This book sucks beyond belief! And like it's not infuriating enough plot wise, it goes on and on like a delusional maniac, claiming rape is not rape, abduction is not abduction, coercion is not coercion, and it's totally alright to be kidnapped, held against your will, raped, beaten and humiliated by being someone's sex slave because you know what! It actually is a fairy tale and if your abductor happens to be good looking you will forget all your principles, your scruples, the people you loved and the life you lived, the education you had along with how to use your mind and fall in love with him and then you'll make wonderful babies and live happily ever after. It was so disgusting really, Chrissy is only 17! and who knows how old the geezer Philip is. He's a work of shite I tell you. A maniacal bastard, who's better off being castrated and then thrown in an asylum or better yet shot dead! And don't even get me started on the characters, it was so stupid and lame. Philip generally scorns and verbally assassinate all the young ladies for being [vain, shallow, simple minded, boring and stuff] but when he claps eyes on Christina he goes love sick [all the while the only thing that is mentioned is how beautiful Christina is and that's all that matters to this dickhead that I refuse to call hero]. No wit, no mind, nothing what so ever and please tell me you don't think slapping a rude man, who's forcing his tongue down your throat calls for someone being a spit fire or too much to handle. News Flash: It's called being normal. Anyone who just stands like a muppet while being assaulted seriously needs a brain transplant. So Christina's reaction was very common and normal it did not make her any different from the rest of the girls. And it hardly spoke of her kick ass personality [her spit fire nature which we rarely see] Child molestation, a slap and a rejected proposal later, we see Christina and her brother heading to Egypt. Chrissy of course has no idea what a wonderful, romantic fairy tale awaits her in the desert because you remember that pedo Philip from before? turns out he lives an alter life of a Sultan's son and is a glorified barbarian, a thug and a beast. Scenes between the two are so weird [puke worthy actually] I don't know where to begin!Pedo: You are mine now. And I won't marry you. You'll be my sex slave!Chrissy: I'll die before I let you rape me!Pedo: I won't rape you. Chrissy : whew!Pedo: Let's go to bed!Chrissy: NO!Pedo: *rapes her* See it wasn't rape, because you enjoyed it.Chrissy: OMG! I'm so disgusted with myself. I totally enjoyed it. [Let me tell you something sista, you're most likely to enjoy sex, specially when the other person has been given a gold medal in debauchery, unless of course you're a tree or a statue.] I can't tell you how disappointed I was when Philip's enemies weren't able to roast him like they wanted too! Chrissy was such a wuss! She had scissors, I bet she had knives and forks too how the fuck did she not put a fork in one of his eyes, or skewered his heart on a knife? then poured some salt water on him? Gag him and tie him with the dozens of fabric she had? sew his mouth shut with the needles she had? Because I'll tell you what, any girl with half a brain would have done these things. One almost wonders if she was THAT attracted to him, why did she refuse him in the first place? Even in the end, all that wuss of a girl did was cry, CRY! CRY! A bloody lot of tears she cried. Punch the sucker in the face! DAMMIT! Stand up for yourself, have a little pride, he sent you packing when you were pregnant with his child, in my opinion he deserves a kick or two right in the balls. A complete waste of time this book is!
Untuk saya buku ini kok datar banget, terutama setengah awal buku.Agak aneh sama heronya, Philip yang keras banget menolak pernikahan, tapi sekali ngeliat Christina langsung aja pengen memiliki bahkan langsung mengajukan lamaran. Memang sih Christina, Heroinenya, digambarkan stunning bgt, sampe2 setiap laki2 yang ngeliat bawaannya pengen mengajukan lamaran aja walaupun belum pendekatan.Ketika Christina menolak lamaran si Philip ini, dia tetap bertekad memiliki Christina dengan cara apapun bahkan dengan menculiknya sekalipun. Jadilah Christina diculik dari tempat tidurnya saat berada di Kairo dan dibawa ke padang pasir tempat ayah Philip tinggal dan dijadikan tawanannya.Seelus dua elus langsung aja Christina heeh heeh di ranjang, jadi ga seru. Untuk kisah culik menculik lebih bagus yang secret fire, disitukan Heroinenya keras banget mempertahankan diri sampai2 harus dikasih obat perangsang dulu baru nurut.Nah setelah Christina menerima surat putus dari Philip dan pulang ke abangnya lalu ke Inggris baru ceritanya agak seru dikit. Christina yang hamil dan akan melahirkan pulang kampung, tapi karena ada teman masa kecilnya yang rese dan terus menerus mengejarnya, Christina pun diungsikan ke tempat saudara pengasuhnya, Johnsy bekerja. Dan kebetulan banget, ternyata pemilik estat yang ditumpangin Christina adalah Philip, sempit banget dunia ini. Sampe akhirnya Paul adiknya Philip ketemu Christina dan ngeliat bayinya yang mirip banget sama Philip lalu memberitahu Philip saat pria itu pulang ke Inggris, bareng dengan abangnya Christina, istri dan adik iparnya, yang lalu jatuh cinta sama Philip.Philip pun nyusul ke rumahnya Christina dengan niat untuk melamar dan melihat bayinya. Karna cemburu Philip batal ngelamarnya, tapi dia tetap maksa tinggal di rumah Christina untuk ngeliat bayinya, lalu manas2in Christina dengan pura2 ngedeketin si Estelle adik iparnya.Overall cukup ok lah bukunya, tapi bukan buku yang pengen saya baca berulang2 ;)
What do You think about Captive Bride (2009)?
I recall reading "Captive Bride" and feeling so disappointed and disturbed with it, I wanted to return it to the bookstore.I liked "Silver Angel," another "sheikh/harem captive" romance by Lindsey, so I thought I'd enjoy "Captive Bride" as well. Overall tone and style couldn't be more different in the two books. Captive Bride is a basic rape romance without merit. The hero desires the heroine and attempts to court her properly. When she rebuffs him, his solution is to kidnap her and install her as his slave/mistress in his desert stronghold. He rapes her continuously throughout much of the book, but since they both experience erotic attraction to each other it's "okay." The problem I had with the storyline is that I didn't find the hero appealing or truly seductive. He came across to me as borderline psychotic and abusive. Even for a bodice-ripper era work, it was bad. I saw no redeeming qualities in the hero. I've read bodice-rippers that played off decently. This isn't one of them.
—M A
This checks my boxes like you wouldn't believe!V A handsome Arabian male V Arrogant, dominant prick (a sheik even!)V AbductionV Humiliation/degradationV Great age gapV Dub con/ non conV Stockholm Syndrome (?)V Wonderful reviewsBuddy read with Jenna, Angelica and Rebecka, with much appreciated mockery moral support from Mammarella.7/1/14: post buddy read gone wrongWell then, all my buddy read partners have bitten the dust, so I'm sure no one objects to me DNF'ing at 65%. It looks like I dragged my innocent, unsuspecting friends into another painful disaster with me. I dare not check if any of them has unfriended me...Fuck. Should've stuck to M/M.This looked so good! Look at all those 1 star reviews luring us in with the promise of dub con/non con, pedo bear drool, an Arabian alpha Dom and what not. All the elements for a trainwreckalicious old school romance seemed to be present. For example, the author made me squirm with sweet anticipation when she shared the heroine's angsty rape-obsessed train of thought: Oh God, what is this man going to do with me? Will I be raped brutally first?Oh man, for her sake I hope she'll at least be raped gently!Of course -they'd be going into the desert. What better place to rape a woman than the desert - where her screams could not be heard. And there seemed to be several men riding with them. How many rapes would she have to endure before they killed her?Building excitement...Unfortunately, everything soon spiraled down into long descriptions of the heroine's blond manes, full breasts and otherwise unearthly beauty. This I could handle. I'd put my cards on the hot 'n hairy Arabian dude after all. ...only to discover that he was a brat who stamped on the floor and stormed out of his tent angrily whenever his 17 year old blondie didn't appreciate his naked desire. When she, all too soon, reluctantly submitted to the hardness between his legs, the deflowering this resulted into was so anti-climatic that even she couldn't be bothered keeping up an air of unwillingness and quickly changed her game plan by crying out "Take me, please!" to have the hero's straightforward humping over and done with. It worked. With more than three quarters of the book to go, the rape-y tension was replaced with "will he kill me and when will he do so?" angst, and it just wasn't the same.To think that the hero was supposed to make us women swoon and sigh dreamily... I certainly hope the author didn't draw on her own experiences with men. Instead, I'd like to think that she wrote Captive Bride in malicious delight, assuming that her audience of ladies trying to escape the daily grind and their boorish husbands for a few hours, probably wouldn't know better anyway. In which case I'll graciously bow to her cunningness and don't even mind having rewarded that with €€€€€ I'll never get back.Hell, who am I kidding? 1 star. Because I'm a sore loser.
—Loederkoningin
Lindsey’s 1st Book: A Classic Bodice Ripper with a British Desert SheikI have read many by Lindsey and consider myself a fan. But not all of hers garner 5 stars, and this, her first book, is one that does not. While it is well written and will hold your interest, it is a historical romance without history or historical details. (I only knew it was Victorian because late in the book she gave the date of 1885, which means it begins in 1884.)Set in England, Egypt and the desert, this is the story of Christina Wakefield whose brother brought her to London for a brief season when she was 18, following their parents’ death. There she enchanted many suitors who would claim her as wife, but she wanted none of them, preferring her freedom instead, at least for a while. However, one suitor, the enigmatic Phillip Caxton, the son of an English mother and a desert sheik, would have her as his. When she rejects his rather hasty proposal of marriage, he arranges for her brother to be sent to Egypt and then kidnaps her and carries her off to his desert camp where he keeps her as his woman.For most of the book, Christina was a “too stupid to live” heroine who manages to remain clueless when a normal woman would be gaining insight. Abducted and raped (no matter his finesse), she makes excuses for her captor whom she has come to love. A series of misunderstandings, coupled with treachery, will keep them apart.Lindsey’s next book, published in 1978, the year after CAPTIVE BRIDE, was A PIRATE’S LOVE and it’s another bodice ripper but much better written. Lindsey went on to write books like HEARTS AFLAME (my favorite of her Viking trilogy and a keeper) and many others that have influenced the genre.
—Regan Walker
