KISMET by Monica Burns

PUBLISHER: Berkley, 2010
GENRE: Historical romance
MY GRADE: D

SYNOPSIS: Raised in a brothel, Allegra Synnford quickly learned that survival meant taking charge of her destiny. Now, as a renowned courtesan skilled in the pleasures of the flesh, she vows she will never be vulnerable to any one man... Sheikh Shaheen of the Amazigh has been hiding from his past for a long time, but not enough to forget how another courtesan made him abandon his life as the Viscount Newcastle. When Allegra ignites his desire, his need threatens to undermine his cover. With old enemies circling, experience tells him he must resist her charms at all costs. But Allegra has her own game to play...with a man who can't afford to lose.

SPOILER SUMMARY: The story takes place in Morocco and England in 1893 and spans three months. The heroine is Allegra, 30ish with dark red hair and green eyes. She ends up getting abducted. The hero, Shaheen, aka Robert Camden, Viscount of Newcastle, who's got dark hair and brown eyes, goes to find her and buys her from her kidnapper. The rest of the entire novel, to me, is just very boring. There's some serious drama involving Allegra and a whipping. I didn't paticularly like either one of them. After they're back in England towards the end, Shaheen goes to Allegra's home and confesses his love to her. She tells him she feels the same way but it just doesn't seem believeable to me. Then he asks her to marry him and she tells him she's pregnant. That's how the story ends.

MY THOUGHTS: This is another newer romance book where I've found myself not really caring about either the heroine or hero. Both are wounded; the heroine was sold into prostitution by her own mother, the hero witnessed the suicide of his brother James years before. The suicide was the only interesting part of the story and I wish it hadn't taken place in the past. I found this story completely uninteresting and unromantic. I never warmed up to it or the setting. I feel as though both the hero and heroine's characters were underdeveloped, especially Allegra's. We know next to nothing about her. I've wanted to read this since I'd heard about it earlier this year when there were a few blogs that were having contests for it. I feel the overly-bright, old school book cover doesn't fit the story one bit. I was totally unsatisfied with this story.

I received this from the publisher in 2010 in exchange for an honest review.