Book Review – Tiger’s Destiny by Colleen Houck

Alrighty, I have finally finished up this series (well, until the fifth one comes out) so here is my review on the fourth book, Tiger’s Destiny by Colleen Houck.

Goodreads summary:

With three of the goddess Durga’s quests behind them, only one prophecy now stands in the way of Kelsey, Ren, and Kishan breaking the tiger’s curse. But the trio’s greatest challenge awaits them: A life-endangering pursuit in search of Durga’s final gift, the Rope of Fire, on the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal.  It’s a race against time–and the evil sorcerer Lokesh–in this eagerly anticipated fourth volume in the bestselling Tiger’s Curse series, which pits good against evil, tests the bonds of love and loyalty, and finally reveals the tigers’ true destinies once and for all.

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars

WARNING: There will be minor spoilers throughout the rest of the review.

Like the last two books, it jumps right in to where the previous one left off. At the end of Tiger’s Voyage, Kelsey is captured by Lokesh. While she’s held prisoner, the reader gets more of a taste of the sorcerer’s twisted personality and his true goals. Because this takes place at the beginning of the book, it’s fairly obvious she isn’t going to remain a captive for long. Her tiger’s come to her aid and soon thoughts of Lokesh are set aside as they return home and prepare for their next quest.

Mr. Kadam’s and Nilima’s futures were uncertain in the last book, but I was happy to find them safe at the house. And with more surprises in store. Let’s just say I did not expect time-traveling in this series. The trio make their way to the next temple but once again Lokesh appears to disrupt their plans. I won’t go into further detail due to spoilers, so certain events unfold and they continue on their journey.

I enjoyed their voyage in the last book, but I enjoyed this one even more. They travel to a land underneath a volcano and have to endure many tasks in order to obtain the goddess Durga’s Rope of Fire. All of the tasks were interesting to read and kept me wanting more. Once they complete this challenge, however, there’s a pleasant plot twist and finally the time to defeat Lokesh and break the curse has come.

Out of all four books this one gave me the most feels. There were about four scenes that had me teary-eyed. If you’ve read this book you probably know what scenes I’m talking about. I also liked the fact that romance wasn’t a key factor in this book until closer to the end. It’s main focus was breaking the curse.

As for the characters, like the last book, more of them were introduced in this one and it really made the book more enjoyable. Kelsey was still overly emotional and a tad whiny, but you could most definitely tell she has grown as a person from the first book. Kishan and Ren were both awesome, as always.

I thought Tiger’s Destiny made for a fitting end to the series, so I’m not sure how I feel about the fifth book. There isn’t a synopsis of it (that I could find) so I have no idea what it’s going to be about since this book pretty much wrapped everything up. I’ll just have to wait and see. As many who have read this series know, there is a movie planned for the first book and, although I’ve learned not to expect much from movie adaptions, I’m still looking forward to watching it when it comes out.

Overall, this was a fairly enjoyable series and I’m glad I decided to give it a try.

Happy reading! :)

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Book Review – Tiger’s Voyage by Colleen Houck

In my review of Tiger’s Quest I mentioned I would probably be doing one post for both Tiger’s Voyage and Tiger’s Destiny. But once again I overestimate my laziness. So here’s my review for Tiger’s Voyage, the third book in the Tiger Saga series.

Goodreads summary:

With the head-to-head battle against the villainous Lokesh behind her, Kelsey confronts a new heartbreak: in the wake of his traumatic experience, her beloved Ren no longer remembers who she is. As the trio continues their quest by challenging five cunning and duplicitous dragons, Ren and Kishan once more vie for her affections–leaving Kelsey more confused than ever.

My Rating: 4.5/5 stars

At the end of the second book, Ren had lost his memory of Kelsey so the beginning of the third obviously focused on that large detail. To be honest, however, I did internally groan when I saw that the first chapter was titled, ‘Living Without Love’. Despite that, this book jumped quickly back into the main plot of breaking the curse. There was definitely more tension between the three main characters, but I actually found it refreshing because Kelsey and Ren were butting heads once more, like when they had first met.

Enter the dragons. The main objective of this book is for the group to find Durga’s Black Pearl Necklace. And to obtain the necklace, they were to be aided by five dragons. Dragons are my favorite mythical creatures, so I was excited. The dragons were located out at sea, so the majority of the book takes place in the ocean and on the boy’s yacht (I wish I had a yacht…)

The reason why I gave this book an extra half of a star is because of the new characters. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the five main characters – Kelsey, Ren, Kishan, Mr. Kadam, and Nilima – but after two books of mainly them, it was nice for some other characters to be thrown into the mix. These new characters included Wes, their diving instructor, and of course the five dragons. Wes was my favorite out of the six. I wish he had been in the story longer.

Anyway, during the visit to each dragon, Kelsey, Ren, and Kishan had to basically preform some sort of task to show that they were worthy enough to acquire Durga’s Necklace. I won’t spoil anything about that, but out of the five visits the one to the green dragon was my favorite.

I also believe I rated this one slightly higher than the previous two because it was even more action-based. The romance was still there, but the plot kind of bulldozed its way over it for the most part. However, this book did make me realize I like Ren and Kelsey together. Like Kelsey, I wanted to give Kishan a chance, and I still really enjoy him as a character, but I just think her and Ren click better.

Overall, this was a great installment to the series with a number of twists. Let’s just say I’m glad I don’t have to wait a year to read the next one.

Happy reading! :)

Book Review – Tiger’s Quest by Colleen Houck

Goodreads summary:

Back in Oregon, Kelsey tries to pick up the pieces of her life and push aside her feelings for Ren. Kelsey Hayes’s eighteenth summer was crazy. The kind of crazy nobody would ever believe.

Aside From battling immortal sea monkeys and trekking the jungles of India, she fell in love with Ren, a 300-year-old prince.

When danger suddenly forces Kelsey on another Indian quest, with Ren’s bad-boy brother, Kishan, the unlikely duo begins to question their true destiny. Ren’s life hangs in the balance–so does the truth within Kelsey’s heart.

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Okay, so this is the second book in the Tiger Saga series. I’m still really enjoying the plot. The whole idea of what the group has to go through to break the curse is interesting and I like how it ties in with not only Indian myths, but ones from different cultures as well. Despite all of the angst-y teenage romance, people should give this series a try for the adventure-based plot if nothing else.

At the beginning of this book you’re taken away from the trials of breaking the curse. If you read the first one, you know Kelsey has decided she deems it best to return home and give Ren some space. I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t a big fan of the first quarter of the book. My thoughts exactly: ‘Ughh, this going to be like New Moon, isn’t it?’ (no offense to you Twilight lovers out there, but the only good thing about that book was the werewolves). But yeah, the beginning was pretty much Kelsey moping around missing Ren. It was her decision to leave him. Just sayin’. I did, however, like that there was a bit of the school-atmosphere and that she finally pushed thoughts of Ren aside (a little) to try dating other guys.

Warning! Minor spoilers ahead.

But then Ren returns (honestly, it’s pretty predictable…). And so the mushy teenagers in love continues. Yes, I understand that romance is also a main part of this series but I’m not an extremely mushy person, so sometimes I get easily annoyed with tons of fluff. I have to really really like both characters to not be annoyed. But I did enjoy reading about Ren learning more about the 21st century while he was with Kelsey in Oregon (and his discovery of peanut butter).

Due to the vision Kelsey, Mr. Kadam, and Lokesh had in Tiger’s Curse, Lokesh knows that Kelsey is somehow involved with the two princes and the amulets. And he’s closing in. Ren is captured and Kelsey and Kishan, who showed up in Oregon to help, hightail it back to India.

Spoilers over.

Due to certain circumstances, Ren is out of the picture for the time being (for those of you who skipped the spoiler section) so it’s up to Kelsey and Kishan to hunt down the second gift. Kelsey begins training so that she can better defend herself, which I liked because she was very much a ‘damsel-in-distress’ in the first book. Kishan didn’t play a large role in the previous book so having him be a main part of this one made me happy. But because Ren isn’t there to chaperone, a love-triangle unfolds (you’re lying if you say you didn’t see that one coming).

And the stories continues.

Lokesh, the main bad-guy mentioned in Tiger’s Curse, finally makes an appearance and you get a taste of his sadistic nature (yay villains!). There is a slight twist at the end of the book, but if you were paying attention it wasn’t all that surprising. However, it does keep me interested enough to be excited about reading the third book (plus, there’s a dragon on the cover of the third book…a dragon!) As I’ve mentioned, I truly enjoy the adventurous plot of this series and hope that the characters keep developing (it would make the mushy-ness of the romance more tolerable).

Depending on my mood, and how lazy I am, I may do one review for the next two books. We’ll see. I actually thought this series was finished, but hadn’t realized the fifth book is to be published sometime this year. So that review will obviously come later on.

Happy reading!

 

 

Book Review – Tiger’s Curse by Colleen Houck

Goodreads summary:

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.

 

My Rating: 4/5 stars

This book seems to get a lot of mixed reviews. People tend to love it or greatly dislike it. I, for one, enjoyed it. The plot was interesting, adventure-filled, and fast-paced. It started off a bit slow, for me at least, but took little time picking up the pace. There weren’t many dull points where the characters were just milling about. There was usually always a specific goal to the main character’s actions. Which brings me to my next topic. Characters.

WARNING! Minor spoilers ahead. Nothing major, but for those people who don’t like any type of spoiler whatsoever, I would skip…probably the rest of the review. I try not to give away too many things but I tend to ramble about stuff…so yeah.

A lot of people seem to have a problem with Kelsey, the main character. I tend to get easily annoyed with certain characters but I honestly didn’t think Kelsey was all the bad. Sure, some of her phrases and references seem like they should come from someone much older than seventeen, but I mostly enjoyed her inner-dialogue. She was definitely in the ‘damsel in distress’ category, however, you really shouldn’t expect much from a normal teenager with little to no world experience. But she is also realistic and contributes her share of ideas throughout the story.

As a tiger, Ren is pretty freakin’ adorable. If not a bit aloof at the beginning. As a human, (come on now, that’s not a spoiler. If you really thought this entire book was about some girl having one-sided conversations with a tiger you are silly. Just sayin’…) he is stubborn, charming, and quick-witted. He’s also described as extremely sexy. Just thought I’d throw that out there. Having been stuck as a tiger for 300 years, he’s still learning the ways of the 21st century.

Kishan, Ren’s brother, isn’t in the book all that much but he is definitely your typical womanizer. There’s more going on with him than it seems, but I have a feeling whatever that is, it’ll be revealed in the second book.

ANOTHER WARNING! That’s it for minor spoilers, the content below contains fairly decent spoilers. Well, kinda. If you’re interested in the book just go read it then come back and read what else I have written. But I have to rant a tiny bit.

There are two main things I didn’t care for in this book.

The first was how Kelsey ended up in India. She works with a circus for two weeks, barely doing any actual work with the tiger, then all of a sudden she’s qualified to help care for and transport said tiger to a country half way across the world? I understand they needed to get her to India without telling her about the curse, but that was too big of a stretch for me.

The second was the romance. After it is revealed that Ren can transform into a sexy, twenty-something year old Indian prince, I knew there was going to be romance. Obviously. There’s nothing wrong with romance. However, I’m the type of person that likes it when characters take it more on the slow side. So I was happy at first, since Kelsey was more wary of Ren’s human form in the beginning. And he didn’t try to kiss her until halfway through the book. But after that the romance was just more…annoying than anything. It was like being on a roller coaster (I don’t like roller coasters, btw). She liked him and they would make out, then she decided she didn’t like him anymore because she didn’t want to get hurt…until they made out again and then she liked him again, and so on and so forth. She explains her reasons about her different feelings throughout the rest of the book, but I would have liked it better if she at least decided on something. Either take the plunge and see how the relationship unfolds or put the whole thing on hold (which she keeps saying she was going to do, but fails to follow through simply because he touches or kisses her). I understand she has problems due to her past…but still. We’ll see exactly where it all goes in the next book.

But yeah, despite those few things, Tiger’s Curse was an enjoyable read and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.