'Jade Tiger' by Jenn Reese

Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Juno Books (October 1, 2006)
ISBN-10: 080955674X
Price: $12.95

From start to finish Jade Tiger is a page turning adventure. You have it all; romance, mystery, suspense, travel, and some more adventure not to mention some edge of your seat action. Once I picked this on up it was hard to put down.

Shan is half-Chinese and half-American woman who grew up in China as part of a group called the Jade Circle. When they are attacked by an unnamed group who are after the precious jade animals that they take their name and power from Shan and her father are forced to flee.

Once in America both refuse to give up the search for Shan’s mother who stayed behind. Shan studies with different martial arts masters and searches for the missing jade animals hoping that they will somehow reunite her with her mother. When she spots one of the animals in a magazine photograph she tracks it down immediately.

But it turns out that Shan is not the only person looking for the animals of the Jade Circle. So what Shan hoped would be an easy retrieval turns out to be a problem. But with the help of Ian, a professor she saves while trying to rescue the jade animal, and his comic relief friend Buckley Shan is soon flying around the world to discover another missing animal from the Circle.

From there the story takes off. Shan and Ian are a perfect match as they uncover the mysteries surrounding the Jade Circle and the locations of its sacred animals. Along the way women from Shan’s past, members of the Jade Circle, slowly start to come back into her life. Shan must not only recover the animals but prove that she is worthy to do so.

Shan is a great character. Part Laura Croft, Indian Jones, and Bruce Lee she fights her way though the book, and like a good guy every time, not only kicks the bad guy’s rear but gets what she came for too. But while Shan may seem super human she is far from it and it was nice to see that even she could still get hurt or get weak in the knees from a kiss.

Jade Tiger was a lot of fun. Well written and fast paced it moved you along quickly to a satisfying conclusion. I only hope that Jenn Reese’s next book is as good