Title: Tiger’s Curse
Author: Colleen Houck
Series: Tiger’s Curse #1
Genre: Teen Paranormal Romance
Rating: 2/5 stars
The Overview: 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.
The Review:
I wanted to like this one, I really did. I’m a sucker for books with exotic animals or different cultures, and this one had both (which were actually the best elements of the story). I even had one of my coworkers swear up and down that this was her “most favorite book ever!” Combine all of that with the strong sales trend I’d been noticing and a killer cover to boot and, needless to say, it didn’t’ take much to talk me into buying this one.
But I didn’t like it. I hate it when that happens.
The basic idea for the book was great, But there were elements to the actual plot line that I think could have been stronger, specifically regarding conflicts. For at least the first 50 to 100 pages there were no conflicts or inciting moments to let us know what the overall arc of the story was supposed to be. There was, however, a plethora of false tension while the main character discovered what we already knew from reading the back of the book. This is a poor choice of pacing on the authors part. The basic conflict of the story should be evident right up front if you really want to grab your readers. The sooner the better, in my opinion.
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In the teen genre, at least some sort of romantic tension has to be present for me to enjoy the book… as long as it’s done right. Tiger’s Curse has so much senseless turmoil between characters that I got bored with that element of the plot pretty quickly. I actually think that without stronger and external conflicts to drive her story Huock was forced to create trouble out of thin air to have something to write about.
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Overall this one was a disappointment for me, not for the story idea or the writing, but with general outlining. I’ve read so many brilliant books of late that it just didn’t stack up. Like I said, though, it sales are strong and I’ve talked to at least three people who absolutely loved it.
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Recommendations: I would recommend this to people looking for a light read. There was also a great deal of fabulous Indian culture throughout which gave the book a unique flavor, so I might actually recommend this to people in the mood for something different (with disclaimers).
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Other books you might like:
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Firelight by Sophie Jordan
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Nightshade by Andrea Cremer
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Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
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Matched by Ally Condie
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Eon by Alison Goodman
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Title: Tiger’s Curse
The Obsessive Bookseller 
Aw! I really liked this one. Sorry you didn’t :( Great review though!
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Ack!! I totally missed this comment – so sorry!
Most people I talked to really like it as well, and I actually don’t mind being the minority for books – I’m mostly just jealous I didn’t like it as much lol.
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I will move this to the bottom of the TBR list now! Someday (maybe) I may try it, but I don’t feel so bad now for not getting around to it …lol
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