Author: Jade Lee

ISBN:  9780843955057

Desperate Tigress is an internal journey of one woman’s goal to seek immortality through her sexual teachings.  Her life is filled with caring for her children, fulfilling her husband’s needs and mundane tasks of caring for her household.  Shi Po feels the need to find happiness within herself in order to continue her life on Earth.

This is a sexually charged story set in Shanghai in the 1800’s.  The author immerses the reader in Chinese culture and gives us a surprising account of the struggles women must endure.  The main character, Shi Po, is a teacher of the Taoist ideal which is a religious sect that believes in enlightenment through ecstasy.  The men in China, who know this, label her a whore but many women and some men turn to her for her studies and knowledge of the art.  However, she is disappointed when some students achieve what she has been trying to for years.  She is the greatest Tigress and the most famous teacher and in her shame, she plans to seek immortality through death instead of pleasure.

Her stubborn personality makes it difficult for her husband to sway Shi Po from her ultimate goal.  Through the author’s strong characterization, you can feel his struggle in trying to break his wife out of this ridiculous action. 

The story starts right into the situation of the main character that has to deal with a General in her home looking for his son, who he believes is housed in one of her rooms.  Her dilemma is to try to get him out without destroying all that she has built up.

Jade Lee uses the character names of Shi Po, Kui Yu and General Kang to bring us close to the Chinese setting and leaving no doubt as to the character placement.  Even when she speaks of the “white” people as barbarians or “ghost” women, they have suitable North American names.  This works well to separate the two cultures in the book.

Considering Desperate Tigress is about a woman who is involved in the teachings of a certain way of life, the plot is believable.  General Kang tries to make her life a living hell as she tries to stand up for what she believes in. 

I wasn’t sure what the author meant about the main character wanting to reach Heaven, even to the point where she wanted to kill herself if she didn’t attain it.  However, the author explains it later on in the story.

The novel is different from the sensual books I have read where the writer focuses on the relationship from the start.  The author involves the couple when the husband intervenes to stop his wife from seeking immortality, which involves killing herself.  The love scenes are lengthy, making the reader long for the continuation of the story but when it comes to the sexual scenes, the author approaches it with taste.  She uses the Tigress and Dragon as well as the Yin and Yang to represent the male and female unions.  It breaks the monotony of having to label the sexual parts of the body.

Desperate Tigress is part of a series of books including Hungry Tigress, White Tigress, Burning Tigress and Cornered Tigress.  This book is for mature adults who can handle a sensual or erotic book and don’t regard romance as literary smut.  Jade Lee understands that in all healthy relationships, a sense of sexual adventure is required to make life a little more tantalizing.

The above review was contributed by: Jennifer Andrew -Freelance Writer and Reviewer. To read more of Jennifer's reviews CLICK HERE