#1 New York Times bestselling author Susan Mallery writes heartwarming and humorous novels about the relationships that define women's lives—family, friendship, romance. She's best known for putting nuanced characters into emotionally complex, real-life situations with twists that surprise readers to laughter. Because Susan is passionate about animal welfare, pets play a big role in her books. Beloved by millions of readers worldwide, her books have been translated into 28 languages.
Critics have dubbed Mallery "the new queen of romantic fiction." (Walmart) Booklist says, "Romance novels don't get much better than Mallery's expert blend of emotional nuance, humor, and superb storytelling," and RT Book Reviews puts her "in a class by herself!" It's no wonder that her books have spent more than 200 weeks on the USA Today bestsellers list.
Although Susan majored in Accounting, she never worked as an accountant because she was published straight out of college with two books the same month. Sixteen prolific years and seventy-four books later, she hit the New York Times bestsellers list for the first time with Accidentally Yours in 2008. She made many appearances in the Top 10 before (finally) hitting #1 in 2015 with Thrill Me, the twentieth book in her most popular series, the Fool's Gold romances, and the fourth of five books released that year.
Susan lives in Washington state with her husband, two ragdoll cats, and a small poodle with delusions of grandeur. Her heart for animals has led Susan to become an active supporter of the Seattle Humane Society. Visit Susan online at www.SusanMallery.com.
One of my favorites in this series. In the previous book we find out Reyhan is married. In this book we meet Emma. Emma is the sole child of over protective older parents. 6 years after Reyhan left her, she gets a mysterious invitation to visit Bahania and is coerced to go. Subsequently finding out she's a princess about to be divorced. I liked both the characters. The brooding Reyhan as well as the strong Emma. I also liked that everything was not roses and stars when they first met.
I loved this book! It was an easy read, I read it in one day. Besides the FMC’s annoyingly overbearing parents and the authors use of the word “fanny” 🙄, this book was perfect. I usually like my books a little bit more spicy but still loved it nonetheless.
What happens when a naive, young woman meets the man of her dreams, but is destroyed when he abandons her? Emma went through with a wedding to Reyhan, only to have him leave, then found out that the wedding was a fake. Devastated, she turns to becoming an RN, helping to deliver babies.
Her life is disrupted when she is swept off to Bahania and finds out that she is indeed married- to a prince of the country. Reyhan does *not* want his wife there, and in fact asks his father, the king, to grant him a divorce so he can marry a woman who would not challenge him- or bring out emotions he thought he'd killed.
I wasn't sure I'd like this one- too much of the "usual" forcing a woman to become/ remain a wife when she doesn't want to, but this is a great twist on it.
Emma is a twenty four years old birthing room registered nurse. After a long but rewarding shift, she comes home to find two hard looking men at her door. Being with the government, they convince her to follow them to Banana, a Middle Eastern country, at the request of the king. Upon arrival, she sees the person that hurt her some six years ago. However, Reyhan introduces himself as the prince of the kingdom who, in order to get a divorce, needs his wife, Emma, to stay on country for a period of two weeks. At the end of this period, the king, his father, will grant the divorce. That's a lot to take in and Emma reacts like any normal woman, in this situation, she faints. The author has a gift. Through her words, the reader will experience the beauty of this exotic Country with its customs, history and the ingenuity of its people The reader will also feel what Emma felt as she was constantly controlled by her parents . Through a series of misunderstandings, twists and turns truths revealed, the book proves to be a page turner that deserves a rating of 5 Stars.
I read my way obsessively through this series in my teens. Not a bad story but the dynamics of the relationship bug me a bit. Emma is still a bit too naive throughout the tale and Reyhan's whole issue with love is just ridiculous but is supposed to be charming that he overcomes it in the end? Eh, not my favorite couple in a series that is riddled with problematic relationship dynamics if I recall correctly. More appealing when I was younger.
Overprotective parents can be a nuisance and stunt a child development in social skills and I hate it when they don't allow them choose who they can date/marry. It feels like an arrange marriage which I dislike because not everyone gets a happy ending. Stubborn men are also annoying.
I'll be honest, I only read this book to see more of Sadik and Cleo, and unfortunately I was mostly disappointed.
Other than the fact that Cleo and Sadik make small appearance together in the book, I enjoyed reading this much more than I thought I would.
I loved Reyhan. He was humorous in a Very dry way that I found myself bursting into laughter over something small he said. He was extremely loyal but also jaded in his views of love. That made the pursuit even more entertaining.
DAMN these books and them not having epilogues. I was extremely saddened and disappointed when I discovered this book didn't have an epilogue. I might be forced to read Jefri's book to figure out the after of Reyhan and Emma.
This was so boring and so annoying. I really don't get off on these stupid heroines who can't handle passion and who run away all the time. She improved in the last few chapters and I liked the way she confronted the hero at the end.
I did not understand the hero's resistance to love. It did not seem realistic to me at all. It seriously made no sense and I just became so impatient with him.
The parents! omg - who would let parents like that interfere and control so much? an idiot, that's who. Their behaviour towards the hero and the King was so unbelievably rude, ridiculous, and unbelievable. I wanted someone to slap the pair of them - they treated Emma like she was 4 not 24 and she put up with it. Even when she was 'fighting' back - she was soft and tentative and simply a doormat. I wanted the KIng to kick them out. They illustrated the very worst of xenophobic, racist behaviours. If I was Emma, I would have been bitterly ashamed of them.
The author can write and there were some lovely bits in the book but the basic plot and one-dimensional characters defeated me I'm afraid.
Emma Kennedy met and fell for Reyhan in college, but she didn't know he was Middle Eastern royalty. Out of the blue, an employee of the US State Department arrives at the door of her Dallas apartment to issue and "suggest" she accept a two-week invitation to Bahania where she is shocked to encounter the man she thought had made a fool of her with a fake marriage. Meanwhile, Reyhan has thought that Emma rejected him when he returned to claim her after a family emergency. He hates that his desire for Emma, and later her rejection, weakened him back then, and even still she seems to hold him prisoner. He's determined to get the king's approval for a divorce, but Emma starts to think marriage to Reyhan might be worth the risk.
I like Reyhan, but his angst over being weakened by love seemed overblown and dragged out. He has a happily-married brother and two happily-married brothers-in-law who could all give him some positive examples. His pain came from living without Emma, which he was setting himself up to repeat. I really liked Emma, who is intelligent and brave, without taking stupid risks. I would have preferred that Reyhan actually take some time to get to know Emma again; I'm not so sure they had enough time to really know each other before and the passing years have definitely changed her (for the better).
"I'M WHAT...?" No, not pregnant, thank heavens. Emma would have known that. But married? Well, if the man standing before her--the very love of her college life--was to be believed, she was. And suddenly he was claiming to be a desert prince, too. Sure, they'd had a "pretend" ceremony and honeymoon in the Caribbean. But it was pretend, wasn't it? Prince Reyhan claimed his father, the king, had decided it was time for him to marry. There was just one little glitch--Reyhan was already married. So, the king ordered Reyhan's wife--Emma--to a two-week trip to paradise before he would grant a royal annulment. But wasn't paradise the perfect place for love? I love all these primal tough Princes. They are afraid of love. They are afraid of loosing themselves. They are afraid of giving in. They are afraid of being abandoned. They aren't that tough nor that primal. They all seem like children to me. Yet another good one. 5 stars
I liked Emma, but hated her parents. Its one thing to protect someone you love another really different is to suffocate someone. And reading things book, following how Emma discovered their lies was so sick and twisted love. I just don’t get why they would want their kid to suffer and live alone.
But I liked Reyhan and after all those years he was still looking after Emma, plus he still loved her and cared so much that he didn’t want another marriage. I understand it must have been an awful experience in college when everyone knew he was rich, so Emma with her kindness and so naïve made things more real;
They are a great couple and I loved seeing them finding the truth and learning about their relationship again.
3 stars. An enjoyable quick read. The plot was good and different. I just had a hard time believing their past characters and decisions. Her "too innocent" at 18 to feel desire? Her saying she was too young/childish to make the relationship work (funny, the same desparaging refrain her parents say to her)? Yet 6 years later and no relationships she suddenly feels desire? He just leaves for a funeral and doesn't one take his new wife or two even tell her what was happening??? I just couldn't buy those aspects and that brought an otherwise enjoyable read down a star.
Fun short read. Less is more. You get to use your imagination to fill in every tiny detail. This book is not going to spoon feed you everything but let you fill in some of the color own feelings. It lets you explore differences in culture, relationships ( parent/child-adult, lovers). Sometimes it's nice to see that strength doesn't always have to be from the one with the most physical strength but from the one willing to risk everything for a chance, just one more time.
The eighth in this series, this one is about Rahan and his wife Emma, who he abandoned six years previously. The plot was a bit contrived and I don't get the princes in these books, since they all seem to have difficulty admitting that they love someone. I also can't imagine anything worse than living a public life, so there is little appeal in the prince theme.
I liked the male lead and I liked Emma, but the whole man-has-issues-dealing-with-love thing that the author has going on is getting a bit old. The melodrama in this novel is highly unrealistic but fairly entertaining. Emma's parents are scum and she forgives them too easily. Overall this novel felt a bit rushed, for some reason.
Wow. The passion in this book alone was enough for 5 star review in my mind. But then the characters an their stories took it over the top. Very well done