Monday, June 18, 2012

Skeleton Women by Mingmei Yip

She's young, beautiful, has been taught to please a man and she also knows how to kill one.  Skeleton women are spies sent to get secrets from those high in power.  If necessary, she's to kill the lover.  It matters not if she dies in the attempt...

Kensington Books sent me an ARC of this book for review.  It was published at the end of May, so you can get a copy at your local bookstore now.

Camilla was an orphan, so she was perfect to train for this role.  She had no one to care about what happened to her, she was "adopted" young and trained for the consort/assassin position for half her life.  And now it's time for her to do her duty.

Master Lung admires her singing and soon takes her as his consort.  She does what she needs to do but takes no joy from it.  He's old, looks like a monkey, and has strange sexual needs.  But he's a rival gang member and she has to find his secrets so Big Brother Wang can take over his territory.

Her problems begin when his son returns home from Harvard and he takes an interest in her. She also meets two more skeleton women, and a body guard falls in love with her.  All this is more than a young woman can handle.

This is an intriguing story.  The Shanghai background is credible and interesting; the story flows well; and you begin to feel sorry for Camilla and her problems completing her mission.

I had a few unanswered questions at the end.  I think this a stand-alone book, so I will have decide what I think happens in the future.  Or the author may surprise me with a sequel.  I'd like that.

Why not take a walk in Shanghai and see the sights, meet the other Skeleton women, and think about what you do in Camilla's place?

If you'd like my copy of this ARC, please leave a comment here on my blog and then email me at info at bookfaerie.com with your name and address.  I'll pick a winner in about a week.

Happy reading.

1 comment:

ChristyJan said...

This sounds like an intriguing read with a subject that I would never have imagined.

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