Tiger's Curse

This is probably the worst book I've read all year. I've seen it recommended on everyone's "diverse book" lists, so of course I had to pick it up. But it's bad. It's just . . . really bad.

Book content warnings:
unhealthy relationships
extremely possessive men in relationships
racism

Kelsey Hayes is an incredibly ridiculous white woman who out of everyone in the world, is the Chosen One of an Indian goddess to break the curse on an Indian prince. And if this sounds like some mighty white savior syndrome, you're right! This book has an incredibly bad case of it. The author, Colleen Houck, is also white. Do I think the book's racism/white savior syndrome is intentional? No, but that doesn't make it any less harmful.

So Kelsey is tracked down by show more this Indian prince's knights (now secretary) and goes to India with them to break the curse (because that's normal, right? And her foster parents are totally cool with it right away). The prince, nicknamed Ren, is under a curse that has transformed him into a tiger, except for twenty-four minutes out of every day.

And that's it, that's the plot. There's no urgent, driving force for the rest of the book. Characters even mention, "there's no rush, take your time" multiple times. That's not an engaging plot! The plot is the driving force behind a book, driving characters, motives, etc. This thing wandered and wandered. Kelsey did something stupid, then romance happened. That's literally the outline.

The main focus of this book is the developing relationship between Kelsey and Ren. However, that relationship is not healthy. In the beginning it disturbed me so much I remember pausing to comment that I hoped Ren would turn out to be the villain! As the book went on, this feeling only intensified. Ren is extremely possessive and frightening. Sure, some of it might be intentional, as the two parted at the end, , but it's still obvious that they're meant to be romanticized by the reader. But with lines like "I won't let you leave", "[. . .] do you think I'd simply let you go? Let you walk out of my life without a backward glance?", "I know what you're thinking, and I'm not going to let you escape again. You can either take a seat and have dinner with me like a normal date. Or, you can sit on my lap while I force-feed you.".

No, this sounds like someone you'd file a restraining order on.

Besides all this, the writing is awful. Not only is it purely functional, it's just bad writing. Don't take my word for it, though. Take a look at this:

"'Ren, stop! The branches are scratching us. They have needles underneath that follow our movements. They're the thorny grasping dangers! We have to run or they'll ensnare us!'"

And finally, I'll just end with the worst of it: the racism. This review is already negative enough, but the racism and ignorance really made this book hard to read. First, we have Ren, who's Indian and . . . . as he states in the book: Asian? He literally says he's biracial because his mother was Asian. I hate to break it to you, Colleen Houck . . . but India is in Asia. She keeps insisting Asia is this separate place from India? And insists Asia is one single place? I know she's thinking East Asia, but ohhh, that's just so ignorant and annoying. If you mean East Asia (or specifically China), just say it. This whole white people thinking Asia = E. Asia is a narrow-minded line of thinking that many Asians have been trying to end.

And then in the second half, for some reason Houck decides to add in a Japanese creature to an Indian spirit world (and says they're Chinese??). It takes a VERY SIMPLE google search to find out kappa are Japanese creatures, not Chinese. Mixing them with Indian religion/mythology really adds nothing to the book, especially since it only happens once during the entire novel.

Except for the villain, every Indian character has golden skin and non-brown eyes. Hmmmm. Ren has blue eyes, his brother has golden eyes, and another has violet eyes. What's wrong with brown eyes and brown skin? Not to mention Ren is a white tiger, and his brother (the betrayer) is a black tiger and described as "darker" when human.

This whole book is just a mess, and I'm so astonished the book has so many fans. show less

Kelsey thinks her job at the circus will be a temporary job - but how wrong she is! When she joins she discovers that she has a special connection with the beautiful white tiger that performs every night. She becomes a kind of caretaker, taking care of his food and water and making sure he's safe inside his cage. She sits by the cage every night and reads to him, or writes in her journal and tells him stories.

But when a man comes to the circus and buys Ren, the tiger, Kelsey feels that she is about to lose a great friend. She finds she is wrong, however, when the assistant of the man who purchased the tiger comes to her and states that he has noticed her special bond with Ren. He offers her the life of luxury during a trip to India, all show more to accompany Ren on the journey and make sure he is settled nicely into his new home. And when Kelsey says yes to this incredible opportunity, she finds that her dear Tiger is actually a prince under a 300 year old spell, and she will do anything to break the curse. Even if it means falling in love with a man she can never be with.
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I absolutely adored this book from the first. Kelsey is such a believable character - she's funny, innocent, and loves greatly. Within the first ten pages, I could totally relate to her and wanted to be her friend. And I just loved her way of speaking. She has character in her dialogue and - get ready for this - I just picture her talking fast and a bit too much. Not in a bad way - she just loves explaining things and she most definitely has an opinion. It was adorable! And Ren...he was pretty much the perfect guy. He's been a tiger for 350 years, so what can you expect? He's learned patience, obedience, and gentleness. He's also very very innocent (unfortunately, his innocence is sometimes masked by the fact that he's freaking gorgeous.) This could bother some people, but never fear! Ren has bouts of anger and doesn't always make right decisions - especially when he's angry. This makes him believable amd human.

Kelsey's bond with Ren is just super amazing... With the tiger, she's comfortable - and then all of a sudden she has to get to know Ren as a man. She doesn't know how to respond to Ren when he's in human form. And I can see why...as soon as I read the description of Ren as a man I couldn't help but giggle. I wouldn't be able to speak, either, if I saw him the way that he is described. And it's not just that he's beautiful - he's serene, kind, and he loves greatly. That's one thing that really hit me about this book - the love. The love in this book is strong - and it runs much deeper than a kiss and a caress. I love that even though Kelsey notices Ren's beauty, she knows that if he was just your average guy, she could sit and talk with him for hours on end...just be with him. And still love him like she does. And Ren, even though he could get any girl, loves Kelsey. She loves him, too - so much it hurts. But then...comes the doubt. (Real life doubts, normal doubts that every girl would have if she was in love with a drop-dead gorgeous man trapped by a tiger's curse. Haha!) (Oh, and if you start to doubt the love story - DON'T. Scream and be angry with them all you want - but DON'T put the book down!) I loved Ren's response to the doubt in their relationship...but you'll just have to read it if you want to know what I'm talking about. :)

The love story was built slowly, like it should be (most of the time). They don't kiss at first, but rather let their relationship build slowly, and they don't sleep together at all. I was so thankful for this. Ren has an old-fashioned "I'm going to ask your permission" kind of attitude about love. He admits he's never felt this way about any woman and he tries so hard to please Kelsey and make her happy - not to satisfy his own desires. He respects her more than words can say and this aspect of him did NOTHING to keep ME from falling for him as well... ;)

As far as the writing goes: I liked it. Not my favorite, but it was easy to read and Colleen Houck's descriptions of people, the landscapes, and even little details were very well done and I could easily and quickly picture exactly what was being described. Things I didn't like: a few of her phrases seemed a bit out of place. Sometimes I felt that the paragraphs were too short. And there were a couple of point of view shifts, but not enough to really be noticeable. I also didn't really like that Kelsey's thoughts were in past tense. Even in the story is in past tense, I think it should always be a rule to make character's thoughts in present tense. You think, "I want to eat that dessert." NOT, "I wanted to eat that dessert." Make sense?

Favorite character: Ren. Who else? :)

Favorite aspect: A lot of things: Ren and Kelsey, Ren and Kishan (who was also a great character, by the way), Mr. Kadam's grandfatherly relationship with Kelsey, all the Indian mythology... You could definitely tell that Colleen Houck cares about her character's relationships and how they affect each other. She also was very skilled in telling about the Indian culture and mythology. It was scary, intimidating, and shocking at times. But interesting. I definitely don't believe in any of what they talked about, and have no desire to, but it was interesting all the same. I also really like that girls AND boys will love this book. It was really a good balance of romance, action, and mystery.

One word to sum up this book: I definitely think parts of the this book were sweet, but then others were action packed and sometimes frightening (the good kind of frightening, though). So I think my word would be tempestuous. It was like an ocean storm, one that carries your emotions and imagination on a wild ride that is not easy to forget. I'm impatiently awaiting book #2 and I can't wait to see what's in store for all these lovely characters!

For parents: Honestly, I think a good starting age for this book is 15-16 years old. The characters don't sleep together, but there are definitely some (steamy) kisses with some description, and lots sexual tension. The characters snuggle a bit, mostly because Ren wants to comfort Kelsey in times of struggle. Ren likes to give tender caresses, too. This is as far as it goes. I really appreciate that. No language AT ALL. Overall, a very clean book, because even though the characters kiss and hold each other, they really really love each other and respect each other enough to be rational. show less

I almost never review a book before I finish it because it's much easier to write a review after reading the whole book, but Tiger's Curse is so disappointing that I just have to say something before I explode. Maybe disappointing is too strong of a word. Closer to annoying. Whatever this feeling is, it makes me want to scream. This isn't a DNF book review(at least not yet), but more like a partial review. I'm a little more than a third of the way through and will update this review when I finish.

I really wanted to love this book. I was so prepared to give it a high rating, but at this point I doubt it'll get anything higher than 3 stars which really sucks because it has an original premise and a beautiful cover. Plus it has a show more 4.something rating on GR.

First, the writing was surprising. Maybe it's just her style, but it reads choppy and unedited. I thought it sounded like a report I would write for school or the diary entry of a teenage girl. It could be that after reading Lauren Oliver's Delirium series that I'm just expecting too much from other authors. If you've read Delirium you'll understand what I mean. The writing style of Oliver is lyrical and poetic. It flows easily when reading. Houck's writing style makes me pause often and wonder why it sounds so awkward.

A good piece of advice for writers is to be descriptive so your reader can picture each scene in his/her head. Adjectives are very important or else your writing will feel flat. But sometimes authors take that to the extreme and describe in detail everything that is going on in the book. You know what I mean? Sometimes there's just too much and all you want is for the story to go on. That is how I would describe the writing in this book. I don't care about every detail of every room of a house. And I don't need a description of plants and herbs that have nothing to do with the plot and that I most likely won't remember as soon as I turn the page. Sometimes I would be thinking "this must be relevant to the plot later on" and most of the time that was a lie. 90% of it was just details meant to make the book longer. Almost none of it was relevant or even remotely interesting. Please don't tell me everything! It gets very boring very quickly. And the adjectives used aren't great anyways. Nothing special about them. I felt like I could have written the same thing. This book can probably cut back on a hundred pages worth of detail that does nothing to move the story along. Longer does not mean better. Most of the time I like to read a book that is 200-300 pages with a fairly fast pace. More than that and the book better be damn exciting.

Next thing are characters. All of them feel pretty flat right now. A strong, but flawed heroine who has gone through many difficulties. A poor, handsome prince cursed to be a tiger for the rest of his life. Bleh, it all just feels so typical like the author just picked out a few character archetypes and gave them names. There is nothing to make them stand out. The only thing to stand out so far is that Kelsey, a girl who has recently turned 18, is willing to go all the way to India to spend a little more time with a tiger that she has known for 2 weeks. Is she crazy? That's an entirely different continent. Why would you fly all the way there with some man you just met? And what was up with everyone encouraging her? Maybe Oregonians (no offense is meant by this) are different, but my family would have freaked out at such an odd offer. I don't care how much money he is offering. That is a very creepy thing to do.

If there was a contest for Most Annoying Heroine then Kelsey would win every single time.

This doesn't really have to do with my review, but there was something that confused me. Maybe I just don't remember, but why did they fly across the country and then cross the Atlantic to get to India? I was skimming a lot in the beginning so I might have missed it. Wouldn't it have been a quicker flight to just go straight across the Pacific? Asia is right on the other side. They could have saved some time and if they needed to refuel they could have stopped first in Japan or China then continued to India.

Many reviews and people I've asked have all told me that the beginning will be slow and annoying. At the time I started I didn't understand exactly how slow and annoying it would be. Dear God, this book needs to pick up the damn pace. There is zero action in this so far. Just a lot of description, some revelations that were so easy to predict, and some very bland dialogue. This better pick up the pace or I'll just stop reading. It has until the halfway point before I give up on it. That should be enough pages for the real story to start. And I have read that Ren is a hot, sexy, swoon worthy hero and that better happen by the halfway point too because so far I'm more fond of his tiger side.

Once again I will update this review-that-reads-more-like-a-rant once I finish reading. And I do hope that I will be able to finish.

7/10/12 Update:
Finally! I have finally finished reading Tiger's Curse. It took me 5 days just to get through it. 5 days for a 300 page book is way too long. I only have a few things to add to my original review because most of it still holds true.

I guess it did get a little more exciting towards the middle like many people said it would. I'm not sure if I got used to the writing style or if it became better. Sometimes it would be really exciting and I don't want to stop reading, but then it would turn boring again. Once again there is too much details and descriptions of everything and anything going on. The writing is choppy and amateur at best. I also feel that Colleen Houck does...this too much. Once or twice is fine, but if I see that in every chapter, sometimes more than once, I'm going to scream. It can build suspense and make sentences less bland, but seriously do not use it in every single chapter. It's annoying.

Kelsey is even more irritating than I first thought. I just want to punch her in the face and then slap her around until she finds some common sense. Ren has become more of an interesting character though it's hard to see him grow as a character when he is a tiger most of the time. The other characters are all okay. Nothing special or particularly interesting to set them apart.

The plot was just odd. At some points I felt like I was watching Dora the Explorer. The puzzle they had to solve seemed to be too easy. Kelsey just thought about some solutions, picked one, got a a little scraped up, and then she was done. It was too easy and everything was just conveniently there. I don't know what world Kelsey is living in, but a 350 year old curse should not be that simple to break.

There was enough loose ends left at the end of the book to make me read the next book. I'm expecting the next one to be less detailed (never thought I would say that), have some editing, be better put together, have higher stakes, and have more Ren and Kishan, the only interesting characters in the book. show less

I have a confession to make. I picked up Tiger’s Curse. I opened it up to the first page of actual text (passed the title page, copyright page, etc.). And I laughed.

Yes, I laughed.

Why? Because it started off with a poem by William Blake: Tiger! Tiger! burning bright in the forests of the night.. Has anyone here seen the TV show The Mentalist? If you have, you’ll know why I laughed. If not, just know that there’s nothing wrong with that poem, it’s just that a psychotic serial killer is obsessed with it in The Mentalist. So my first thought while starting this book was of that psychotic serial killer.

So, moving on!

Supposedly Twilight is what really inspired Collen Houck to write Tiger’s Curse, so naturally there are a lot of show more comparisons between the two books. I’ll just address that really quickly. If you just want to get on with the review, skip to the next paragraph! There are a few similarities between Twilight and Tiger’s Curse, but they’re mostly in the details. For example, both Bella and Kelsey love reading, poetry, and the classics. They both seem to enjoy just sitting around and reading. They’re both also very independent. Then of course there’s a love triangle, the whole thing with the girl falling in love with a very wealthy and generous mythical kind of guy, and so on. I also thought there were similarities in the writing style. It’s kind of simplistic, but in a good way (I usually like that kind of writing). But I think that Tiger’s Curse is written in such a way that Twilight fans will love it, but it’s also so different from Twilight that non-Twilight fans will love it! I wasn’t a huge fan of Twilight. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. And while I can see the similarities between the two, Tiger’s Curse is still so different and so unique and I absolutely adore it! There’s non of the controversial sparkly-vampire stuff, there is no totally overbearing controlling boyfriend (Ren is just pure sweet!), and at least so far, Kelsey hasn’t had to give up her humanity for anything.

I think Tiger’s Curse is one of the coolest stories I’ve ever read! I mean, I had my doubts at first. If you think about it, it’s basically about a girl falling in love with a tiger (even though he really is a man). Isn’t that kind of weird? Yeah, a bit. But Colleen Houck totally pulled it off and in the book it wasn’t weird at all! She has told a story about our world, but really amped up the mythology. As a huge mythology buff, I completely fell in love with the story.

Another thing that I thought was going to be hit or miss with me was the setting: India. I have never read a book about India. I kind of had similar thoughts as when I read Cinder. Cinder takes place in Beijing and before reading it I knew it was going to be hit or miss with me. Why? Because the setting is so unique! On the one hand it could be too unfamiliar that it doesn’t grasp my attention. But on the other hand, it could be a breath of fresh air. Probably 99% of the books I read take place in the United States or some post-apocalyptic version of it. But India.. wow, totally different. And it was totally awesome!

Because the story takes place in India we learn a lot about the tigers in the region, the mythology, Indian culture, and old Indian stories. It was all very interesting and fascinating to read about. There’s a fun mix between learning about modern Indian culture and the mythological stuff. One minute Kelsey is complaining about the crazy driving in India, and the next she’s reading about an old Indian myth or listening to Mr. Kadam talk about his time in India 300+ years ago.

I thought all the characters were unique and vibrant. For the most part, I loved them all. I’ll talk about Kelsey later, but Ren was kind of your standard nice guy with an air of mystery. He’s super sweet, definitely a romantic, but he has that princely vibe. He’s confident, privileged, but not arrogant or selfish. It was super easy to fall for him and giggle like a crazy fangirl. Kishan is an interesting character because the first time we met him, I decided I hated him. He seemed like an arrogant jerkface. But it wasn’t in a bad way, it was more like, “I love hating this character,” rather than “This character sucks and I wish he didn’t exist.” But as time went on, I became more and more unsure of my hasty decision. He grew on me a bit! As for Mr. Kadam, he’s kind of your cool scholarly character. He’s a super nice grandfather-ish figure who has an insatiable hunger for knowledge. And after living for over 300 years, he’s definitely full of knowledge!

My one character issue is Kelsey. In a broad sense she was okay, but there were some random details that bugged me that I don’t even really know how to describe. I just felt like some of her dialogue was awkward. I guess it felt scripted or something. She just said such obvious things and sometimes she didn’t seem very impulsive or full of emotion (we all are at some point!). It’s like she carefully crafted each sentence, which I suppose is what made it seem scripted. As an example, she’s basically about to be mauled to death by a panther when Ren jumps in and rescues her. She immediately is like, “Thank you for saving me.” No hysteria, no strong emotions, no like “Z0MG HOLY CRAP WHAT JUST HAPPENED,” no life flashing before the eyes.. just a calm, cool, collected, “Thank you for saving my life.” Maybe I’m just weird or maybe you see what I mean.

The romance in this book was completely swoon-a-licious. It had me weak at the knees and begging the world to deliver my boyfriend to my doorstep so I could have some romantic cuddle time. Ren is so sweet and it’s kind of funny to watch Kelsey blushing all the time since this is her first time being close to a man. So all the cuddling and kissing gets her a little flustered!

But despite the awesomeness of the romance, there were two things that did bug me about it. First, there was no “chase.” I really like the phase where both people aren’t really sure how the other person feels. I love the uncertainty and the butterflies that brings. Although there was no insta-love in Tiger’s Curse, it was obvious when Kelsey started crushing on Ren, and obvious that Ren was crushing on her back. There was no uncertainty.

My other issue with the romance is the nasty turn it took halfway through. This isn’t totally spoilerish, but if you’d rather not read about something that happened halfway through, skip this paragraph. I won’t reveal too many details, but I’ll just say that Kelsey decided that she and Ren weren’t good together. She’s afraid of getting her heart broken and does the whole self-deprecating “I’m not good enough for you because you’re a sexy beast and I’m just average” thing. And no matter how many times Ren insisted that he did want to be with Kelsey and not any other supermodel-like girls, she just ignored him. That whole thing had me clawing at the book and screaming at Kelsey. But it was all very similar to how I felt about Kishan. It wasn’t a story-ruiner, it was just something I loved to hate and scream about.

Overall I thought this book was amazing. Tiger’s Curse ties in so many unique elements: knee-weakening romance, fantasy, mythology, and adventure. And I love how the adventure and the romance play equal roles. This book isn’t dominantly an adventure book, but it also isn’t dominantly a romance book. The two seem to have very equal weights, and I think that’s what can make this book enjoyable to so many people. show less

4.5
A beautiful tale of India and it's gods. The author gently teaching us the myths while surrounding us with poetry and visual beauty. I felt my heart warm with happiness while reading it. I was a bit ticked at lack of thrust the girl had in her tiger/man but it was realistic and stayed true to the story.
Ren and tiger/prince was cursed many years ago into his tiger form. He lived a hard life of circuses, zoos and cages. he had not been in human form for over 300 hundred years. Then a young girl walked into his life and the curse just might be lifted it they follow a hard and dark path together. they have a great adventure and face many dangers.

Okay, I finished this book last night before I went to bed but I just had to wait to add it to my read shelf because I have A LOT to say. Strap in kiddies, it's about to get messy. I've got some ranting to do here, so if you just want what I thought about the book itself, skip to the bottom.

Before I get into my review, I just HAVE to respond to several reviews I've read. On occasion, I'll read the reviews on a book before reading it. Now, I read an exert for this book many years and thought it was decent, plus, TIGERS, so I've been wanting to read it for a while. After reading the reviews, I KNEW I had to read it. The reviews were so mixed, it's like night and day. People either loved it for what it is, or hated it for what they think show more it is. Yes, I'm talking about those SJW's that go and get triggered over the smallest of things and turn a mole hill into a mountain.

"It's racist." "Why does the main character have to be a white girl? Oh yeah, only white people can save people of color!" "I'm white, which means I'm privileged." "India is treated like an exotic place for the main character to swan in and play dress up."

Let's GO boys. First off, can we acknowledge that this is a FANTASY book about a PRINCE being turned into a freaking TIGER. It's a book, it's FICTION. Get your grandma panties out of a twist and either enjoy it or deny it, don't try to bring it into your race war. Why is the main character a white girl? Hmm, maybe because THE AUTHOR IS A WHITE GIRL. Naturally she would write a character that is close to herself. If the main character was ANY other race aside from white - which isn't a race, by the way -, no one would question WHY she was chosen as the chosen one. It has nothing to do with being white. And yes, it IS treated like an exotic place. When someone goes to a foreign land that they've never been to before, IT'S AN EXOTIC LAND FILLED WITH WONDER that they want to explore and learn more about. It's wrong to go to a different country and wear their clothes? Wow, you must be really butthurt right now, oh my god. She didn't pull a Jake Paul, chill.

TLDR; This book is not racist just because it's a white girl saving the Indian prince. Next thing you know, SJW's are gonna be calling for white chocolate to be banned.

REVIEW STARTS HERE

There were a couple things that bothered me. For example, the characters adding a word or two of their mother tongue into their dialogue. Don't get me wrong, I've done it so many times in my fanfictions, but reading it back just feels kind of cringy lol Another thing that bothered me is how much this girl SLEEPS. Like, half of the book is her sleeping or passing out. I know I sleep a lot, but damn. Overall, this book wasn't bad. I did find myself getting bored occasionally and thinking, "Is the book over yet?" but at the same time, I'd blink and find that I had read about five chapters in one go. I wanted to know what was going to happen, but I wasn't on the edge of my seat, either.

I really don't like romance (not in anime, movies or books). When I started it, I didn't think romance would be involved, but that was my blunder. I liked the characters overall, but damn did the main character drive me up a wall at the end. It pissed me off because I KNEW that I would probably act the same way because my confidence is shit. Still, reading it was extremely frustrating, I just wanted to smack her and tell her how wrong she is lol

Overall, it wasn't a bad read at all and was a good way to pass the time. Also, TIGERS show less

'Should a tiger eat energy bars? You probably need something with more protein, and the only thing around here with protein is me, but don't even think about it. I taste terrible.'

I have always fantasized about visiting India and going for an adventure just like the one Kelsey had... This book is beautiful, magical and exotic, just like something I would imagine myself going through. The cover is gorgeous, and I'm dying for book 2. This book made me want to visit India even more. And the whole Indian costumes and food description is mouthwatering! I think this book is a must for all adventure seekers who love exotic places and tigers!

“The dangerous one was Ren. Innocent though the white tiger he appeared to be, he was a compelling show more predator. Utterly irresistible -- like a Venus flytrap. So alluring, so tempting, so deadly. Everything he did was seductive and possibly hazardous to my health.”

I loved the part when Fanindra the snake came alive and became a bracelet on Kelsey's arm, it reminded me of the old golden Indian jewelry. I LOVE this book!

“Falling for him would be like cliff diving. It would be either the most exhilarating thing that ever happened to me or the stupidest mistake I’d ever make. It would make my life worth living or it would crush me against stony rocks and break me utterly. Perhaps the wise thing to do would be to slow things down. Being friends would be so much easier.”

I hated how Kelsey treated Ren. She was stupid, weak and so self-conscious! She should have had more faith in him. He is a great guy, I find him very charming and irresistible and HOT. But I get her... Sometimes falling in love that hard can be very scary and dangerous. show less