#T5W is back with Hidden Gems

Hello there!  Yes, I've finally decided to get back into Top 5 Wednesday.  This week we are exploring Hidden Gems.  Your favourite books in your favourite genre that don't get a lot of hype.

Now some of these books I have never seen on BookTube, while others make a rare appearance, but they all have one thing in common - they are all some of my favourite Urban Fantasy series.  I've put the book synopsis down below for your convenience.  So without further ado, here are my Top 5 Favourite Urban Fantasy Hidden Gems

Book Review || White Tiger

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

White Tiger 

Dark Heavens #1

Kylie Chan

Published: 24th July, 2006

HarperVoyager, mass market, 546p.
ISBN: 9780732282967

When 28-year-old Emma Donahoe becomes a nanny to John Chen’s daughter, Simone, she does not expect to be drawn into a world of martial arts, magic, and extreme danger, where both gods and demons can exist in the mortal world.

Emma gradually realises that John Chen is no ordinary businessman and that nearly all the demons in hell would like to see him dead. John and his American bodyguard, Leo, begin to teach Emma their particular brand of martial arts and special defensive techniques … they also begin to realise that there is something that is different about Emma but exactly what it is, nobody can say.

I have loved this book ever since I first read it way back in 2006. I was drawn to the cover while perusing my local bookstore one day. I picked it up, read the back, and told myself if it was there next time I'd buy it. Well, weeks later it was still there, so I bought it - and had finished it by the time I went to bed that night. It's amazing how we can remember some books so clearly. That first reading, how we felt, the excitement, the highs and lows as we follow the characters through their story. White Tiger is one of those books for me.

The protagonist Emma was an Australian. How many of those do you get? She was loyal, fierce, loving and intelligent. I could hear her voice in my head - no accent adjustment required ;-D I have lived on the Gold Coast, where her character finds herself at one stage, I know the beach, I could smell the sea, feel the beautiful white gold sand under my feet - even felt twinges when Leo got the sunburn of all sunburns. I've been there, done that.

Mixing a modern Aussie girl's adventures in Hong Kong with the Eastern Mythology was just the icing on the cake for me. It opened up so much more than just a contemporary romance could have managed - and made a richer palette from which to draw from. Xuan Wu is wonderful, and his daughter Simone is just so adorable. Leo is a mountain of a man with whom Emma has an almost brotherly relationship with, and don't get me started on Kitty Kwok.

White Tiger is a great first book (in what I originally thought was just a trilogy!), and it is so easy to let yourself just get swept away in the story.

Only negative I have is that none of the books in the series are available on audiobook, but hopefully that will change in the future.

View all my reviews

I hope you enjoy my thoughts on the first book in the series, White Tiger.  I just finished Black Jade and I will hopefully have a review up sometime soon.  It was the final book in the Dark Heavens/Journey to Wudang/Celestial Battle trilogies/series.  

I'd love to hear if you have read any of the books in the series, and what you thought of them ;-D

Until next time,

T5W || Books You Read in One Sitting

Welcome to another Top 5 Wednesday!  This week we had to find out 5 favourite books that we read in one sitting - and let me tell you, as someone who usually does read all their books in one sitting, it was hard.

I went through my shelves, and finally decided not to go with the biggest, or most impressive books, but the ones that I enjoyed the most.  Turns out that I really enjoy Urban Fantasy/Fantasy books as only one of my books didn't contain a fantasy/paranormal element.  Huh, guess I should have included a classic for diversity's sake, but these were my most enjoyable reads. 

Enjoy!

Small Shen release date

Wow.  Just found the release information for Kylie Chan's graphic novel Small Shen. 

Small Shen
Kylie Chan

Release Date: 01 December, 2012 (AUS)
Harper Voyager
ISBN: 9780732289836

SMALL SHEN is the amazing story of Gold -- a stone spirit and a chronic troublemaker in the court of the great Gods of Chinese mythology. A mix of Kylie Chan′s brilliant storytelling and Queenie Chan′s beautiful illustrations, SMALL SHEN is a fantastic treat for fans of WHITE TIGER. Readers will be thrilled to discover the events leading up to John Chen and Emma Donahoe′s story in this wonderful prequel. Shown through Queenie Chan′s stunning illustrations and comics, the story follows the stone spirit Gold′s entertaining adventures throughout history. His escapades include seducing a dragon princess, attempting to steal one of the Tiger′s wives, making bets with demons, and working for the Blue Dragon of the East. Eventually, as a result of his crimes against Heaven and his constant philandering, Gold is ordered to join the household of Xuan Wu, the Dark Lord of the Northern Heavens. Xuan Wu is also known as John Chen, a Hong Kong businessman. The story then follows Gold and Jade -- the dragon princess - in contemporary Hong Kong. The two small shen must help guard John Chen′s beloved human wife and baby daughter from demon attack. John Chen is vulnerable to attack while living on Earth, but his family are in the most danger of all... SMALL SHEN is a unique piece of work for fans of Kylie Chan to treasure, but also a fantastic introduction to this gripping series.

Book Depository has the item listed as 'currently unavailable' so I don't like your chances of getting through them.

Instead, try Australian booksellers.



$24.99

$24.47

I Found It! Earth to Hell is here

I can't believe that after nearly 18 months of waiting, and waiting, and waiting, that I only found Earth to Hell (Book 4) by total accident!  Here's what happened.... I'd been out shopping with my mother, and we'd been cruising through Big W - as you do, and we had decided to meet in the book section.  I was just browsing the shelves and had just about lost interest, when there, on the top shelf, was the book.  It's been soooo long in the works that I'd completely forgotten to check the author's website to find out when it was being released.  So I snapped it up (2nd last copy to :P) and proceeded directly home.  Do not stop, do not collect $200.

I got myself comfy in a little nest... drink... check, nibblies... check.  Now, when I opened up the book I realised something.  It had been so long since I'd read the darn series that I wasn't making instant connections to the names printed.  So I had to down tools, drag out the first trilogy and re-read them.  Not a chore, since as the character were being refreshed in my mind I just sailed into the 4th book, et voila, finis.

Earth to Hell picks up 8 years after Blue Dragon.  Emma Donahoe is now nearing 40, still as scruffy as ever, and is trying her best to look after the Northern Heavens for her love.  Simone is now 16, and a powerful creature.  She and Emma are holding on until Xuan Wu pulls himself together and comes back to them.  But the Demon King still has a few tricks up his sleeve.  His demon children are again causing havoc for Emma and her friends, and they are desperately trying to find the missing Black Lion.

I won't tell you anymore because to do that would be to give the story away.  Rest assured that all your old friends are there, and you will see Emma's snake in action, you may catch a glimpse of Xuan Wu's snake, the White Tiger is still an ass, and there may be one or two little surprises :P

Now, being the complete obsessive compulsive person I am about these sorts of things, I went onto Kylie Chan's website and found out that the other 2 books in the second trilogy - The Journey to Wudang, will be out mid and late 2010.  Wuhooo!

The series works best if you read them in order....

The Dark Heavens Trilogy
White Tiger
Red Phoenix
Blue Dragon

The Journey to Wudang
Earth to Hell (out now in Australia, April everywhere else... sorry)
Hell to Heaven (out mid 2010 in Australia)
Heaven to Wudang (out late 2010 in Australia)

There will be a final trilogy to this series, and I can't wait to see what it will be.  I'm hoping that there will still be enough of a storyline, but knowing the series so far I don't think that'll be too much of a drama.

So I'm finally over my Regency Rut, and thank you Kylie Chan for that.  I'm going to keep my eyes peeled for the rest of the series this year, oh, and there is a small prequel coming out late 2010.  It's Gold's story.  Details are on Kylie Chan's website www.kyliechan.com