The Desert King's Kidnapped Virgin

Innocent Stolen Brides #1

by Caitlin Crews

The sheikh will have his bride and he’ll do everything to claim her in this royal romance by USA TODAY bestselling author, Caitlin Crews!

Stolen in her bridal gown…
Taken as the sheikh’s wife!

When Hope Cartwright is kidnapped from her convenient wedding, she should feel outraged. But whisked away by Cyrus Ashkan, the sheikh she’s been promised to since birth, Hope feels something far more dangerous—desire!

Cyrus refuses to ignore his royal duty—he’s determined to marry innocent Hope, even if he finds her unsuitable in every way. But secluded together in his opulent desert fortress, their unwanted attraction burns hotter than the sun. Hot enough to burn down this mighty king’s every defence, if only Cyrus will allow it…

From Harlequin Presents:  Escape to exotic locations where passion knows no bounds.

Read all the Innocent Stolen Brides books:

 Book 1: The Desert King's Kidnapped Virgin
Book 2: The Spaniard's Last-Minute Wife

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Presents, Harlequin

Kindle Edition

Published August 22, 2023

About the author

Caitlin Crews discovered her first romance novel at the age of twelve, in a bargain bin at the local five and dime. It involved swashbuckling pirates, grand adventures, a heroine with rustling skirts and a mind of her own, and a seriously mouthwatering and masterful hero. The book (the title of which remains lost in the mists of time) made a serious impression. Caitlin was immediately smitten with romances and romance heroes, to the detriment of her middle school social life. And so began her life-long love affair with romance novels, many of which she insists on keeping near her at all times, thus creating a fire hazard of love wherever she lives.

Caitlin has made her home in places as far-flung as York, England and Atlanta, Georgia. She was raised near New York City, and fell in love with London on her first visit when she was a teenager. She has backpacked in Zimbabwe, been on safari in Botswana, and visited tiny villages in Namibia. She has, while visiting the place in question, declared her intention to live in Prague, Dublin, Paris, Athens, Nice, the Greek Islands, Rome, Venice, and/or any of the Hawaiian islands. Writing about exotic places seems like the next best thing to actually moving there.

She currently lives in Oregon with her animator/comic book artist husband and their menagerie of ridiculous animals.

Reviews

[Vashti]

Ok now...what in the heck was this book?
Really, I don't know how to put into words this story that unfolded... was this written on a dare to write the most outlandish story second only to the infamous " virgin stable girl" book!
The heroine so blase and carefree after being abducted by a stranger at her own wedding,she is beyond a " sunshine" type of heroine,and the hero was a caricature in itself....but I read on till the end...the last few pages were the best along with the grovel,yea...it was a beautiful thing.
In all honestly, I can not give this a star rating as I don't know how to rate this,so unrated it is!

[Aou]

Despite of Stockholm Syndrome, I really loved this fairytale!

[Susan in Perthshire]

Oh my goodness - what have I just read? I have loved Caitlin Crews’ writing for a while and read almost all of her books. She has a unique voice and her prose is positively operatic in terms of its scope, intelligence and richness, she has never been frightened to push the envelope and tackle themes and tropes which ought to be laughable but which she has generally managed to execute without going dangerously over the top.

But this one? I found myself being thrown out of the story so often, I was suffering from whiplash.

First and I have to mention this because it made it impossible for me to see the hero of this book (and the next one) in any way as a serious alpha hero - the names. Cyrus and Lionel. Seriously? Was there no editor brave enough to say ‘this will make your hero a laughable buffoon?’ Apparently not. Perhaps I’m the only one for whom those names just made me squeak in disbelief and horror. Cyrus conjures up a vision of short, fat, ageing American stockbroker - not my ideal hero!

There is nothing wrong with the writing. CC is incapable of writing a clumsy or uncomfortable sentence - let alone a book. She really is a master of literary description, interior monologues and sparkling descriptions. Normally she creates the most fabulous, engaging and fascinating characters - but here, sadly they didn’t work for me. The hero, (sorry but I can’t bring myself to use his name) was the most unbelievable, outrageous caricature that I’ve come across. He refuses to believe the heroine did not know about the ‘contract’ and right until he discovers her virginity in time-honoured fashion, he believes she’s been with lots of men. He’s been brainwashed by his father into believing his mother betrayed him and that emotions are of no value. I just couldn’t believe that the father could so easily have done that when the hero had actually gone to school in the UK so had been under the influence of others.

As for Hope - well she’s the most unflappable, insensitive, resourceful heroine ever. Kidnapped from one wedding, helicoptered and then on a private jet to an unknown desert fortress (presumably somewhere in the Middle East) and threatened with being incarcerated in a harem whilst other women will marry the hero and bear him children - she is unfazed, laid back and unmoved. Seriously?


I have no idea how to rate this. Suspension of disbelief is always a feature of reading Mills and Boon but this required a total brain shift - so no, not for me.

The writing is as always 5 stars. The plot and its execution and the characters are sadly so bizarre and over the top that I’d barely give it 1 star. When CC’s books are emotionally satisfying - they are perfect.

I really didn’t enjoy this as I had hoped to. It’s not a bad book and there are bits I really liked, but I simply cannot rate it. Sorry!

[Kathy Roeder]

Great book

[Serialbookstarter:Marla]

The mcs parents arranged a marriage when they were children. The fmc knew nothing about it. The H steals her away with a plan of marriage and the having A few more wives later to
Degrade her .

[RomLibrary]

When Hope Cartwright is kidnapped from her convenient wedding, she should feel outraged. But whisked away by Cyrus Ashkan, the sheikh she’s been promised to since birth, Hope feels something far more dangerous—desire!

Cyrus refuses to ignore his royal duty—he’s determined to marry innocent Hope, even if he finds her unsuitable in every way. But secluded together in his opulent desert fortress, their unwanted attraction burns hotter than the sun. Hot enough to burn down this mighty king’s every defence, if only Cyrus will allow it…

[Vee]

4 stars

Tropes : Arranged marriage
Ending : HEA (with 4 kids)
Triggers : stockholm syndrome, kidnap
Spice: 🌶️🌶️/5
Angst: 🔥🔥🔥/5
OM/OW drama: yes (in the beginning the h almost married OM [marriage of convenience not bus of love] and all the years she tried to find a husband)
Standalone/Series: standalone

Hero: Cyrus Ashkan/ Justin
Heroine: Hope Cartwright

The one thing that was very memorable from this book is how the h acted when the H said he would used her and dump her and he'll marry lots of women and impregnated them with his sons and she would never have her own child and they'll be married forever as well. She was like 'okay', lol. Truly didn't give a sht.

The H was the result of being brain washed. It was pretty mind boggling that he loved his mother before he was taken by his dad and later on he hated his mother because the dad said love was a weakness and blaming her for taking the H away from him when he was a kid.

Thankfully in the end the H made amend with his mom.

Overall I like this book and enjoyed it a lot. Both the H and h was unique for HP.

[Marissa]

DNF @ 71%

I just can't finish this. I'm bored and I don't like the characters. He's a manchild with mommy issues. He was shocked that she was a virgin because he assumed she slept around with many men. He hated that idea by the way. He hated her from the start based on his assumptions of her. But, who cares if she was a virgin or not?

She was also annoying. She got kidnapped and just went along with it. While reading this I kept thinking to myself "is the light on inside this woman's head?" She also had a mother who was not the best mother but she forgives her because that's her mom and her mom did the best she could. Her characterization just came off as so simple and live, laugh, love.

I can tell how this is going to end. She's going to convince him that not all women lie and he needs to forgive his mother because that's his mom.

These desert king/price books are not for me. I've read a few now and the men are always arrogant and misogynistic.

[Ann]

Harkening back to old-style Harlequin Presents novels, Crews’ latest Presents romance came as a breath of fresh air in what has become a line too often emotionally dulled for my particular tastes. The tone of the story has a distinct ‘recounted fairy tale’ feel to it, but that doesn’t distract from the passionately emotional, romantic story Crews builds between hero Cyrus and heroine Hope. It’s truly a fairy tale in many ways, with an old-time feel desert king, a remote desert fortress, and even a harem that the heroine is so carefully put into. At the same time, however, Crews deftly injects enough modern sensibilities into the story that even in the most difficult circumstances, both characters are sympathetic and heroic in their own ways. Cyrus is commanding like the best alpha Presents heroes, and angry at what he sees as Hope’s defiance of their betrothal contract, but Hope’s sunny, relaxed reaction to his every grumble and her refusal to cower before his scowls flips everything he intends on its head – and that turns out to be just what emotionally constipated Cyrus needs. The characters’ pasts and the ups and downs of their romance journey build to a strong, classic, somewhat over-the-top Presents ending beautifully, and left me basking in the feeling of a glowing story well told. I inhaled his book, and only reluctantly let it go to slot it into my keeper shelf.

[StMargarets]

For once it was the hero who felt all of the angst instead of the heroine. For example:

Hero kidnaps heroine from her wedding: She is grateful.

Hero declares her his wife and basically locks her up in a desert fortress: she is glad to be getting amzing sex (and food) on the regular and that her worries about her mother and money are over.

Hero threatens to leave for a year: heroine goes on "strike" in the dungeon and doesn't bother to argue with him.

Poor hero had to make it right on his own. The only prompting heroine gave him was to demand her mother live with them and that he should visit his mother in England.

Heroine was right. It all worked out. I wish I could have her equanimity when it came to life's little problems.

[Alex]

Ho iniziato la lettura con i pop-corn in mano perché era tutto estremamente over the top: la protagonista che si sta sposando per convenienza dopo che, nell'ordine, 1) è rimasta orfana di padre, 2) ha dovuto rivendere la casa e licenziare la servitù perché la madre, in lutto, ha sperperato i soldi di famiglia, 3) ha lasciato la scuola a 16 anni, 4) a 18 anni ha iniziato a fare colloqui con possibili mariti per sé, abbastanza ricchi da permetterle di mantenere la madre, dopo che la madre ha continuato ad avere il cuore spezzato dagli uomini con cui usciva. Sembra che finalmente, a 20 anni, veda la luce in fondo al tunnel con questo miliardario spagnolo, sulle rive del lago di Como. (Inoltre si chiama Hope LOL)
E invece no...! Irrompe nella chiesa questo sceicco che se la carica in spalla dicendo che lei non ha tenuto fede al contratto tra sua nonna e il padre di lei e che gliela farà pagare per questo, sposandola e rinchiudendola nella sua fortezza nel deserto.
Hope dice: wow, grazie!
Le risolve il problema di un matrimonio che non voleva, con uno più gradito con uno sposo più gnocco e che le dà pure da mangiare a volontà??? A saperlo ci avrebbe messo la firma su prima.
Ho adorato questo aspetto pratico di Hope e come non si sia mai fatta intimidire da Cyrus e la sua scopa in cûl, anzi, non lo ha mai preso sul serio (nonostante credo abbiano tra i 18 e i 20 anni di age gap), non importava quanto lui stesse lì a dire "arrr arrrrrr solo il re, il signore del deserto!!"
E Cyrus ha proprio una scopa in cûl di proporzioni epiche.
Nel precedente Harmony che ho letto, Una notte insieme al re, c'era un conflitto interiore simile: padre crudele che impartisce un'educazione da Vero Uomo Patriarcale™ al figlio-erede e allontana la madre come influenza corruttrice. Ma Roman era un po' meno solido e scritto per essere affascinante e far venir voglia di guarirlo. Cyrus invece viene preso per il culo dalla protagonista e l'autrice dà l'impressione di divertirsi un mondo a scrivere le stronzate che pensa lui, trattandole come le stronzate esagerate che sono.
Sin dall'inizio è chiaro che Cyrus sta facendo a Hope quel che suo padre ha fatto a lui quando lo ha rapito dalla madre in Inghilterra, solo che Hope non reagisce come lui si aspetta, critica pure quel poco che lui le racconta di suo padre, e questo poco alla volta crea delle crepe nella sua certezza che suo padre sia un grande re perfetto e sua madre una debole. Man mano emergono accenni di ricordi dell'educazione che il padre gli ha impartito e che lui inizia a vedere come crudeltà.
Gli manca solo un piccolo step per togliersi la scopa e la spintarella finale gliela dà Hope che, dopo avergli detto di amarlo e di aspettare un figlio, si chiude in cella in quello che è un sit-in spassosissimo, in cui la supportano tutte le persone della fortezza, mentre Cyrus è lì che fa promesse alla ricerca di quella giusta che la porterà fuori dalla cella.
È stato uno spasso e ho apprezzato come l'autrice abbia reso tutto l'arco senza melodrammi presi sul serio, ma riuscendo a parlare di amore e del rapporto con i genitori in modo non banale.
Il tutto inserito in una cornice di fiaba moderna.
Davvero, felicissima di aver scommesso su questo titolo preso alla cieca per la mia raccolta di sheik romancd moderni.
(Nota a margine riguardante un po' tutti gli Harmony che ho letto finora: curioso come il rapporto irrisolto e infantile con i genitori debba sempre risolverlo il protagonista maschile/love interest, mentre la protagonista ne ha uno più maturo che le permette di fare da guida per lui, eh?!)

[Buffy Niffenegger]

Pretty darn good!

I have been reading Harlequin Presents since I was 12 years old. So, at 48 I have probably read thousands of these books. They're cliché, they're filled with tropes and let's just be honest they're soap operas.

This one here, by Catlin Crews, was unique and a little bit like reading a spices fairy tale. I'd recommend it if you read this type of romantic drivel.

4 stars. Bad editing overall. Words missing here and there which can be jarring, taking you out of the story to contemplate who is editing Harlequin Presents novellas?

[Susan in Perthshire]

Oh my goodness - what have I just read? I have loved Caitlin Crews’ writing for a while and read almost all of her books. She has a unique voice and her prose is positively operatic in terms of its scope, intelligence and richness, she has never been frightened to push the envelope and tackle themes and tropes which ought to be laughable but which she has generally managed to execute without going dangerously over the top.

But this one? I found myself being thrown out of the story so often, I was suffering from whiplash.

First and I have to mention this because it made it impossible for me to see the hero of this book (and the next one) in any way as a serious alpha hero - the names. Cyrus and Lionel. Seriously? Was there no editor brave enough to say ‘this will make your hero a laughable buffoon?’ Apparently not. Perhaps I’m the only one for whom those names just made me squeak in disbelief and horror. Cyrus conjures up a vision of short, fat, ageing American stockbroker - not my ideal hero!

There is nothing wrong with the writing. CC is incapable of writing a clumsy or uncomfortable sentence - let alone a book. She really is a master of literary description, interior monologues and sparkling descriptions. Normally she creates the most fabulous, engaging and fascinating characters - but here, sadly they didn’t work for me. The hero, (sorry but I can’t bring myself to use his name) was the most unbelievable, outrageous caricature that I’ve come across. He refuses to believe the heroine did not know about the ‘contract’ and right until he discovers her virginity in time-honoured fashion, he believes she’s been with lots of men. He’s been brainwashed by his father into believing his mother betrayed him and that emotions are of no value. I just couldn’t believe that the father could so easily have done that when the hero had actually gone to school in the UK so had been under the influence of others.

As for Hope - well she’s the most unflappable, insensitive, resourceful heroine ever. Kidnapped from one wedding, helicoptered and then on a private jet to an unknown desert fortress (presumably somewhere in the Middle East) and threatened with being incarcerated in a harem whilst other women will marry the hero and bear him children - she is unfazed, laid back and unmoved. Seriously?


I have no idea how to rate this. Suspension of disbelief is always a feature of reading Mills and Boon but this required a total brain shift - so no, not for me.

The writing is as always 5 stars. The plot and its execution and the characters are sadly so bizarre and over the top that I’d barely give it 1 star. When CC’s books are emotionally satisfying - they are perfect.

I really didn’t enjoy this as I had hoped to. It’s not a bad book and there are bits I really liked, but I simply cannot rate it. Sorry!

But I have to say the model on the cover of the Mills and Boon kindle edition is absolutely superb! He would definitely be my idea of a hero - but not called Cyrus! 😀

[Belladonnabooks]

It’s CC so it’s well written but not her most enjoyable.

Heroine is abducted while walking down the aisle by her previously unknown to her betrothed.

Her now dead father had arranged a marriage to a sheikh, but hadn’t got around to telling her. She takes all of this in her stride, given she’d been trying to find a rich husband anyway, to look after her mother who needs constant adoration and money (!)

It’s rather amusing how the sheikh keeps trying to punish her and she keeps enjoying it.

[Sarah S]

This was borderline rom-com - very unlike the super serious Hqn Presents other books but in a good way. Hope was funny and sassy in a good way. The only downside is a desert. Who is excited about a billionaire living in the middle of nowhere without a Starbucks. The only place she got to visit was a dungeon.
A+ for humor
A+ for sassy heroine
F for luxury setting

[Daryl Thrasher]

Thank you for a fairytale story with a very strong heroine!

The story started a little slow and it was hard to understand where the heroine was coming from. The story was well worth the read because you couldn’t help admiring and loving Hope for her strength, wisdom and love !

[maggie rodriguez]

Desert Love

Even though I found quite a number of errors in the sentences in the story I really enjoyed this story. A man who was raised in anger seemed and shown what love could give him in return.

[Harlequin Books]

Contemporary Romance, Multicultural & Interracial Romance
Miniseries
Innocent Stolen Brides (Book #1)

[Karla Cleland]

A Unexpected Rescue

On the day of her wedding she is rescued or kidnapped by a gorgeous man who thinks she has intentionally wronged him.

[Rebecca]

Good book

[Ella is Swag]

She told him she was pregnant then she locked herself in a dungeon and wouldn't come out til all of their mummy issues were sorted 🙃 live laugh I guess

[Amrit]

Idk what I expected. Truthfully I don’t. Harlequin formula at its best - but I forgot how racist and reductionist and orientalist this particular type of harlequin subgenre is. Holy moly.

[Harlequin Books]

Contemporary Romance, Multicultural & Interracial Romance
Miniseries
Innocent Stolen Brides (Book #1)

[MJ]

My favorite thing about this book is that the heroine has a spine of steel. She is kidnapped on her wedding day by the male lead of this book and the entirety of the story takes place in this kidnap situation/marriage. My second favorite thing about this book is the intensity of feelings and attraction these character had for each other. It's been awhile since I felt like the characters of a HP were hot for each other.