Prince of Ice by Emma Holly

Rating: 5 out of 10
Summary: Humans like to call them demons, but the Yama are an old and civilized race, far too civilized to fraternize with lesser beings. It is only through subterfuge that a quarterhuman infant, one Xishi Huon, is raised side by side with the Midarri heir, whose own peculiarities make her his soulmate—at least until the whispers of their unnatural fondness get her banished to an orphanage.

Coming of age as a courtesan, Xishi excels in the erotic arts. But when Corum Midarri becomes her new owner, the relationship will test the limits of her gifts. Corum is the Prince of Ice now and not the sensitive boy she knew. If he succumbs to the temptations of her human touch, their love will defy every convention his kind holds dear. If he doesn’t, his uncontrollable sexual needs might drive both insane. Summary from emmaholly.com

Commentary: I was almost not going to review this because it was such a non-event in my reading line-up… just look at that cover! The cover basically tells you everything you need to know about this book.

I’m not going to say the sex scenes were badly written, but nothing really happened for me. I didn’t feel the chemistry. Some parts just seemed so outrageous that I couldn’t focus on the actual story because all I could think of was “he has an extra appendage on his penis?! What the hell?!?!?!“

I have to give the author kudos for an interesting idea. Her “demon” world seems to be built on a lot of Ancient Chinese culture. Places had names like “Thousand Plum Blossom Street” and “Tea House of Lovely Chrysanthemums” and things like that. Corum’s teacher’s name was Master Ping.

Not a horrible way to waste a half-hour. Don’t buy it though.