Bertie

Men of Science #2

by Naomi Aoki

Do not fear change. Seek to learn what you do not know…

Hubert 'Bertie' Thwaites is struggling with the Chinese bureaucracy and their refusal to approve his employer's plan to establish a rail line from Shanghai to Beijing. Understands even less why Feng Shui—or what it even is—keeps being thrown up as the reason why a railway can't be constructed. As his frustration grows, Bertie fears that the whole project might fail before its even begun, but he isn't prepared to accept defeat yet. Pointed in the direction of two Feng Shui Masters' with the political clout he needs, Bertie doesn't hesitate to seek them out. But what he learns is more than the information needed to get his plans successfully approved.

Mutual love is within the reach of all.

Yang Hei and Yin Guang had worked themselves up from nothing to a position where even the top tiers of Shanghai society sought out their guidance, and it had been any easy choice to extend their services to foreigners desperate to get a foothold in China. But when Hubert Thwaites approached them at a soiree put on by another English merchant for assistance, they find themselves conflicted. Desiring a connection with Hubert that went beyond a simple business transaction, everything becomes complicated as emotions get heated and misunderstandings cause heartache. Will it be possible for Yang and Yin to bring Thwaites into their relationship successfully or will one of them need to make a choice and walk away?

200 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 6, 2020

Reviews

[AllAboutThoseBooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF

I didn't make it past the 20% mark because of pervasive grammar issues (wrong verb tense, wrong to/too/two, missing punctuation, etc.) and missing words. I have absolutely seen worse and persevered, but for one simple error applied with ruthless consistency. Yin and Yang are Master Yin and Master Yang, referred to collectively as the Masters. Except that every. single. time it's typed Masters'. I became desperate for a sentence in which the Masters could actually posses something so that it could be correct (their house, eventually). It made all the other errors seem bigger because my brain couldn't stop noticing them with that one error being in every third sentence. I gave up.