This review is a bit late. Later than you think. This is a book I received to review for Horror-Web back in 2011. So 13 years later it is getting the review I wanted but couldn’t get around to. It has been on a desk or nightstand most of that time because it sounded interesting, but other things kept pushing it back.

This is book one of the Dark Heavens trilogy written by Kylie Chan. The main character Emma is an Australian in Hong Kong who is a nanny for John Chen’s daughter Simone. But nothing is what it seems to be, as she discovers slowly.

Naturally she falls in love with her mysterious employer. Slowly she finds out some of the reality of the family she is working for. John is actually a Celestial being. A god. His daughter Simone is half human from the woman he had married in spite of the views of the other gods and the supreme god the Jade Emperor.

His powers have been fading because of the decisions he made, but he has been unwavering in them. And now he continues to flaunt the Jade Emperor as he has also fallen in love with Emma. But there are demons in this world that are hoping to take advantage of his weakened state. A new love doesn’t help him regain his strength, it actually continues his decline. The only way for him to fully recover is to return to the heavens for about 100 years.

The premise is intriguing. Unfortunately the execution was not as great as it could have been. The love story had a twist. Because of his weakened state, John could never have skin to skin contact with Emma. And this is a problematic issue for the story. Because it came up for about a page of prose every 5 pages. Over and over again we are hit with moments of “We are idiots for falling in love.” I honestly think this book could have been 100 pages less if this had been reduced. And the story would have been better because of that.

The story of Chinese gods on Earth fighting against demons is intriguing and the reason this book has stayed within reach for so long. I wanted to read it. I wanted to like it. I wanted it to be a 10 star book. But the idiots in love part drag it down massively for me. I give this 4 stars. And find myself saddened as I put it on the bookshelf next to books 2 & 3 in the trilogy. Books I wanted to read. Maybe in 13 years I will be ready to give book 2 a try.