Review: Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck

Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I can't believe that I read this book for the first time 9 YEARS AGO!!! And I've been thinking about it ever since, which means it was a great book :)

And the re-read I just did, did not disappoint. It was still as good as I remember, though I read Tiger's Promise novella first, and now my thoughts about the brothers from their past actions have changed my mind on which brother I like the most!

Below is my original review that I wrote after I read it for the first time, and everything I said then it still true today, so I'm not going to re-review it. So glad I decided to read this series again, and be able to finally finish it now that the 5th book is out!

Original Review in March, 2010:
**I won this book through a free giveaway on Goodreads.**

From the advance copy I received, I didn't think that I would like it. How wrong was I!!! This is a "retelling" of Beauty and the Beast but with a twist: the beast is an Indian prince, 350 years old, who was turned into a beautiful white and black striped tiger with amazing blue eyes, and the Beauty thinks that she is no beauty but just a normal, American 18 year old.

Peak your interest yet?

Kelsey started to work at a circus near her hometown in Oregon, just for a summer job so she can save some money before she goes to a local community college. She didn't include a beautiful tiger that she was always drawn to as part of the circus routine. Whenever Kelsey had any free time (she was staying on the circus grounds for 2 weeks while she worked there) she would always go near the tiger's cage and read from her books, sketch, or just talk to the tiger in a normal discussion.

Kelsey felt sorry for the tiger one day and wished that he was free to roam the wild, like most tigers do. When she said that, it freed Ren, the tiger, somewhat from his curse. He's been forced to be a tiger for 300 years but when Kelsey said that she wanted him to be free, he was able to turn into a man again for 24 minutes every day.

After that, Kelsey went to India to try and help Ren out of the curse he's been forced to live with for so many years and she is also struggling to keep her feelings a secret: she's starting to like Ren as more than a friend. Kelsey definitely wasn't expecting to find magic and mystery during the summer of her 18th birthday, and neither was she expecting to fall in love.

I liked this book. It definitely caught me by surprise - I really didn't think I was going to be too interested in the story and now I just went and bought the second book Tiger's Quest today so I wouldn't have to wait too long to continue Kelsey and Ren's story.

The one thing that annoyed me to no end was Kelsey's reaction to falling for Ren. She lost her parents when she was 15, so she's built a wall around her heart and is unsure if she should let Ren in. But it's sooo obvious that Ren has fallen head over heels in love with her! He's amazingly attractive, royal, and sensitive - she's missing out! If she doesn't want him, I'll certain trade her places :-)

I'm excited to read the next story, even though I'll have to wait for the next 2 books in the series to come out to find out if Kelsey can break the curse that Ren and his brother were trapped in all those years ago.

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