Yan Ling tries hard to be servile—it's what's expected of a girl of her class. Being intelligent and strong-minded, she finds it a constant battle.

Proud Fei Long is unimpressed by her spirit—until he realizes she's the answer to his problems. He has to deliver the emperor a "princess." In two months can he train a tea girl to pass as a noblewoman?

Yet it's hard to teach good etiquette when all Fei Long wants to do is break it, by taking this tea girl for his own….

Review

Beauty comes in all forms; even in the form of a lowly tea shop girl…

Yan Ling is like other orphans, at the mercy of those who took her in. Her future gets derailed when she responds rudely to a patron of the tea shop where she works. Kicked out and in dire straits she appeals to the one person who shouldn’t help her—the patron she soaked with tea. This is a gutsy move, and I would have probably walked in the other direction then take a chance on someone I doused with liquid. Regardless, Yan approaches and succeeds since Chang Fei Long is desperate to find a replacement for his sister. Chang is all business and no play, determined to honor his family’s commitments and maintain their place in society. The closer he gets to Yan in tutoring her to take his sister’s place, the deeper into trouble he gets as the girl gets under his skin in more ways than one.

Honestly, train me to be a princess! Yan Ling is provided the best opportunity of all time when she is allowed to rise above her station and become a princess for a peace marriage. What I really enjoy is that Yan takes advantage of the opportunity and I got to see her go from the girl who doesn’t know how to not serve:

She placed the tray onto the table and arranged the porcelain cup neatly in front of Fei Long. At least this was something she knew how to do. The nobleman watched her with that penetrating gaze of his as she poured.

‘Yan Ling.’ Her name sounded strange coming from his lips. So proper and enunciated. ‘Sit down. You’re not my servant.”

To the girl who is capable of comporting herself like a well-bred lady:

Yan Ling presented herself well, he decided. Her shoulders had lost their slouch and her expression was soft. She managed to project a tranquility about her that must have required hours of practice. Usually she never stood still.

The growth Yan Ling shows is definitely one of the most interesting parts of the first half of the story. Fei Long experiences some growth, but the disappointing part is that I didn’t get to spend as much time in Fei Long’s head. When I was in Fei Long’s head I felt he was hiding things from me—the curse of the short book, and the elusive hero.

The ‘My Fair Lady’ theme of the story is fascinating in this culture, and I enjoyed how Fei Long differed from his contemporaries by fighting for the girl in more ways than one. I kept turning the pages desperate to see how the H/H were going to avoid the inevitable moment of Yan Ling being turned over to Empire, and my only issue was that mid-way through I could easily see how the situation would end up. Not a lot of surprise or shock with the ending, but plenty of surprise in the circumstances getting us from mid-way in the book to the end. There’s archery, theatrics, cross-dressing, and many more fantastical things that I loved exploring Tang Dynasty style.

Overall, this is a sweet story with a good ending. For those looking for excitement and suspense behind every door then this book may not fit your fancy. But if you like characters forced to confront their worst fears, challenge themselves beyond measure, and still win the day My Fair Concubine is the way to go.

Reviewed by Landra

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