USA Today BestsellerRomantic Times Best Historical Romance Adventure Nominee 2013All About Romance - Best Historical Romance Set Outside UK 2013First book in series - Chinese historical romance and mystery set in the Tang DynastyIt is a time of celebration in the Pingkang Li, where imperial scholars andbureaucrats mingle with beautiful courtesans. At the center is the Lotus Palace, home of the most exquisite courtesans in China... Maidservant Yue-ying is not one of those beauties. Street-smart and practical,she's content to live in the shadow of her infamous mistress-until shemeets the aristocratic playboy Bai Huang. Bai Huang lives in a privileged world Yue-ying can barely imagine, yet alone share, but asthey are thrown together in an attempt to solve a deadly mystery, theyboth start to dream of a different life. Yet Bai Huang's position meansthat all she could ever be to him is his concubine-will she sacrificeher pride to follow her heart?