Book Review: Tiger's Destiny

Happy Monday! Today I'll be reviewing, Tiger's Destiny, the fourth book in The Tiger Saga by Colleen Houck. 

Title: Tiger's Destiny

Author: Colleen Houck

Series: The Tiger Saga #4

Publisher: Splinter Publishing

Original Publication Date: September 4, 2012

Format Read: ebook

Genre: YA Paranormal

Purchase: Amazon

Find on Goodreads

Description from the publisher:
With three of the goddess Durga's quests behind them, only one prophecy now stands in the way of Kelsey, Ren, and Kishan breaking the tiger's curse. But the trio's greatest challenge awaits them: A life-endangering pursuit in search of Durga's final gift, the Rope of Fire, on the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. 

It's a race against time--and the evil sorcerer Lokesh--in this eagerly anticipated fourth volume in the bestselling Tiger's Curse series, which pits good against evil, tests the bonds of love and loyalty, and finally reveals the tigers' true destinies once and for all.

It only took me a couple of days to completely devour Tiger's Destiny. I enjoyed every minute of it. This book is one great adventure. Of course with the climatic conclusion (almost conclusion as there is a 5th book coming out) of any quartet there are great losses and sacrifices that come along with the prize. You will probably laugh, cry, smile, and be amazed at various times while reading this book. 

While Tiger's Voyage with the dragons is my favorite book in the series, this one comes in a very close second. You start off right where that last book left off, with Kelsey being taken by Lokesh. But don't fear, she is quickly rescued (obviously), so we can get on with the adventure of completing the fourth prophecy so Kelsey's Tiger's can become men 24 hours a day. 

This time the adventure takes them into a world of fire and heat to collect Durga's final gift, the Rope of Fire. And it is a strange world indeed filled with strange beings. They team must work quickly though, they must collect all of Durga's gifts and prepare to defeat Lokesh once and for all. 

Tiger's Destiny is pretty fast-paced. Almost too fast-paced in some parts. It seems like the characters just get to one part and then BAM! they are already done and onto something else. For instance, in the other books, like Tiger's Voyage, their journey to gather gather the item(s) needed to break the next part of the curse, takes up a good portion of the book. In this last book their journey into the fire world seemed relatively short in comparison. Although, I'm sure what else they could have done there. 

I would say the biggest portion (or at least it seemed that way when I was reading), was of our troops preparing for battle against Lokesh. Will they be able to defeat him? Will everyone survive? Will Kelsey still choose to be with Kishan?

If you enjoyed the rest of The Tiger Saga, you will enjoy this book. I am curious as to what the fifth book will be about, as pretty much everything gets wrapped up at the end of this book. 

My Rating: 

Book Review: Tiger's Voyage

Welcome everyone! Tonight I'll be reviewing the third book in the Tiger Saga, Tiger's Voyage by Colleen Houck. I have previously reviewed the first two books, Tiger's Curse and Tiger's Quest. Please note as this is the third book in the series, this review might contain spoilers to the first two book.

Title: Tiger's Voyage
Author: Colleen Houck
Series: The Tiger Saga #3
Publisher: Splinter Publishing
Publication Date: November 1, 2011
Format Read: ebook
Genre: YA Paranormal
Purchase: Amazon

Description from the publisher:
The third book in the gripping "Tiger's Curse" series!

With the head-to-head battle against the villainous Lokesh behind her, Kelsey confronts a new heartbreak: in the wake of his traumatic experience, her beloved Ren no longer remembers who she is. As the trio continues their quest by challenging five cunning and duplicitous dragons, Ren and Kishan once more vie for her affections--leaving Kelsey more confused than ever.

Fraught with danger, filled with magic, and packed with romance, "Tiger's Voyage" brings Kelsey and her two tiger princes one step closer to breaking the curse.

I listened to the audio-book of the first two books in the series. The third book was not available as an audio-book from my library, so I opted for the ebook. I'm not sure if it was a format difference (the performer for the audio-books is excellent) or what, but I think the third book is quite possibly my favorite of those that I've read so far. Not only does the third book have tigers, but dragons too. DRAGONS! PLUS you have both brothers in this installment going on the quest with Kelsey. 

The book starts out with Kelsey being heartbroken over the fact that Ren no longer remembers her and in fact feels very uncomfortable and even sick in her presence. Did Lokesh make Ren forget Kelsey? Will he ever remember her?

All the while, Kishan provides Kelsey with a nice steady companion and friend. He wants more, but is content to wait until Kelsey is ready to move on from Ren. Ren, who feels sick in Kelsey's presence can see why he must have fallen in love with her in the first place. Both guys vie for her attention in this book. A nice treat, but not the main thing I liked about the book.

What was the main thing I liked? Well, the dragons, of course. The team takes the yacht on a quest to find five dragons who will help lead them to the next item they need to break the curse and get an additional six hours back as a man. 

Each dragon is in it's own, unique realm. They must complete a challenge for each dragon in order to get information on how to find the next dragon. The last dragon is to direct them to a final temple where they can find the item they are looking for. Why can't they just skip ahead to the final temple? Well, they need to prove themselves worthy before continuing on. I loved how different each dragon was and how well thought out each of the tasks was. I think I found the gold dragon to be most amusing.

This book is the most fast paced one of the series so far. I highly recommend it, especially if you've read the first two. I can't wait until I get a hold of the last book. I hope it's as good as this one, if not better. 

My  Rating: 

Book Review: Tiger's Quest

The Tiger's Quest is the second book in The Tiger Saga by Colleen Houck. You can find my review of the first book, Tiger's Curse here.

Tiger's Quest picks up where Tiger's Curse left off. With Kelsey back in Oregon, trying to move on from Ren and a live normal life at college, going to classes, dating boys, etc... Things don't go as planned, when Ren shows up trying to woo Kelsey back. Then Lokesh manages to find out where Kelsey is and they are once again off to India and on another quest to break the curse. Only this time instead of with Ren, Kelsey is on her adventure with Kishan.

I once again listened to the beautiful audio edition. I think it is wonderfully performed. However, I had a little more trouble getting into Tiger's Quest, than I did getting into Tiger's Curse. I found myself putting it down and even had no problem taking a couple day break from it to listen to my February Book Club Book, Unwind. It seemed slow in the beginning getting back to Kelsey and Ren. That is not to say there weren't interesting bits. I do like the main portion of Kelsey and Kishan quest and the tie-in with the Ark story. The different challenges they had to face and the people they met where interesting. 

I also believe that Kelsey has grown as a person. I like her better. I like how we get to find out more about Kishan too. At the same time I feel like this book doesn't quite have the same level of magic as the first. I still plan on reading more of the series. Based on the ending of this one I can see the third book having some interesting plot lines.

I think that if you liked the first book, you will probably like this one too.

My Rating: 

Book Review: Tiger's Curse

While I have an earlier edition hardcover of Tiger's Curse by Collen Houck, I ended up listening to the audio book version. I really liked the performers reading this one. They really helped to suck me into the story.




I must admit, I picked this one up because because of the good reviews and the story line seemed interesting. At the same time I don't normally read books that take place in India.

The story starts off a little slow. You follow Kelsey as she gets a short couple week job with the circus to help out with cleaning, ticket sales, and taking care of a tiger named Ren. Kelsey finds herself strangely drawn to the tiger. Over her short time with the circus she ends up spending more and more time with the tiger. One day a man shows up and buys Ren, the tiger. 

Kelsey ends up getting offered a job to accompany Ren on his journey to a sanctuary in India. Once in India, Ren ends up running off into the Jungle. Kelsey follows him in an effort to get him back. However, she ends up discovering that Ren is really a prince who was cursed over 300 years ago to be a tiger. Since Kelsey came along Ren was finally able to turn into a man again, but only for a very short period of time each day. Ren tells Kelsey, he believes she is the one who can break the curse. Kelsey agrees and the pair go on an adventure to see if they can.

I applaud Colleen Houck for her creativity in coming up with this story. It's not a storyline I've heard before. I liked the adventure they had searching for the things needed to break the curse. 

At the same time, Kelsey drove me bonkers with her whole *SPOILER ALERT* OMG I can't get into a relationship with Ren, because even though we are totally into each other, it's just going to end in heartbreak, so I'm not even going to try. *END SPOILER ALERT* I wanted to smack her upside the head so bad. I also felt like it was something the author was trying to do to stretch out the story a little. 

Colleen Houck provides great visualization in her writing. I felt like I was there with the characters the whole time, hence the wanting to smack Kelsey. 

Overall, I think is a great start to a series and I'm looking forward to reading more of it. 

Rating: