Red Heart of Jade
Jun. 5th, 2009 09:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrThis is a part of Marjorie Liu's "Dirk and Steele" supernatural romance series. I'd heard they were "like X-men with magic and Romance" and (from this one book) while I'd say that's not literally true there's certainly the right mix of fun, thrills, drama, and romance I was expecting. This is apparently one of the weaker books but I still quite liked it, neither the romance nor the fantasy was spectacular but I can't think of that may other books which combine both so well, and it was nice knowing I had a guaranteed happy romantic ending and that the supernatural plot wouldn't be dropped once the romance got going.
The overall premise is that there's a supernatural detective agency "Dirk and Steele" which hires people with secret magical gifts and then sends them off to solve mysteries, fight bad guys etc. Each book is part of the continuing series but is also a stand alone romance with protagonists who are either new or only played supporting roles in previous books.
"Red Heart of Jade" is about a energy-reading psychic Dean who works for the agency and is hunting a supernatural murderer in Taiwan. In the process he seems to discover evidence that his childhood sweetheart Miri, dead at 16, is still alive. Is it her? How is she alive? And what has she got to do with the murders?
And then there's dragons and ancient mummies and immortals and lots of excitement :)
It didn't do too much of the creepy stuff that put me off in other romance novels I've tried reading, either. Dean is jealous and protective, but it makes sense in context, and for example there's a scene where she wants to go do something alone and he says "No! I can't let you out of my sight! What if something bad happens?" and she says "Dude, I need SOME independence, I'll be fine" and she goes off and does her thing and ISN'T CAPTURED BY BADGUYS. (I mean she is at other times, but it's never her fault for being too headstrong or whatever)
So now I'm going to go off and reserve the others they have in the library system.
If you're interested here's a summary of the series.
The overall premise is that there's a supernatural detective agency "Dirk and Steele" which hires people with secret magical gifts and then sends them off to solve mysteries, fight bad guys etc. Each book is part of the continuing series but is also a stand alone romance with protagonists who are either new or only played supporting roles in previous books.
"Red Heart of Jade" is about a energy-reading psychic Dean who works for the agency and is hunting a supernatural murderer in Taiwan. In the process he seems to discover evidence that his childhood sweetheart Miri, dead at 16, is still alive. Is it her? How is she alive? And what has she got to do with the murders?
And then there's dragons and ancient mummies and immortals and lots of excitement :)
It didn't do too much of the creepy stuff that put me off in other romance novels I've tried reading, either. Dean is jealous and protective, but it makes sense in context, and for example there's a scene where she wants to go do something alone and he says "No! I can't let you out of my sight! What if something bad happens?" and she says "Dude, I need SOME independence, I'll be fine" and she goes off and does her thing and ISN'T CAPTURED BY BADGUYS. (I mean she is at other times, but it's never her fault for being too headstrong or whatever)
So now I'm going to go off and reserve the others they have in the library system.
If you're interested here's a summary of the series.
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Date: 2009-06-07 07:41 am (UTC)