Review: The Dragon Earl by Jade Lee

I’m not sure if Jade Lee meant the opening scene in her latest “The Dragon Earl” to be hysterically funny or if it’s just me. But as soon as I began picturing the scene in my head I couldn’t stop giggling. The lavish society wedding of a future Earl interrupted…by 3 Chinese monks in robes. The scandal! Can’t you just see the oh-so-proper upper class British nobility snobs? Too delicious.

Evelyn has been groomed from the cradle for her role as the future Countess. It’s a role that sometimes stifles her, but it is what it is. When her beautiful wedding is interrupted by 3 Chinese monks, she quickly takes control and tries to salvage the day as best she can. But really, even if one of the monks is white, how could he possibly think he’s the rightful Earl?

Jacob, or Jie Ke as he is now known, never wanted to make this trip to England in the first place. But his abbot has forbidden him to take his vows as a full-fledged monk until he reclaims he rightful place…and then decides to give it up. All his intentions are to do just that, until he catches sight of the beautiful woman who used to be the girl he remembers.

This story was in some ways moving and in some ways confusing. There was quite a bit of Asian philosophy embedded in the plot with Jacob not really knowing what the abbot’s intention were by making him return to England. I found that rather odd as I could see it right away, but I guess the book would have been much shorter then. The push and pull between the main characters was at times irritating, she’s pushing him away and then she’s kissing him, he’s ‘pleasuring’ her and then he says he’s leaving. This goes on until almost the last page and I sometimes found myself wanting to yell at them to just make a decision and stick with it!

There’s some pretty heavy petting which is beautifully written and the love scenes are definitely smoky, but I never really felt a strong emotional connection between these two. The words were there, but the underlying feelings just didn’t appear for me. I also got extremely irritated when the whole mystery portion of the book was never solved. I can only assume that the author intends to continue with it in another book, but I’m still ticked.

I’m not sure if it’s the whole ‘mysticism’ thing or the unsolved mystery or the lack of emotional impact that caused me to finish reading “The Dragon Earl” by Jade Lee and think, “Uh, huh…well alrighty.” It just didn’t resonate with me, but fans of Asian lore may react differently. Ah well, different strokes for different folks, right?

Until next time…

 

Reviewed by Julie