Miss Bates is a loyal reader to certain romance writers because they offer engaging romance about goodness: Liz Fielding, Marion Lennox, Carla Kelly, Jessica Hart, and Kate Hewitt. Their heroes and heroines may be melancholic, mistaken, even a little sharp at times, but they are fundamentally good – decent, caring, and kind. No one is smarmy, no one is mean, and no one dominates. It’s fair to ask if this makes their books, their characters, boring? Miss Bates would argue not because they create characters who are good people with plenty of personality. The dialogue is strong, the inner conflicts are believable, and the romance, well, it’s of the sigh variety. When MissB reaches the end, she is replete with sighs of satisfaction. Such a book is Liz Fielding’s The Sheikh’s Convenient Princess.

The premise is outlandish, but Fielding’s hero and heroine are believably fleshy, in their dilemmas, their give-and-take and back-and-forth of witty banter, serious sharing, charming flirtations, and deepening affection. When we meet Sheikh Bram Ansari, he is “disgraced, disinherited, and exiled.” Youthful shenanigans led his father to disinherit him and put his younger brother on the throne, a younger brother who also married Bram’s arranged fiancée, Safia. Enter Ruby Dance, temporary PA (when Bram’s right-hand-man is laid low by a skiing accident). Bram may not have seen kith nor kin in five years, but he’s cleaned up his act and is now a man worth billions. He can afford Ruby Dance.

Ruby Dance is the best, a fixer and filler of the first order when a business needs emergency help. When she shows up at Bram’s Arabian stronghold, she encounters a scarred, surly man with the body of a professional athlete. Bram’s newly-emerged from a swim and Ruby’s response to him is so engaging. Let’s say there are interesting water droplets to follow. Fielding knows how to write about physical awareness that isn’t insta-lust, a rare feat in rom writing these days. It isn’t long before Ruby proves her worth as a superlative PA, but Bram needs her to fulfill a greater “fixer” role, that of his wife. His father is celebrating a birthday and has summoned his disgraced son back to join the festivities. Alas, he’s also arranged a marriage for him, one that Bram, for sundry reasons, doesn’t want. At the same time, Bram wants to see his family; not to forego that opportunity, he can bypass the arranged marriage and still reunite with his family with a temporary wife of his own – Ruby. In turn, Ruby takes this opportunity to help Bram and deal with certain financial straits.

The working-out of this premise takes the form of Ruby and Bram’s growing closeness by conversing, shared laughter, bonding over a love of horses, and gently teasing each other’s foibles. Ruby and Bram are eminently likeable and, the more we know them, the more we like them. This sounds simple, but it’s a rare feat. How many times has MissB read a romance where, by the half-way point, she wants to strangle one of the characters, or both, or she’s developped eye-strain from excessive orb-rolling. Not here: Ruby and Bram care; MissB/thereader cares, and that’s because Fielding cares.

The key to enjoying The Sheikh’s Convenient Princess is acknowledging how Fielding reveals character. Bram and Ruby are seemingly opposites to start: Bram is a grumpy hero (MissB’s favourite kind) and Ruby is cool-as-a-cucumber serenely efficient. Bram grunts here and there, while Ruby exhibits, according to Bram, an annoying “stillness”. But Fielding slowly reveals Ruby and Bram’s many facets. To start, Ruby and Bram share a need to seek redemption for past wrongs. While we only know this initially because of Fielding’s revelation of Ruby’s and Bram’s inner worlds, the strength of their love is built on confiding in each other as trusted and something-more friends. Their attraction is strong, but Fielding is a romance writer more interested in tenderness and comfort than overwrought sexuality. Ruby and Bram’s early prickliness falls away to be replaced with their complexity, their need to do better and right by everyone in their lives, and their love for the other.

With protagonists this lovely, Fielding, as any romance writer would, has a dilemma. What could possibly tear them apart, so she may bring them back together. The novel’s last quarter or so is a bit much: with misunderstandings, melodrama, and some uncharacteristic mistrust on Ruby’s part. All is redeemed, however, by the HEA’s deep sigh-quality, which, by the way, dear reader, includes pain au chocolat and a wonderful reversal of the MOC trope. The Sheikh’s Convenient Princess is one of the gentlest, loveliest romance Miss Bates has read in a long time. With Miss Austen, Miss Bates concurs that Fielding’s The Sheikh’s Convenient Princess is indicative of “a mind lively and at ease,” Emma.

Liz Fielding’s The Sheikh’s Convenient Princess is published by Harlequin Books. It was released in February 2017 and may be found at your preferred vendors. Miss Bates received an e-ARC from Harlequin Books, via Netgalley.

Liz Fielding writes some of the most romantic stories I have ever read and each one is better than the last. This one is no exception. The romance between Bram and Ruby will make your breath catch and your heart melt.

I don't even know where to begin in expressing my feelings for this book because my head and heart are both still reeling with all the warm, fuzzy romantic feelings I have from reading. I feel a warm, fuzzy, romantic book hangover coming on!! I just want to go back and re-read the ending over and over again.

I absolutely adored Bram from his initial aloofness to his softening as he got to know Ruby and fell in love with her. Bram was such an honorable man, and in spite of a rather madcap escapade in his youth which provided an incredible twist at the end of the story, he did what was right. My heart broke for him from when I read of his estrangement from his family and how much he missed them, longed to be welcomed back into his family again. I loved his reactions as he found himself falling for Ruby and yet stopping himself from reaching out to her because of the agreement they had. It was terribly, terribly romantic and sigh-worthy.

There's no way to not love Ruby. She's such a wonderfully efficient and organized girl and of course, I love the whole boss / secretary thing going on too. But aside from that, Ruby had heart and she cared. She cared about doing what was best for Bram and she cared about doing the right thing. She was so selfless right to the very end.

One of the most romantic parts of the story is actually early on when Bram and Ruby work out the details for the back story of their own little romance to their temporary marriage. I fell in love with both Bram and Ruby while they talked about how they met and how they fell in love in their made up story. The made up story was hugely romantic and definitely a courtship fit for a princess. And of course, with an assistant as efficient as Ruby on hand to help Bram with the details, their courtship and romance were perfect. :-)

There's nothing to not love about a romance by Ms Fielding. If you want something that will warm your heart and fill you with fuzzy, lovey dovey feelings, you need to read this book.

Definitely a good read. A kind novel with people that have made mistakes and grown from them. A novel of love and life and passion as well as business and family. Each a building block within the story as the plot was unfolded. Characters of depths and love. Each of the items I have written above contributed to a novel of interest as well as one that was warming to the heart. I enjoyed the writers gift of telling the story in words of writing. One that allows the reader emotion to feel and just relax while guided through the characters and plot lines. I sincerely think this writer has a gift one that I am happy she shared with us. It is a heartwarming story of love and life. Enjoy it, I did! I was given this book in return for an honest review. Anna Swedenmom

4 1/2 STARS!

A really fun connection between the main characters makes Liz Fielding's upcoming release a joy to read. Not only are we watching a romance spark, but we catch ourselves smiling quite often at the sass this couple shows towards each other. Really enjoyed them! The only thing I was left wanting was a little more time with them!

Once banished from his home country, Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ansari knows he can't return home without a bride on his arm unless he wants to be forced into marriage with the woman his estranged father has chosen for him. He lucks into the fact that his new temporary assistant fits his needs to a tee and has agreed to a temporary marriage of convenience!

Ruby Dance has her own painful past that she lives every day running from, so if she can help Bram to rectify past mistakes and reunite with his family, she is all for it. Neither of them expect to actually fall for each other when they are spending time preparing for their trip, but when it happens, will they decide to make their marriage a real one?