Adventure, forbidden love, and an unlikely couple who can’t be torn apart. King of Durabia is well-written and interesting. Imagine going to a foreign kingdom for a getaway, then winding up betrothed to the former Crown Prince, Sheikh Kamran Ali Khan. Ellena immediately recognizes that Kamran has more integrity, honor, intelligence and purpose than anyone in his family gives him credit for. But she is leery about marrying a man she just met and who is from a different culture, lifestyle, and religion. He convinces her to give him nine days to help her get to know him and his country before she gives her final answer on walking down the aisle. I found myself pulling for Kamran and Ellena, hoping they’d overcome all obstacles and fall in love. There were so many surprises along the way, and they really made the book interesting. I loved how the author tempered the serious matters with a good balance of lighted-hearted humor. I would recommend King of Durabia. Thank you, NetGalley and Independent Publishers Group, for allowing me to read and review this book in advance of its release.

Eye catching cover creates curiosity and, for me, generated assumptions that this will be your normal “reign of a king” (gorgeous as he is) novel. Well, it’s not. The author takes us on a journey that connects two totally different worlds. The story-line presents a realistic scenario of how two people, who can never spend their lives together, managed a brief moment of happiness. Reminding me of “two ships passing in the night,” several portions of the book took me back to an era where I traveled with girlfriends to an island and enjoyed “princess” treatment because my buddy connected to someone who could make that happen. Like described in the book, we move around on tour buses designated for us alone, ate at the top of the line restaurants, and had access to what we needed when needed.
I love the way the author writes so that we can feel the sounds and imagine the scenery of this exotic land then brings us back to reality by describing “the real life” of people in the area. I could definitely relate to the nervous feeling traveling the cliffs of the desert, wondering if I will end my life at the bottom—another experience I had in real life. Girl meets guy is the theme, with tragic reality that two worlds struggle to merge because to the vast differences in lifestyles and freedom. Next, we have the cultural prejudices because someone is different and jealousy within families vying for position—everything needed for a great story-line. In the end, does it work? Does their love win over the adversity? Read and see for yourself. I highly recommend it.

Edited and update review after reading the updated version of the book on 7-7-20.
The flow from one chapter or circumstance to the next was way better. There was a continuous flow to the book and was so much easier to read. A better flow to the book means that I got to finish the book and it was good. I’m excited to read the next book to see how things work out for the kings, knights and queens.
The relationship between these two is off the charts good. I love that she is such a strong and fierce woman and by the end of the book I am so wanting her to be the queen and rule the land. Bringing and being a positive change for women in this country. So I might have been laughing when she removed the male member of the bad Sheikh and that was truly epic and original! Her strength in standing up for no only herself but for her husband is awesome!
The amount of jealousy that brews in this book between the family members, proves that money doesn’t make people happy when they have cold black hearts!

My thoughts
Rating: 5
Would I recommend it? Yes
Will I read more of the series ? Yes, in fact I have the complete series to the King of the Castle to read and review. And after reading this I can't wait to start reading those .
Would I read more by this author? Yes
Even though I have yet to read the Kings of the Castles , as soon as I saw this I jumped at the change to read it , and I'm so glad I did , one note I would say is that its best to read the first series first to get any idea of who's who , but I had a some what idea since i started reading the first book to the Kings of the Castle and sadly didn't finish it because I ended up getting ill at the time and after reading this one I can't wait to jump back in to that one and finish the series.Now on to what i though of the book: The author has a way of writing that brings to life her characters as well as the places she uses in her book, she brought to life how life was and is different from where I live and how life is different for some parts of Durabia ,how the women are treated different and how the costumes are as well, but my favorite thing about this book was the two many characters Kamram and Ellena and how strong together as well as a part they was, and how well the characters just came together, with that said I want to thank Independent Publishers Group as well as NetGalley for letting me read and review it .