Dear Author » Jade-Lee

REVIEW: Wicked Surrender by Jade Lee

Jayne — Sat, 23 Oct 2010 17:00:45 +0000

Dear. Ms. Lee,

Major excitement at a lower class heroine, plus added excitement that you show a more realistic view of her social acceptance minus a hero who seems to earn a living feeling sorry for himself equals mixed feelings for this book.

Scheherazade Martin was born into a theater family, raised in the theater and has successfully managed it for years. Though she’s not an actress, society views her as little better than one and she has to maintain a quick wit, soothing personality and willingness to kiss up a bit to the wealthy patrons in order to keep things running smoothly in the green room after the performances. The one thing she wants in life is the respectability that comes with a wedding ring and she knows she won’t get it from Brandon, Lord Blackstone.

Surprisingly she does get a proposal of marriage from Blackstone’s cousin, Kit. But though Kit is a younger son, his family and the ton view their relationship as a misalliance and use every trick at their disposal, including coercing Brandon into trying to seduce Scher, to try and break up Scher and Kit. Brandon views his assignment with disgust which grows as he comes to know the strong woman Scher is. But he’s hiding a dark secret in his past which makes his life a pit of despair and seemingly precludes offering Scher anything but the carte blanche she’s determined to avoid.

First off, I love the heroine’s name, even if I did Google it to see if it would have been known in Europe at this time. But beyond merely being colorful, did you have a reason to pick it? I like the fact that she’s in the theater world even if she’s not actually an actress. She can still be socially tarred with the same brush and is during later scenes. Thank you for this. I get miffed when a historical book is set up in such a way that there are social barriers between a hero and heroine which in the end get knocked down and end up meaning nothing. Balogh seems to do this a lot.

Brandon does come off like an ass during the first chapter or so until we finally get his POV and realize what he’s doing by pressing his attentions on Scher. But even then, he is still somewhat ass-ish for doing what his brother wants. Why would Brandon agree to this if he doesn’t get along with his family?

Brava for Scher to have goals and stick to them – for most of the book anyway. Her desire for respectability is a potent one with real life tragedies to back it up. When she stays the course and tells Brandon, and several others, ‘no’ she isn’t just being coy or silly. Scher also uses her head when an encounter with Brandon threatens to get out of control. She challenges him to see her as a person and not use force. But she can fight too. I like that Scher is wise to what the family tries during the introductory dinner meeting but then shouldn’t she expect the snubs she gets during the Hyde Park drive?

Bonus points to Brandon for trying to be honest and prepare Scher for that drive through Snubville and for the fact that she would never be accepted into this society. He tells her that the drive that day would only show her what she and Kit would endure from then on. And his warnings ring more truthfully since he’s been in a similar situation in India.

Brandon and Scher share more than just passion. They’ve both been betrayed and hurt and find solace in each other. But what helps me believe that Brandon has truly found his love is his statement to her that he can’t think of a better place in life that doesn’t have her in it and Scher’s willingness to give up her dream of a respectable marriage in order to be with Brandon. Plus Brandon listens to Scher and respects what she says. Which I guess will make him act less like Kit about Scher continuing to be the one controlling the theater after their marriage.

Does Brandon get his viewpoint of the English and especially the upper class English as stuck up snobs who march in lockstep, keeping the foreigners and lower classes down only after arriving in India? He’s so vitriolic about this, which I can understand based on what happened to him but what caused him to be any different from the other English working for the East India Company? Was there something in his past that I missed or is he, like Wilberforce, born out of step with his countrymen?

Brandon agreed to come back to England with title and money so he could go to House of Lords and “Do Something.” Champion the cause of the poor, the slaves, the immigrants, the Colonies, whatever but he told Scher that this was why he gave in and took the blood money and his freedom. So, after two years, why has he done nothing but wallow in his guilt and enjoyed feeling sorry for himself? When Scher told him to either piss or get off the pot, I said, “Amen, sister!” I also wondered about how easy it would truly be for Brandon to extricate himself from what he felt was keeping him from offering for Scher.

Readers who like a dark, angsty hero might care for Brandon more than I did. Me, I just wanted to grab him by the scruff and shake him. Scher, who does things instead of sitting around pouring ashes on her head, is more my kind of woman. But I will give you points for a bang up epilogue and major hook to read what I guess will be the next book in the series. C+

~Jayne

REVIEW: Wicked Surrender by Jade Lee

Jennie — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 16:00:46 +0000

Dear Ms. Lee,

Back in 2005, I read your romance White Tigress, in part because of the unusual setting, 19th century Shanghai, and the unusual pairing, a white heroine with an Asian hero. I don’t recall it well, but I do recall being disappointed with it. The hero’s desire to achieve some sort of mystical enlightenment by possessing the heroine’s yin – through sex – was pretty much the opposite of erotic for me. So it was conversely the fact that this book featured a more traditional English hero and heroine pairing that gave me the impetus to give you another try.

Scheherazade Martin manages a small theater company, the legacy from her actress mother. Scher grew up in the theater, but found that she had more talent for management that for acting. As our story begins, she receives a dishonorable offer from Brandon Cates, Viscount Blackthorn, and later an honorable one, of marriage, from his eager young cousin Kit Frazier. Scher is enormously attracted to Brandon, but he’s not offering marriage, and Kit is. Scher’s upbringing has given her a longing for respectability, and seeing marriage to Kit as a stepping stone towards that goal, Scher accepts him.

Brandon has more than one reason for being angry and frustrated over Scher’s engagement to his cousin. First of all, it was at his family’s behest that he began pursuing Scher in the first place; they wanted to separate her from Kit after noting his growing interest in her. Second of all, Brandon has come to want Scher very much on his own. A third motive, more subtly portrayed motive exists – Brandon knows all too well that a marriage between a member of society and the daughter of an actress won’t be accepted. He’d like to save both Scher and Kit from the censure and rejection that he knows they will face.

The Brandon of the early part of the book is not very likable (actually, I found Brandon fairly unlikable throughout, though he does become a bit more sympathetic once his motivations and backstory are known). His behavior with Scher is very coercive – he’s the type to pin her up against the wall and kiss her senseless in an attempt to get what he wants from her. He doesn’t seem to care very much what she wants. Even late in the book, after he has come to care for Scher, he pretty much says that he’ll do whatever he can to have her, no matter how much she does not want to be a mistress, because he just wants her so much. I think as the reader I’m supposed to find this romantic, or at least hot. Maybe once I would have. Now I just find it selfish and childish.

Scher is more sympathetic, though I didn’t find her to be a hugely well-developed character. I did like that she was depicted as being…not mercenary, but practical. She knew what she wanted – respectability – and for the greater part of the book she did want she had to do in order to attain her goal. She held on for a lot longer than many a romance heroine who crumbles once she decides she’s in “love”, and I admired that.

I found the structure of the story odd in a few places – important events occur “offstage” and while I thought this was an interesting, unusual choice, I’m not sure that there was any good reason for it. For instance, Brandon is already pursuing Scher when the book begins; there’s not even a flashback to the h/h’s first meeting. Later in the book, Brandon is attacked and injured and goes missing, and it’s only several scenes later that the reader finds out that Scher is hiding him and caring for him. There were a couple of other instances of this in the book and I just did not see any point to the device, except to be showy, and that bugged me a bit.

Actually, the latter example bothered me quite a bit for another reason. One of the reasons Scher craves a better life is that both her mother and sister died, we are told, due to substandard medical care, the only kind their class could afford (actually, it’s implied that it’s not necessarily the money that’s an issue, but that good doctors would not make the health and welfare of actresses a priority). But Scher chooses to care for a deathly ill Brandon in a hovel with the aid of a couple of rather dubious characters. She doesn’t inform his family of his whereabouts, even when asked. Not only did I disapprove of her actions (however much she disliked Brandon’s family, they had a right to know where he was, I thought), but they made no sense given her feelings about the deaths of her mother and sister. The only reason I could see for this out of character behavior was to throw Brandon and Scher together, away from society and with him dependent on her.

The nature of Scher’s theater company was unclear to me – I don’t recall there ever being any mention of what plays they put on, and indeed most of the focus was on the goings-on in the Green Room after shows, where wealthy young men mingled with Scher’s actresses while buying the liquor she provides. Because of the emphasis on this and the implication that it was from these after-parties that Scher made a fair share of the theater’s profits, it seemed to me that she was sort of more of a pimp than a theater manager. She was a nice pimp, and it wasn’t like she was specifically taking money for whatever went on between the women and men in the Green Room, but if that part of the business was more profitable than the theater, then I don’t know what else to call her.

I also had some hesitations about what a big deal it was for Scher to marry Kit. I mean, I agree that some romances pump up class differences for conflict’s sake, only to have the issue disappear in time for the HEA. But to have the entirety of London apparently absorbed in the romance between a rather minor aristocrat and an unsuitable woman felt off to me. Also, in the course of trying to break up the couple, Brandon’s sister-in-law does something that’s just shockingly inappropriate, inviting an ex-lover of Scher’s to a garden party so that he can publicly humiliate Scher. The over-the-top reactions and behavior didn’t fit what I think I know about the era.

I found the prose problematic, as well – it tended to the purple. I read way too much about Brandon’s “member” or “organ” – I know tastes differ in these things, and I guess I should be grateful it wasn’t referred to as his “staff of love.” But both of those words turn me off, somehow managing to be both coy and clinical, which I think is quite a feat.

Ultimately, it wasn’t any one thing that made Wicked Surrender an unsatisfying reading experience. The prose and characterization were enough to make it sub-par, and the issues I’ve mentioned above brought it down further. Over all, it was kind of a dreary reading experience. For all these reasons, my grade for Wicked Surrender is a C-.

Best regards,

Jennie

REVIEW: Under His Spell by Kathy Lyons

Jayne — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 21:00:51 +0000

Dear Ms. Lyons,

“Under His Spell” is a book I find hard to grade. And might even find a challenge to review properly but here goes. I like a lot of things about it, while other things make me nervous. It’s the first (sorta vanilla) BDSM book I’ve ever read from Harlequin but I’m not sure how accurate it is or that it’s even supposed to be since I don’t think Nicky is truly a submissive so much as just looking for a way to relax her super control over every aspect of the rest of her life. In sort, I’m left with conflicting views of it even a day after I finished it.

Nicky Taylor is a driven executive. A total control freak. And magician Jimmy Ray has loved her forever. When he spots her in the audience, he realizes he finally has a chance to fulfill his own lifelong fantasy. With a little help from Dr. Mesmer, that is…

Who’d have guessed that a little hypnotism would unleash Nicky’s wildly sexual nature? Or that Jimmy’s powers of persuasion would encourage her to burn up the bedsheets with him that night…and the nights after. She’s the perfect woman.

Unfortunately Jimmy’s pretty sure Nicky’s still under his spell. And he has to change that. Because he’s quickly falling under hers…

Nicky and Jimmy – call me Jim – are both smart business people but Nicky is the driven one – which I thought was a nice flip on the usual Harlequin hero Uber-Businessman. Nicky is the one with her nose to the Blackberry, a thousand emails to read and a weekend of work. But you even turned her upside down a bit and had her be in the middle of her MBA class instead of Miss Over Achiever. Making Jim have been the shy one during their adolescent days was a third change that I enjoyed as well.

Kudos for giving Nicky and Jim nice families without major hang ups who care about each other. I also like the brother dialogue between Jim and Rick though Jim sharing Nicky’s list of sexual fantasies with his brother sounded a squick alarm. That’s just not something which anyone beyond a bed partner needs to know about, IMO.

Nicky and Jim, despite getting to know each other naked very quickly, take the time to learn about each other outside of their sexual fantasies and develop a trust in each other that’s great to see. You also avoid rushing them to the altar which is a pet peeve of mine. I was surprised that they didn’t end up starting their own company with Jim doing the brainstorming and Nicky handling the business end but the ending you gave them works well enough for me.

Now, for the stuff that I’m still not entirely sure about.

Maybe there have been other bondage books published by Harlequin and I just haven’t read them but this is a first for me. And I’m not sure how far you meant to go or how deep into this lifestyle this is supposed to be. I haven’t read many books which feature D/s or bondage but this one seems to be on the vanilla end of the scale. But that sort of makes sense since both Nicky and Jim don’t know much about it themselves and are – pardon the phrase – feeling their way along. I like that they establish a safe word to use but then Jim ignores the one time Nicky uses it even if he gives her a mind blowing orgasm.

And mixing hypnotism in with the sex worries me almost as much as it does Nicky. Is she really hypnotized and under Jim’s control, even though he says she’s not? Are her responses to Jim’s questions about what they’re doing while they’re doing it all her own? I’m not sure and that’s what makes me (o-0) about it all. If Nicky finds sexual freedom and release in being blindfolded, tied up and made to obey Jim – great. I’m happy for them. If they enjoy role playing sexual fantasies – and this part I felt more comfortable with as these fantasies seem to be uninvolved with any hypnosis – have at it. But there are enough questions in my mind that the D/s part of the plot leaves me leery.

I would recommend the book for Nicky and Jim’s relationship outside of sex. And maybe, sorta for the sex scenes themselves since they’re beyond what I’m used to reading in a Harlequin line. But I don’t think they are a reason for anyone truly interested in trying these things or for those who are already into them, to buy it. C+

~Jayne

My First Sale by Jade Lee

Jane — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 10:00:47 +0000

Welcome to the My First Sale series. Each Friday, Dear Author posts the first sale letter of bestselling authors, debut authors, and authors in between. Jade Lee writes romances for both series books for Harlequin and paranormals. The Dragon Earl from Leisure and The Concubine which was a February Dear Author Recommended Read. Dragonbound is due out in April.

***

The story of my first sale is a long and torturous one. For those people who have sold their first manuscript at auction for a ton of money…I say BTTTH! That wasn’t me. It took me fricking forever to break in!

It begins with a terminally bored technical writer we’ll call Sad Jade. Sad Jade loved romance, especially regency era. One day, she read a very badly written book. Sad Jade said, I can do better! And went on to write her very first screenplay.

Yes, I said screenplay. Sad Jade wasn’t so bright. Actually, I just thought that film was way cooler than novels, and so that’s what I wanted to do. So I wrote a fantasy romance screenplay titled Ringwolves about a woman mentally bonded to a wolf pack and the man who hunts her down and…um… doesn’t end up killing her. Fantasy romance before there was a genre!

It was enough to get me into the USC Professional Writing Program. I ended up with a MPW degree (Masters of Professional Writing) and a handful of romance screenplays: one comic, two science fictiony, and one weird, depressive thing. And then I moved to Central Illinois (see above about Jade not being very smart).

The truth? I wanted to have babies and my family lived in the midwest. Plus, Mr. Lee had a job offer back in Illinois. Disliking the idea of being pregnant and poor, we packed up and moved back to Illinois. Once there, I continued to write screenplays. Lots of fun, but there was no film market out here in the cornfields. Go figure.

Eventually, I caught a clue. Remember, there was no internet back then (dinosaurs kept stepping on the cables) and I thought: Hey, I love reading romance. Even my screenplays are romance. So what about trying a romance novel?

So I did. And I did. And I did. I wrote five manuscripts plus their screenplay adaptations to no success. I may be dumb, but at least I work hard. And you know what? That’s when I finally learned how to put a story together. I had to write long and then learn to tighten.

At this point, I was years past my first day at screenplay school, finally moving past diapers and mush (aka baby food), and still not selling. Or at least not selling to a company that stayed in business long enough to pay me. I had sales to an audio company that went under the month before my story came out. To Romantic Interludes which went belly up soon after that. Then there were the strong leads or verbal agreements with just about every small press out there. Over the years, I had quit 3 times only to go back to writing, ultimately-finally-writing a story for just me. A futuristic romance (before there were futuristics) titled Oracle. It sold to a small press.

On the upside, the book went up for a Rita, everyone (in my circle) was talking about the awesome opportunities in small press, and I didn’t slit my wrists out of frustration. In retrospect, I wish I had just waited for the Love Spell line to be born through Dorchester. Oh well, patience was never my strongpoint.

Next came the sale of the screenplay adaptation of regency romance Rules for a Lady (by my other penname Katherine Greyle) to be done as CBS movie of the week. Oh wait…writers strike (SAG went with them) and the discovery of reality tv. So disappeared my movie of the week. Why would CBS produce a costume drama when they could put castaways on Survivor for a tiny fraction of the price? *sigh* Fortunately, Dorchester still wanted to traditional regency despite the lack of a movie. And a career was born as Katherine Greyle who wrote light, funny regencies for Leisure Books.

And then, five years later, dark, sensuous Jade Lee was born! Turns out, sex sells. (Remember, not so bright here.) Even more shocking, I’m really good at writing sensuous romance. Even stranger still, I really enjoy writing a great love scene-or three. I like the challenge of writing more than just body parts and delving deep into how people make love and why. Tender, angry, passionate, even cold-’all those notes show up in lovemaking, and I want to explore them all. Next, my editor created the Asian brand by suggesting I do something with my heritage. Dorchester is known for taking risks, so then the tigress series was born, set in China. Then fantasy romance made a come-back and I could finally publish Dragonborn and Dragonbound (coming out this April). And lastly, I’m bringing China into the Regency with The Dragon Earl.

Whew! So that’s the story of my writing career beginning. Of course, after 22 books, I still feel like I’m searching for my best story, my best voice, my best book-of-the-heart. And that only comes when I stop thinking about publication or production. Oracle happened when I just wrote what I loved, and it was groundbreaking. Same with Devil’s Bargain, Jade Lee’s first dark, sensuous story. Even White Tigress (Chinese tantrics) and Dragonborn (fantasy romance with dragons!) happened because I loved the story idea, not because I was trying to hit a market. So tell me what you think! Do you love multicultural and/or dragons as much as I do?

Jade Lee
www.jadeleeauthor.com
USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR
Dragonbound April 09
The Concubine (Blaze historical) Feb 09
Winter Heat (anthology) Jan 09
The Dragon Earl Sept 08

REVIEW: The Concubine by Jade Lee

Jia — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:00:17 +0000

Dear Ms. Lee,

Like Jane, I’m biased towards books featuring Asian heroines. So imagine how excited I was to discover a book that not only featured an Asian heroine but an Asian hero too! And in historical China! Even better, the cover depicted them as both distinctly Asian. That last bit sounds like a strange thing to be excited about but speaking from experience, book covers don’t really have a good history of staying true to a character’s ethnicity. Just look at the cover of that Harlequin Presents with the Asian heroine that Jane reviewed last month.

Chen Ji Yue is the only daughter of a poor noble. With little money to their name and two brothers who need to take the Imperial examinations, her family sends her to the Forbidden City. The previous emperor has recently died and his son has newly ascended the throne. And his first duty as emperor is to produce an heir. To this end, he sends notice to all the eligible young women that he is seeking an empress. And that’s not all: he also seeks four favored concubines and enough women to fill the two tiers of harems below that. So even though any of these roles would fulfill her goals, Ji Yue’s goal is to be chosen as empress because she’s been raised her entire life to be a political wife.

Sun Bo Tao is the emperor’s cousin and childhood best friend. With no real position, money, or title to his name, he’s forced to live on the emperor’s whims. And judging by what we see in the story, the emperor is a capricious man. Some readers might find that off-putting but I enjoyed seeing someone raised to be emperor actually act like an emperor. He thinks he’s a god so he acts like he is one, even if this means being cruel to his dearest friends. When Bo Tao suggests that his best friend focus on the impending visit of a group of Dutch envoys instead of searching for an empress, the emperor punishes him by placing in charge of the Festival of Fertility — the very search for the new empress he was advocating against.

This is an immensely likeable book. Even with the Asian leads and setting, the story itself is a great read. Ji Yue isn’t the most beautiful of women so she was taught to use her brain, and the ways in which she maneuvers through the candidate search show just how clever she really is. She also has an insight into current events (the Dutch envoys, the civil unrest in China) that show how canny she is about politics and ruling, proving just how good an empress she would be — if the emperor were interested in a woman who was more than a womb, which, unfortunately for her, he is not.

Bo Tao is the classic example of someone who can’t escape his past and the mistakes of his youth. As the emperor’s childhood friend, they used to run wild in the Forbidden City and he is infamous for being an unrepentant seducer. At least that’s what everyone says. As we see from his perspective, however, Bo Tao is older, wiser, and more responsible than the emperor. He may have a bad reputation but there’s no sign he’s acted that way in a long time. If anything else, he’s doing all he can to win the adviser position the emperor’s been promising him since forever.

I admit harem stories aren’t my favorite so I’m not sure how this holds up to that trope, but I do like stories in which the protagonist goes after one person, only to discover another person (usually the best friend or sibling) is more suited for them. And for me, the story delivered on that. Ji Yue used all her strengths to try and win the emperor’s affection: her intelligence, her political savvy, her cleverness. But in a search for the perfect woman to bear the imperial heir, those traits aren’t at the top of the list. Or anywhere near the middle, for that matter. Bo Tao views the Festival as nothing more than an inconvenient annoyance and has no desire to spend his time with desperate virgins panting after his best friend. But as he spends more time with Ji Yue, he discovers that some women — and this woman in particular — deserve better than the life they’d get in the Forbidden City and that in fact she’d be wasted as the emperor’s wife. The way they deny their attraction to one another while trying to keep it a secret from everyone else was delightful.

Some readers might find the ending to be a deus ex machina but in all honesty, I can’t see Ji Yue and Bo Tao getting their HEA in any other way without completely violating the limitations placed upon the story by the historical setting. For other readers, however, I think this is a story that makes excellent use of familiar romance tropes — the poor heroine who needs to earn money for her family, the reformed bad boy hero who falls in love with the woman promised to his best friend — and breathes new life into them by using them in a culture and time period not often found in the genre. B

My regards,
Jia

This book can be purchased in mass market from Amazon or ebook format from Harlequin. It is a February release and you can only get the early releaseas at eHarlequin.com. Smart or what?

REVIEW: Tempted Tigress by Jade Lee

Jayne — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:00:35 +0000

Dear Ms. Lee,

I remember when “White Tigress” was released and all the hoopla about it being set in historical China and the tantric-esque sex. I bought it but actually started reading the series with the second book “Hungry Tigress” and followed with “Desperate Tigress.” It was at that point that I readily admit to getting tired of all the tigress sex stuff. I can only read but so much about stroking jade dragons and rubbing breasts 79 circles in one direction then 79 circles back before the cinnabar cave comes into action. I adored the historic facts about China and the glimpses you gave of it and its people but then it’d be back to the same old sex again. Ho hum. For this reason, I skipped the next two books and really had no intention of trying this latest one. Then I read the AAR review and perked up. It’s….it’s….something different! I quickly emailed Jane to see if we’d gotten an ARC for it. No, she said, suck it up and head to a bookstore. Which I did. But I did have a coupon (thank you Waldenbooks).

Anna Thompson was orphaned in Shanghai at an early age. Her mother died in childbirth and, years later, she was told her sailor father died of yellow fever. Growing up in the orphanage run by nuns was no fun until the magical day her father’s friend found her. Anna was jubilant. She had a father again. Someone loved her. Everything would be all right. Only 10 years later, it wasn’t and when Anna was honest with herself it never had been. Now her only thought is to get back to Shanghai from the heart of China, board a ship and sail away forever. Only one man stands in her way and it’s her misfortune to be caught by him when freedom is only days away.

Tau Zhi-Gang is known as the Emperor’s Enforcer. His job is simple yet difficult almost beyond belief: to rid China of the deadly scourge of opium which is ruining it. When his guards bring the barbarian ghost woman to him, he realizes with shock and horror that somehow she will change his life. And when she curses him as his guard is about to obey Zhi-Gang’s order for her to be killed, he knows that she is a survivor and strong beyond most people much less most women. Finally paying head to the council of his friend not to kill this foreign devil woman in public and thus bring down on them the attention of the Empress Dowager, Zhi-Gang has Anna brought to his sampan where they eventually end up striking a bargain. Anna will get her freedom in exchange for helping to lead them to her boss, one of the biggest drug suppliers in Shanghai. And when he reaches Shanghai, Zhi-Gang might finally be able to free himself of a crushing burden which has haunted him for twenty years. As the journey continues Zhi-Gang finds he’s not the only one haunted by what he’s done and seen done to others. Anna runs drugs but she’s also a user seeking blessed oblivion from her memories of what the trade has done to her and for her freedom might just as well be death as escape from China.

One thing that intrigued me about this book is the fact that you don’t shy away from the horrors of what opium has done to Anna and untold numbers of Chinese girls sold or stolen to pay for it. If I had Anna’s nightmares and no access to modern counseling, I might be tempted to numb reality as well. At first, I wasn’t quite sure of the way you depicted Anna off drugs but after doing some googling, I can see that she might not show all the classic opiate withdrawal symptoms. I like how you set up Anna’s past and show why she was so willing to enter into such an unsavory business. It makes sense and allowed me as well as Zhi-Gang to sympathize with her instead of condemning her out of hand. The journal entries which end each chapter and which chronicle Anna’s life are heartbreaking. The fact that she’d never really had anyone give a damn about her also makes her hesitance to believe in love, or to be willing to admit it once she did, believable.

Zhi-Gang has his reasons for what he does as well. After losing his first love to opium, it’s easy to see why he despises anyone with anything to do with it. His concern for and determination to save the young Chinese girls caught up in the trade was something that wasn’t explained until almost the end of the book. But when the reason was revealed, it was a doozy. I assume that an earlier book details the change of heart of his victim as the resolution seemed awfully easy in this one. It was easy to see why Anna falls for him but not so easy to see why he falls for her. There was too much “he didn’t know why he was attracted to her but he was” type of explanation which in the end lowers the grade of this book. I was afraid towards the end that I might end up stuck with some tigress sex after all but I enjoyed the way you gently poked a little fun at it all.

I like the fact that this book also shows more of everyday China at the time and I also think you did a great job of quickly sketching some pretty complex political history without bringing the action to a complete halt by loading us down with too much detail. After reading the bathing scene I came up with a great subtitle for the book, “Bouncing Tigress!” I read somewhere that this is the last “Tigress” book you plan and if that is so, I think you’ve ended the series with a winner. B

~Jayne