***My review is for the updated version.***
Just gotta say, I think this is a very cool cover.

His Beautiful Samurai was a different experience from the norm for me. I do most of my reading at night in the bed, but with this one I keep getting creepy feelings and wanting the lights on. Haha. It's not actually scary or horror, but it does deal with angry sprits and myths. It is filled with Japanese culture which is also not a common part of the what I usually review.

This is the story of secret love, unrequited love and obsession. It begins in the 1800's between two Samurai in Japan. The tragedy and consequences surrounding these two reverberates throughout history into modern times.

Toshi is a detective facing the killing of lovers in the throws of passion with no leads. John is a psychic that often works with police forces on unsolved cases. These two find themselves involved in the investigation and each other on both a business and personal level.

Before he realized what he was doing, he reached out and touched John's cheek.
John's breath caught softly and then the blue of his eyes began to shift and darken in the lamplight. Toshi leaned down again. John's lips were slightly parted, soft, masculine, inviting.

You kind of have an idea what is going on behind the scenes, but the book is a mystery. I enjoyed the flipping from past to present times and the connections. I appreciate how it takes a different path from many of my current reads.

If you are looking for erotica, this is not the story for you. If you are up for some M/M lovin' with cops, detectives, psychics, ghosts, mythology, Eastern society etc, I suggest this story. I plan to read more from this author soon.





***Copy given in exchange for an honest review***





toni





FangirlMoments and My Two Cents








FULL REVIEW CAN BE FOUND AT http://fangirlmomentsandmytwocents.blogspot.com/2014/12/his-beautiful-samurai-by... ( )

I would give this book a negative rating if I could. The story reads like laughably bad fan-fiction, complete with bad fangirl Japanese. Her knowledge of Japan is spotty at best, and in essence, highly flawed. For example, why would a Japanese chief of police insist that one of his officers host a visiting-American-psychic consultant in his home? Why would a Japanese man not have a tub in his home? Why would a Japanese man be flustered and body-conscious about nudity in the bathroom? Why is every Tokyo landmark in the story located in the same ward?

Likewise, the author's ideas of police work leave much to be desired. For example, murder victims were having intercourse when they were pinned together by a katana. Police covered the still-skewered bodies with a sheet and loaded them into an ambulance from the crime scene. Even casual TV watchers should know that police do not do this. The police's unprofessionalism only gets worse from there.

Content aside, even the author's writing and basic grasp of mechanics is lacking. Only the main characters deserve description-- they are described in detail down to the colors and brands of their underwear-- but side characters become cardboard cutouts. The cop's partner is "an older Japanese man" and only says "hai" when spoken to.

Inconsistencies run rampant: the killer writes 'Naomasa' on the victims' foreheads. The American psychic (who neither speaks, nor reads Japanese and whose cultural knowledge is limited to the "Seven Samurai" movie) recognizes, and correctly identifies it A) as a name and B) picks it out of rapid Japanese conversation and C) very old texts, namely a hand-written historic diary.

Should I mention the plot flaws, too? Besides the awkward time-jumping and point-of-view switching, I'll leave it up to you to decide whether you're feeling masochistic enough to find out how this mess of a novel unwinds. ( )

Toshi is a japanes detective who has to deal with some unsolved cases of murder: couples who are slaughtered during the lovemaking with a samurai's sword. No clues that lead to the murderer, no one.

John is an empathic american cop who is sent on Tokyo to help Toshi. And for Toshi is speaking english and has lived in America for some years during college, is asked to host John.

Toshi is handsome and a very closed person. During is american years he has loved a man, Michael, but when his family has asked him to return to Japan, he has accepted and now he has also agreed to marry the woman his family has choosen for him. Even if he can't love her, even if she loves another man.

John is a 37 years old veteran, tired of the madness of the world, but still eager for the human touch even if he can't touch nobody: when he touch someone, he is overwhelmed by the thought and feelings of the other person, and it is very stressful. But when he touch Toshi, he only feel warn and the feeling to be his. And the need to be with him. The touch of Toshi is like a shell from the outside world.

More they dig on the case, and more they understand that something not human is involved with the cases, and that their love is not unrelated to it.

A very interesting suspence romance novel, where the romance maybe sometimes steal the scene to the suspence, but it is not a negative thing, cause Toshi and John are two wonderful characters, very balanced: no one is more stronger or weaker to the other.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1934166839/?tag=elimyrevandra-20