What the Earl desires (Rakes and Rogues, #1)

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What the Earl desires (Rakes and Rogues #1)

by Aliyah Burke (Goodreads Author)

4.22 of 5 stars 4.22 · rating details · 50 ratings · 6 reviews

Preferring solitude, Colin Faulkner resides at his country estate. Yet, fate being fickle, introduces a mysterious woman into his life. Societal dictates say he has no business wanting her...he does. Najja's in England for one thing, however, meeting Colin changes everything. After he unexpectedly becomes Earl of Clifton, Najja withdraws. Her excuse? His title. Her vow.Col...more

Kindle Edition, 344 pages

Published September 14th 2011 by Passion In Print Press

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Her Russian Billionaire by Theodora Taylor

Best Interracial Reads

212th out of 240 books — 65 voters

Best multicultural / interrracial romances

143rd out of 194 books — 61 voters

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Jan 08, 2013 Laura rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: interracial-love

Excellent love story.. Collin Faulkner finds himself meeting the love of his life Najja under some mysterious conditions... What one will find is that Najja is a trained assassin, who is sold by her father for the highest price! Yes, it is the year 1811 and because societal dictates that they should never be together, what will happen?.. Yet the only thing keeping them apart is her loyalty to her father and the continent of Africa! If you are in need of an intriguing and hot interracial romance,...more

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Jun 04, 2012 TheFountainPenDiva rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: characters-black-heroines, characters-british-heroes, characters-assassins, characters-kick-ass-heroines, e-books-purchased, genre-interracial-romance, settings-great-britain, settings-africa, settings-regency-england, sex-vanilla, theme-interracial-relationships, genre-historical-fiction

I give author Aliyah Burke an extra star for her wonderful depiction of three of the main female characters in this intriguing historical fiction novel. Some romance writers commit major genderfail when it comes to their female characters because they tend to be so overly in love with the alpha male. Not only was Najja, the African assassin a wonderful and well-crafted heroine (much like an 18th century version of the comic book heroine Elektra), but so were the strong-willed and loyal women of...more I give author Aliyah Burke an extra star for her wonderful depiction of three of the main female characters in this intriguing historical fiction novel. Some romance writers commit major genderfail when it comes to their female characters because they tend to be so overly in love with the alpha male. Not only was Najja, the African assassin a wonderful and well-crafted heroine (much like an 18th century version of the comic book heroine Elektra), but so were the strong-willed and loyal women of the family she has been hired to protect, Josephine "Jo" Adrys and her mother Honoria.

Even though I came to know and to love Najja and her struggle between love and duty, the larger story of her life was never delved into the way it needed to be. For instance, who was her father and why was he so powerful? Why did her train his only daughter to be an assassin? What I did love is in spite of her prowess with sais and a very deadly whip, Najja wasn't written like some invincible superwoman. Her battles always came with scars and the fact that she got wounded in her fights worked. I like that sense of realism. I also like how she doesn't just fall in love with the hero, but struggles with what she wants versus what she can/cannot have. I guess my only minor quibble is the whole hair thing. Not every black female, especially in the 18th century, is going to have long flowing locks. I guess hair will be the bane of black women, even in fiction, LOL.

Colin Faulkner was also an interesting character. At first I was a little taken aback at his use of the endearment "luv", which would have been out of character for a member of the ton. However, Colin having been a member of Her Majesty's Navy and thereby associating with "the wrong sort", his cadence and speech made perfect sense. I liked his passion and his kindness. Unlike a lot of stereotyped alpha males, Colin had heart. He was also not a man-slut. Of course he'd been in a previous relationship (and unfortunately left in the lurch by a fortune-hunting femme fatale), but once he saw Najja, she was it and he didn't care about her past. It was nice to see him wanting to protect her, but also knowing that she was more than capable of taking care of herself. The gold earring was also a nice touch.

And Jo. I loved Jo. She was such a free-spirited young woman and I can just imagine the kind of mayhem she'd cause at Almack's with her plain-speaking. I hope we'll be treated to a Jo/Trystan tale soon...hint.

There were a few instances of modern speech which jarred me out of the setting, and even though I don't think race should be a huge plotline for IR books, the fact that it was glossed over in such as way as to be unrealistic for the times. Not that I needed for the racial aspect to be treated in a heavy-handed fashion, but there was no way that a woman like Najja was going to be accepted amongst the upper ten thousand, and it would make no sense for Colin, despite hating London, could lock himself and her away on his country estate without notice. The other problem is how so many threads were left hanging. I never found out who was trying to kill the Adrys or why, nor why the person who was robbing Colin's shipments was doing so.

Overall, this was a great book and thorughly enjoyable, even for a stickler about Regency-era England such as myself.(less)

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Oct 28, 2011 Tony rated it 4 of 5 stars

I wish that I could give the novella four stars because I did enjoy it. So, what was the problem? First there were editing problems, which were not as bad as some of her novellas but still they were there. Secondly, there were some inconsistencies in the storyline with who was who and when some things changed or became known. Thirdly some of the drama issues though resolved were never fully explained. As far as the characters go I enjoyed them, Colin was something of a jerk but a lovable one. Na...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Deloris rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was a very good book I was caught by surprised because this book was so much different from her other books but it was good. I found myself frustrated at times because the love part of the story took its time but I can say , that is what makes this story so good . I loved this couple Najja and Colin were strong characters I would love to see a second book because I would love to see a romance between Joe and Trystian.

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Feb 05, 2012 Debra Crosby rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, kindle

After finally breaking down to pay the $8.99 price and started to read I realized it is one of those stories that you want to finish but you don't want it to end. Adventure and romance

1 like · like · see review

Apr 05, 2013 Brianna rated it 5 of 5 stars

loved it.

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Shelves: erotic-romance, new-adult-or-adult, interracial-romance, historical, romance, chick-lit

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Shelves: shared-ebooks

Apr 30, 2013 Henny Hana rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-ebooks

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About Aliyah Burke

Aliyah Burke is an avid reader and is never far from pen and paper (or the computer). She loves to hear from her readers and can be reached here, or feel free to apply to join her yahoo group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/aliyah_....

She is married to a career military man, they have a German Shepherd, two Borzoi, and a DSH cat. Her days are spent sharing her time between work, writing, and dog...more

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What the Earl desires (Rakes and Rogues #1)

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