ARC Review: Claiming His Desert Princess by Marguerite Kaye

Claiming His Desert Princess (Hot Arabian Nights #4) by Marguerite Kaye
Published by Harlequin on March 21st 2017
Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo
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Stolen nights with the secret princess…
Bound to marry for duty, Princess Tahira finds her only freedom in forbidden escapes to the desert. Then one night she encounters a stranger under the stars—adventurer Christopher Fordyce. He's wildly attractive and thrillingly dangerous…an illicit fantasy she can't resist!
Even unaware of Tahira's royal blood, Christopher knows his shameful past makes any future with her impossible. But in the sultry desert heat, desires are uncovered and secrets unveiled, and soon Christopher will risk everything to claim his desert princess!

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~~Reviewed by AnnMarie~~

Claiming His Desert Princess is the fourth and final book in the Hot Arabian Nights series by Marguerite Kaye. I have had the pleasure of reading the first 3 books and although you definitely don’t need to read them in order to fully enjoy or understand this one, at some point I hope you will read them too. Like this one, they are all fabulous stories that I cannot recommend enough.

Christopher Fordyce is professionally a surveyor. His supposed midas touch helps him to discover ore, water, fertile soil, you name it, he can generally find it. But his true love is archaeology. It isn’t that, or his job that finds him in Arabia though. He is looking for closure on something very painful in his past, something that to him, is shameful, closure that can only be found by finding the owner of a precious necklace and giving it back to them.

Princess Tahira is unhappy with her life, and she is definitely unhappy that she is considered a shame on the family because two betrothals her brother arranged for her led to no marriage. In order to earn respect again she must marry a man of her brother’s choosing, this time going past the betrothal to the actual marriage. She feels trapped and smothered. She wants adventure, and lately that adventure comes from sneaking out from the palace and visiting a turquoise mine that her brother is having readied for mining. She can only sneak out at night, which is handy because it’s the easiest time to get close to the mine undetected.

On one of her forays she comes across Christopher, in him she finds a kindred spirit, and she also finds him absolutely gorgeous. She loves that he is an archaeologist as it’s something that absolutely fascinates her. She can’t let on to Christopher that she is of royal blood, so to him, she is just Tahira. A woman with an ogre of a brother that is forcing her to wed. Also a woman that longs for adventure and wants to help Christopher find the origins of the necklace he has, and to help him return it to it’s rightful owner.

Their adventure is one that she hopes will sustain her throughout the years when she is married and once again ‘owned’ by a man. What she doesn’t bargain on is the force of her feelings for him. Their attraction is absolutely mutual, and on their many evenings together Christopher does all that he can to help Tahira’s dreams become a reality before she is trapped into a loveless marriage. He doesn’t count on their attraction to each other being so strong, and they find themselves in many a passionate moment. Passionate moments that mustn’t lead to fully making love because Tahira must be a virgin when she marries. Can they resist the final joining though??

They know that they have no future together, and although they think they can just enjoy this amazingly exciting interlude with each other, what will happen when it comes to the day that they have to say goodbye. Will Christopher be able to let Tahira go, to marry a man he knows she doesn’t love, doesn’t even know? Will he find out that she is a Princess, and how will he act if/when he finds out? And what of the necklace, will he be able to find it’s rightful owner, give it to them and get the closure he desperately needs?

As I mentioned earlier, I have loved every book in this series, and after each one I have thought that the next one couldn’t possibly be as good as the last. But I am happy to say I was wrong. Every book, this one included of course has been an amazing read. So full of passion, forbidden love, and all set in such a beautiful time and place. The author’s writing skills easily puts you amongst the scenery, being able to see the beauty of the area, the gorgeous clothes, and even the stinky breathed camels! This book and the whole series took me away from the grey climes of the UK into the heat and beauty of Arabian Nights….heaven!

I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Readers’ Copy of this book.