Book Review: Tiger's Curse - Colleen Houck

TIGER'S CURSE:

Published: January 11, 2011

Publisher: Splinter 

Format: Hardcover

Page Count: 402 pages

Source: Amazon.com

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. But that's exactly what happened. Face-to-face with dark forces, spellbinding magic,  and mystical worlds where nothing is as 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. 

"This novel had parts of epic proportions, but it didn't live up to expectation I had for it." 

Going into Tiger's Curse, I was expecting a magical and epic journey that would sweep me off my feet and carry me to the heart of India, where I would be jumping up and down with glee about the novel. Sadly, that didn't happen.

Kelsey Hayes is just your average girl. To get some extra money, she takes a job at a circus to work with some dogs and a white tiger named Ren. Instantly, she's drawn to the tiger. When a man named Mr. Kadam offers to buy Ren, he also offers a position to Kelsey to help train Ren alongside him. Ultimately, she agrees. When they reach India, Kelsey is given a truck only to have it stolen.

Then, Ren takes off into the jungle of India. He doesn't stop and takes Kelsey on a wild goose chase. When they come across a small village and Kelsey ties Ren up to a tree, she hears a voice behind her. It's Ren -- as a human. He then explains to her this long-old curse on him and how she is the only one to break it.

With this novel, I expect it to have twists and turns on every page, but unfortunately, I didn't get my way. 

First, the characters. Kelsey isn't all that great of a character. Sure, she wasn't a Bella Swan from Twilight, but then again, she wasn't a Juliette from Shatter Me either. And then, she was like drawn to Ren. I can understand how a tiger might be really cool to hang around, but when you start to obsess over it, I think we've reached our boundary point. 

And the biggest flaw I had with this book is the name that Kelsey asked Ren to call her: Kells. Ugh. I don't want to feel like I'm reading a Gossip Girl novel when seeing the word 'Kells' at least two times when dialogue is on that specific page. Please, let's have somewhat dignity here, Kelsey. 

Next, the writing style. Again, not the greatest. Whenever something big might happen at the end of the chapter, Houck just left it there. Sure, some of it would be there in the first paragraph of the story, but there is definite room for some more description of big -- or at least exciting -- things that happen in a chapter. And then, there was some stuff that was there that didn't have to pertain to the story. Like the part where Kelsey was on the airplane going to India and she saw the bathroom. Two pages -- and they're very long pages -- was filled with just describing how elegant the bathroom was. Yes, we the reader need to know what she's doing in the bathroom, but we don't need to know everything from large shower to granite of the bathroom sink.

Finally, there is the plot. Don't get me wrong, this book was epic -- at some points. I know that this is only the first novel, and I'm sure the second book will be more epic because the plot and the characters are already established, but I can't help feel that this book just wasn't enough to satisfy my needs. 

Overall, Tiger's Curse did disappoint, but I am hopeful for the second novel that it will be more a more page-turner along with twists and turns along the way.

My Rating: