Lily is a Chinese-Norwegian American, trained in classical Chinese martial arts as well as in the secret Japanese mountain-clan methods of ninjutsu. The characters are vivid; the dialogue is believable in a story which moves between so many worlds. When she meets the Bad Boy who is yang to her yin in the story, it is slightly erotic. There is also the difficulty of family conflict as Tiger Daughter faces Tiger Mother.

The Ninja Daughter is a fast-paced, thrilling, action-packed story of Lily Wong and her job in protecting abused women. Lily's emotional baggage from the brutal death of her sister has driven Lily to protect women like her sister. The action scenes to the mixed cultures of a midwest Norwegian farmer and her wealthy Chinese mother are interesting. This is a pageturner, and I look forward to reading book two.

On the surface Lily Wong appears typical, she works and lives above her Norwegian father’s restaurant that specializes in recipes inspired by her Chinese mother, has the typical rocky relationship with her mother who is constantly trying to set her up on dates with wealthy bachelors, and is constantly frustrated with LA traffic. Yet Lily is anything but typical, she is a modern day ninja, after her younger sister was murdered Lily has dedicated her life and skills to helping and protecting women so they do not meet the same fate. When a woman and her 5 year old son are kidnapped Lily will do everything in her power to get them back even if that means she will have to fight the Ukranian mob, an LA gang of sex trafficers and her own family.

This book was a definite page turner, full of suspense and action packed fights scenes that kept me on the edge of my seat and perfectly written characters that had me fully invested in this story. Yet above all of that the stand out item for me was how real the story felt. First, Lily was the perfect blend of strength and vulnerability, she knew both her worth and faults; this added with her witty intelligence gave her depth that made her feel so real as the story was read and the narrator does a fantastic job at giving Lily a voice. Second, it was easy to see that the fight scenes were so well researched in how they were written, each move I could picture perfectly the characters performing them, none were ever exaggerated or over done. I can not say enough good things about this book, i highly recommend this book to all audiobook fans and i can not wait to get to the others in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author, for an ARC of this book, in exhange for an honest review.
I thought this book was fun, interesting and well written. It had a great location and likeable characters.
I can't wait to read the 2nd book in the series, The Ninja's Blade.

This was a thriller with a unique premise. I had reservations when I read the summary, but I enjoyed it more then I thought. This is the 1st book of the series by Tori Eldridge. This was a quick read, and easy to follow. Did not disappoint. Thank you for the ARC , I am excited for book 2 already

Lily Wong is my new hero, and that is all. But seriously, the female empowerment represented in this book is amazing, and I definitely got Lis Salander vibes with her fierceness. This thriller is unexpected in the best way possible.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Martial arts... Action... Mystery... Kickass female heroine... Count me in.
After the death of her sister, Lily Wong, aka Dumpling, takes her martial arts training to the next level to become a Ninja so that she can help, empower and protect women in need. This book was fast paced and action packed. I really liked Lily and her cause. She is employed by a local women's shelter. Sometimes her work involves helping women orchestrate their escape from abusive situations. Other times, she distributes vigilante justice herself. I enjoyed Lily's character development. With a Norwegian father and Chinese mother, Lily’s heritage pulls her in conflicting directions. She struggles with balancing family expectations with her own self-given task of protecting women. Overall, this was a fun read.

Thank you to NetGalley for the review galley! (All opinions are my own)
Wow, this was such a surprise, I loved it! It had the perfect combination of suspense, culture, and character development. The characters were written so so well. Lilly was such a fierce yet empathetic protagonist. Can't wait to see what else Tori Eldridge writes, hopefully, more following The Ninja Daughter!

No wonder this book is getting so much hype! It is phenomenal and I can not wait for the next one! I have been hearing lots of good things about this book and this author and I couldn’t wait to see for myself. Wow! One of the best books of this year

Warnings: rape, domestic violence

The Ninja Daughter is (apparently) the first in what will be a series, about Lily Wong, a badass young woman of Chinese-Norwegian descent. After her younger sister is raped and murdered, she turns into a vigilante, and also works helping abused women (and their children) get away from their abusers and to a shelter.

The book opens with Lily strung up on a hook by a Ukrainian mobster who is trying to get information out of her. It won't be spoilery to say that she manages to get out of her predicament and manages to kill said mobster in the process. The "ninja" in the title is on full display here. When she makes it back to the shelter, she is stunned to learn that the woman and child she'd rescued from the dead Ukrainian's boss have returned to the boss' house.

Afterward, Lily is drawn into the case of Mia, who seems to need protection against a man named J Tran. She isn't being paid for this: she simply shows up at the courthouse where Mia has lost her case against him, and Mia agrees to have Lily keep an eye on her.

What follows is a romping story as Lily tries to discover just who J Tran is, and why he would be after Mia in the first place. There are payoffs, conspiracies, more Ukrainian mobster, gang bangers, human trafficking, drugs, affairs, a fair bit of humor, a mysterious and dead, but drop-dead (no pun intended) handsome stranger who is also an assassin, and more dead bodies as the story moves along. As far as the story goes, it's a bit like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels, with a little more gore. While this book was suggested as a thriller, it definitely falls more into the mysrom category, at least for me. The ends tie together in an okay fashion, although the teaming up at the end was a little stretching it for me.

I do love series characters. The only issue with many first books is information. That is to say, at times, authors tend to try to cram too much backstory into the first book, which can slow the pacing of the story in the (book's) current day. I found that to be the case from time to time in The Ninja Daughter (side note: I think the title would be better as just Ninja Daughter - no "the" necessary, since she's the only one in this story). We get quite a bit about her father's parents, her mother's past, more than a few colloquialisms on the Norwegian side of the family, and so on. While at times these lend an authentic feel to the story, as when Lily is ruminating on the comfort brought on by the quilt her Norwegian grandmother made, there are other times when it goes on a bit long and we have to get wound up for the next part of the adventure. We also get more than a couple reminders that Lily is, in fact, a kuniochi - a ninja - something we know already, from the title and from the previous mentions of the same thing.

That aside, I did like it, and it would be a great beach or plane/train read.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

This action-packed debut thriller introduces Lily Wong, a Chinese-Norwegian woman who fights the Los Angeles Ukrainian mob, sex traffickers, and her own family’s expectations to protect desperate women and children.
The layers of external conflict and the search for justice combine with the internal conflicts that come from being mixed-race in a community that favours the conventional.
The detailed descriptions of martial arts techniques and the Los Angeles setting adds a depth of authenticity to this remarkable page-turner from an author to follow.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book. Really enjoy the premise of this book but I just couldn't get into the plot. Did not understand the fighting style or the cultural background. Which make it hard for me to picture what is going on. Need to learn more about the culture to understand this book. Will read this again when I get there.

I found myself caught up in the story line and wanting to know what was happening. This was the positive side of reading this book. At the same time I found myself reading about violence that was far more than I prefer in the books that I read. This was the negative side of the book. I found myself skipping over the more graphic parts of the violence at the beginning of the story and might not have kept reading if I hadn't been planning to review the book. I did find it interesting that the author has a background in the types of fighting that are in the story and therefore I assume the descriptions are both accurate and possible. The back story for how Lily Wong became a Ninja fighting for the rights of women drew me in and I found myself caring about what might happen to the women Lily wanted to help. Because of that, I probably would read a further book if the author writes another one based on the Lily Wong character.

I love Martial Arts, and I love kickass heroines. So The Ninja Daughter caught my eye right away. This is the story of Lily Wong, a young woman who dedicates her life to helping abused women after her sister is raped and murdered. Sometimes her work involves helping women orchestrate their escape from abusive situations. Other times she distributes vigilante justice herself. Lily is a flawed character who operates outside of the law, but I enjoyed reading about her. Her work was gripping to read about, but I also enjoyed the exploration of Lily’s personal life. With a Norwegian father and Chinese mother, Lily’s heritage pulls her in conflicting directions. She struggles with balancing family expectations with her own self-given task of protecting women. And I liked how Martial Arts teachings were infused into the whole story. So many people misunderstand Martial Arts. It is completely evident that Eldridge draws from her own training in To-Shin Do for both the fight scenes and the mentality of Martial Arts. According to her bio, she also has a similar cultural background to Lily, so she draws a lot from her own life experiences.

This is definitely an adult story. It deals with topics of abuse and rape and other violence. The opening scene is a torture scene. That being said, the overall story is not too graphic. The violence falls into the middle ground: there is enough content to put off sensitive readers, but it is not nearly as graphic as some popular books.

The story ended up being more of a Mystery than a Thriller. Lily’s roll as protector often has her functioning like a private investigator, so the story had a strong Mystery vibe. That wasn’t what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it. I love reading Mysteries. Combined with the other elements of the story, The Ninja Daughter was my kind of book.

There were some aspects that showed this is a debut novel and the first in a series. There was a lot of information that had to be set up. Not just the characters and plot, but also a lot of background about Chinese and Norwegian culture as well as the different Martial Arts disciplines. It was a lot of information to fit into a short novel. But I was engaged the whole time, and this was a great debut novel. I look forward to reading the sequel!

Refreshing to see a non-white, ass-kicking woman as the main character in a mystery/thriller. We need more books like this.

I loved it! A kick-ass heroine--both figuratively and literally--Lily Wong takes matters into her own hands after the brutal murder of her sister, and trains to become a modern-day ninja vigilante. She lends a helping hand to battered women and protects them when they can no longer do it themselves, only to be drawn into a battle with gangsters. A great addition to the genre, I loved how it turned stereotypes on end without becoming cartoonish. Here's to hoping that Lily returns with more adventures in the future.

I received a digital ARC via NetGalley.

While a little too extra and unbelievable for my tastes, it was a fun and action filled tale of girl power that I think would resonate with teen and new adult readers. I loved how fast it went by.

This was a thriller with a unique premise. I didn't know what I would think of it when I read the summary, but I actually enjoyed it a lot. There was a lot of action and the plot moved along quickly.

“Because fighting was easy. Tranquility was hard.” (page 27)

The Ninja Daughter starts off with the protagonist, Lily Wong in a tight squeeze, hanging from a hook, fighting for her life. She gets off that hook, but not without some great action and a fair bit of violence. She’s a woman too often underestimated, much to the chagrin of those who seek to string her up. This is a girl who knows how to put up a fight.
And fight she does, using the techniques she has honed and perfected with her sensei in the tradition of the Ninja. This novel is action-packed and full of wonderful cultural details not only of Lily’s Chinese/Norwegian heritage but also of the Japanese aspects of her Ninja training. Driven in particular by the rape and murder of her sister five years ago, Lily sets out to avenge all women from their oppressors; whether it is as a paid enforcer for the women’s shelter that she works for, or in a pro-bono capacity whenever she sees a female in distress. She’s like a superhero figure in this way. Righting wrongs. Avenging the downtrodden. Nailing the bad guys. And they are always guys, it seems. Lily randomly comes across rapists, gropers and other male criminals at a rate much higher than the general populace, making it a little over-the-top in this way. I wouldn’t want it to feed into the paranoia I see on the internet, where well-meaning people post “true” stories warning me about men who will hand me poisoned business cards, mark my car with a zip-tie for the sex traffickers, or stalk me using the picture I posted of my cat playing in the park. We women are a vulnerable lot, but it’s not quite that bad.
That being said, I did love the championing of the cause that Lily did at the women’s shelter, where she would be sent to homes with domestic violence to “investigate, rescue, and extract.” It made the whole operation sound like a CIA terrorist takedown, which in many ways it is, and should be. Battling the terrorism affecting women in their own homes should be part of Homeland Security, in my opinion.
So if you want to enjoy some good butt-kicking by a woman able to even the score with more than just a Meetoo hashtag, this book is for you. Well plotted and enjoyable.

The Ninja Daughter was not bad. I wanted to like it more than I did, unfortunately. Badass females kicking jerks in the junk is my jam, and I'm become a bit of a connoisseur of the genre. Lily's character felt undeveloped, more a cardboard cutout for a heroine who checked all the boxes: Traumatic past event, skill set adapted to avenge, poor abused women to protect.... It just felt a bit rote and the stakes never felt very high. The villain was more compelling than she was, honestly.