Lady of The Imperial City by Laura Kitchell: A Book Review

Lady of The Imperial City
Author: Laura Kitchell
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: CreateSpace
Release Date: 2015
Pages: 293
Source: Netgalley/Publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Synopsis: Love isn’t forbidden to Lady Kirei as long as it’s with a proper gentleman of Kyō and she doesn’t mind sharing him with his wife. Her provincial upbringing makes her socially unacceptable as a true wife, yet as a lady by birth and a court favorite, her position makes it impossible for her to seek a match below her station. She’s trapped.

When a nobleman of similar provincial upbringing arrives in town and becomes an instant favorite of the emperor, he is sent to Lady Kirei for tutoring on city ways. Lord Yūkan is smitten, but she’s not a conquest to be won. She’s a woman of substance and worth, and she’s off limits.

Despite his unrefined manners, Lord Yūkan’s aristocratic bloodline shows through his fine taste and quick mind. It doesn’t hurt that he’s handsome, too. As he begins to touch her heart, Lady Kirei is ever mindful that they can’t commit, especially when her uncle schemes to make her a consort to a prince.

Will her family’s honor relegate her to the shadow-life of a consort, or can love find a way?

My Review: Kirei is living with her aristocratic uncle in the city of Kyo. However, because she was born and raised in the country, she cannot have an advantageous marriage. Her most prosperous future is to be the concubine to a prince. One day, Yukan, a country relative and a distant relative to the empress, arrives in Kyo. Yet, his manners are so unrefined for the city people that he is a laughing stock. The emperor appoints Kirei to teach him the refined manners of aristocratic elite. While tutoring him, they soon fall in love. Can they find a way to be together or must Kirei resign herself to her fate as the prince’s concubine?

Kirei is very lively. She is educated and observant in the behavior of the aristocratic society. She is feisty and headstrong. She does not want the life of what society dictates to her. She is attracted to Yukan because she can relate to his situation. He is a fish out of the water. While she laughs at him, she also feels sorry for him. Even though Yukan is often looked down upon by other members of society, he is very clever. He is hard-working and seriously strives to be a refined aristocrat. Thus, Kirei and Yukan make a good pair because both of them have a lot in common. Both of them are outsiders to society.

Overall, this book is about friendship, love, choices, and happiness. The story is very slow-moving, but I thought it was a good character story. I liked how the relationship between Yukon and Kirei has progressed naturally and slowly. I found the author’s writing to be very beautiful. The author did a great job in describing the Japanese aristocratic society. Even though this novel was set in medieval Japan, it reminded me of Jane Austen and other Regency novels. I recommend this book to those interested Japanese history and to anyone who is looking for a light, sweet, love story that is not set in Europe.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer by Samuel Noah Kramer and Diane Wolkstein: A Book Review

Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth: Her Stories and Hymns from Sumer Author: Samuel Noah Kramer and Diane Wolkstein Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography, Religion, Mythology Publisher: Harper Perennial Release Date: 1983 Pages: 256 Source: Personal Collection Synopsis: With the long-awaited publication of this book, we have for the first time in any modern literary form one of the most vital and important of ancient myths—that of Inanna, the world’s first goddess of recorded history and the beloved deity of the ancient Sumerians. The stories and hymns of Inanna (known to the Semites as Ishtar) are inscribed on clay tablets which date back to 2,000 B.C. Over the past forty years, these cuneiform tablets have gradually been restored and deciphered by a small group of international scholars. In this groundbreaking book, Samuel Noah Kramer, the preeminent living expert on Sumer, and Diane Wolkstein, a gifted storyteller and folklorist, have retranslated, order...

Olympias: Mother of Alexander the Great by Elizabeth Carney: A Book Review

Olympias: Mother of Alexander the Great (Women in Antiquity) Author: Elizabeth Carney Genre: Nonfiction, History, Biography Publisher: Routledge Release Date: 2006 Pages: 240 Source: Personal Collection Synopsis: The definitive guide to the life of the first woman to play a major role in Greek political history, this is the first modern biography of Olympias. Presenting a critical assessment of a fascinating and wholly misunderstood figure, Elizabeth Carney penetrates myth, fiction and sexual politics and conducts a close examination of Olympias through historical and literary sources, and brings her to life as she places the figure in the context of her own ancient, brutal political world. Individual examinations look at: the role of Greek religion in Olympias' life literary and artistic traditions about Olympias found throughout the later ancient periods varying representations of Olympias found in the major ancient sources. ...

Interview with Melanie Dickerson

Today, I have the honor to host Melanie Dickerson, who is not only the author of The Healer’s Apprentice , but also of her latest novel, The Captive Maiden . She is a young adult author that spins classic fairy tales into a historical and Christian perspective. I have all of her books. I am still in the process of finishing her series, but the books that I have read, I love them. I even went to her book signing to get her to sign my copy of The Healer’s Apprentice . This interview gives readers a good insight to her writing and style of her novels. I would like to thank Mrs. Dickerson for her time and cooperation with the interview and generosity to give my readers a book giveaway. 1. Can we learn from fairytales, and why do they appeal to you? Fairy tales have amazing themes, and I think we can learn from them. Most of them have some sort of moral or takeaway, a lesson we can learn. I like them, but it's hard to say what it is about them that ap...

History from a Woman's Perspective- A Book Blog

Search This Blog