Books by Jeannie Lin
Jeannie Lin’s Lotus Palace Mysteries are back, and they continue to be satisfying, well-crafted reads. They’re best read in order, so I suggest not starting with this one; however, this review doesn’t have spoilers except for identifying previous couples.
Song Yi is the lead courtesan at th ...
Jeannie Lin’s Lotus Palace Mysteries hit a trifecta of unusual setting, richly drawn characters, and engaging plots. The Hidden Moon, book four in this series, continues this record, and I’m happy to be able to recommend it.
Who would dare assassinate a chancellor on the very steps of the Ch ...
Although Tales from the Gunpowder Chronicles features three separate steampunk novellas, I only read and reviewed the third novella, Love in the Time of Engines. The other two novellas are standalone stories; LitToE is a prequel to Gunpowder Alchemy, published in 2014.
LitToE is tough to grade. ...
I don’t think The Liar’s Dice enhances Gambled Away. The slow pace, the setting, and ambiguous ending struck a discordant note with me and for me, it is the least successful novella in the anthology. A murder and the ensuing search for the killer drives the plot and unfortunately, Ms. Lin sacrif ...
I've really enjoyed previous Jeannie Lin books, but A Dance With Danger felt to me like a Tang Dynasty version of wallpaper regencies. Don’t get me wrong; I’d still take it over most other categories, and even over some longer, more detailed works. But on the whole, the book was not what I’d h ...
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 ...
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 quite a tr ...
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 (i ...
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 run away with her lover. I found it ...
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 night for r ...