Review - Tiger's Curse ( The Tiger Saga #1 )

Author: Colleen Houck

Publisher: Sterling

Publication date: January 11th, 2011
Format: E-book
Cover Source: Goodreads.

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.

"It was hard to relate to other people my age anyway. Their heads were always full of such trivial things, and it was really hard work to find something in common to talk about. "

-Kelsey

I do feel like this sometimes, especially at my current place of residence. But really she would've had atleast one best friend. Not even one?

So that there is Kelsey, the main female lead before joining the circus for the summer. Kelsey is an 18 year old from Oregon, who befriends a tiger named Ren, while at her summer job at the circus. When Ren is bought by a rich man in India, Kelsey is asked to accompany them to help transport Ren, due to her close relationship and easy way with him. En-route to the sanctuary Ren and Kelsey are left stranded and move to the jungle.

And then.....

" When he was finally close enough, I slipped the rope through his collar and tied the other end to a tree.

He was not happy.

"I'm sorry, Ren, but we can't have you loose. It would scare the family. I promise I'll be back as soon as I can." I turned and began walking over to the small house, but then froze in my tracks when I heard a quiet male voice behind me say, "Is this really necessary?" "

Oh yeah, that's right! It is then revealed that Dhiren or Ren for short is actually an Indian prince battling a 400-year-old curse. The curse that made him a tiger.

This is where Kelsey's role comes to play. She is the chosen one and must help Ren break the curse that has entrapped Ren and his equally handsome hunk of a brother Kishan *wink wink* in a totally Indiana Jones-esque fashion.

It's all there, hot guys, crazy creatures and tasks, acts of dare-devilry, chivalry, oh so cute moments, steaming moments, this one's got 'em all.

Now coming to why I reduced a whole Quill for this book , since it does supposedly have it all.

What I didn't like :

• Kelsey
  
  Oh Kells, Kells, Kells........ You were absolutely relatable at the beginning, humble girl, not distractingly annoying, oh you were good. Then why oh why did you let all your confusion get in the middle of all of it towards the end??
  
  I liked you. I still manage to do so. But you let me down by going on and on and on and on..... about how you could not be with Ren and how gorgeous he is. I totally sympathise with you, ofcourse it is hard with Ren being all dreamy, steamy and chivalrous and well-mannered to add to it all. But it really wasn't necessary to let us know about his looks every other second.
  
  Lucky you didn't scratch the Bella surface.. *phew, disaster averted*
• It takes a while to get into the book. But definitely worth going through it, because it definitely does get better.
• Kishan
  (Just a personal rant, not a reason for reducing a quill)
  
  Seriously man? Yeah you're hot, dark and handsome but that isn't the way you treat someone! Sadly my first opinion of Kishan was that I didn't like him. He just put me off with his entrance, but yes I did gradually warm up to him.

What I liked ?

• Ren !
  
  Ren was just 'bhavya' (that's hindi for divine or according to google, gorgeous) . He wasn't perfect, he was stubborn, courteous, good 'ol fashioned chap.
• Representation of India
  
  I laughed when I read about Kelsey describing the horrible driving and lack of lane rules. It was always something I noticed when I visited India, and now that I moved here, yeah I do sometimes worry about my life when out with friends.
  
  But the descriptions were not degrading or unnecessarily exalting in any way which is something I liked. :)
• Kelsey
  
  Umhm. We have a love/hate relationship going on. Though I didn't like her because of her constantly mentioning who she could not have and his looks, she is nice. She may have fallen for Ren, but it was not insta-love, a fact that I really appreciated. She was hesitant and trusting at just the right amount. Though I do wish she would have just ended up with him already!
  
  Yes she did trust him way too easily at the beginning I felt, but she showed some sense later on. I mean who trusts someone when they say that they are your friend, your friend the tiger..... Yeah..
• Character Development and Conversations
  
  I really did like the character development of all the characters, be it Kelsey, Ren, endearing Mr.Kadam or Kishan. They helped keep the story moving and me turning the pages. Now isn't that what matters the most ?
  
  And the banter between the characters is equally good, not letting down.

So overall yes, a good read with a good amount of laughs, excitement, adventure and resentment towards the bad guy. And I'm going to pick up the next one to see what happens next.

Rating: 4 Quills

quill design: QioDen