I think this was the first of Jeannie Lin's books not to show up in the books section at my local Walmart – had I seen it, I'd certainly have bought it, because I've liked or loved everything of hers that I've read so far. Instead, I ended up checking it out through my library.

This book is set in Tang Dynasty China but, as far as I know, has nothing to do with any of Lin's Tang Dynasty Harlequin Historicals. Yue-ying is the maidservant of a courtesan named Mingyu. Bai Huang, the privileged son of a noble family, appears to be interested in Mingyu but really only has eyes for Yue-ying. Unfortunately for him, Yue-ying is determined not to forget their respective positions. Whatever romantic notions Huang might have, any relationship between the two of them is almost certain to end in heartbreak.

Bai Huang has a reputation for being carefree and foolish. What no one realizes is that he's his father's spy. When a courtesan asks for Huang's help only to be murdered a short time later, Huang and Yue-ying team up in an effort to find her killer.

This was the first book in Lin's Pingkang Li Mysteries series. The series title and the tone of the relationship between Huang and Yue-ying left me feeling uncertain about whether this would be a historical romantic suspense or a mystery with romantic elements. I honestly could not see how Huang and Yue-ying could have a traditional HEA. Their respective social statuses, among other things, meant that Huang couldn't marry Yue-ying. One character mentioned that he couldn't make her his mistress without ruining his chances of ever becoming married. All that seemed to leave was either a tragic love story ending of some sort, or Yue-ying becoming Huang's mistress after he got married. Neither of those options sounded very appealing.

Lin did manage to carve out a happy ending for the two of them, but it didn't work for me. Two characters who I don't think even had speaking roles magically slid into just the right places and reacted in just the right ways, and suddenly all the obstacles between Huang and Yue-ying were gone. On the one hand, I'm glad the book ended the way it did, because I wanted Yue-ying to be happy. On the other hand, it felt way too convenient.

As usual, I enjoyed Lin's characters. Yue-ying, in particular, was wonderful. She was observant, practical, and loyal. Whereas Huang spent a huge portion of their relationship not thinking very deeply about the future and the realities of their differing social statuses, Yue-ying wasn't nearly so naive. I really felt for her. Even the sex was difficult for her. Her only prior experiences with sex had been when she was a prostitute, and none of those times had been her choice. It was hard for her to get to a point where she could actually enjoy being with Huang. Huang misunderstood at first, thinking that maybe he just hadn't been good enough. I was glad when he finally realized that he needed to ease up a bit.

I liked Huang's sister, Wei-wei, and I eventually came to like Mingyu. Constable Wu intrigued me – he reminded me a lot of Inspector Lunge in Naoki Urasawa's Monster. I wanted to wholeheartedly like Bai Huang. Most of his carefree behavior was an act. Although he didn't outwardly show it, he desperately wanted to pass the imperial exams and finally stop disappointing his father. At the same time, he struggled with a gambling addiction. I loved his conversations with Yue-ying. It was just that I was a little bothered by where the romance seemed to be going, and by his arguments, once he realized that his father wasn't going to let him marry Yue-ying, that becoming his mistress should be an acceptable alternative. I have to say, I really struggled with the balance between realism and romance in this book, and my own feelings about it all.

I can't say too much about the mystery without spoiling things. It did keep me interested, although I liked the book more for the interactions between Bai Huang and Yue-ying than for the mystery.

I enjoyed this, but my issues with the romance kept me from liking it as much as some of the others by Lin that I've read. I'm looking forward to the next book, which stars Mingyu and Constable Wu.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

I came across this while looking through the offerings in Right Stuf's latest Yen Press sale. I had never heard of The History of the West Wing before, but its title caught my eye. Reviews indicated that the story would probably be mediocre. However, I fell in love with the artwork that came up when I did a quick Google Image Search, and Right Stuf's sale price was excellent, so I decided to get it anyway.

The History of the West Wing is an English translation of a Chinese graphic novel influenced by Wang Shifu's play, Xi Xiang Ji. The play, in turn, was influenced by a fable. I know this because Yen Press included a page of background information. I appreciated that page, but later decided I would have liked more. Additional cultural notes beyond the one or two footnotes would have been nice.

Now, on to the story. Chen Yuqing is a wandering scholar. Five years ago, he was in love with Mingyan, the daughter of the imperial secretary, but their relationship ended badly. He now believes that all young noble ladies are haughty and cold. He's the only one who isn't eagerly awaiting the upcoming ceremony at the temple of Buddha the Savior, and the possibility of seeing beautiful Pianpian, the minister's daughter.

However, a chance encounter with Pianpian intrigues Chen Yuqing. He arranges to meet with her in secret, and the two fall in love. Unfortunately, Pianpian's mother has arranged for her to marry Du Heng, the only son of Imperial Secretary Zheng Du. Chen Yuqing must prove his worth to Pianpian's mother and convince her to break off Pianpian's engagement to Du Heng.

I'll start with the good: the artwork is amazing. Guo Guo's linework and coloring is delicate and lovely. The image of Pianpian that you see on the cover is taken from the artwork in the story - this is not one of those cases where the cover art promises more than the interior art delivers.

There are 22 pages of illustrations at the end of the volume (18 full-page works and 2 double-page spreads), and I consider this graphic novel worth it for those pages alone. I wish I owned poster-sized copies of some of them. The story artwork is just as beautiful. The only complaint I had was that characters' faces weren't always very consistent. It was easier to keep track of everyone by noting hairstyles and clothing.

Now for the rest. As other reviewers have mentioned, the story is fairly weak. After spending five years moping over Mingyan, Chen Yuqing fell in love with Pianpian amazingly quickly. As for Pianpian, all it took was a moment or two for her to decide that Chen Yuqing wasn't like all the other men who'd tried to catch glimpses of her. They were a breathtakingly gorgeous couple, and more virtuous than Mingyan and Du Heng, but that was it. Honestly, had the "dropped handkerchief" scene gone a little differently, Chen Yuqing could just as easily have fallen in love with Xiaoyue, Pianpian's maid.

Much of the story's "action" happened off-page. For example, at one point, Pianpian, her mother, and the temple were being threatened by some soldiers. Pianpian's mother promised Pianpian's hand in marriage to whomever could save them all, so Chen Yuqing promptly disappeared and came back with an entire army. Readers were later told that he scaled a mountain in the middle of the night to find that army, but none of that was ever shown. The same went with Chen Yuqing's efforts to prove he'd be a good future husband by finally passing the imperial exams.

This is, at best, a mediocre graphic novel, and the romance boiled down to “two gorgeous and relatively virtuous young people fall immediately in love.” However, I knew going in not to expect too much from the story and instead bought it mostly as an artbook. In that respect, I'm very happy with this.

Rating Note:

If I could rate the story and artwork separately, I'd give the artwork 4.5 stars, and the story either 2.5 or 3 stars. I decided to give the artwork a bit more weight and settled on 4 stars.

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

 I've enjoyed Jeannie Lin's China-set historicals for the Harlequin Historicals line 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 quite a treat.

First of all, if you've never read Jeannie Lin, you are missing out. She is one of those increasingly rare authors who works great historical and cultural details into her stories without it ever feeling forced. And that's exactly the type of worldbuilding readers get here. The story takes place in the Pingkang Li, the entertainment district of the Tang Dynasty capital of Changan. The heroine, Yue-Ying, is maidservant to Mingyu, a legendary beauty among the courtesans of the district. Yue-Ying is used to living in the shadows, so when she is noticed by Bai Huang, one of the men who hangs around the Lotus Palace and other pleasure houses of the quarter, it's an unsettling experience for her.

Though somewhat in disgrace with his family, Bai Huang still comes from a very privileged world while Yue-Ying was the child of a peasant farmer who sold her when she was young. The differences in their worlds likely would have kept them apart were it not for a murder in the Pingkang Li. Yue-Ying fears someone she knows may be implicated in the crime, while Bai Huang has his own reasons for wanting to see it solved. Given their respective positions, it soon becomes obvious that each can access portions of society that the other cannot and so they are thrown together in an attempt to share information and solve the crime.

This book truly stands out because not only is the worldbuilding well done, but the cast of characters works very well also. Yue-Ying has some insecurities related to her past and her appearance, but she does not wallow in them. Instead, she comes across as a strong, intelligent and rather no-nonsense heroine. She behaves in a way that appears believable given her time and place in history, but she's also not inclined to put up with any shenanigans from the hero. Likewise, Bai Huang is not the rakish buffoon he initially seems and he certainly has some issues of his own. However, over the course of the story, we see him learning to deal with the hand life deals him like an adult, and by the end of the book, it's easy to see why so many in the Pingkang Li like him.

This is a partial review. You can find the complete text at All About Romance

I enjoyed this one so much that I was rarely willing to stop reading long enough to take notes. That makes writing this review a little difficult, but I'll try my best.

Unlike the other books by Lin that I've read, this one was light on action scenes. Fei Long had to be rescued at one point, and later he got to show off his archery prowess, but that was, I think, pretty much it. The bulk of the book was about Yan Ling learning how to act like a noble lady, Fei Long fretting over his family's debts, and the two of them falling for each other but being unable to say anything about their feelings.

Fei Long and Yan Ling were great characters. Yan Ling had spent most of her life keeping her head down and trying in vain to please the teahouse owner and his wife. She wasn't completely beaten down, however. When she thought Fei Long was trying to buy sex from her early on in the book, she was deeply offended, so much so that, without thinking, she doused him with tea. I wondered whether she'd be mulish about learning all the many things she needed to know in order to act like a princess, but she actually took her job very seriously, even going so far as to arrange study sessions beyond the ones Fei Long had already planned for her. I loved her determination and dedication – this was no annoyingly childish heroine.

Fei Long was very proper, ruled by honor and the responsibility he felt towards his servants and those who had helped his family. Even as he began to fall for Yan Ling, he knew he couldn't act on his feelings, because sending Yan Ling off to marry a Khitan tribal leader was most advantageous for everyone as a whole. Yan Ling would be treated as a princess for the rest of her life, Fei Long's family wouldn't lose face, and all the servants who depended on Fei Long could continue to work in his household. His unhappiness seemed like a small thing to him, by comparison.

Because Fei Long and Yan Ling were both such responsible people and couldn't hardly even envision doing anything other than what they'd agreed to do, they spent a good bit of time in love with each other but unable to vocalize their feelings. I loved this. I loved reading about the two of them sneaking looks at each other, trying to read each other's emotions, noticing little things about each other.

The people they were, and their reasons for not being together, kind of ruined the moment they finally had sex, however. There I was, thinking “But wait! What about Fei Long's servants and Minister Cao? Are they just going to give up on all of them?” It was Yan Ling who brought Fei Long's obligations up, and only after it was too late. The resolution to that problem, as well as the resolution to Fei Long's family's debts, all seemed just a little too easy.

All in all, despite the too-easy ending, I loved this book. I think it's my favorite of Lin's so far. Part of me hopes she'll write something starring Bai Shen, Fei Long's actor friend. His ego was enormous, and I wasn't happy with what he did in one scene involving Yan Ling, but he was usually a lot of fun.

Additional Comments:

While reading this,I had a lot of flashbacks to the Chinese calligraphy class I took in college. Fei Long was teaching Yan Ling how to write, and I was all, “Yeah, you definitely have to move your brush quickly. The paper absorbs the ink like a sponge." ::crying in remembered horror:: And I will never forget the one and only time the instructor said something positive about my homework. It was when we were practicing Li Style. His words were something to the effect of, “This is a little bit better.” That was high praise, coming from him.

(Original review, with read-alikes and watch-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)