Book Review of #4 Burning Tigress by Jade Lee
Author: Jade Lee
ISBN: 0-8439-5688-7
Publisher: Leisure Historical
Part of a Series: Tigress series
Type of book: romance, interracial relationship Asian male/white female, 1881-1899, China, tigress, adult, romance
Year it was published: 2006
Summary:
The Tigress: the Chinese symbol for female sexuality; the counterpart of the male "dragon"; a priestess of a Taoist sect.
Charlotte Wicks wanted more. Running her parents' Shanghai household and caring for her sick brother was necessary drudgery, but a true 19th century woman deserved something deeper-her body cried out for it! Through a Taoist method, her friend Joanna Crane had reached Heaven on Earth, became a Tigress, found true bliss. Why should Charlotte be denied the same? She'd seen the scrolls. All she needed was guidance.
Her mother would call her wanton. Wicked. She would label Charlotte's curiosity evil, and invoke divine judgment. Certainly the teacher Charlotte desired was fearsome. Glimpses of his body inspired awe: flutters in the stomach and tingling in her core. And with the dark command she saw in his eyes, this door that they opened might never be closed. The man had a reputation among the females of the city as a ruthless seducer...but also as a bringer of great pleasure. There was only one choice to make.
Characters:
The characters are developed but in my opinion the male character seems kind of a copy from Jade Lee's other male characters. The heroine, Charlotte Wicks, is a strong woman who seems to be extremely modern. The author tries to include some humor, but unfortunately it was not as humorous as I wished. I would have liked to know what was wrong with Charlotte's brother or perhaps more glimpses of Charlotte's family life. I also wished to have understood a little more about Ken Jin's brothers.
Theme:
Carve your own path instead of following the one chosen for you.
Plot:
This is written in third person narrative from Charlotte's and Ken Jin's points of views. Although it is seen as a stand-alone novel, I think to further the enjoyment, one does need to read the prequels and the sequel to kind of understand what will be going on, because the author, for the most part, won't spell out how Joanna ends up as a Tigress or how the scrolls came into her possession. (I have not read Desperate and Cornered Tigress yet.)
Author Information:
Children of mixed races have their own set of rules. As the daughter of a Shanghai native and a staunch Indiana Hoosier, Jade Lee struggled to find her own identity somewhere between America and China. Her search took her to Regency England, where the formality of culture hid a secret sensuality that fascinated her. But Devil's Bargain was just the beginning. That same search adds a mystical element in her Tigress series beginning with White Tigress. In those books, Jade delves into the hidden sensuality of the Dragon/Tigress sect in pre-revolutionary China.
Jade is a USA Today Bestseller, 5 time PRISM award winner, Romantic Times Reviewers Choice winner (and 4 time nominee), and a state racquetball champion! She's been a RITA finalist twice, 6 time RT KISS award winner, and the recipient of multiple glorious racquetball bruises and injuries. But her favorite accolade comes from reader emails. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your wonderful emails! I couldn't do it without you!
At home, her husband and two daughters try to ignore her stacks of Zen sexual texts. Instead, they brag about her award-winning humor pseudonym, Katherine Greyle. (From freshfiction.com)
Opinion:
When comparing this book to other Tigress series, this isn't very good. It's entertaining and tries to be charming and witty, but its not. Also, its a little too similar to White Tigress. (Both Charlotte and Lydia get to be serviced by dragons, and there is also a prostitute element involved, and both Wen Ken Jin and Cheng Ru Shan have families that burden them.) Also, as I mentioned in Hungry Tigress Review, there is a slight discrepancy because its hinted in Hungry Tigress that Joanna became pregnant, yet in this book such belief is shattered. I also would have liked to know the name of the ailment that Charlotte's brother suffers from. I've also enjoyed learning different points and whatnot of what Ken Jin knows.
3 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)
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