cakt1991 's review for:

My Fair Concubine by Jeannie Lin

3.0

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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My Fair Concubine is the middle book of Jeannie Lin’s loosely connected Tang Dynasty series, being a stand-alone published  in between two slightly more closely connected duologies. I missed this one during my first run with the rest of them, because I was a strictly print reader at the time, the books had gone out of print, and while I could find print copies of the others, I could not find one of this one. And I do think the time away, especially after having read more of Jeannie Lin’s work since these early Harlequin category historicals has impacted the reading experience to an extent. It’s still pretty good,however, because she’s always had talent and a keen eye for detail, and is able to engross you in the setting, whether it’s your first book of hers or you’ve read all of them. 

The heroine is all right…she’s not the most compelling Jeannie Lin heroine, even taking into account this is an early work…I remember some of the others in the series being awesome. But Yan Ling is sweet in her own way, and I appreciated that through her situation, the story was able to explore the misogyny of the times, especially with her essentially working to become a concubine. 

I really liked Fei Long, and felt for his struggle to preserve the family honor, leading him to have to make some tough decisions after his sister ran away. I loved seeing him bond with Yan Ling as he was educating her, and it led to some pretty steamy moments, although it was a bit of slow burn getting there. 

The book is a bit slower paced, even considering it is a category romance and thus shorter than “single-titles.” The lessons did feel a bit repetitive, and it was a bit too slow of a burn at times, but ultimately, it was worth it, even if it did drag on occasion. 

While this is not my favorite of Jeannie Lin’s books, it is very much a timing thing, and I still enjoyed it for what it is and acknowledge why many others may enjoy it more. I would still encourage anyone who hasn’t to pick this (and all of her other books) up as soon as possible.