Hungry Tigress

I had strong and mixed feelings about White Tigress, the first book in a series by Jade Lee. I liked the writing enough that I bought Hungry Tigress at the RWA signing. Though there are some problematic parts, I liked the story overall: 4 out of 5.

Joanna is being attacked by a group of men when another man comes to her rescue. He fights off the attackers and begins escorting her back to her home. During the journey, Joanna deduces the man's identity--something he cannot allow. He strikes her throat to keep her from talking, then takes her with him until he can decide what to do.

You can probably guess the first problem I had with the story. The hero, Zou Tun, demonstrates markedly unheroic behavior by hitting her in the first place. At the end of this chapter, I put the book down for a few days. Once I picked it up again, I became engrossed in the story.

I like Lee's writing style; it's lush and evocative. I also enjoy the setting. I know little about Chinese culture, and that's perhaps one reason why I find the book so compelling. Lee paints a vivid picture of the world in which Joanna and Zou Tun live. As for the characters themselves, they start as imperfect characters but show significant growth by the end.

As for the ending, I suspect that some readers will be put off by it. Here's a spoiler (click the beginning of the white space and scroll over it if you want to read it): Zou Tun and Joanna make love while members of their families watch. I didn't love this turn of events, but I understood how the story got there. Still, it's not the most comfortable scene to read. For more information about the ending (spoilers included), read the comments.

So once again, I had mixed feelings about some parts of the book, but I liked it anyway. The third book in the series comes out in November, and I'm looking forward to it. I want to see what will happen next. The heroine and hero are both Chinese, and the heroine has been a villain in the first two books. It should be interesting.