Reviews

The Lotus Palace by Jeannie Lin

jujudepamplemousse's review

3.0

An interesting and definitely different take on historical romance. Sadly, [b:The Lotus Palace|17348286|The Lotus Palace (The Pingkang Li Mysteries, #1)|Jeannie Lin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1370774599l/17348286._SY75_.jpg|24088994] didn’t really work for me. I found chemistry between Bai Huang and Yue-ying to be a bit off. Their attraction to each other didn’t really make any sense. Also they always faced the same problem so it made the book tedious. There wasn’t much evolution in their relationship in the last 100 pages thus I think that some parts could have been cut off.
I also didn’t really care for the mystery. I didn’t find the mystery really good, it was more of an excuse for the characters to be able to interact than anything else.
Overall I loved the setting but not so much the romance. I also think that the historical context could have been stronger because sometimes it seemed more fantasy than reality.

adrienne_adrimano's review against another edition

4.0

This is my first Chinese historical romance, and it has set a good precedent. The blend of mystery, history, and romance was developed at a good pace.
I definitely want to read the others in the series.

melbsreads's review against another edition

challenging mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Content warnings: murder, kidnapping, human trafficking, slavery, misogyny, violence, forced sex work, implied paedophilia

I was hesitant going into this because it's set in the 800s and I tend to feel a bit off about historical romances that are set THAT long ago because society was so overwhelmingly different and it's hard to write a romance with modern ideals that's set in that timeframe, you know? 

Anyway, I didn't realise going in that this is also roughly a 50/50 split between a murder mystery plotline that the protagonists are investigating and a romance between the two of them. The first half of the book felt very dominated by the murder, and the second half felt very dominated by the romance, particularly the

"what are we going to do, we're in love but you're betrothed to someone else and I don't want to be a concubine"

aspect of the plot. 

Ultimately, I did end up liking the characters and the story. But it was kind of a slow burn in terms of enjoyment for me...

alexsanch25's review against another edition

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

I enjoyed the main couple and the respectful focus on the perspectives and experiences of courtesans in the tang dynasty. And yueying and mingyu’s relationship was also great as it was unpacked. My issues were that the thread of inquiry to figure out who was the killer and the final reveal didn’t make sense to me. I felt like dots were missing. And Yueying going from disassociating during sex to enjoying felt like a jump. I did not like that Huang didn’t even notice she was disassociating but humans aren’t perfect but they didn’t talk about it once he realized it later. 

ungodlybri03's review against another edition

adventurous emotional informative mysterious reflective relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

librarydancer's review

2.0

This story started out enchanting, and I enjoyed the quietness of the plot, but the story just felt like it dragged and didn't really go anywhere until close to the end.

lukka2008's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

jennysjw's review against another edition

3.5

Enjoyed this as a historical romance. Slightly higher rating for Lin’s prose and the unique setting for a romance. 

Mediocre murder mystery. 

bookishbrenbren's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

The mystery wasn't deeply developed enough for me, like when the culprit is revealed in the final chapter I was like... who is that again?? And I feel like that's a sign of a bad mystery. The romance between the two main characters was fine but I feel like I didn't get to know either one of them deeply enough to understand their motivations in falling in love. The best part of the book was the relationship between the main character and Mingyu and the mystery of Mingyu's disappearance. Tying those two things to the overall mystery/plot was kind of complicated and got lost in the sauce imo 

autumnal54's review against another edition

emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25