The Ninja Betrayed

★ ★ ★ ★ 1/2 (rounded up)
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S THE NINJA BETRAYED ABOUT?
Hot on the heels of their trip to L.A., Lily's grandfather summons her mother to Hong Kong for a board meeting where it looks like her mother's future will be decided (and it doesn't look like a bright future). Lily comes along with her mother for emotional support and to spend some time with her grandparents. The fact that her love interest, Daniel Kwok, is in the city on business doesn't hurt either.

As things start to look grim for her mother, Lily's spider-sense goes off and she starts looking into things. She has to learn a little about international finance and corporate politics (dicey in the first place, but worse when family is added in) in order to make sense of things—and it gets more complicated when someone attacks her when she's at the home of a family friend.

Lily has to balance her under-the-radar investigation, dating, family obligations, and tourism (and a little extra-curricular fun, see below)—what could go wrong?

PROTESTS AND PERIL
Pro-democracy protests are common at the time of the visit—and Lily notices how the police are treating the protesters—at times goading them into a riot, or reacting more violently than a situation calls for (or a combination of the two). Her grandparents, and others of similar age/social standing, have a very different take on the protests than those who are closer to Lily's age.

Because romance and financial intrigue aren't enough to occupy her mind, Lily gets involved in a little more trouble. Her grandfather's driver, Mr. Tam strikes up a friendship with Lily—she helps him extract his daughter from a couple of heavy situations related to the protests.

Both Mr. Tam's relationship with Lily and her escapades near the protests are the most fun part of the novel—they're the closest this book gets to being an action movie. But it's more than that—there's something about these scenes where Lily is more herself, she's not trying to say and do the right things around her grandfather's business (or for her mother), she's not trying to figure out the right things to say and do with Daniel—it's the closest to her being the L.A. version of Lily—no airs, just trying to keep a young woman out of trouble.

THIS'LL EVEN WARM THE COCKLES OF YOUR HEART

I sank lower and snuggled my face against my mother's heart, clutching her waist as she rocked me like a child. What childish woes used to bring me to such despair? A broken toy? A stubbed toe? An injured bird? Id had no idea about the true meaning of pain. Nor had my mother.

“I can't lose you, Lily.”

“I know, Ma.”

THE NINJA BETRAYED

gripped