REVIEW: Vixen (Forbidden Pleasures Book 1) by Jade Lee
Zhi Hao has one goal: to pass the imperial exam, and eventually become a magistrate. That will get him the salary to support his parents and sisters. Eventually, he wants a wife and children, but not now. So, he is completely unprepared when a mystical fox spirit, in the shape of a beautiful woman, comes to seduce him. One night’s weakness might end his bright future, and yet he is unable to resist.
Ling Xin is no vixen. She’s a woman competing to become Empress of China. She knows everything a young woman is supposed to learn, but then, so do all the other women in the running. What she doesn’t know is how to seduce a man. And she’s heard that the emperor isn’t impressed with purity. What she needs is a crash course in temptation, and the only possible tutor is the sexy scholar next door.
It’s a dangerous game they’re playing, one they can’t win. If they’re caught, they’ll both die. If they’re not…she’ll still be in the Forbidden City, lost to him.
But passion has its own demands…and love, its wondrous possibilities…
Dear Ms. Lee,
I saw this gorgeous cover and looked closer. Then I saw your name and thought, yay she’s writing books set in China again. Years ago I had read some of the “Tigress” series and still remember all the sex-ed included in them. From the blurb I figured the book would have some smexy stuff but I had hoped for less “dragons” and “pearls.” Sadly, there’s a lot of that.
So we have Zhi Hao, a scholar set to take the Imperial exam in Peking (name used by author) and Ling Xin, the only daughter of a bo jue (Earl) magistrate who advises the Emperor. As his family’s only son, Zhi Hao has been raised to eventually take the grueling exam in the hopes of landing a high paying job which will support his parents for life as well as supply dowries for his two sisters. Failure is not an option. When her mother was pregnant with her, Ling Xin has been told that mom prayed for a daughter knowing that the Emperor’s son would be ready to choose an Empress – or honored concubines – when this unborn child would be of the proper age. To become the Empress of China would fulfill her family’s wishes even if Ling Xin has her doubts about being shut up in the Forbidden City for the rest of her life. Still failure is not an option.
Ling Xin has always been the type to fidget and race around though she has studied hard learning what her father thinks a future Empress ought to know – and that isn’t just poetry and dancing. Ling Xin is as smart as she is beautiful. She enjoys taking daring risks so it’s not surprising that she notices and speaks to the young scholar who has arrived to study under the guidance of the man who taught her brothers – though they both failed the exam.
Zhi Hao is warned by Master Gao to keep his mind on studying instead of thinking of soft skin and pretty laughs. Zhi Hao is well aware that the daughter of the house has been climbing a garden wall and watching him (and lusting while watching him) doing exercises taught to him by Shaolin monks. Quickly the two begin to chat and Zhi Hao realizes that from what his uncle, a eunuch in the palace, has told him, Ling Xin will be miserable there. But she’s determined so he is honest that dancing and reciting poetry isn’t what most men are interested in. He can teach her but they can’t go too far or they risk death.
I enjoyed Zhi Hao and Ling Xin’s conversations. Both are intelligent but also admit to liking what they see of the other. Then came the smexy education stuff. Okay, Ling Xin is eager to learn both because it can maybe help her get the Emperor’s attention but also because the woman likes sex – though not intercourse as that would ruin the purity she will have to prove or be tossed out of the Palace like trash. I like a woman who owns her sexuality. Zhi Hao soon has master Gao smacking him a bit as his mind is consumed with thoughts of Ling Xin despite how Gao warned him. It seemed like half the book was about sex.
But I liked the other parts better as Zhi Hao and Ling Xin got to know each other and the focus of the story shifted to everyday life in Qing era China. Ling Xin’s father and mother took larger roles and the two lovers had to think quickly on their feet in order to try and finesse opportunities for Zhi Hao. Ling Xin’s cousin is also a player in this game and I had figured out how it was going to work for everyone to get what they wanted. I know sexy is your style but being honest, I would rather the story had focused more on the other historical aspects. B-
~Jayne
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Is this a new book or an older one? I recall she had some erotic romances in the early 2000s that I had mixed success with.
@Janine: You’re thinking of the Tigress series that was set in China near the end of the 19th century. This is a new one. I never could pin down a date but it’s during the Qing Dynasty when the Manchus were in power.
I read 2-3 of the Tigress books and enjoyed the historical aspects better than the erotic ones which got a bit silly and tiresome – dragons (again) and Cinnabar caves.