Wow that was a wild ride of a book. A lot like Beauty and the Beast, but sketchy-er. The emotions were so real and powerful. The narration quite interesting and experimental, I think. The characters so strong, complex and terrifying. ( )

It's been a long time since I read this but I remember loving it. ( )

SO you have to take into context the time this book was written (Number 5 in my self-imposed history of romance curriculum, written in 1919) because it was problematic AF.
For starters, they refer to all the Arabs around them as "Orientals". There are a lot of references to pretty ugly stereotypes.
The main character is a feisty and adventurous young woman and of course, her persistence in going out into the desert without an appropriate male chaperone is the reason she was kidnapped. She was traveling with a full-on caravan of guards, supplies, and a guide, but they were all Arabs and sold her to the Sheik, which of course would never have happened if there had been even one white male chaperone to protect her (eye roll emoji).
There is off-page but heavily implied rape. Which is indicative of the time, when it was believed rape was the only way a woman would accept premarital sex and of course, she eventually falls in love with her rapist (puke emoji).
I was optimistic that the main characters were of different races. It's not often in 1919 historical romances you see a white woman and a non-white man together. However, it turns out The Sheik is actually a white man who had been adopted by an Arab sheik.
There were some suspenseful and entertaining parts. If you can ignore or take the problematicness within context it was an entertaining read. ( )

"Oh you brute! You brute!" she wailed, until his kisses silenced her.
By sally tarbox on 4 March 2017
Format: Kindle Edition
My goodness me, Fifty Shades of Grey for the 1919 reader !
Opening in Biskra, Algeria, we meet a group of aristocratic Brits at a hotel, among whom is our imperious young heroine, Diana Mayo. Brought up by her older brother, Diana's life revolves around sport and travel; although every man she meets falls for her boyish good looks, Diana scorns such things - her thoughts are currently taken up with a trip she has planned across the desert.
But things do not go as expected, and Diana finds herself taken captive by the handsome but cruel Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan.

"Why have you brought me here?" she asked, fighting down the fear that was growing more terrible every moment.
He repeated her words with a slow smile. "Why have I brought you here? Bon dieu! Are you not woman enough to know?"

Ravished, a prisoner in a desert camp, she attempts an escape attempt and suffers an encounter with an enemy tribe... but the thread of the story is Diana's sudden realisation that she loves her jailer; her abasement from a proud young society lady to complete submission to the Sheik.

"With a greater arrogance and a determination stronger than her own Ahmed Ben Hassan had tamed her as he tamed the magnificent horses that he rode. He had been brutal and merciless, using no half-measures, forcing her to obedience by sheer strength of will and compelling a complete submission."

It goes on a tad, but I have to say it's eminently readable, and while feminists won't like it, it's OK. I wondered at times as I read it whether or not to give it to Oxfam once I'd finished it ... but it's going back on my bookshelf! ( )

****************SPOILERS AHOY************************************
Finished The Sheik. Ewwww. Supposed to be a classic overwrought romance, but not much romantic about it. Overwrought, for sure.

Spunky, independent (albeit headstrong and foolhardy) heroine decides to take a month long adventure in the desert, alone, except for servants and guides. She pooh-poohs the warnings that this is NOT A GOOD IDEA. Because she is very independent, and bows to no man. She is almost immediately set upon and kidnapped by a raiding party led by a handsome, powerful and mysterious sheik and whisked away to his desert lair. And raped. Repeatedly. For months. A few months into this, she makes an escape attempt, and he chases her down and brings her back. At this point, she apparently decides he is so dang masterful, she must be in LOVE. He has crushed her independent spirit, so he must be pretty hot stuff.

Then she gets captured by a rival sheik, her sheik rescues her in the nick of time, and gets stabbed for his pains, but recovers. At this juncture, he realizes to his horror that he LOVES her too. HORRORS! (Hard to say why, exactly, he fell for her but there's a lot of racial subtext here, and she is the only non-Arab woman around. And BTW, despite his swarthiness and being raised in the desert, our Sheik turns out to be European by blood, so that's OK.) So he decides that he would do her no favors by marrying her (ya think?), and he loves her enough to do right by her now so he tells her he's sending her home. She then tries to kill herself in despair at being cast aside". Just so we know that her spunk and independence are totally gone. He stops her, promises to marry her, ('cause, Hey!, I'm better than a bullet to the brain, anyway!) and all is sweetness and light. Fade to black.

Well. THAT says romance to me for sure. Can you say "Stockholm Syndrome"?" ( )