B Reviews / B+ Reviews / B- Reviews / Book Reviewsarranged-marriage / Asian characters / class-difference / historical romance / Historical-China / Lotus Palace series / mystery / POC / POC author / Reading lists / scholar / Tang Dynasty6 Comments
Several years ago I fell in love with Jeannie Lin’s Lotus Palace novels. Whether you consider them romances or mysteries (I think of them as romances), the setting, a pleasure quarter called the Pinkang Li, part of the Tang Dynasty capital, Chang’an, during the 840s CE, is beautifully rendered and ... more >
B Reviews / Book Reviewsfamily relationships / Historical fiction / Historical-China / Kaifeng Chronicles / Ming dynasty / novella / POC / scholarComments Off on REVIEW: 18 Cranes: Kaifeng Chronicles, Book One by Robert Campbell
In the late summer of 1630, 23-year old Li Bing writes the provincial level imperial examinations, the first step towards entering the Chinese civil service. He is tormented by a dream of 18 cranes, and as he awaits his exam results he seeks out insights from those around him to ... more >
A- Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Reads19th century / class differences / England / Historical / Italy / Oxford / Regency / Satire / scholar9 Comments
Thomas Adam, junior Fellow of St. Columb’s College at Oxford University, is one of countless English travellers crossing the channel to explore the reopened Continent after the Napoleonic wars. With Boney imprisoned, there is no time like the present to experience French wine and the Italian countryside — at least, ... more >
B Reviews / B+ Reviews / Book ReviewsAngel / Guild Hunter series / paranormal romance / POC author / scholar / Vampire23 Comments
Trigger warnings: cannibalism, ableist language Dear Ms. Singh, Archangel’s Enigma, the eighth novel in your Guild Hunter series, surprised me. I went into the book with low expectations because I hadn’t connected with its hero, the mystery-shrouded Naasir, in the earlier books he appeared in. In those earlier books, Naasir’s ... more >
A- Reviews / Book Reviews / Need A Rec! / Recommended Readsclass-difference / Historical-China / POC / POC author / prostitute / Recommended Reads / scholar16 Comments
Dear Ms. Lin, Although I had purchased most of your novels, I hadn’t picked one out of my TBR pile to read since your debut, Butterfly Swords. Clearly, it was a mistake to wait so long to try one of your books again, because your most recent novel, The Lotus ... more >
A- Reviews / B- Reviews / Book Reviewsacross the tracks / courtesan / Historical-China / Lotus Palace series / multicultural / mystery / POC / POC author / scholar / Tang Dynasty / unusual setting15 Comments
It is a time of celebration in the Pingkang li, where imperial scholars and bureaucrats mingle with beautiful courtesans. At the center is the Lotus Palace, home of the most exquisite courtesans in China… Maidservant Yue-ying is not one of those beauties. Street-smart and practical, she’s content to live ... more >