Review & Giveaway: The Ocean Between by Lynda Coker

From the back cover:

Victoria Ballard, a New York financial executive, is one woman who considers men to be an unnecessary bother and annoyance. With her career on track, she focuses on the adoption of four beautiful orphans, a crowning completion of her well designed life-plan. But, life is a nasty trickster, and it's about to spring one on her. Unknown to Victoria, Prince Rashid Davar has just completed a marriage contract with her father, However, what the prince does not realize is that is is easier to marry a woman that it is to control one. She may be his wife, but it will take a kidnapping, a battle of wills, and some desert heat of his own before he can claim her love.

My thoughts: When Jacob Ballard first proposed his idea of Rashid marrying his daughter, Rashid was taken aback and explained that since he is a prince of his people, much will be expected of his wife. He wanted to reject Jacob's proposition at first but when he got sight of Victoria, his heart said yes while his mind was saying no. Through some hasty paper shuffling on Jacob's part and without any input from Victoria, the deed was done.

Prince Rashid may be arrogant and used to having his own way, but he has not encountered a woman like Victoria before. Victoria is also used to being independent and has a hard time adjusting to the ways of Ahalamin, the Prince's homeland. At the same time that she is rebelling, a part of her is intrigued by the desert and the people. Some times the heart rebels and what a person thinks they want is not what they want after all. Will one of them eventually get their own way, as their cultures dictate, or will they manage a compromise that will suit them both?

*Sigh*, I feel like I have been to the desert and back. Coker definitely has the gift of putting the reader right in the scene. Her descriptions of the landscape and the people are most intriguing. I almost felt like a voyeur when Rashid and Victoria were,. . . ahem, trying to sort out their differences. This is one lady who knows how to write a Love story with a capital L! Hot as the desert wind, sweet as the date cakes served with mint tea, this is one romance that will grab you by the heartstrings. I can almost guarantee that the ending of this book will make you teary-eyed but in a good way, of course. I loved it! Once I started the book, I couldn't put it down until the end. That earns it a 5***** rating.

Author info: Lynda Coker lives in the rolling hills of East Texas with her favorite alpha-male, her husband of 45 years. Now that she has retired from the field of Photographic Art, she writes full-time and blesses her husband for patiently sharing her with some factitiously strange, exotic, and mischievous characters. A voracious reader, she decided to try writing the type of stories she loved to read.

Lynda strives to peel back the layers that obscure the emotion we call love. She believes her readers choose romance, not to explore the physical, but rather, the compelling desires of their hearts. "Physical love is a glorious gift," she says. "But without the heights and depths of the emotional journey, it is only an empty reflection of what could have been."

A review copy of the book was provided by the author.

Now for the giveaway: Lynda is generously allowing me to give away a copy of her book to one very lucky reader. Here's the scoop!

No P.O. Boxes and open to residents of the US & Canada only. For your official entry, let me know the best romance you have read lately. Put all info in ONE box, please! If you are already a follower, remind me.

Be sure to leave an e mail address; no e-mail, no entry. Bonus entries can be earned by:

+2 Becoming a new google friends connect follower
+2 Already being a follower
+ 2 Post about contest and leave me a link
+1 Put contest in sidebar or tweet and leave me a link

Deadline to enter is December 1st at 5 P.M. Good Luck !