The Playboy Sheikh's Virgin Stable-Girl

by Sharon Kendrick

Book Overview

Polo-playing sheikh Prince Kaliq Al'Farisi loves his women as much as his horses. They're wild, willing, and he's their master Stable girl Eleni is a local Calistan. Raised by her brutal father on the horse-racing circuit, she feels unlovable. When her precious horses are given to Sheikh Kaliq, she refuses to be parted from them. The playboy sheikh is determined to bed Eleni--and when Kaliq realizes she's a virgin, the challenge only becomes more...

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0373128436
• ISBN13: 9780373128433
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: Harlequin Presents
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.24 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 4.2" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

Unusual and well-written

As a prince of a desert kingdom, Kaliq has grown up having absolute power over others and having to deal with constant threats to his and his family's life, as well as people who are only interested in his wealth and power. As a result, he is arrogant, cold and very distanced. When he wins a fine race horse in a poker game, the owner's daughter, Eleni, is devastated. She was the one who always took care of the horse and it was the only creature she cared about after her mother's death. When her abusive father loses the horse, she can convince Kaliq that it's in his interest, to take the poor, lower-class girl and let her work in his stable. But once cleaned up, she is quite attractive and he decides to have an affair with her. Both know that their social backgrounds are too different for a lasting relationship and Kaliq's arrogance and unconscious fear of being close to anyone make things even more difficult. But Eleni's pride and courage surprise him time and again and he soon finds that he wants far more than a short affair... Anyone who thinks about buying this book should first know that it is very far from politically correct and it doesn't follow the formula that no matter what time or place a romance is set in, the hero is a nice modern man who treats women as equals. The characters are products of a strictly hierarchical society and they come from opposite ends of that spectrum. He is often unpleasant and arrogant, which becomes very clear since his - often chauvinistic and egoistic - point of view is sometimes used to show how he sees things. I found this very interesting, convincing and much better than those novels where the worst conflict is a minor misunderstanding between the protagonists. I enjoyed the depth of the characters and the seriousness of the problems they had to overcome and would recommend the book to anyone who is open-minded to romance that isn't just sweet and nice. This is a really good book with interesting characters, a good story and a well-developed cultural background. Congratulations to the author, who dared to write something unusual!

Surprisingly Good

Powerful Prince Kaliq Al'Farisi is used to getting anything he wants. Praise flows easily from the lips of those in his court and his subjects all agree that his latest venture, to have an outstanding polo stable, is magnificent! His search for the finest horses takes the prince to the door of Elena's father, a brutal man who sells both his daughter and his prize horse to the ambitious sheikh. Elena, however, is unlike any of the women Kaliq has ever known. Unaware of her simple beauty, she is honest and kind, modest and pure, the very antithesis of a servant or courtier in the palace. Kaliq is intrigued and the story of their romance is wonderfully refreshing. The author's vivid descriptions of life in Calista and the thoughts and feelings of a woman of purity were both realistic and surprisingly welcome.

An arrogant sheikh because of his past

If you want an intense and a dominating sheikh who demands, commands and expects respect and obedience then The Playboy Sheikh's Virgin Stable-Girls is for you. In all of my years of reading the sheikh genre, never have I read such a book with a sheikh as bold as Kaliq. One learns that Kaliq and Eleni met when he arrived at her father's to play cards. Eleni's father has her posing as his servant girl and looses his prize race horse to the sheikh which actually is Eleni's horse whom she adores. When he looks into her beautiful green eyes and sees that she has a special way of dealing with horses, he takes her from her childhood home and brings her back to his palace as his stable girl. She fascinates him, especially her eyes and her innocence and he nicknames her "lizzard". Sheik Kaliq is a very proud man and one who has a secret which torments him. His sweet stable girl for some reason brings out feelings in him and one day she notices his physical scars and questions how they came to be. Kaliq reveals that he and his brother years ago were held captive while watching their brother and he was swept out to sea and never found again, a secret he had never told to another woman. He then realizes he's attracted to her and starts the seduction. For Eleni, her life since her mother died has been a dismal one, waiting on her father and taking care of her horse have been her life. Now she's living in the palace, working with horses, has a new wardrobe and a sheikh who tells her it's her duty to be available for her sheikh. Starting with a slow seduction, she's afraid yet intrigued. When he tells her he's taking her to England, she's overwhelmed. However, being the master seducer that he is, he tutors Eleni in the art of love. He also makes it very clear that he doesn't "do permanent" and she's determined to please him so much that should he leave her he'll be hurt remembering their time together. At times this was hard for me to read as I felt she was being taken advantage of yet sometimes her character surprised me with her strength and insight into her lover. In the end after this demanding sheikh realizes he's blocked out emotion and he understands why. Somewhere along the way Eleni forced him to confront his deepest fears and when he realized that, the reader will forget how demanding and at times how cruel his remarks were to Eleni. All in all, I enjoyed The Playboy Sheikh's Virgin Stable-Girl especially when I read about him coming to terms with his past and what Eleni had brought to their relationship.