Review: Tiger's Quest by Colleen Houck

Title: Tiger's Quest
Author: Colleen Houck
Series: Tiger Saga #2
Pages: 479
Publisher: Sterling Publishing
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Paranormal YA
Source: Library

Synopsis:
Back in Oregon, Kelsey tries to pick up the pieces of her life and push aside her feelings for Ren. But danger lurks around the corner, forcing her to return to India where she embarks on a second quest--this time with Ren's dark, bad-boy brother Kishan, who has also fallen prey to the Tiger's Curse. Fraught with danger, spellbinding dreams, and choices of the heart, TIGER'S QUEST brings the trio one step closer to breaking the spell that binds them. 

My Review:
I'm not too sure why I read this book. At the end of the first one I was so hopelessly frustrated with the main character Kelsey that I couldn't wait to wash my hands of the entire thing. But something weird happened...When it was late at night, or while I was doing chores or when I had nothing else to do but think, I found myself remembering Ren, Kishan, Kelsey, and wondering what happened to them. Even though Kelsey drove me nuts, and Ren seemed to be a pushover...I just NEEDED to know how their story ends. Then I got Tiger's Quest and I got the same impression as the first one. It was a hopelessly annoying book that you just couldn't stop reading. It's like that cursed book that Ron was talking about in Harry Potter where you're forced into reading it for all eternity, bumbling around trying to do all the other stuff you need to do while still reading. No matter what stupid choices the MC's make, or how messed up a plot-line is, you just can't put the thing down.

Like the first book, there was a lot of plot points that either didn't make sense or were totally unrealistic. Things were just way too easy for the MC's to deal with. Sure, there were the "trials" that Kelsey and Kishan had to face, but fortunately they just so happened to pick up a magical gourd or magical water or whatever that showed them what they had to do just in the nick of time.  They also meet almost no adversary from other people along the way. The people they encounter just instinctively know who Kelsey and Kishan are and go out of their way to help them. I thought this was completely ridiculous...especially with people in politics and other important professions. Now, I'm not saying that there aren't politicians who help people out of the goodness of their hearts, but most of them are vicious or conniving jerks who are only out to further their ambitions. And here these guys are, bending over backwards because Kelsey is "so nice"...um...okay...Also, and though it isn't too relevant to the story, Kelsey got dates way too easy for a "plain" girl who doesn't talk. All these guys are chomping on the bit to take her out, but for no real reason. She doesn't talk to them, she doesn't wear interesting clothing, she doesn't DO anything outside of go to class...so what exactly is the draw for these guys? Not to be totally down on the members of the opposite sex, but the only way any girl would get as many dates as Kelsey got in ONE DAY was either she was trying to get them, or she was wearing nothing but a bubble wrap bikini.

I really enjoyed getting to know Kishan better in this book. To be honest, his type of character calls to me a little more strongly than Ren's type does. Don't get me wrong, romance is great, but part of me craves that darker wildness that Kishan just oozes by simply being himself. I am almost positive that this series will end with Ren and Kelsey getting together, but deep down in my heart I am totally rooting for Kishan. He's gotten the raw end of the deal twice when dealing with love, and you just want him to get his happily ever after. He's fierce, he's protective, he's dangerous, and he's totally gorgeous. He's got all of the qualities I like in my tiger-men...and he just seems so much more interesting than Ren does. He's got the dark and twisty qualities that make you want to reach out and heal his wounds while chasing away the darkness of his past. And he's funny...he's got this sarcastic witty humor that has me cracking up half the time. Yes...I definitely enjoyed getting to know Kishan a little more. *smiles*

 The writing style was almost too descriptive and lyrical for me. It wasn't that any of the analogies or descriptions were bad, it was just that there were too many of them and they were kind of...bizzarre, as far as analogies go. For example, " My heart was a flower, bursting open in the sunlight of Ren's love."...Um...okay...that quote in itself isn't that bad (thought it is a tad cheesy for my taste), but quotes like that would be followed by 3-5 sentences of figurative analogies of the same style...you kind of get to the point when you're like...enough already. Eventually there's so much lovey-dovey-ness or later in the book, sickeningly detailed descriptions of the jungles and forests that you just feel weighted down. I'm not sure how much sense that makes to you, but that was how I felt. There was so much irrelevant information that actually reading the book got to be sluggish and felt more of a burden than something fun. I would have had a much better reading experience had the descriptions been kept to 1-2 sentences max...and it would have shortened the monstrous size of this almost 500 page book to something a little more manageable.

I can't decide if I liked all the references to classic novels, myths, and poems or if they bugged me. Part of me really enjoyed hearing about the contrasting mythologies and how they coincided with the story, but at times there was just too many different threads going on and the additional side stories began to annoy me. I think it was the same situation as the analogies, there was just too many of them. The first half of the book was kind of a courtship between Ren and Kelsey,and every other page there were quotes from famous poems or Kelsey would go into detail about some myth or story or something. It left me wondering if any of the poems or stories were relevant. One or two seriously romantic and swoon-worthy poems would have been great, enhancing the cute factor of Kelsey and Ren's relationship, but the sheer amount of poems and romantic quotes actually cheapened them. Instead of one or two seriously meaningful moments, I just felt swamped with references and poems and didn't feel at all affected by them like I was supposed to.

I give Tiger's Quest 3.5 Keys. This series has SUCH potential...There is so much good! The setting of exotic India is fantastic! There's so much interesting mythology to delve into that you could get lost in the possibilities. At the same time, I am constantly bombarded by irritations with the writing style and the simple fact that I don't believe that a lot of the story is even remotely believable. Despite all of my grievances and irritations, I am probably going to go out and get book three. It's such a compelling story with such depth and potential that you just can't resist following it to the end. I almost wish Colleen Houck would have written this series later in her career so she could gain some more writing/editing experiences before writing this series.

Review: Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck

Title: Tiger's Curse
Author: Colleen Houck
Series: Tiger Saga #1
Pages: 416
Publisher: Sterling Books
Genre: Paranormal YA
Source: Library

Goodreads Description:
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, spell- binding 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 Review:
This is a very hard book to review. You know how sometimes when you like something, but then you can't really put into words why exactly you like it? But then all the things you don't like are really easy to describe? Yeah, that's me right now. I feel like this review might come off extremely negative. There was something irresistible and compelling about Tiger's Curse, but there were also a lot of things that turned me off . At the same time, I ended this book struggling not to go out and immediately buy the next one in the series. Oh well...I'll just try to put all of my jumbled up feelings into words and let you guys decide whether or not it's worth it.

At first, the plot was definitely awkward and relatively unbelievable. I liked the fact that Kelsey was out of high school, because otherwise this entire story line would be bull-crap. There was the whole issue of the circus where the main character Kelsey meets the Tiger Ren. I mean, I know there had to be some reason that Kelsey meets a Tiger, and some reason why she ends up moving to India...but...there was just certain inconsistancies that bugged me. She randomly gets a job at the circus, she is allowed to take care of a Tiger on her own after being part of the circus for 1 hour, she finds a man who says he wants her to come to India with him and just trusts that he is okay...literally, she says "There's something about him that I just instinctively trust." NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!! I'm NOT flying out of the country with a man 3 times my age after I've met him 2 hours ago...sorry...not working for me.

Also, there was no attachment to any of the settings and characters. There is almost no character descriptions for any of the people she spends 3 weeks with, and there is almost no sense of daily life as she's at the circus. She just describes Ren and Ren's actions a lot. It's odd, but there was simultaneously too much and not enough description. There were beautiful flowering almost poetry-like descriptions about certain things that really didn't need to be so thoroughly described in that manner. For example: food. I know the content, color, texture, and smell of virtually everything that Kelsey put into her mouth for the entire book. At the same time, you don't know how Kelsey feels about the food. That sounds kind of weird, but the only thing she ends up saying about most of the food was that "it was good" or that "I didn't care for the spice"...for all of the description of the actual physical food, I want to know at least what it tastes like! lol

The characters were a little on the rough side for the first 3 quarters of the story. There was almost no physical sketch of any of the characters whatsoever. Even Kelsey is only very vaguely described as having brown hair and brown eyes. That's it. Not even something like "chestnut hair" or anything...just brown and brown. I wish I would have had a better idea of what she looks like, because without that description, she just remains this kind of wishy washy image that doesn't really solidify into anything real.  And the description failing isn't just physically, but emotional as well. In one minute Kelsey says she feels a certain way, then there is a few pages of plot, then all of the sudden she claims she feels a different way. I felt like Houck was telling me what was happening with the story, rather than showing me. The only time Kelsey had emotions was when they changed, and those were few and far between. It's the difference between being lectured at in school, and experiencing life first hand. Luckily, things got better as the book went along, and I was able to get more personally involved in both the plot and the characters.

The cultural aspect and setting of India was absolutely fantastic. I have been making it a point to try and read books where most of the story takes place outside of the US. Sometimes this takes me outside of my comfort zone and into the realms of the unfamiliar and strange...which is totally awesome. I love going to completely unfamiliar places, and experiencing things that I probably never will in this life. There was such amazing descriptions of the bustling cities, the lush jungles, and the crumbling old ruins, I actually feel like I spent a week's vacation in India. I have never heard any type of Indian Mythology or history, so everything was new to me. I can't verify the accuracy of any thing, but I will tell you that it painted a really great picture and kept me interested in the story at times when the characters kind of made me want to put the book down .Also, once Kelsey and Ren got to India, the plot really picked up. They have a ton of things to figure out and codes and puzzles to cypher out in order to break the curse that's been haunting Ren for the last 3 centuries.

I was SO upset with the development between Ren and Kelsey during the last half of the book. It went from a really cute partnership/friendship/possible romantic relationship to Kelsey being all cliche and annoying. Ren is fantastic. He's sexy and hot and super sensual, and the best part, sweet...and Kelsey randomly decides to screw up her and Ren's relationship. Literally, it was like Houck just decided that things were going too well for the characters so she should throw in some relationship turbulence to shake things up. The problem was that Kelsey's reasons for cutting Ren off weren't natural. They weren't what any normal teenager would think,even a mature one. In addition, I've seen her excuse of not wanting to get hurt because she lost someone in the past in so many other books that it has lost a lot of its meaning. I just don't care that Kelsey lost her parents...she has an opportunity to find and experience real love and she's throwing it out the window because she is insecure. boo on her...fine...she can go back to Oregon and I'll date the sexy Indian prince who can turn into a freaking Tiger...

I give Tiger's Curse 4 out of 5 Keys. It's kind of bordering 3 Keys because it took a long time for me to get into the book. I found myself only able to read a chapter or so before having to put it down. And it was LONG...400 pages doesn't sound like a ton, but it felt like I was reading a 1000 page book. I know it sounds like I hated this book, but I really didn't.  Even though I hated what happened relationship wise during the last half, for some reason I ended the book really wanting to find out what happens next.  I found myself thinking about the characters and the plot while at work and doing other random house things and I rarely do that once I finish a book unless it stuck with me for some awesome reason. I don't know if the next book is out or not, but I will definitely be checking it out.