"As You Desire" by Connie Brockway

A charming scoundrel with a dark and painful past

Desdemona "Dizzy" Carlisle, a language prodigy who can read (but not speak) 12 languages (including just about every dead language) lives in Cairo with her grandfather and an assorted, slightly off kilter antiquities-mad expatriate community in Cairo. Her best friend, and often worst enemy, is the brilliant, charming, unscrupulous Harry Braxton, antiquities dealer and all around scoundrel extraordinaire. What she doesn't realize is that he hides a heart that beats with true love for her, a love he hides because of a deep, dark secret and a painful past, one which has caught up with him and Dizzy. But in a funny way, because this is a Brockway comedy. Will he be able to screw up the nerve to onfess his love for her? And when is he going to do this, with the two of them constantly being kidnapped and his disgustingly romantic cousin visitng from the Old Country, seducing her with visions of constipated looking heroes and crumbling English manors?

I forgot just how good this book is - Brockway is one of the best writers out there and unusual in her ability to do both light comedy and dark, angsty romance with equal skill. "As You Desire" is the former, although it has an emotional depth that's rare in just about any genre. It also has one of my favorite heroes - Harry Braxton, who comes across at first as a brilliant and charming if unscrupulous scallawag. Then you get to know him and the deep, dark secret that scarred him and stands in the way of his love for Dizzy... but has also made him the man he is. Harry is tortured without being angsty, a real hero who's overcome a difficult and painful past and become a generous man who lives with joy. However, a large part of his joy comes from his love for Dizzy and the big question in the book is: Can he be brave enough to trust her with his secret? And will she reject him (of course not, dummy!) Nobody in the book succumbs to a sudden lowering of IQ when the dreaded "big misunderstanding" arrives on the scene - instead, there's a real problem with real people trying to overcome their insecurities in that most dangerous of times - when you're in love. This is one of the most satisfying books I've ever read of any genre: excellent writing and sparkling dialogue; laugh out loud humor; 3 dimensional, sympathetic characters (including some fabulous secondary characters, and a lovely little secondary romance). And, it does what the very best romances (and fiction) does: take us on a journey of heartfelt emotion and personal growth.

Conclusion: Recommended for anyone - honestly, who doesn't love a scallawag? I'd even recommend this to people who say they don't like romances. In fact, I'd recommend just about any Connie Brockway book.