Jeane's Teen Materials Final Project: 5.) The Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck

“The Prisoner stood with his hands tied in front of him, tired, beaten, and filthy, but with a proud back befitting his royal Indian heritage.”

The Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck (Splinter, 2011)
(Tiger Saga, Book 1)

Genre: Fantasy, Modern Fantasy, Romance, Series

Honors: Next Generation Indie Book Award Nominee for Young Adult (2010) [Honors Information found at Goodreads.com]

Review: A few years after Kelsey's parents died, Kelsey finds herself puttering through life. Just graduated from high school and working at a temp agency to pay for community college, little did Kelsey know that when she lands a temporary job at a circus that her whole life is about to change. When she meets the circus's tiger, she feel immediately drawn to the creature, and when a wealthy Indian business man buys the tiger, he offers her a job with all expenses paid to India to help care for the tiger. In India though she ends up being abandoned with the tiger on the streets of India and he runs into the jungle. Kelsey follows to discover that the tiger is no ordinary tiger, but a 300 year old Indian prince who has been course to live as a tiger for 300 years, and he can change into human form for 24 minutes every day. Kelsey was some how chosen to help him break the curse and return him to human form forever. They begin an perilous journey that can lead them to their death or lead them to each others arms.

Opinion: This is your typical teen romance. The only major difference is that it is heavily influenced by Indian culture and myth. There are not a lot of teen books that have so much rich information about India in them. I would have to say that the author must have been to India herself to get a real feel for her descriptions. I am a little irritated by the kappa creature, because the author wrote that it came from China and the kappa is from Japanese mythology so I am very interested in asking her where she got the information that the kappa is Chinese. Other then that, the way the main character Kelsey was acting at the end of the book was irritating and it was obvious that the author is trying to set up a love triangle which, if you will excuse me, ...yawn....... Not a bad book, but nothing great either. Probably won't pick up the other four in the series.

Ideas: This is a very innocent paranormal romance (no sex, barely any kissing even!) Also a good book about other cultures, in this case India. Anyone interested in other cultures would probably like this book. It's a longer series with book five coming out this year.