Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 
Plot/Storyline: 📖📖📖📖 
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋 
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔 
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡⚡ 
Romance: 💞💞💞 
Sensuality: 💋💋💋  
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 0 
Humor: Just a touch

Should I read in order? 
I don’t believe it’s necessary to read this one to enjoy book 2, Talk of Tokyo, but it does give a nice introduction to the characters and world we’re entering.

Basic plot:
Evelyn wants a good story to establish herself as a journalist and she knows just who to talk to in order to get one - Ned Taylor, owner of the Tokyo Daily News. He’s definitely willing to help her get a story at the price of a kiss.

Give this a try if you want:
- Very short (under 50 pages) bite sized introduction to the world of Tokyo Whispers
- Tokyo in 1896
- Hero is a nephew of a duke and owns his own newspaper
- Heroine is the daughter of a newspaper mogul but wants to make her own way in the newspaper world
- Low steam – plenty of thinking about each other, including a hot fantasy scene (that’s interrupted) by the hero, but on page interaction is only a kiss

Ages:
- Hero is around 30, I don’t think I caught an age for the heroine but I’m thinking early 20s?

My thoughts:
Really enjoyed this short story. Hallman’s writing pulled me in pretty quickly and I adore that we’re getting out England. I can’t think of any other HRs that take place in Japan and I have been craving more Asia settings in romance. 

I thought this novella did a wonderful job creating some character depth in only 3 chapters. It does have more of a Happy For Now feel at the end instead of Happily Ever After – know that they will be getting a full story later on. Their romance may pop up over the next books in the series. The next book in the series is a full novel. The hero of book 2, Griffith, is mentioned in this story a bit. This has only made me more excited to dive in to the next  book, Talk of Tokyo.

Here’s a few random parts that I wanted to note from the book

Loved this part!
<i>
What was the colour of her eyes? The Hotel Metropolis terrace had been too dark to make out the shade of her iris. Tonight, when he took her hand in greeting, he would gaze into her eyes until he memorized the colour. 
</i>

And this! Swoon.
<i>
“No one has a claim on me.” He took both of her hands in his. “You, on the other hand.” His voice came out ragged and soft. “I could be claimed by you, if that is your wish.”
</i>

Content Warnings:

Brief mentions of corruption and opium use (for newspaper articles)

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:

54% - blow job fantasy from the hero
56% - brief mention of sexually relieving himself
91% - kiss