A Certain Smile

Rating:
Summary: So sue me
Review: I like this book. I found it without the help of any review negative or positive. I have always loved romance novels where East meets West. Tai Pan & Shogun are two of my favorites. I have not finished the book yet(50 pages more).oops maybe I shouldn't have written that! I may be disappointed with the ending but, not with the content of the book.

Rating:
Summary: AWFUL STORY
Review: I read all those pages about a person who was supposedly coming to be her own person, developing self-confidence and courage. I read about this great love that was so special. Then the ending. You won't come to America and live in my house, in my town, with my children, and my parents who won't like you. Then I don't want us to call, or write, or ever contact each other again. So much for that special relationship. My memory went back to the section where she'd had short relationships with men that she kept seeing and sleeping with even though she felt nothing. I guess this ten day fling really fits that pattern and wasn't love at all on Miranda's part. I liked Li's character far more than Miranda's. His character stayed more consistent throughout the book. I have yet to read a book with two authors that had a consistent character flow throughout the book. There are always scenes when the character does something totally different than what you've been led to expect from the previous material. I doubt that I will invest more in a Judith Michaels' book. I felt so cheated after the last chapter. Miranda had made friends and professional contacts and could have had a good life in China. Li did not have that support if he had chosen to go to America. I read a lot, and anyone who thinks life if perfect in America, and terrible elsewhere is wearing blinders. There is good and bad in every political situation where people have any freedom whatsoever.

Rating:
Summary: The ending destroyed the book
Review: I read all those pages about a person who was supposedly coming to be her own person, developing self-confidence and courage. I read about this great love that was so special. Then the ending. You won't come to America and live in my house, in my town, with my children, and my parents who won't like you. Then I don't want us to call, or write, or ever contact each other again. So much for that special relationship. My memory went back to the section where she'd had short relationships with men that she kept seeing and sleeping with even though she felt nothing. I guess this ten day fling really fits that pattern and wasn't love at all on Miranda's part. I liked Li's character far more than Miranda's. His character stayed more consistent throughout the book. I have yet to read a book with two authors that had a consistent character flow throughout the book. There are always scenes when the character does something totally different than what you've been led to expect from the previous material. I doubt that I will invest more in a Judith Michaels' book. I felt so cheated after the last chapter. Miranda had made friends and professional contacts and could have had a good life in China. Li did not have that support if he had chosen to go to America. I read a lot, and anyone who thinks life if perfect in America, and terrible elsewhere is wearing blinders. There is good and bad in every political situation where people have any freedom whatsoever.

Rating:
Summary: Not up to their usual standards!!!
Review: I struggled through the first 150 pages since the book bogged down with food descriptions and was very slow moving. It did get a little better the second half. The ending was to be expected. I enjoyed their first books. You couldn't put them down. You CAN put this one down!!

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I usually enjoy books by this author however this book was very difficult to get through. I was unable to relate to or even like the characters; circumstances seemed contrived and implausible. I really dislike the ending.

Rating:
Summary: Did the authors use a trip to China as a business expense?
Review: I usually like the writing team of "Judith Michael", but this was absymal. It really seemed to me that all they wanted to do was take a trip to China and write it off as a business expense for "research". Not to give away the ending, but after 10 days of knowing each other, the principal characters struggled with the implausible--one page she was staying in China (what about her kids in the US?) and the next page he was leaving China and moving to the US. The ending was utterly unsatisfying.

Rating:
Summary: Did the authors use a trip to China as a business expense?
Review: I usually like the writing team of "Judith Michael", but this was absymal. It really seemed to me that all they wanted to do was take a trip to China and write it off as a business expense for "research". Not to give away the ending, but after 10 days of knowing each other, the principal characters struggled with the implausible--one page she was staying in China (what about her kids in the US?) and the next page he was leaving China and moving to the US. The ending was utterly unsatisfying.

Rating:
Summary: Certainly irritating
Review: I usually like this writing team, really enjoyed An Act of Love, but this one had such irritating characters. It's possibly because I'm Chinese that I found the characters so stereotyped, but the authors went out of their way to make the characters one-dimensional. And a dimension I could do without. I didn't make it farther than the first 5 chapters. . .

Rating:
Summary: A Certain Smile
Review: I was fascinated with this book! It was an interesting story with interesting characters who may not have always been predictible, but that was OK. If it weren't for the tragedy of the ending, I would probably have given this story 5 stars. I do prefer a happy ending, but occasionally life doesn't come out the way we hope or expect. Whether or not we agree with the decision the authors made for the lovers to go their separate ways without further contact, maybe it was looked at as the only way the couple could handle the absence of one another and get on with their lives.

Rating:
Summary: A Certain Smile
Review: I was fascinated with this book! It was an interesting story with interesting characters who may not have always been predictible, but that was OK. If it weren't for the tragedy of the ending, I would probably have given this story 5 stars. I do prefer a happy ending, but occasionally life doesn't come out the way we hope or expect. Whether or not we agree with the decision the authors made for the lovers to go their separate ways without further contact, maybe it was looked at as the only way the couple could handle the absence of one another and get on with their lives.