Weina Dai Randel Books In Order

Publication Order of Empress of Bright Moon Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Weina Dai Randel is a bestselling author of historical fiction and fantasy novels. He is best known for the novel The Last Rose of Shanghai and the Empress of Bright Moon Duology series of novels.

Weina is the winner of several awards over the years including the Best First Historical nomination for the RT Book Reviewers Choice, Best Historical Fiction for the Goodreads Choice Award and a Romance Writers of America RITA award.

His series of novels was so successful that they have been sold across the globe and been translated into more than half a dozen languages. The Chinese born author moved to the United States as a twenty four year old. She went to the Texas Woman’s University from where she graduated with a masters degree in English.

Dai Randel has also worked for Southern New Hampshire as a subject matter expert on their MFA program and at the Eastfield College as an adjunct professor.
She has also appeared on shows such as Good Morning Texas on WFAA and been on publications such as RT Book Reviews, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Review of Books, the Huffington Post and Books by Women.

She has lived in Texas for more than two decades but finally moved with her husband and children to Boston.

Randel was born and brought up in China and grew up during the eighties. It was a time when her family never had access to regular electricity, television or telephone and as such she had a lot of free time.

Since her brothers and sisters used to read a lot of Chinese classics such as The Tales of the Three Kingdoms, Dream in the Red Mansion and other kungfu novels she used to read a lot.

During this time she would sneak into her older siblings’ bedrooms to grab their books that she would then read under covers with a flashlight. Weina Rai Randel used to return the books before morning and her siblings were none the wiser. It was these escapades that planted the seed of storytelling in the then young Randel.

She learned basic English at school and hence when she moved to the US in her twenties she used to walk around with a dictionary. But she surprised herself by getting a masters degree in English and then spent half a decade researching and writing about fiction writing.

Weina Dai Randel always wanted to become an author ever since she was in elementary school. As a kid she used to dream of one day becoming a writer even though she cannot put a finger on what or who was the inspiration for wanting to write.

Still she used to love reading the likes of Ken Follett, Geradine Brooks, Anita Diamant, Mary Stewart and Arthur Golden. By the time she was in the third grade she made the first attempt at writing a novel but only wrote one page. A year later she made 6 yuan for a short story she published.

She was so over the moon as it was the first money she ever made from writing. With that encouragement she wrote her first novel as a twenty year old only to be hit with the pain of rejection. It would take more than eighty two rejection letters and a decade of trying and being rejected before she had her huge break.

When she started writing the manuscript for Moon in the Palace, her debut novel, she did not have any children and had a nine year old daughter when the book came out. What kept her going at this time was the dream or maybe a plain sense of vanity since she had always wanted to become a published author.
Growing up and in college she thought it would be interesting to be an author even though she never fully understood what it entailed. She always loved adventure stories, poetry and words in general. She was also helped by the fact that she has always been stubborn and this kept her fixated on the goal.

Weina Dai Randel’s novel “The Moon in the Palace” opens to a concubine discovering that there are many ways to get the attention of the Emperor.
Some women will attractively style their hair, others paint their faces white as they all hope to lure his majesty. Some have presented him with beautiful gifts such as scrolls of calligraphy and jade pendants while others draw on their powers of seduction to pique his interest.

But young Mei intends to give the Emperor something he will not forget, even if she is unschooled in the womanly arts. Mei’s curiosity and intelligence are just some of the attributes that have impressed the emperor and made her hated among her colleagues.

Just when she finds herself in the prime position to seduce the Emperor, the palace is split by different loyalties. The split results in an epic struggle that Mei is not so sure she can survive.

It is a vibrant picture of China where loyalty, ambition and love can spell death or life.

Weina Dai Randel’s novel “The Empress of Bright Moon” is a captivating novel in which Mei needs to protect her kin from a vengeful empress.
At the opening of the novel, she is struggling for power in the Emperor’s palace. Trying to unseat the wily Empress is a huge risk even if the reward of becoming the new ruler of China is unparalleled.

Things get complicated when Pheasant, who has been Mei’s lover for a long time, is crowned emperor. She is soon fighting for power with Empress Wang who is Pheasant’s wife. They both intend to secure their rank and name in the new order.

To finish off her rival, Empress Wang goes after Mei’s supporters and family with an intent to kill. To come out on top, Mei needs to defeat the savage Empress to save her country, herself and her loved one.

To survive the intrigues at court, she will have to draw on her survival instincts and wits developed over many years.

One Response to “Weina Dai Randel”

1. Shelley Hathaway: 1 year ago

   I just read “Night Angels” by Ms. Randel & she’s an awesome author!. Her writing just flows. And I left 5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 star review on. Amazon:
   I.enjoy learning about world history through novels that weave real history into the storyline. But I’m surprised I’d never heard of Dr. Hi but.I’d love to see a movie about all he did.to save many Viennese Jews.
   Ms. Rachel has a wonderful writing style & I look forward to reading more of her work!.Kudos.to Ms. Weina Dai.Randel!

   Reply