back in his desert kingdom, a dynastic marriage was being brokered for Zahir. Crazy though it seemed, he wished that this wonderful, vivacious, thoroughly unsuitable woman could be his bride instead.…
The enemy has arrived! And Luna was forced to smile at him and welcome him into her home. Luna stared at the man she’d learned to hate since the moment she’d learned to walk. And yet, here he was, Sheik Tasim el Salindar walked into her home as if he owned the place! Since Tasim’s sister was marrying Luna’s brother, they both had to hide their hatred for each other and play nice! Sheik Tasim watched the lovely Princess Luna, cursing himself for finding her attractive. She was a spoiled brat with a bad attitude! Wasn’t she? Unfortunately, Tasim was a guest of the lovely Luna for the week of his sister’s wedding celebration. And the more he got to know her, the more he respected her. And the more he wanted to kiss her and discover all of her secrets! She was a dangerous mix of beauty, brains and…and so much more! But there was no way a relationship could work between them. Right? The Sheik’s Unsuitable Bride, Book 1 in this series, is by Claire Connelly!
This book, the first full-length cross-period comparison of medieval and modern literature, offers cutting edge research into the textual and cultural legacy of the Middle Ages: a significant and growing area of scholarship. At the juncture of literary, cultural and gender studies, and capitalizing on a renewed interest in popular western representations of the Islamic east, this book proffers innovative case studies on representations of cross-religious and cross-cultural romantic relationships in a selection of late medieval and twenty-first century Orientalist popular romances. Comparing the tropes, characterization and settings of these literary phenomena, and focusing on gender, religion, and ethnicity, the study exposes the historical roots of current romance representations of the east, advancing research in Orientalism, (neo)medievalism and medieval cultural studies. Fundamentally, Representing Difference invites a closer look at medieval and modern popular attitudes towards the east, as represented in romance, and the kinds of solutions proposed for its apparent problems.
A curious figure stalks the pages of a distinct subset of mass-market romance novels, aptly called “desert romances.” Animalistic yet sensitive, dark and attractive, the desert prince or sheikh emanates manliness and raw, sexual power. In the years since September 11, 2001, the sheikh character has steadily risen in popularity in romance novels, even while depictions of Arab masculinity as backward and violent in nature have dominated the cultural landscape. An Imperialist Love Story contributes to the broader conversation about the legacy of orientalist representations of Arabs in Western popular culture. Combining close readings of novels, discursive analysis of blogs and forums, and interviews with authors, Jarmakani explores popular investments in the war on terror by examining the collisions between fantasy and reality in desert romances. Focusing on issues of security, freedom, and liberal multiculturalism, she foregrounds the role that desire plays in contemporary formations of U.S. imperialism. Drawing on transnational feminist theory and cultural studies, An Imperialist Love Story offers a radical reinterpretation of the war on terror, demonstrating romance to be a powerful framework for understanding how it works, and how it perseveres.
Middle Eastern Muslim men have been widely vilified as terrorists, religious zealots, and brutal oppressors of women. The New Arab Man challenges these stereotypes with the stories of ordinary Middle Eastern men as they struggle to overcome infertility and childlessness through assisted reproduction. Drawing on two decades of ethnographic research across the Middle East with hundreds of men from a variety of social and religious backgrounds, Marcia Inhorn shows how the new Arab man is self-consciously rethinking the patriarchal masculinity of his forefathers and unseating received wisdoms. This is especially true in childless Middle Eastern marriages where, contrary to popular belief, infertility is more common among men than women. Inhorn captures the marital, moral, and material commitments of couples undergoing assisted reproduction, revealing how new technologies are transforming their lives and religious sensibilities. And she looks at the changing manhood of husbands who undertake transnational "egg quests"--set against the backdrop of war and economic uncertainty--out of devotion to the infertile wives they love. Trenchant and emotionally gripping, The New Arab Man traces the emergence of new masculinities in the Middle East in the era of biotechnology.
Set up against her will as a potential Arabian queen for the notorious Sheikh Karim, unworldly Eva has a plan to deter the desert king. She will convince him she's a modern, sexually experienced woman—and definitely not marriage material—even though she is really still a virgin. However, the next thing she knows, Eva's become a bride! And her new husband is having a startling effect on her…. She finds herself increasingly impatient; could it be that shy Eva is curious about what lies ahead in the sheikh's marriage bed?
The wedding of the season! Events manager Sylvie Smith is organizing a glittering fund-raising event: a wedding show in a stately home. She has even been roped into pretending to be a bride… a bride who's five months pregnant! The bride everyone is talking about! It should be every girl's dream to design a wedding with no expense spared, but it's not Sylvie's. Longbourne Court was her ancestral home, and she's just discovered that the new owner is Tom McFarlane—her baby's secret father. Now Tom's standing in front of her, looking at her bump.…
From secretary…to the sheikh's wife! Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ansari knows a reconciliation with his estranged father means accepting his father's choice of bride…unless he gets there first! Luckily he has the perfect princess in mind—his new assistant Ruby Dance. After her last cheating boyfriend, Ruby is avoiding all commitments, but this promotion could help her family, so she agrees to a temporary marriage. She should be craving her next assistant role, not the devastating beauty of the desert and the man who rules it all…
I can’t believe I fell for him at first sight! One day, Beatrice is saved from a mugging by a handsome man who exudes a refined aura that makes her heart pound. She is surprised to learn that the man is Tariq, the crown prince of the kingdom of Zaharat! Beatrice stumbles over her thank-you as her heart races, but her words are met with a cold response. “I need you to break up with my younger brother Hareed immediately,” he says while offering her a fat check. He’s mistaken Beatrice for the awful woman who’s tricking his younger brother!
