Official Review: Love's Prey by Meg Xuemei X

[RussetDivinity]

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Love's Prey" by Meg Xuemei X.]

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Xirena is an archetypal ice queen who could only fit the title more if she were royalty in charge of winter. Kai is a fiery artist and her new neighbor. If you’re familiar at all with romance novels, then you can tell where the plot for Love’s Prey by Meg Xuemei X will go. Kai is attracted to Xirena because she is different from the other girls at school, and though she tries to deny it, she returns the attraction. What follows is a novel that alternates between beautiful and prosaic, and one which I am happy to give 3 out of 4 stars.

The novel takes place in a small town in China, so it took me some time to get used to the differences in culture, particularly when it came to school. It took me a while to understand that although Xirena is fourteen she will be heading to college soon, along with the other various little rules laid on her because of her age and nationality. For the most part, however, the details about life in China come through naturally, although there are a few moments where Xirena’s narration outright tells us something, such as the name of her town. Those parts did feel a bit rough, but I suppose they couldn’t really be helped.

I expected the plot to follow what just about everyone thinks of as the traditional romance arc, and while it did have the tropes I’m used to (two lovers falling for each other, jealousy and the insistence that there’s nothing to worry about, stolen moments of passion kept safely hidden from the eyes of a society that just wouldn’t understand), everything was set up so that it felt fresh. The only thing that troubled me about their relationship was how jealous and protective Kai could be, but then, there’s still something romantic about a hot-headed young man, and if he and Xirena didn’t have such tempers, the plot wouldn’t be nearly as interesting.

There were moments when I nearly gave the book four stars, and the one thing that kept me from doing so was the language. While there are several parts, particularly between Xirena and Kai, that are written with incredible beauty, there are also parts that feel plain and prosaic. If the plain parts had been reserved for when Xirena was in school or with her abusive family, I wouldn’t have minded them so much, but some of them are about interactions between her and Kai, and the contrast between the beauty and the plainness was too jarring for me. It didn’t take away from the beauty – which was stunning and written so well I was falling in love with both characters with each word – but it did detract a little from my enjoyment of the book.

I’d recommend Love’s Prey to anyone looking for a YA romance novel with beautiful prose. While it isn’t perfect, I enjoyed reading it, and I’m sure others will as well.

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[Little House]

I loved this book! I enjoyed the transformation that Xirena goes through as she realized that she truly is worthy of love. I also enjoyed the insights into small town Chinese life. (The author grew up in China.)

There were a few things that I didn't quite understand, like the white wolf. I wonder if it would have made more sense to someone with a Chinese background.

I too would recommend this book (I would have given it 4 out of 4 stars.)

[kelgirl5566]

After reading the first chapter I was a little disappointed. The description of how she viewed herself and others was harsh on both fronts. Now the boy next door was Kai and explained where he came from, and was very interested in painting her. She was drawn to because he did not see what others have, and makes her curious to find out more about him.

She grew up with a abusive mother who thought she was too pretty to be stuck with children, and made sure her daughters life would be miserable as hers was. Both her brother and sister were in college and the abuse just became worse since both were gone. She was a scared little girl whom was scared of being seen by her mother because of the abuse was now directed to her. She tried to avoid the abuse by causing attention of her presence. But the boy Kai who lived next door seemed to like her which made her curious about why he did not look at her as she perceived herself, and try to talk with her. He would follow her around although she was rude to him. Why would he want to paint her?

I did not have the whole book to read so I can not give you a opinion on the complete story. The story started off weak with no full description of who she was, why she was dressed in rags, and were she was. I did not even know her name since it was not included in the first paragraph. I would not personally recommend this book due to a weak beginning on Chapter One.