Judith Michael has such a passion for creating two worlds that connect so closely with each-other, but yet are totally separate and revolve in such different ways. For example in his novel A Certain Smile, he creates two very diverse characters. Yaun Li, an extremely wealthy businessman and influential idol within politics finds himself falling into a romantic relationship with Miranda Graham, a clothing designer and a middle class widowed mother from America. Miranda travels to China to set up a business deal with a major cloths company based in Beijing, but instead of basing her trip on strictly work she meets Li, and her plans change. Michael uses an everyday character such as Miranda to connect to readers and pull them into the story, while on the other hand he creates a character such as Li, who is used to show the foreignness of the setting. In my opinion the way that he used the characters to reflect on certain aspects of his story was clever and original. I enjoyed hearing of Li's heritage and how distant Miranda felt from him in the beginning, but shortly began to feel more confident being with him. The only thing that I disliked about the characters make-up was how interested they both were in arguing about differences in politics. I understand that the author wanted to give background information on how China's judicial system worked, but I feel as though it was unrealistic how much they talked about eachother's law systems. If they were real people, after a while they would both loose interest, just as I did when they talked about the subject. As much as I enjoyed the characters, my enthusiasm doubled when it came to the plot. Michael used a twisting turning conflict to lead readers to the highest point of the story, and then left us with a jaw dropping ending. He built up the plot with the mystery of who was following Miranda, and once he uncovered who and why they were, readers including myself were left satisfied with the hope that nothing bad would come to Miranda and Li. Then Michael leads readers into a different path, a path of guessing and wonder. Without giving anything away, I can say that I truly enjoyed how he built the story all the way until it's climax then revealed the true meaning of Li's character. Other romance novels such as Lucky Ones by Nicholas Sparks had a very clean ending, but that wasn't the case in Michael's book. Most Romance novels end in a tragedy that bring two people together, but within this book, there was far more than just a tragedy. In addition to the difference in endings, the characters had a questionable relationship until last minute. Normally characters in romance novels get to know eachother and quickly fall in love, but that was again not the case in this book.Overall I found that the theme of love perseveres was very viable throughout the buildup of his characters, plot and setting. I rated my book a 4 out of 5 because of how the author used his talent of bringing two separate lives so close together, so purely. I recomend this book to anyone in search of a good book to read and learn a lot from.
A paperback I had sitting on my shelf for awhile, I decided to pick up and put the kindle down and I'm glad I did. This novel takes place in Beijing and begins when an American clothing designer, Miranda Graham, goes to China for her company to meet with the Chinese manufacturers. She meets Yuan Li, who had an American soldier as a father and Chinese mother. They meet, by chance, in the airport upon her arrival and spend each day of her trip together. Two cultures colliding and seeing Beijing through her eyes makes for a nice love story, if you are in the mood for some light summer reading.
What do You think about A Certain Smile (2000)?
I thought this book was completely unrealistic. Miranda, a mousy American fashion designer, travels to China for business. Upon arrival at the airport, she meets Li, a successful Chinese engineer who wishes to help her and show her the city. The two fall in love, and tell each other that, within about 5 days. At the end, they are contemplating moving together, either to the States or to China. Really, really cheesy. Would not recommend.Some of the writing was nice, though. I was enjoying the boo
—Macawley Brown
I think this book is great, the only reason why I left one star out is because I hate the fact the they have to be separated in the end due to the fact that they have different living standard and lifestyle. Well, of course. Life can't be perfect. Still a good read anyway.
—Mavis
