The Concubine (Harlequin Blaze) [Mass Market Paperback]

Jade Lee (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harlequin Blaze | Publication Date: February 1, 2009

Requirements for being a royal consort:

1) Exemplify purity.

2) Pass all demanding tests.

3) Gracefully withstand petty backstabbing.

4) Be chaste. Very chaste.

Check to all! Chen Ji Yue is on her way to empress superstardom in nineteenth-century China. She only has to vanquish 300 rivals to bring her family great honor. Oh, and she may not find the deliciously sexy Sun Bo Tao--the emperor's best friend--at all delicious. Or sexy.

Damn. Ji Yue is in big trouble.

Because Bo Tao is definitely very sexy....

And Ji Yue is about to discover that chastity is overrated....

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin (February 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373794533
• ISBN-13: 978-0373794539
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #229,110 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jade Lee has broken new ground in multi-cultural romance. Her China-set historical romances are a first in genre history. Her six-book Tigress series stirred reader passions for foreign settings, and her fantasy romances continue to be ground-breaking. Where did she get such innovative ideas? From a mixed cultural heritage that brings unique vision to her fiction.

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 has taken her throughout Asian and the United States. In the end, the answer was found not only at home, but in her own head. Her imagination allows her to explore China in her Tigress series, dragon power in her fantasy romance Dragonborn, and of course, the amazing power of love in all of them.

A USA Today bestseller, Jade "Lee has made her mark with sizzling romances whose unique settings, intriguing backdrops and exotic characters lure you into worlds where heaven is reached through the highest meeting of mind and body. It's a world at once mysterious and erotic, secret and mind-expanding." (Romantic Times BOOKreviews on Cornered Tigress)

Jade's also a popular speaker appearing all over the country throughout the year. Her other joys include playing racquetball, rollerblading with a very large golden retriever, and watching her two daughters play volleyball. She loves getting mail from readers, so please e-mail her at [e-mail]. Or visit her on the web at www.jadeleeauthor.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harlequin Blaze goes Historic, April 16, 2009

By 

Elaine Stevens (Middlebury, IN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Concubine (Harlequin Blaze) (Mass Market Paperback)

I have only read a smattering of romance. Most of the writers I have read are long since dead. I discovered Jade Lee's Tigress works through the White Tigress site in September. Since then, I have read nearly every book in her library. THE CONCUBINE is the first I bought upon release.

Her style is sharp and irreverent in the face of a tradition which was hard on women. She generally explores the Chinese tradition, but has brought China to England in my favorite work, DRAGON EARL.

THE CONCUBINE is joyfully all China. She explores the dangers and excitement of being chosen as concubine for the Emperor of China. Women were the lowest of the low in that society, uneducated and marketable. However Jade Lee presents an independent intellegent woman as her heroine, Ji Yue. Given to the Emperor as concubine, she falls in love with his best friend, Sun Bo Tao.

At first Sun Bo Tao appears flippant and causual about life, but, as with all her characters, there is more to him than meets the eye. He is a proud man who wants to serve his Emperor and his country but is more useful to the Emperor by remaining in the shadows as his loyal friend and confident.

When it is time for the forming of the Emperor's harum, Sun Bo Tao is put in charge, along with the dowager Empress and head eunuch, of the testing and celebration for marriage. Although an infamous ladies man, the Emperor knows his friend. Unfortunately, Ji Yue was unexpected and hard to resist. What happens along the way is sometimes hysterically funny and sometimes nervewracking. It is a thrilling erotic tale.

This is a quick read, as the Blaze Collection generally is, but the work is well researched and highly entertaining. As with all Jade Lee's works, it's hard to put it down until it's finished... and even then you wish there was more. I recommend this work highly.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, February 8, 2009

By 

Denise Bolds "Lion Who Reads A Lot!" (New York United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Concubine (Harlequin Blaze) (Mass Market Paperback)

Ms. Lee does it again!! I love her historical stories - the color, the detail the sensuality is all there and thsi book delivers! SHORT STORY - I could have kept reading!!! This story and the Tao of Love sould all be put togther for a long - good book!

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Too superficial, and too short, March 1, 2009

By 

foleydog "foleydog" (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Concubine (Harlequin Blaze) (Mass Market Paperback)

Mainstream romance heroes and heroines don't reflect the diversity of everyday society. So when one comes out, I buy it immediately. Unfortunately, The Concubine is my second, and likely to be my last Jade Lee book. Her characters are too superficial, and Blaze should not continue to pursue the short form historical romance. Fifty five thousand words are not enough to do the past justice.