Prisoner of My Desire (Avon Historical Romance)

What a great story! I'm not surprised though.. Johanna Lindsey is my all time favorite author. That's why I read romance novels, because they are passionate and you get lost in them and forget about the real world. I will keep this one in my collection. Warrick was a mans man and Rowena a perfect partner for him.

They both acted like they hated each other, and they wanted to hate each other. But, the truth was they desired each other, and love was beginning. Their words and actions were insincere. They were playing mind games with each other of one-upmanship. I was not drawn to this.

I accept dishonesty and insincerity for a variety of reasons, for example: standard romance protocol, discovering someone's true feelings, doing a good deed, plans of revenge, undercover investigations, etc. I do not accept dishonesty and illogical actions when a normal rational person would be honest in that situation. I was frequently frustrated and angry with the insincere and illogical actions of Rowena and Warrick in this story.

Story brief: Evil stepbrother Gilbert wants the Kirburough land, owned by Lyons. Gilbert beats Rowena's mother and holds her hostage, to force Rowena to marry Lyons. Gilbert needs Rowena to get pregnant by Lyons so Gilbert can get ownership of the property. Lyons dies before he consummates the marriage. Gilbert sends his men to find a substitute with the same hair and eye coloring of Lyons. They find Warrick and chain him to the bed. Rowena has sex with him to get pregnant. Warrick escapes, returns to capture Rowena, and sends her to his dungeon. He then has her chained to his bed and does the same to her.

The relationship conflicts were created through miscommunication and inaccurate assumptions. There were many occasions that angered me, but in the interest of saving some writing time, I have chosen two examples, described below.

CAUTION SPOILERS:
When Warrick was chained to the bed and Rowena was first brought to him, Rowena should have told him the truth -- her mother was held prisoner and would be killed if Rowena did not get pregnant by Warrick. Rowena also should have told him she would try to find the key to free him. She did not tell him either of these things. Her reason was that she didn't want to get his hopes up in case she was unable to find the key. He wanted her to remove his gag so he could talk to her, but she wouldn't remove it. By not being honest with him, he thought she was doing this for her own greed, and he hated her. Talk about miscommunication - she wouldn't even take his gag off so she could talk to him. They were both held as prisoners in the same room, and one would think they would at least talk to each other to find a way out of their dilemma.

I was also unhappy that she didn't tell him her real name. There were a number of times when telling Warrick her name would have solved some problems, but she never did, which bothered me. One example was when Warrick was laying siege to Gilbert's castle for 33 days. Rowena could have told him about the secret door, because she used to live there. This would have helped Warrick win the battle sooner and with less risk, but she didn't. Her reasons were not justified.

Sexual language: mild. Number of sex scenes: nine. Setting: 1152 England. Copyright: 1991. Genre: historical romance.

For a list of my reviews of other Johanna Lindsey books, see my 5 star review of "Gentle Rogue" posted 6/14/08.

I enjoyed reading this book-I love the Haardrad family and how they took care of each other through thick and thin. I loved Selig's character and how the author portrayed him as this uber handsome Viking.

Johanna Lindsey sure got this one right. If you are looking for a strong will fiesty heroine and a stubborn hero, this is your novel. Excellent read! I loved this book! Sorry to those who did not enjoy the conflict and plot between the two heroes. I wish I could find some more similar type novels.

I'm also an avid romance reader & Lindsey never disappionts! Yet another of her novels I couldn't put down... So sexy! I would love to get a bundle price on each series I have read purchased them all but just recently got kindle & would love to download them all at once. Keep them coming!!!

Ms Lindsey never disappoints. Prisoner of my Desire has bondage, secrets, lies of omission, and love. In the hands of a less skilled author, the story wouldn't have appealed to me, but it was great.

Ms Lindsey never disappoints. Prisoner of my Desire has bondage, secrets, lies of omission, and love. In the hands of a less skilled author, the story wouldn't have appealed to me, but it was great.

Warrick and Rowena are a wonderful couple and his two daughters have a brother. But it takes time and Warrick and the priest to force her to marry Warrick because she is in labor and they would not leave and will not let the baby have parents that are unwed and make him feel he is a out of wedlock child he is still an innocent child so Rowena said Aye so she can just deliver her son and for the pain to be over. When it was I don't blame that she got mad at Warrick for prolonging her labor but all is forgiven and they are happy together and with their son. I felt bad for Rowena she was threatened and she just want to see her mother again she had no choice.

Even though it was a predictable ending, I still really enjoyed the book and was reading thru to the end to find out the resolution of all the characters. So glad I stuck to it because it was worth it.