"An exotic and emotional historical romantic tale of self discovery"
I read my first full length romance novel in the early 70's
when I was a mere teen. The story was of Lucy Waring, a
young English girl raised in a Chinese mission after the
death of her missionary parents. The tide in that country
had turned against the "foreign devils" and one minute Lucy
is stealing to feed the mouths of the younger children, the
next she finds herself in Regency England at Moonrakers, the
home of the Falcons where she becomes torn between the
desires to two men, a noble of challenged sanity who can
provide for her every need and a commoner whom she loves but
can't begin to understand. The story was MOONRAKER'S BRIDE
by Madeleine Brent (Peter OŽDonnell) and it remains one of
my all time favorites today. I mention this because style and subject matter of THE
DRAGON EARL brought back me to that long ago favorite. Jade
Lee has brought that exotic flavor that I loved so much in
MOONRAKER'S BRIDE back Regency England. THE DRAGON EARL is
however destined to join it on my keeper's self based on its
own merits. It is an incredible tale of self discovery for
both the hero who has lived a life very different from the
one he was born into and the heroine who is trapped by the
very life she's been expected to lead since birth. Mere moments before Evelyn Stanton say's "I do" to her
betrothed Christopher Cato, the future Earl of Warhaven, the
wedding is disrupted by a Chinese monk. Evelyn is shocked to
discover that the man is not Chinese at all, but white. He
claims that he is Jacob Cato, Christopher's long lost and
presumably dead cousin, the true heir to the Earldom and
that he is here to claim his promised bride. The youngest of the family of solicitors who served the
Cato's had been a childhood friend of Jacob's. The man
before them had shared memories of their times together.
He is convinced that he is the true earl. Jacob's
grandmother also sees a strong physical resemblance between
the man claiming to be her grandson and her late husband. Pandemonium breaks out as "Jacob" easily dispatches three of
Christopher's groomsmen who try to remove him from the
church. While the current Earl sputters and consults with
Evelyn's parents, Christopher's grandmother proclaims the
Monk to be her long lost grandson. Evelyn appears to be just as furious at the intrusion as her
future husband but realizes their marriage will not take
place that day. It appears that this man claiming to be
Jacob is not going to go away, so while things are sorted
out she offers Jacob a room in her home presumably to keep
him close until Christopher's father can discredit him. Jacob's father, the former Earl of Warhaven had chafed at
his responsibilities and for reasons know only to him had
decide to take his family off to China when he'd been a
child of ten. There the family had been set upon by bandits
while Jacob had been playing with the young son of their
Chinese guide. Both boys had witnessed the murders helpless
to intervene. Jacob had been taken to the temple where he
had chafed and stewed and waited for his English family to
retrieve him. But no one had come. He had later discovered
that the bandits had been well paid by someone in England to
kill his entire family. He had lived in fear that this
person would find out he had survived. His dark secret that
he has shared with no one is that when he'd grown and
learned to fight at the temple, he had sought out the
bandits, killing each one. Still he had not found peace. Afterwards the Earl's manservant had returned to England
family to report that the entire family had been murdered.
Christopher's father as next in line had assumed the
responsibility and all had agreed he was far more suited to
the responsibility than his late brother. The obligation to
marry Evelyn and join the lands of both families had passed
to Christopher. Jacob, who thinks of himself as Jie Ke wants nothing to do
with the title or the woman. He wants to become fully a monk
of the Xi Lin temple. However through what Jacob feels is
prejudice against his race by his otherwise holy master, he
had been told that he must explore his English roots and
find himself before he can be accepted as such. Evelyn has secretly yearned for the passion her future
station denies to her. Even as a child she had relished
dancing in thunderstorms. Jacob is powerful and exotic,
everything she wants to be but isn't. She is the only thing
the can quell the turmoil in Jacob's soul. What does it all
mean? Deep within Jie Ke the apprentice monk who cannot seem
to find the inner peace necessary to be ordained, is still
the child Jacob who had helplessly watched his as his family
was murdered and now found that his lifelong quest for
vengeance had left him empty. Evelyn soon realizes what the
wise temple leader had always known; only Jacob could set
himself free. Can Jacob Jie Ke Cato forgive himself, let go
of his hatred and his past to at last find peace? Will
Evelyn find the courage to give up the security of the only
life she ever known and take a leap with a man who had
opened her mind and her heart to a world of possibilities? Though the mystery of who paid to have Jacob's family killed
is never resolved, it matters not. The important thing is
the pair learn leave the past behind in order to embrace the
future. Oh and what a fantastic journey it is! THE DRAGON
EARL is a stunning and highly evocative tale of self
discovery that leads to a simple truth that defines all
human beings regardless of culture. Life should be lived in
the here and now. The past is gone. The future awaits. Amen
to that.
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted September 25, 2008
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