Book Review: Tiger's Curse (The Tiger Saga #1)

Release Date: January 11, 2011
Author: Colleen Houck
Publisher: Splinter Publishing
Length: 448 pages

Passion. Fate. Loyalty.

Would you risk it all to change your destiny?

The last thing Kelsey Hayes thought she’d be doing this summer was trying to break a 300-year-old Indian curse. With a mysterious white tiger named Ren. Halfway around the world. But that’s exactly what happened. Face-to-face with dark forces, spellbinding magic, and mystical worlds where nothing is what it seems, Kelsey risks everything to piece together an ancient prophecy that could break the curse forever.

Tiger’s Curse is the exciting first volume in an epic fantasy-romance that will leave you breathless and yearning for more.

Review:

Characters: Kelsey Hayes is the smart, beautiful, and compassionate narrator who just graduated from High School and looks for a summer job at a local temp agency. When she is given the opportunity to look after circus animals she takes the job, unaware that it will change her life forever. After her first day she quickly becomes enthralled with the circus' tiger Dhiren. Before the circus has finished its two week run, a man, named Anik Kadam, comes and offers to buy Ren from the circus and keep him safe in a tiger reserve. Mr. Kadam is a kind, gentle, and intelligent old man who offers Kelsey the opportunity to come with Ren and him to India to help get Ren settled in. After a well thought out decision which also involved her kindfoster parents Kelsey decides to accept Mr. Kadam's offer, though she eventually finds out her "new summer job" is not what Mr. Kadam claims it to be.

Romance: The main romance in this installment is between Ren and Kelsey. After she finds out that he is not a tiger, but a man trapped inside a tiger's body for twenty-three hours and thirty-six minutes of the day, she begins to develop the feelings for him that he already has for her. Eventually, she begins to doubt whether Ren really has the same feelings for her or if he only likes her because she's the only girl who doesn't care whether or not he's a tiger for most of the day. This gets in the way of their mission to break his curse on more than one occasion. Can they learn to communicate their feelings properly, or will Kelsey break both their hearts?

Indian Mythology: There are many references to Indian Mythology throughout this book. some are the myths and legends themselves and some are the presence of gods and goddesses. This book is a great way to begin learning about Indian Mythology and testing the waters to see if you would like learning more about it or not.

Predictability: The predictability of this book was low, and I couldn't quite figure out what was going to happen. Even when I thought for sure I knew what was going to happen, I'd be wrong, which made reading this book all the more fun. I was delighted every time I was wrong, because what would happen was better than what I had predicted.

Ending: The ending of this book was absolutely heart-breaking. This was the saddest ending I have ever read, I never saw it coming and I couldn't believe an author would do this to their characters, even if it was only the first installment. I couldn't help myself and got the second installment as soon as I could.

Rating:

This was a book I literally couldn't put down. I carried it with me everywhere and read it every chance I got. The author knows how to keep you coming back for more, even if you don't stop after you've finished a cliffhangery chapter.