A review by bookishbrenbren
The Lotus Palace by Jeannie Lin

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