Format read: paperback
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Release Date: 11 January 2011
Length: 498
Publisher: Hodder
Formats available: audio book paperback, ebook, Hardcover
Purchasing Info: Amazon | B&N | Kobo | Book Depository US | Book Depository (UK)

Book Blurb:

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.

My Thoughts:

Although the adventure intrigued me, the main character and the quality of writing ruined this story.

Kelsey Hayes needs some work over the summer before she starts college; luckily she picks up a short term job at a circus that is coming to town. There she sees the great Dhiren, a tiger who she needs to care for and eventually she forms a bond with. She finds out that her tiger Ren is actually a man trapped by a curse and it’s only through her help that the curse will be broken; travelling to India they enlist the aide of the gods and a special friend to help break the 300 year old curse.

Kelsey Hayes has to be the single dumbest and most annoying character I have read in a very, very long time, perhaps forever. I struggled to understand how exactly Houck expected anyone to like her, let alone cheer on her quest. She encompasses all of the infuriating, stupid, catty, immature traits of the modern teenage girl and there is no good side. What eighteen year old (technically an adult) still puts coloured ribbons through her braids and not only sleeps with her baby quilt but has to take it with her on all occasions, who has to sing herself to sleep because she watched a tiger hunt a deer after being warned that that is what was going to happen and now she’s so scared she has nightmares.

Then there’s her treatment of Ren as a man, she decides that she’s not good enough for him and that he will get bored with her if they start a relationship when the curse is lifted. Instead of telling him like an adult what her issues are, especially seeing as how she reiterates that she doesn’t lie and how she has never been one to run away from her problems, she becomes catty with him and petulant to “push him away”. Every time he kisses her though she rubs up against him like a cat in heat and then acts like she’s the completely innocent Virgin Mary afterwards. She’s childish, immature and completely unlikable.

Ren I just felt sorry for. 300 years trapped as a tiger and he’s stuck with a moron like Kelsey to help him break the curse. He’s the typical YA hottie, although for being 300 years old he can also be quite childish at times after being continuously provoked by Kelsey. I will say that at least he snapped out of it and acted like an adult for most of the story.

Although the adventure of Tiger’s Curse proved quite interesting for me, the travelling through India and learning about some of their myths and gods, that is the only thing that kept me reading through this story. Houck’s writing is quite atrocious, this book reads like a self-published novel that hasn’t been through its final draft, and although the adventure is fairly good the premise is poorly formed.

Who hires an eighteen year old fresh out of school to look after a tiger? What on earth kind of foster parents let their ward go to India with a strange man they’ve only met once to look after this tiger? Why for heaven’s sake is an American the key to breaking and Indian curse? Then there was the writing itself which was jerky at times and had a lot of unnecessary descriptions for things no one cares about – like Kelsey’s hair and clothing.

I am annoyed with Kelsey to the point that if I didn’t already own the next two books I wouldn’t bother with this series. But I know what I’m like and my OCD will eventually take over and encourage me to continue. Luckily the adventure may be enough to keep me interested.

I give Tiger’s Curse 2 Stars

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

About Amanda

Amanda-Lee is a proudly addicted reader and writer from Sydney. She lives with her wonderful husband and their more like a baby than a kitten Hamish. Amanda-Lee has been blogging for 4 years now and is a lover of all genres, though she does have a tendancy to stray towards the weird and wonderful concotions in the paranormal and fantasy genres. In addition to being the Winged Lover on BLI she also runs the book blog StoryWings.

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