Christmas Awards 2011

Monday 30 March 2009

Slave Girl




Slave Girl by Sheniqua Waters



Red Rose Publishing



ISBN: 978-1-60435-185-9



Pages: 320





Cairo, Egypt & Constantinople 1452 AD



Laila has always been happy living with her mother and aunts. Being able to go down by the Nile River where she has a special place to sit and look out over the river. On this particular day her mother told her not to go but she needs time to herself to think about the argument with her mother regarding it being time to wed. Laila doesn’t like the boy that her parents picked for her as a child. She wants someone that will love her and someone she has a chance at happiness with.



Thinking the worst occurrence to worry about in her life is her impending marriage. Events have taken a turn for the worst. Taking a short nap by the river and thinking about what her mother has said has gotten her into big trouble. Waking up she finds a man, a slave trader, standing over her who is looking for potential victims. As soon as he sees her he begins anticipating a big profit when he sells Laila as a slave. Not understanding at first what he is after, she soon finds herself in a great deal of trouble. The man is about to take her and make some money by selling her as a slave in the slave markets.



Kudar al Numan is trying to help out his father by delivering a message to his father’s friend and guest, Ibrahim, the Emir of Karamania. While trying to deliver the message to Ibrahim, who is at the slave market to find a new slave for his daughter, Zora, Kudar is literally run over by a girl running from the slave platform. While trying to protect the girl from being injured in a fall he gets his first look at Laila.



Kudar never anticipates seeing the slave girl again but soon finds out that she was bought by Ibrahim. Seeing how badly she is treated by Zora he decides to try to rescue Laila so she is not further abused. Thinking that by rescuing her from her owners, Laila will be grateful to him and would be willing to do anything to show her gratitude. He soon finds that she might be grateful but that doesn’t mean she will go to lengths beyond what she feels is appropriate to repay him.



Laila is about to teach Kudar that there is more to life than just his wants. He is about to learn that he has to take into consideration what others may want or need. They are both about to learn a lesson in love that neither one saw coming. But they are going to have to decide if what they have is going to be worth the fight it is going to take to hang on to it.



Will their love be able to stand against all obstacles? Or will it fall victim to the sense of family tradition and expectations? Only time will be able to tell.





This is a great book that is set in a time of turmoil. The story is full of a time and place that is rich with history and that takes you to the era and lets you see that time period come to life. This book is worth reading for the history alone but is made more intriguing by the characters as they determine what is more important – what they want or what the traditions of the day are. Kudar is a sympathetic character as he decides if he is going to go along with the traditions of his family or do what his right for him.





I give this one 4 red roses.

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