Their Desert Night Of Scandal by Maya Blake is a contemporary romance with a twist…the book takes place during 24 hours!

But fear not, this is more than enough time for sizzling hot seduction between main characters Lauren and Sheikh Tahir. And more than enough time for scandalous truths to arise…

Maya has kindly taken over our blog to chat all about the book and her inspiration behind it.

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It’s September, hooray!

I love September for many reasons.

Summer still lingers in the air but it’s not quite so HOT!

Plus, the kids are back at school!

This month, though, I’m celebrating because it’s the release of Book One of my new Brother Of The Desert duet, Their Desert Night of Scandal. Not only that, but this book is also set over 24 hours! Yes, you heard right, the whole book starts and ends within 24 hours.

What inspired this book?

Well, I’m a huge fan of Kiefer Sutherland and I LOVED his ‘24’ TV Series. So when my editor floated the idea of writing a book set within that time frame, I was totally up for it. And like the TV show, I had to make it high stakes every. Single. Page.

Within that format, I couldn’t really go with a ‘characters meeting for the first time’ scenario, so I went with an enemies-to-lover-reunion plot, and it was absolutely thrilling to bring Tahir and Lauren to life on the page.

Tahir and Lauren met at university and were – in true Mills & Boon Modern style – immediately sizzlingly attracted to one another. So much so that Tahir, Crown Prince of Jukrat, dropped his hardened guard and succumbed to her charms. Until he was betrayed!

But was he really?

When Lauren presents herself at his palace gates years later asking for his help in getting her brother out of trouble, Tahir knows he has one last opportunity to discover the truth of what broke them apart. However, he’s also wary of the still-stunning, still-captivating Lauren weaving her magic around him.

What other choice has he but to insist they’re reunion lasts only twenty-four hours?

I loved every minute of exploring Tahir and Lauren’s characters in this book. Of opening their eyes to what truly happened and how their past baggage informed their actions back at university and during their twenty-four hours. I also enjoyed setting this book in the desert to drive up the stakes. Because, with nowhere to run and hide, they really had to confront their emotions.

But perhaps what I absolutely LOVED about writing this book was the special objects Tahir used in the book (to find out you have to read the book!). It was an important heirloom inherited from his grandfather that had shaped Tahir’s own life. And when he introduced it as part of their ‘24-hour-game’, I held my breath along with Lauren with each second they played the game!

As secrets and emotions were uncovered and re-explored, I felt absolute joy watching two people who thought their love was destroyed work against the literal clock to rediscover what they’d lost.

To heal wounds they thought were scarred forever, and to discover their love truly had withstood the test of time, and that with a little bit of work and faith, they could rekindle it once more.

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Their Desert Night Of Scandal by Maya Blake

Twenty-four hours in the desert with Sheikh Tahir is more than Lauren bargained for when she came to ask for his help. Yet their inescapable intimacy empowers Lauren to lay bare the scandalous truth of their shared past – and her still burning desire for Tahir…

Read now in eBook or in paperback which also features Cinderella’s Secret Baby by Dani Collins!

By Lauren Gardiner