Books › As You Desire
As You Desire
392 pages
A sun-drenched, banter-filled desert adventure anchored by a deeply pining rogue and a brilliantly capable heroine.
What it feels like
Reading this book feels like stepping into the golden, sun-drenched heat of a nineteenth-century desert adventure, perfectly balanced by the sharp, sparkling wit of a London drawing room. The atmosphere is thick with mutual yearning and the delicious tension of unspoken feelings, wrapped in a fast-paced, swashbuckling exterior. It thrives on the irresistible dynamic of a brilliantly capable heroine and a seemingly lazy rogue who hides his fierce competence—and his desperate devotion—behind a mask of wry indifference. The prose is lush yet incredibly funny, delivering banter that crackles with chemistry before giving way to moments of profound, swoon-worthy vulnerability. It is an absolute delight for anyone who loves their romance steeped in high-stakes escapades, intellectual equality, and the exquisite agony of a hero who believes he is entirely unworthy of the woman he loves.
- Mood
- sun-drenched
- adventurous
- swoony
- yearning
- Tone
- witty
- playful
- wry
- romantic
- earnest
- Pace
- brisk
- Themes
- hidden depths · mutual pining · intellectual equals · the mask of the rogue · unworthy love
- The writing
- Sparkling and articulate, balancing sharp comedic timing with lush, emotionally resonant descriptions of both the desert landscape and the characters' inner turmoil.
- The arc
- Moves from exasperated, witty deflections and hidden longing to a fiercely vulnerable surrender of the heart.
- Who it's for
- Devourers of historical romance who crave the specific alchemy of a secretly competent, deeply pining rogue and a brilliantly capable heroine matching wits in a sun-baked locale.
Content notes
- kidnapping
- drugging
- colonial setting
- mild violence
About the book
Kidnapped, drugged, and about to be sold to the highest bidder, Desdemona Carlisle is having a hell of a time maintaining her English pride. Then she sees the man in black, galloping through the Egyptian desert on a pure white steed. Desdemona could not have conjured a more dashing savior in her wildest fantasies. But an unlikelier hero would be impossible to find: Harry Braxton is a rogue, a scoundrel, and a born opportunist—who has already broken Desdemona’s heart once before.
As brilliant as she is beautiful, Desdemona still hasn’t learned how to stay out of trouble—which suits Harry just fine. Running from a painful past, and rumored to be involved in nefarious endeavors, Harry will never be a proper match for Desdemona. But when she catches the eye of his cousin, the irritatingly honorable Lord Blake Ravenscroft, Harry vows to claim his one true desire, once and for all.
Description from Open Library.
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