Title: Tiger's Curse (The Tiger Saga #1)
Author: Colleen Houck
Publication Date: January 11th 2011
Publisher: Splinter
Rating: 5 out of 5
Goodreads Blurb:
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.Packed with magic, action-adventure, and romance, the epic Tiger's Curse series will keep you breathless and yearning for more.
Kelsey, a seemingly ordinary girl from Oregon, gets a summer
job at a circus. There she meets a white tiger called Dhiren, and from that
moment, she is pulled into a 300-year-old curse involving otherworldly
adventures, extremely handsome tigers, and awesome super powers.
This is one of my favorite books ever! I love the Indian
mythology, I love the romance, I love the characters, and I love the my tigers!
SPOILER. Dhiren, the
white tiger from the circus, is actually an Indian prince who was betrayed by
his brother and was cursed by the evil sorcerer Lokesh. Lokesh is the
power-hungry monster that wants to unite the pieces of the Damon amulet to
control all the elements.
So, Kishan (the brother) and Ren have both been living as
tigers for more than 300 years. Now how does Kelsey Hayes fit in? She is the warp
=D To be a little less incomprehensible, let me explain. Kelsey Hayes is given
the task of breaking the curse by completing five sacrifices and finding four
gifts by the goddess Durga (controller of the Damon amulet). Their guide and
mentor, Mr. Kadam is the reason that they are able to figure all the prophecy
mumbo jumbo out and quite frankly, he is the only reason they were able to find
out how to enter Kishkindha, the realm of the monkey, Kappas, and predatory
plants.
While in Kishkindha, fighting for their lives, Ren and
Kelsey fall in love. Cue the silly,cute romance. But after a while, Kelsey
convinces herself that Ren is too good for her (he is a prince) and rejects Ren. And after that the romance portion of
this series goes in never ending, circles. But in the end it all works out
perfectly.
After they avoid the scary plants, they find the gift
mentioned in Durga’s prophecy- a Golden Mango that provides an endless supply
of food. On the way back, however, both the monkeys and Kappas decide to attack
them and they both barely escape with their life. In fact, Kelsey gets poisoned
by a Kappa and would have died if it weren't for Fanindra, the golden snake
given to them by Durga.
After they leave Kishkindha, Ren discovers that he can turn into a man for a longer period of time (6 hours to be exact) and he is determined to convince Kelsey that they belong together. Kelsey, being ridiculously stubborn, compares herself to a radish, and leaves a heartbroken Ren behind while she flies back to Oregon.
Kelsey- Loves poetry and used to read to Ren at
the circus. She is courageous and cares about her tigers.
Ren- The white tiger, loves Kelsey, and also enjoys
literature/poetry, quiet, fierce, and extremely prince-like, very handsome
Kishan- The black tiger, Ren’s brother, withdrawn from
society, blames himself for what happened, kind/caring, also very handsome
Tiger’s Curse and the rest of the series are so delightfully
wonderful that I can’t wait for her next series about Egyptian sun gods and
awakened mummies! I am positive Ms. Houck will not disappoint.
