What an amazing life lived by this young American of Arab descent who falls in love with King Hussein of Jordan and becomes his partner in all things. It was a leap of faith to become Muslim and embrace a lifestyle so foreign so full of tradition. I also enjoyed reading about the Arab / Israeli conflict from an Arab point of view .
Still, in many ways I found the book a bit of a “lecture”, on the Arab way of thinking . Still I am happy to understand better the Arab viewpoint in the Middle East and to learn about the extraordinary man who was King Hussein ( )

Here's what I wrote in 2008 about this read: "Very interesting to read about the middle east from a completely different perspective! Young, Princeton-educated American Lisa Halaby marries the King of Jordan (his fourth wife), and become passionately committed to his country and his causes. Fastinating!" ( )

not a book club book but good non fiction and historical

This book was a deeply emotional read for me. Members of my husband's family were employees of Queen Noor's family so I always heard from my late, beloved sister-in-law how wonderful Queen Noor and King Hussein were. Being Jewish myself and having lived in Israel, I was most interested in reading about King Hussein's fervent desire to help bring about peace between Arab nations and Israel.

From stories I heard about about King Hussein in his non-royal role, I greatly appreciated learning in this book about his life-style with Queen Noor. My favorite picture in the book is one in which Queen Noor and King Hussein are out riding his motorcycle. It brought back memories of hearing from my husband's family about the King's checking out Harley-Davidson dealerships when he was in the Washington area.

This biography seems more like a friend sharing a precious diary with me than a Queen having written her memoirs for people the world over. Everything seems so personal. I found it extremely difficult to read the very end of the book which described King Hussein's failing health and then his death at age 62 of cancer.

I have a special copy of this book, signed to me by Queen Noor. I never read this book before. I'm not sure why. However, I think it means more to me now as I can reflect back on what Queen Noor and King Hussein not only meant to my husband's family, but what they meant to the whole world, and how special the Queen and King were as individuals with their hearts in exactly the right place. ( )

I know a memoir is all about "you" but Queen Noor seems to unnecessarily toot her own horn too much when IMHO she should have let the facts speak for themselves without the commentary. We can figure out on our own how wonderful she is without her telling us so on every page. And some of her "facts" are spin. ( )