This story is My Fair Lady meets Ancient China. I really enjoyed it. There were times when the story dragged a bit--my interest would be elsewhere at times or I just got bored--but I'm glad I pushed through. Yan Ling and Fei Long are great characters, Fei Long's characterization as a steely man of honor was very well done. Yan Ling was sweet, and her journey of self-improvement tugged at my heartstrings. Also, Li Bai Shen is amazing and deserves all the good things.

I loved, loved the ending. I live for HEAs. I had no idea how it was going to end (which made it really hard to enjoy that sex scene), but I'm glad it was solved that way. Everyone was happy and obtained their heart's desire.

In keeping with my Reading Assignment Challenge, I need one more historical fiction book to finish this month's requirements, so this poll is made up of all historical fiction novels.  Also to give me an extra push, these are also all books that I already own and have been trying to find a chance to read since forever... except for Mistress of Rome, which was a fairly new addition to my digital shelves.

I don't know how long I'm going to keep this poll up, but it'll at least be for 24 hours to give lots of people a chance to vote.  Thanks, everyone!


The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare

Mortal Arts by Anna Lee Huber

My Fair Concubine by Jeannie Lin

Mistress of Rome by Kate Quinn

Goals:

1. To Have Fun

2. To Read More Books

3. To Experience a low-key read-a-thon (24 hour marathons are really intense)

Books Picked:

1. My Fair Concubine (Tang Dynasty #3) by Jeannie Lin - buddy read with Obsidian Blue

2. Mission to Murder (Tourist Trap #2) by Lynn Cahoon

3. A Dream Defiant by Susanna Fraser

4. High Stakes: The Rising Cost of America's Gambling Addiction by Sam Skolnik

5. Magic in His Kiss by Shari Anton

In order to complete my goals, I am curbing my habits of being on FB and Twitter so much and not going to watch any movies/tv shows until next week.

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Monday's Progress:

1. Participated in the morning Twitter introduce yourself in six words

2. Read My Fair Concubine 50% completed

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Tuesday's Progress:

1. Finished and reviewed My Fair Concubine

2. Started A Dream Defiant

3. Tweeted #shelfie4boutofbooks

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Wednesday's Progress:

1. Tweeted #5favorites - I went with five history books on different natural disasters.

2. Finished and reviewed A Dream Defiant

3. Started High Stakes - 13% read

4. Started Mission to Murder - 25% read

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Thursday's Progress:

1. Read High Stakes - 41% done

2. Read Mission to Murder - 57% done

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Friday's Progress

1. Finished and reviewed Mission to Murder

2. Read High Stakes - 61% done

3. Chose to swap out the other non-fiction book I had planned on reading during the read-a-thon. I picked another romance book (medieval era!) that was a freebie in the NOOK store and that I downloaded a long time ago. I really need to stop reading non-fiction during read-a-thons, they are time suckers that are slowing me down.

Goals:

1. To Have Fun

2. To Read More Books

3. To Experience a low-key read-a-thon (24 hour marathons are really intense)

Books Picked:

1. My Fair Concubine (Tang Dynasty #3) by Jeannie Lin - buddy read with Obsidian Blue

2. Mission to Murder (Tourist Trap #2) by Lynn Cahoon

3. A Dream Defiant by Susanna Fraser

4. High Stakes: The Rising Cost of America's Gambling Addiction by Sam Skolnik

5. High Tech Trash by Elizabeth Grossman

In order to complete my goals, I am curbing my habits of being on FB and Twitter so much and not going to watch any movies/tv shows until next week. I may hold off on reviewing books read until it is over so that I can devote more time to reading.

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Monday's Progress:

1. Participated in the morning Twitter introduce yourself in six words

2. Read My Fair Concubine 50% completed

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Tuesday's Progress:

1. Finished and reviewed My Fair Concubine

2. Started A Dream Defiant

3. Tweeted #shelfie4boutofbooks

I am feeling generous so I am giving this a three. There are some beautiful passages and scenes, but taken as a whole, there was no plot. There was a whole lot of nothing but pretty scenes after pretty scenes.

Yan Ling was an okay heroine - nothing about her annoyed me, but I didn't root for her HEA with the hero either. I did like Chang Fei Long as a hero, until that ending where he decides to chuck out all his plans and work up to this point and goes for Yan Ling. Dao was okay character as was Old Man Liang, but not very developed personality wise. Li Bai Shen was a highlight in any scene he was in....he was the laughter and reminder of good times for Fei Long, a confident and teacher for Yan Ling, comic relief for the readers, and the voice of reason for the MCs. I think one of the stars in my rating goes to Bai Shen. Lady Min could have been used more, especially as a tutor for Yan Ling rather than going off to join the Buddhist nunnery as soon as she entered the story, then as a mere re-appearance at the temple to talk with Dao and Yan Ling at the end of the story.

Like I said, no plot to be found, just pretty scenes. The name of the title is way off - the only concubine was Lady Min, who was the concubine for the late Elder Chang. I enjoyed the setting of Changan (there were many gates) and just the break from Regency England or the American West.

It was a great experience doing a buddy read with Obsidian Blue, but next time I hope we get a better book.