Title:
Author(s): Jeannie Lin
Genre: Historical, Romance
Publisher/Year: Harlequin/2010
-Webpage/blog: Jeannie Lin Official Page

Synopsis:  Faced with a proposal from a man she despises, impetuous Mei Lin makes a daring declaration: she will only marry the man who can defeat her in a sword fight. She has bested everyone who has so far tried to teach her a lesson...until a handsome stranger comes to her village. In captivating swordsman Shen Leung , Mei Lin finally sees a man she wants to marry. A man she's willing to surrender to in every way....

Review:  Set 48 years before Butterfly Swords, "The Taming of Mei Lin" is about Ai Li's grandmother and how she won herself a husband.  I read Butterfly Swords first, so I knew going into the story how exactly Shen Leung 'beat' Wu Mei Lin, but it was kind of hilarious.  He was so smug at the end of the story that it was all I could do not to laugh.

The story begins with a fight and its a remarkable fight.  Mei Lin is a master, she understands her opponent quickly and during the course of the fight--the first fight since she made the declaration that gave her any real challenge--understands her own limitations and swiftly adjusts herself accordingly.  Shen Leung, a government official, didn't understand what he was getting himself into.

The pace was fast and everything got resolved in the course of two or three days.  For such a short story (about 40 pages if you take out all the non-story bits) I was amazed at how quickly we got a feel for Mei Lin.  Even before Mei Lin recognized the loneliness she felt, I could tell from how dismissively she referred to the town and the townspeople.  She was desperate for something more.  I wish we knew why her Master originally began teaching her--Shen Leung speculates he must have seen her skill and why she was stuck in that little no-nothing town.

Shen Leung made me smile and slap my forehead too.  He truly was just so honorable that he's lucky Mei Lin didn't take a frying pan to his head for how dense he acted.  When Mei Lin went to go and speak with him after their initial swordfight I was ready to thump him on the head.  Though Mei Lin's line about what would be easier to accomplish certainly got her point across.

I think as a pre-cursor to Butterfly Swords, this is perfect.  It illustrates how deftly Jeannie blends the action with the romance and the strength of honor that is so important to Ai Li in Swords is proven by both her grandparents.  I understood better why Ai Li fought so hard against what her father wanted for her and I saw a lot of where she got her boldness from.