Customer Reviews

Jade Island

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Though it lacks a bit of Amber Beach's quick repartee, Jade Island is definitely the better book. The characters are more developed, deeper and more complex.

Anyone who has ever been trapped between two worlds, never really belonging in either, will understand and love Lianne Blakney. She is beautiful, funny, and intelligent, but also deeply hurt by her family's disregard. Lianne is also full of useful information about jade and chinese culture. If you leave this book without having learned something, then you should probably read it again. I found it fascinating.

Kyle Donovan was burned pretty badly in the first book, and is wary of women. His self-depreciating humor is endearing, as is his wary concern for Lianne. The setting was also worth the cover price. I love Seattle, and the entire Pacific Northwest!

All in all, this is a much better book than the first. I look forward to watching the other Donovans.

Books called romances should have backgrounds and plots to make the story more than just a fairy-tale relationship--and 'Jade Island' has done it all. She knows more about jade history than half of the Chinese people I know! The character portrayal earns a merit. I could hardly recognize Kyle from the 'golden boy' we saw in Amber Beach but he's a man with the sort of liveliness and character (we won't talk about the body) that's irresistible to hormones. Lianne's touched my soul. That strength and independance and mature acceptance and analysis of life and its troubles: that's everything and nothing without a little love. Guys, want to know what a real woman wants? Read about Lianne Blakely.

I'm Singaporean Chinese, so how writers show the mix of culture between Chinese and other types of culture have always intrigued me--and trust me, E.L. fans, this book's one of the best. Male dominance, family hiearchy, the food (winks), the way Mandarin and Cantonese is rewritten in English--wow. And the fact that there's no softening of the vices and the people with the vices makes it all the more real for everyone.

If you haven't bought this book--where have you been?? Some might say the Donovans are bigger than life, and that romances are bizarre and nonsensical, but this one changes the image. It's basically a good story, one that can happen in circles that the characters move in, and if you let it, it can be that, and more, for you.

Archer Donovan, head of the Donovan clan, asks brother Kyle to get close to Lianne Blakely, the illegitimate daughter of Johnny Tang and his American mistress, because he believes priceless Chinese jade artifacts have been stolen and he thinks the Tang family consortium, headed by Wen Zhi Tang, who has a lifelong obsession with jade, might have something to do with it.

Lianne is as passionate about jade as Wen and is a respected Jade expert, but much to her chagrin she's not accepted by the Tangs as a full fledged family member. However, when they need an expert to value the jade they want to buy, it's her they call.

In a nice twist her father, Johnny Tang, has asked her to get close to Kyle and while Kyle and Lianne are getting to know each other, they discover that priceless jade has been taken from the Tang vault and replaced with inferior pieces.

Lianne is a prime suspect because she is one of the few people who go into the vault on a regular basis. Then she's outright accused of stealing the jade and now she and Kyle, who now have a thing for each other, have to find the real thief or she may go to prison.

This is the second book in Ms. Lowell's series about the Donovan Clan and every bit as good as the first. There is lots of action, suspense, a double cross here and there and romance too. A very good book.

It is not often that I take the time to write an on-line review for a book that already has 36, but this one is worth it! Of all Elizabeth's books, of which I have read many, I feel this to be her best work. Kyle and Lianne are two characters which immediatly catch the reader's heart and imagination. I look forward to reading the next installment in the Donovan series. By the way, Amber Beach and Pearl Cove are both equally captivating books which allow you to visit a very lively and adventurous family.

I was so excited to read this book but was greatly disapointed when I begun, because the romance aspect was left to the background and the political part dominated the story to the point of bordem. There was way too much information and pages and pages of textbook information on jade and how it is crafted and set into jewelry or ancient swords for the Chinese. The romance between the main characters Lianne and Kyle was so rushed and didn't make much sense. I wasn't sure why he was trying to seduce her and why she even fell for him when she was centered on her work? I feel like I missed out on the plot here.

~Kyle Donovan is trying to get to the bottom of the disappearance of cultural treasures from the Tang vaults. He and his brother are trying out there own business at gem trading and treasure hunting. This discovery would be a coup, the only thing he didn't expect to get tangled in was an international gem ring that will bring him close to a woman who not only beautiful, but also suspected of theft of the famous Tung vault treasures hundreds of years old.

Lianne Blakely is the illegitimate daughter of a powerful Hong Kong trader and his American mistress. She is being accused of theft. Not just any ordinary theft, but the theft of ancient treasures. Millions in jade. She meets Kyle and he believes her, but she must find the real thief. Together they venture into the sordid world of international gem thievery, power plays and dangerous people that would rather see them dead than give up the beauty of the ancient jade.

Tracy Talley~@

Loved this book. Loved the jade and the Chinese cultural issues and the Donovan family! Maybe the romance got less play then in your average romance novel, but the crime caper was great and Kyle and Lianne were wonderful! Both smart, funny, sexy people. Much rounder characters than typical and great banter. The romance scenes were also quite hot.

I must say that I felt Jade Island was the worst book I have ever read by Elizabeth Lowell. I have always loved her books!!! They were safe!!! When everyone else was going to what was "popular" she stayed with passion, intrigue, and lots of chemistry. That is no longer so. I felt Jade Island didn't have characters I liked. Kyle seemed weak and depended on his older brother way too much. I felt that Lianne was a sorry imitation of all the heroines of Elizabeth Lowell's past. I really didn't like any thing about her. And what is with today's authors making sex into some "it's no big deal thing"??? Isn't the genre of Romance supposed to be making a story about something amazing happening between two people? Kyle and Lianne were so commonplace about having sex it made my stomach turn. I have always loved the sparks that fly in an Lowell/Maxwell novel, but I must say that as much as I have loved her novels in the past, if the next one isn't better Elizabeth Lowell I will no longer be a novel I pick sight unseen.

well i had read elizabeth lowells book cry wolf because my mother dared me to. ever since then i have been reading every book of elizabeths that my library has. i picked up this book about 2 books after i read mindnight ruby bayoue. even thought i knew what the end would be like it was a fun and exciting book. i knew the people and gained an even deeper emotional and personal impretion of them. this by far has to be the best book of the series so far.

This is the second in the series of the Donovon brothers and I found it very good! This one is about Kyle and Archer this time and how they are trying to figure out why jade is mysteriously missing from the Tang Family Vault. The illegitimate daughter of one of the Tang brothers Lianne is caught in the middle by being blamed for stealing the Jade. Kyle is told he has to befriend Lianne to try and find out if she was the one or not who did steal it and in the meantime he ends up falling in love with her and lets his emotions sometimes put him off track of what he is really supposed to be doing. While in the meantime Lianne's father Johhny is also telling her she has to befriend Kyle immediatly but will not explain to her the reason why he wants this. The way they mix romance and suspense it great! I couldn't put it down. I can't wait to read pearl Cove next.

"Jade Island" by Elizabeth Lowell, is the second book in Donavan family trilogy. The focus this time is Kyle, the reckless one of the Donavan bunch. Kyle is asked by his family to "seduce" lovely jade expert Lianne Blakely to see if she is connected to the disappearance of some expensive Chinese treasures. The treasures in question are a jade suit and some jade items from the Tang family vault. Lianne is the obvious choice for learning where the pieces are because of her connection to the Tang family.

Lianne is the illegitimate daughter of Johnny Tang and although she has never been acknowledged as part of the family, her expertise and knowledge of jade allows her to work closely with the family and with the pieces themselves. When pieces of the family's personal collection start disappearing, Lianne is the prime suspect of not only the Tang family and the government, but also the Donovan's. She is recruited by her father to "seduce" Kyle Donovan so the Tang family can get close the Donovan International. The purpose behind this is unknown to Lianne, but soon it becomes apparent the Tang's need the powerful Donovan's to remain successful in the jade-trading market.

As expected, attraction gets the best of Kyle and Lianne and they are soon caught up in a passionate affair. The affair intensifies when Lianne is arrested for stealing the Tang family jade and Kyle feels the need to protect Liane. Soon he must protect her from a killer, a killer who do anything to keep Lianne from revealing what she knows about the Tang family and it's treasures.

"Jade Island" is a great novel. Aside from the story I learned a great deal about Chinese heritage and jade. The book itself is a history lesson into Chinese traditions and the different kinds of valuable jades there are. Immediately after reading the novel I was online looking up erotic pieces that I had read about. If the other two novels in the series are as good as this one, then I can hardly wait to start reading!

Gennie Bailey-Rogers