Let’s brainstorm reasons you could forgive a hero who spends most of the book planning to murder the heroine. 1) The hero is a time traveler and knows the heroine will murder someone else. 2) There is a hostage. 3) The heroine is Hitler in drag. In The Undertaking of Lily Chen, the hero is…
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Jeannie Lin’s historical novels set during the Tang Dynasty in China. This is often considered a golden era of Chinese culture and that is beautifully captured in these novels, from the intricacies of the scholar system to the delicacies of the tea ritual. In this latest offering we return to The Lotus…
I’ve enjoyed Jeannie Lin’s China-set historicals so far and I was thrilled when I heard she would be writing single title as well. I went into The Lotus Palace expecting some element of suspense in the plot, but otherwise I had no idea what I would be getting into. As it turns out, it was…
The best historical romances are those that draw you into another world and make you see, smell and touch what is going on, sharing the emotions and the mindset of characters who are thousands of miles and hundreds of years removed from your own experience. This is what happened to me when I read (in…
My Fair Concubine – as the title might suggest – is a Tang Dynasty take on My Fair Lady. The heroine is a tea shop girl, and the hero talks her into impersonating his sister – who is supposed to be a peace bride, a gift to a warrior in a distant province, but has…
There’s a line in Jeannie Lin’s novella, Capturing the Silken Thief, that evokes the effortless, lyrical beauty of her tale. A man – a scholar – and a woman – a musician – meet at night. Ms. Lin writes, “The moon was high and round, with that faint harvest gleam that marked it as a…
Jeannie Lin’s Butterfly Swords was a DIK read for me. I loved its rich, exotic setting, charming characters, and sense of pageantry. While this novel did not quite equal the first it is still a wonderful love story set in a lush, exciting land. <!– var browName = navigator.appName; var SiteID = 1; var ZoneID…
To be honest, I had my doubts about this story. I didn’t really know if Harlequin could pull off a historical novel set in a foreign nation. (I don’t think of Regency England as a foreign nation. Guess it has become such familiar territory I consider it home.) But I was intrigued enough by the…
I have been deeply fascinated with China and Chinese history ever since reading Wild Swans many years ago, and I was delighted to discover that Harlequin Blaze were publishing a historical romance set in imperial China. I found The Concubine by Jade Lee a very pleasant and unusual read. In 1851, the young Emperor must…
If you’re looking for something different in historical romance, Jade Lee’s Tempted Tigress is certainly that. Set during the Boxer movement at the very end of the Qing Dynasty, the story features the romance between a white drug runner and the Emperor’s Enforcer. It is a gritty story that does not gloss over the turbulent,…