Customer Reviews

White Tigress

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Interesting premise...Didn't like it, though. I can see why it would appeal to a lot of women, but I guess I have some serious mental blocks when it comes to certain themes because when it came down to it, I really couldn't get invested in this couple and therefore I ended up skimming to the end.

The setting is Shanghai, 1897.The main character Lydia wants to surprise her fiance' by showing up at his door. She falls prey to trickery and winds up being sold as a slave to Ru Shan who wants her for her yin. Which is where it gets a little...weird. Yin in this context means (as I am understanding it) female sexual energy. He promises that he will let her go, with her virginity in tact, if she does as he says so that he can extract her yin. Thus follows a muddled series of somewhat erotic/interesting/disturbing encounters. Personally, submissive females tend to irritate me. I couldn't get into that.

Whether you like this book or not depends on taste. For me, it was minimally romantic and erotic.

The combination of a Chinese setting and the late Victorian time period made White Tigress a must read for me, and surprisingly, the book more than lived up to my expectations. Firstly, I really, really loved how author Lee did not have the heroine, Lydia, see the hero, Ru Chan, as "he was chinese, with slanted eyes and yellow skin." I tend to stay away from interracial romances because most of the time, the authors feel the need to constantly remind the reader that one of the characters isn't white. So Lee recieved an automatic thumbs up from me. Regarding the rest of the story, it was luscious, very sensual and the relationship between the protagonists was very realistic. I enjoyed the elements of Shanghai, as well as the religious and cultural differences between Lydia and Ru Chan that weren't used as a chance for the author to step atop a soap box. If you are looking for an erotic, rich read that isn't your run of the mill historical romance between two mature adults, White Tigress is for you.

Jade Lee's "White Tigress" is simply the best multicultural romance book written at this point, in my opinion. The female protagonist, Lydia, is a strong, smart woman and Ru Shan, her male counterpart is unlike any man I've read about. He recognizes his faults and deals with them, with the help of Lydia. Being strong for each other is what finally gets them what they want. This book makes me think and question everything. That's why I love it and will keep it always in my library. This is definitely a must-read but not like a typical romance. If you go in expecting that, you'll miss the message.

In 1898 Lydia Smith leaves England to make a surprise visit to her fiancé, who she has missed. However, she never makes her destination as she is kidnapped, drugged, and sold into sexual slavery to a Chinese brothel.

Ru "The Dragon" Shan is going to teach Lydia all he knows about sexuality, but the WHITE TIGRESS Buddhist will never release his seed physically as he wants to capture her yin to spiritually supplement his yang. However he finds himself attracted to the slave who displays intelligence that he has never seen in a woman before especially as she insists he is her teacher not her master. As they fall in love, Ru struggles to keep from physically ejactulating but Lydia makes it the most difficult task of his enlightened life as she insists their yin and yang belong together in loving harmony.

This exotic, erotic and spiritual historical romance is unique as Jada Lee introduces her audience to the sexual side of Zen Buddhism by interweaving eastern beliefs into the robust story line. The lead couple is an enjoyable powerful pairing and comparing of two strong souls, but it is Ru whose inimitability not seen in romance tales that makes the novel different, educational, and engaging. WHITE TIGRESS is a fine distinctive tale of East loves West.

Harriet Klausner

I've never read about yin and yang before, and I'll all for the slave scenarios. Lydia is a strong willed English woman who journeys to Shanghai to surprise her fiance, when she's abducted and sold into slavery. Ru Shan is in for quite a shock when he discovers the woman he enslaved has actually enslaved his spirit, and eventually his heart. Interesting and original!

Five stars for Jade Lee's White Tigress.

Lydia Smith, an English woman travels to China in search of her finance, Maxwell. Unfortunately, she ends up in a Chinese brothal. Cheng Ru Shan searches for his own immortality. In order to reach his goal, Ru Shan purchases Lydia from a brothal for her yin waters.

As Lydia becomes sensually aware of her body and longs for Ru Shan to continue his daily exercises with her, she waits for an opportunity to escape her captor. When the day comes, she flees and finds her fiance only to be betrayed by him.

You'll have to read White Tigress to find out how Lydia and Ru Shan find one another and have a happy ever after. This is a wonderful heartwarming multicultural romance. A must read!

Sandy Levin

I actually read the whole thing, I still don't know why. This book was repetitive, uninteresting, and contrived. The characters were underdeveloped, the relationship was strained, and the setting was 2-dimensional. There was potential in the space of this book to explore the location, social mores, religion, cultural differences and gender relations. So much could have been done to make this book dynamic and at least entertaining, and that would have only enhanced the so-called plot. The male characters came off as creepy, the primary female was a dishrag, with the only vaguely appealing plot point involving the secondary female character (without which the book would have never happened).

Apparently this is part of a series, one I will NOT be purchasing or even sampling.

This story occurs in late 1800 Shanghai, SHOULD have been a fascinating look at multicultural Shanghai. Sadly, it is NOT! This is a very shallow story about an English girl who sails to Shanghai to meet her fiance, but is kidnapped from the docks and sold into slavery to a Chinese shop keeper. The majority of the book features the girl locked up in her room where the shop keeper drains her Yin (female sexuality) without taking her virginity in an attempt to gain immortality in the Tao religion. There are no descriptions of the city or people of Shanghei, or their interactions. Their is a brief theme where the hero realizes that his "pet" is not the "stupid barbarian animal" that the Chinese emperor has said that the white people are. But the theme is not expanded upon. Most of the book focuses on the hero's wish to mix yin and yang and his frustration that he can not reach immortality. And yet there was not enough true information about the process that I really felt I understood the Tao philosophy/religion. (It was referred to both ways in the book.)

This was a freebie and I was still disappointed. Don't waste your money.

I read Jade Lee's cotribution to the Crimson City books "Seduced By Crimson" and found it to be an enjoyable read so I decided to have a look at her other books starting with this one.
What a turn around this book is horrible on so many levels, the characters especially the male lead are not likeble and the premise has no real spark.
I am very supprised by the good reviews and I can tell you I will not be picking up any more in this "Tigress" series and I doubt I will be reading very much more of Mz Lee's offerings if this is all she has got.

Give me Stephanie Laurens or Christine Feehan any day of the week.

I am amazed that anyone would give this drivel more than one star. Page after page of a woman locked in an apartment with nothing to do. How is that in anyway interesting?