Dragon’s Bond, by Kali Willows, is a 1Night Stand installment in her Double Dragon’s Blood Series. This short novella is only 31 pages long. The story starts in 1952 post Chinese Civil War, but takes place primarily in San Francisco. The time period has a major impact on much of the story.
Lien was a concubine in Japan, sold by her parents to a rich man so that she could escape poverty. After circumstances warranted, the man releases her and she came to the United States, got an education and became an interior designer.
Shen left China and became an architect. Shen is unaware that Lien is in America when he contacts Madame Eve for a 1Night Stand to move on with his life.
The story flows well, until the actual date. The author then begins to delve into apparent references to Chinese concubine training and Lien’s inability to forget that training. While this part gets resolved, it broke up the flow of the story and made it difficult to get back into the author’s intent.
The back story workings of Gershom and Priscilla were cute and gave the story a little more depth. While this is not the first installment of the series, it is the prequel that sets up the legacy of the Blood Earth Dragons. Since this and most of the other installments are part of the 1Night Stand series, they are all probably relatively short stories. While I enjoyed this story, it would have been easier to understand if it included a little more.
-Reviewed by Selina
Great review. I think I’ll still check it out due to the asian hero!