Review: Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin

Title:  Butterfly Swords

Author:  Jeannie Lin

Series:  None

Genre:  Historical Romance

Published:  Oct 1, 2010

Publisher:  Harlequin

Format:  ARC ebook

How I Got It:  reviewed for Net Galley

Read an excerpt

Book Summary:

Journey to the very edge of honor, loyalty . . . and love

During China’s infamous Tang Dynasty, a time awash with luxury, yet littered with deadly intrigues and fallen royalty, betrayed Princess Ai Li flees before her wedding. Miles from home, with only her delicate butterfly swords for a defense; she enlists the reluctant protection of a blue-eyed warrior…

Battle-scarred, embittered Ryam has always held his own life at cheap value. Ai Li’s innocent trust in him and honorable, stubborn nature make him desperate to protect her – which means not seducing the first woman he has ever truly wanted….

My Thoughts

Butterfly Swords is the story of Ai Lin, a Chinese princess that has serious doubts about her husband to be.  She knows that Li Tao is a traitor and is heartbroken that her family won’t stand behind her. 

Trust and honor are very important to Ai Lin, but she pulls a runaway bride stunt and stages her own kidnapping just to get away.  Her immediate plan is to return home to her family to explain, but once her father hears what she has to say, she’s forced to take more drastic measures.

Determined to escape the wrath of her family and her supposed to be husband, she enlists the help of Ryam, a barbarian she charms into risking his life for her.

First of all, when I read the blurb and saw the Butterfly Swords cover on Net Galley, I already knew that I was going to read and love this book.  This is probably due to the fact that I grew up watching martial arts movies and have developed an infatuation with sword fights and Jet Li.  No, I’ve never studied, but it’s just so fun to watch!

I immediately liked Ai Lin.  She was very naïve at times, but had enough backbone to control her own destiny and not be auctioned off for the sake of the Empire.  I love heroines that can handle themselves and don’t have to wait to be saved.  And you’ve got to admire a princess that trains to be a warrior when she could be kicked back in the palace with servants ready to answer her every beck and call.

Ryam was in the right place at the right time, but he's one of those characters that have to grow on you.  You want to like him, but he's always doing stupid stuff because he's a man and you can't tell him any better.  But he redeemed himself in the end, which made for an awesome HEA.

Another bright spot in the story was Ai Lin’s grandmother, Mei Lin.  I’m guessing this is where she got her spirit from, because it certainly did not come from her mother.  I enjoyed the story she told Ai Lin of how she met her grandfather, so The Taming Of Mei Lin novella will go on my TBR.

My  Rating

I loved Butterfly Swords and would recommend it.  If you don’t love it for the romance, you’ll still love it because Ai Lin is a kick ass heroine.  I give Butterfly Swords four and a half flowers of love.

1/2 

Author Spotlight: Interview with Jeannie Lin

Today, I welcome author Jeannie Lin to the blog.  Jeannie has a new historical romance, Butterfly Swords, which released on Oct 1.  I had an opportunity to read it and will be posting my review later today.

Jeannie is super sweet and although she has been super busy lately, she still made time to answer a few questions for me.

Diva:  Describe yourself in five words.

Jeannie:  Analytical, sentimental, determined, scatter-brained, optimistic

Diva:  What are three things that your readers would be surprised to learn about you?

Jeannie:  I've been doing so many interviews, so I'm going to try to dig deep here....1) I love trips to Vegas. My favorite game is blackjack. I can have fun in Vegas even if I don't gamble at all. I have a feeling if I put my mind to it, I'd be a fair poker player. I don't play much, but when I took an intro lesson once, a bunch of sharks swooped in after the lesson was over to feed on the beginners. I took 'em all.  2) I'm married to an uber-alpha male who wooed me for a good ten years before I gave into his charm 3) The one thing I consider myself a savant at is debugging computer code--which is how I met my husband, who I taught how to program. He denies this. 

Diva:  What were you doing before you became a writer?  And what would you have done if your writing hadn't taken off?

Jeannie:   I was a science teacher and then a healthcare integration consultant. Basically a techie. I still do that as I'm not in a place where writing pays the bills yet. The writing career is quite a long ways from taking off, but I do entertain fantasies in the middle of the night about one day writing for a living. 

Read an excerpt

Diva:  What authors have had the most influence on your writing or your desire to become a writer?

Jeannie:  Stephen King and Ray Bradbury first inspired me to read and to write. I consider Barbara Ankrum my mentor and she was the one who taught me how to put a novel together and made me believe I could write romance. I'd also have to add Marion Zimmer Bradley into that. Her Sword and Sorceress anthology was the very first time I tried to submit anything. I was in middle school at the time. 

Diva:  How long did it take from the time you finished your first book, to get your work published?

Jeannie:  About four years. Oh wait, that's the start of the first book. From finish, it was about a year and a half. And the first book was not the one that sold. 

Diva:  What's the best piece of advice you were given while you were trying to get your work published? 


Jeannie:  Keep on working on the next book. 

Diva:  What book(s) are you dying to get your hands on?

Read an excerpt

Jeannie:  Cindy Pon's Fury of the Phoenix is high on my list. I've also been searching madly for Courtney Milan's Trial by Desire which I better have by the time this interview posts! 

Diva:  Do you have any tidbits that you can share about what's next on your agenda?

Jeannie:  I've put together a proposal for a historical paranormal series also set in imperial China. It has jiangshi--hopping zombies in it.  If that actually sells, I may have to reward myself with a research trip to China. :)

Jeannie’s Bio

Jeannie Lin started writing in 2005 while she was teaching high school. Her stories are inspired by her love of adventure, history, and fantasy in both western and Asian traditions. From an early age she was fascinated by legends of King Arthur and the fantasy of Lord of the Rings as well as the Chinese wuxia (martial arts) fiction. As a result, she writes heroic characters in epic situations while interweaving a strong romance to make larger than life characters human.

Where to find Jeannie:

Website:  http://www.jeannielin.com

Twitter:   @JeannieLin

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1833319451&ref=ts