Helpful Score: 1
I love Susan Johnson books, but not this one. I found it very hard to care about the characters since they didn't seem to care about one another--they just wanted to have a lot of mindless sex.
Helpful Score: 1
Big disappointment after reading her other books. Sadly, I actually purchased this one. Wouldn't waste a credit for it.
Sexual & political intrugue in 1860's japan
What a strangely bloodless novel. I'm not convinced this is actually a romance since it read more like a travelogue. I don't think there's even a love scene between the hero & heroine. The Asian heroine drew me to the story but sadly, this is not a classic Susan Johnson.
From The Back Cover:
1968, Northern Japan, When her father's forces fall to the imperial army, Tama has no choice but to leave Japan before her enemies find her. Disguised as a peasant boy, she makes her way to the city's pleasure quarter, where anything and anyone is for sale and no request is forbidden. There she finds the one man who can protect her, and she's willing to pay him handsomely...in whatever currency he desires...Taking on a daimyo's beautiful - and willing - daughter may have seemed a fine idea at the time, but now, dodging assassins, spies, and the police while waiting for his cargo, Hugh has other ideas. But once she's in his bed, the captain is overcome by a desire to protect Tama - and ravage her - in equal measure...In a country teeming with danger, where no one can be trusted, the line between royalty and commoner will melt under passion's heat...strangers will become lovers...and uninhibited pleasure will offer love's only refuge..
1968, Northern Japan, When her father's forces fall to the imperial army, Tama has no choice but to leave Japan before her enemies find her. Disguised as a peasant boy, she makes her way to the city's pleasure quarter, where anything and anyone is for sale and no request is forbidden. There she finds the one man who can protect her, and she's willing to pay him handsomely...in whatever currency he desires...Taking on a daimyo's beautiful - and willing - daughter may have seemed a fine idea at the time, but now, dodging assassins, spies, and the police while waiting for his cargo, Hugh has other ideas. But once she's in his bed, the captain is overcome by a desire to protect Tama - and ravage her - in equal measure...In a country teeming with danger, where no one can be trusted, the line between royalty and commoner will melt under passion's heat...strangers will become lovers...and uninhibited pleasure will offer love's only refuge..
