A sweet romance with all the fanfare of desert rides, a beautiful palace and enough intrigue to keep you reading. Lily Marchant first met Khaled at the lowest of low moments when he comforted a grieving young girl. Things are quite different when he finds her in his suite of rooms going through his computer looking for proof of her brother's innocence. Before she can say a word, she packed up and taken to his plane and on her way to his desert kingdom where he rules in all but name.
When his mother meets the plane and he's forced to create a cover story, she finds herself engaged to a man who's been negotiating a dynastic marriage. Sparks fly between the two of them even as they consummate their relationship.
Can Lily make the sad prince smile? A fun escape from the daily humdrum.

I had to DNF this at 20%. The writing style was awkward, and then list of problematic components in this sheik romance just grew insurmountable. Kidnapping plots are hard to do well, and this book had the Sad Prince (yes, literally what people call him!) reminiscing about forcing her onto his plane with this line:

“As he’d carried her into the cabin she’d felt so slight, her curves more girl than woman.”

So no, I am not interested in the hero’s pedophile tendencies. I also didn't like the way the hero was exoticized for his mixed race heritage, the descriptions of him felt very dated.

When Lily tries to get evidence of her brother's innocence from a computer in Prince Khaled's private chamber, the prince catches her in the act. He gives her a choice: either he'll call the authorities, or she'll stay in the capital as his "guest" until her brother shows himself. But the queen mistakes Lily for his girlfriend, and Khaled decides it will serve his purpose for Lily to go along with that assumption. As Lily and Khaled gather evidence to lead to the true criminal, will their fake relationship turn real?

I really enjoyed this book. Both Lily and Khaled are clever and resourceful, so they're constantly trying to one-up each other. Yet they both have memories of what they meant to each other as children, which tempers their enmity. This is a fun, emotional enemies-to-lovers royal romance with great banter and a strong plot.

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

I really enjoyed this book by Julieanne Howells. It was very well done and interesting. Would definitely recommend this to anyone.

Desert Prince's Defiant Bride was a sweet story with your typical HP romance leads that were likable & a story arc that kept me enthralled to the end. The tension was handled expertly and I really liked how the set up of the conflict and engineered resolution was written.

I was kindly provided an advanced copy by NetGalley/Publisher/Author for an honest review and I want to thank them for the opportunity.