Helpful Score: 3
A wonderful book about an opium runner, Anna, in 18th century China and her captor, The Enforcer, Zhi-Gang, whose job is to kill leaders of drug/opium organizations. By the time Zhi-Gang has Anna imprisoned on his boat, she is no longer an opium runner. She is an addict though and is trying to get out of China to board a ship leaving for England, her parents' country. I loved the interaction between Anna and Zhi-Gang. Anna is an orphan who had to take up the job of an opium runner or face starvation. There was little else available for work for women besides prostitution. At that time the Chinese looked at women as way beneath them and any white person even lower than that. Through this book you really get to see how bad girls and women were treated at the time. Zhi-Gang is different from other Chinese men. His sister was sold by his parents when he was a young boy. Watching his sister taken away by some men at a young age, screaming, Zhi-Gang carries around this guilt with him since her sale price was used to buy his education. When Anna meets him, he is not only after some opium runners but also in search of his sister. He's an extraordinary man with amazing martial arts skills, reflexes and strength. Anna has no idea why he's letting her live since she believes he knows she's an opium runner and he automatically kills runners. A sweet love develops between them. The sex scenes are quite touching and very sensual. This book has a great plot, wonderful characters, relatable heroe and heroine, and sensuality. You even get to learn what China was like back then and how England was trying to force the opium trade on China, a good reason why Zhi-Gang hates the English so much.
