Book Review of #6 Tempted Tigress by Jade Lee
Author Name: Jade Lee
ISBN: 10-0-8439-5690-9
Publisher: Leisure
Type of book: Adult, romance, historical, China, interracial relationship white female/asian male
Part of Series: Tigress Sextet? #6
Year it was published: 2007
Summary:
Not only did China's Grand Canal transport food, slaves, and deadly opium, today it was a woman's path to freedom. But her flight would end in the arms of the emperor's enforcer, where another journey would begin. Orphaned and stranded, Anna Marie Thompson could trust no one, especially not her dark captor. Not when his eyes held secrets deadlier than her own. His caress was liquid fire, but Anna was an Englishwoman and alone. She could not trust that they could tame the dragon, as he whispered, or that sadness and fear could be cleansed by soft yin rain. Safety and joy were but a breath away. And perhaps love. All was there for the taking, if she would just give in to temptation...
Characters:
Anna Marie Thompson: Without giving too much away, she is a saucy addict with some morals (except when it comes to the hero) who, when she runs away, she meets the hero and nearly gets killed by him. The hero finds her intriguing and decides to keep her around. Throughout the novel we learn of her past and of how she eventually became an addict. She always keeps the hero on his toes with her unpredictability and doesn't shy away with trying to help him. She also tends to underestimate the hero as well.
I like the way she wrote the heroine without deviating from her personality. The heroine is something new and unpredictable and to me she is also likable, someone you want to root for. Her insecurities are also a nice touch to her and make her seem very human and very vulnerable.
Tau Zhi-Gang: He is the hero in the book with a dark path as well. He is well matched with the heroine in terms of unpredictability, insecurity and vulnerability. His story is dark as well and in beginning he seems to enjoy tormenting or discovering Anne Marie's personality. He is also admirable in his ideals and ambitious in trying to complete the task that the Empress and Emperor have assigned to him. He is also very protective of the heroine throughout the journey. He is also a tad bit unconventional and doesn't seem to care what others think of him or his beliefs.
I think I may have a thing for tortured heroes, or at least brooding heroes. I was drawn to the hero and really did like how despite his desires he fell in love with her. The chemistry between the two of them felt real to me and in someways they are an adorable couple.
Theme: A teacher told me that themes are the same thing as problems. If you figure out the problems then you can easily figure out the themes. The problems that the novel contained is overcoming darkness to be with someone you love, which is what the hero and heroine had gone through, and discovering a way to fuel the desire for life and finding a new way of life, or how unexpected things can be blessings in disguise. There are probably more themes but I cannot think of them at a moment.
Plot: I like the way the plot was handled, that is only gradually do we find out about the characters and their dark pasts, or rather throughout the whole book. In beginning we do get gradually introduced to the characters and their backgrounds, and I like how it is not told at once but little by little it is built up and we discover more and more about them.
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: I've had this book for three years now and every year I re-read it once or twice and never even get tired of it. This is probably one of the best Tigress books (next to her first one, White Tigress.) I enjoy the bickering and uncertainty between the hero and heroine and the fact that its a multicultural/interracial novel is a big plus in my view. I like reading how the Chinese man begins to fall in love with her, and how she tends to keep him on his toes throughout the novel. I also liked how the two discovered healing through love and their problems and that she didn't go into tigress teachings and whatnot. (After three previous books that did focus on tigress training, this is a relief.)
5 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.)
Comments
Post a Comment