Ian Hamilton. You sir, know how to write a story.

I remember last summer when I binge read the entire Ava Lee series as it existed at that point, and loved every minute of them. Whip-smart, frenetically paced and completely addictive, I had no idea how I was going to survive until January before the next novel came out.

January rolled around, and there was The Princeling of Nanjing on the shelves, and I snapped up my copy. Then I let it sit by my bedside.

You see, I knew, I KNEW, that as soon as I started it, no matter how many pages it was, I would fly through it and then it would be over… and then I would have to wait until next January for the next installment, The Couturier of Milan.

So I let it sit there, but I couldn’t not read it. I had to know what is happening in Ava’s world.

And as predicted, once I started it, I couldn’t stop. The pages flew by as the story picks up with Ava in Shanghai, celebrating the launch of the PO fashion line, with May and Amanda, when Xu reaches out to her.

It seems he is having some problems with the Tsai family. This family is entrenched in business and government, in a part of the world where corruption and bribery are the order of the day. Xu is being pushed to get into a business he has no desire to be involved in, synthetic drugs, and turns to Ava for help.

She dives in, and soon finds herself caught up in events bigger than anything she has dealt with before, a seemingly unstoppable moneyed family her new target, but they may be on to her.

Once again, I was completely swept up in the story. It took me a few pages to get back into the groove and recall where I left off with the characters, and the events in their lives,  but once there, I was loathe for it to end, because it made me realize how much I enjoy your reading and enjoy spending time with Ava as she navigates her world, no matter what part of the globe she’s in.

All of the familiar faces are there, or at least mentioned, and it was great to catch up with them, especially when Ava has time to check in with Sonny.

Ava is a wonderful character, smart, resourceful, and not afraid to kick ass, and you, sir, remain a top-drawer storyteller, and I devour each word you write.

But therein lies the rub as well… because I resisted reading Princeling for as long as I can, but there are still another ten months before the next book comes out! GAH!!

I’m not gonna pressure you to write faster, or lobby House of Anansi Press for galleys, but just know, that I, like countless others, cannot wait to see what happens with Ava next.