Publication Date: April 29, 2024
A sweet friends to lovers romance, sequel to Eminence from the Hope Beyond series
At last she awakens to a new reality…
Ever since the end of her country’s revolution, Hsiu Mei has been riding on the tail of a brilliant dream. She’s watched her soul sister’s postwar love story unfold. And Hsiu Mei’s nearness to that story leads to her newest friendship with a kindred spirit as well as her inclusion on an exciting trip overseas.
Hsiu Mei is convinced that this trip of such national importance will change her life. What she doesn’t count on is the letdown she encounters along the way.
Upon her arrival back home, she decides it’s time to set dreaming aside and to make a serious choice for her future: to agree to enter an arranged marriage with promising prospects. But how might this sensible solution detached from Hsiu Mei’s dreams prove to be unwise?
While this historical fantasy book does not have magical elements, the story is set in a completely fictional world.
While most romance novels focus on passion, desire, and appearance, Nadine C. Keels’s Simplicity focuses on friendship, appreciation, and respect.
Simplicity’s main character, Hsiu Mei, is from a small village where everyone knows everyone. While many women in her village are quiet, reserved, and petite, Hsiu Mei is boisterous, outgoing, and abnormally tall. Before she is about to set sail for a foreign land with her friend, Ahnna, and her husband, Hsiu Mei’s parents make her an offer to advertise her to potential suitors. With the new weight of this offer on her shoulders, Hsiu Mei sets out on her voyage.
Before the trip, Hsiu Mei strikes up a friendship with a friend of Ahnna’s husband named Niyol. Niyol and Hsiu Mei easily become fast friends with their inside jokes and constant playful competitions. However, Hsiu Mei’s attention is directed elsewhere after she is saved from a nasty fall by a tall, handsome capital guardsman.
Hsiu Mei spends the majority of her time in the new land fawning over her handsome rescuer. However, at the end of her visit, she makes a devastating discovery and travels back to her country with a heavy heart and a lot of embarrassment.
Once back in her country, Niyol and Hsiu Mei pick up where they left off in their easy friendship and playful banter. However, after each shares crucial news, they are forced to face the reality of what life would be like without the other. Will they finally see that there is more to their relationship than friendship? Or will they be lost to each other forever?
As I stated above, Simplicity is more of a quiet love story—a friendship that slowly blossoms into something more and takes the risk of losing someone to see what a precious thing you had in front of you the whole time.
I liked how Keels showed how each character realized that they felt more than friendship for the other. She took you inside the characters’ heads and, in a way, was able to work out their feelings with them.
I had two reasons for taking away a star for my review. The first was that I had a hard time immersing myself in the story. I enjoyed the story, but I felt like the plot and the characters lacked depth.
Secondly, the book started rather abruptly and was a bit confusing. For example, we don’t find out the extent of the relationship between Hsiu Mei and Nyiol until the second chapter. The reader also doesn’t realize that Hsiu Mei is abnormally tall until much later in the book. So, when a section earlier mentioned Hsiu Mei leaning down to rest her cheek on Niyols head, I had to flip back because I thought I had missed something. Character development is essential to me, as are detailed explanations of the characters. If I can’t visualize the characters, I have a hard time thoroughly enjoying the book.
I appreciated the progression of Hsiu Mei’s and Niyol’s relationship in Simplicity. It is easy to get caught up in desire and passion, but most real relationships are born out of friendship and mutual respect—a friendship that quietly blossoms into something that will warm the hearts of its readers.
Nadine. A French name, meaning, “hope.”
Nadine C. Keels is an author and blogger with a lifelong passion for the power of story. Her aim is to spark hope and inspiration in as many people as she can reach.
[…] “It is easy to get caught up in desire and passion, but most real relationships are born out of friendship and mutual respect—a friendship that quietly blossoms into something that will warm the hearts of its readers.” ~Leah for Novels Alive […]