In the month of May, we are reading and reviewing fantasy books. Tiger's Dream is the continuing Saga about Kelsey, Kishan and Ren, two brothers who were cursed to become Tigers. When Kelsey applied for a job at a Circus, she meets her lovely tiger, Ren. When she discovers his true human form, she is smitten and falls in love with him because he is so beautiful. Tiger's Dream is the 5th and final book in the Tiger's Curse series. I have waited so long for it. 6 years? Idk exactly, but, when it was available I jumped. The cover is gorgeous and it probably is one of my favourite series of books I own. Now, is the right time to read it! Yay! I have the large print edition but I am also listening to the audiobook. I just hope it is worth the wait. 

 

Reunited - Colleen Houck Oh my gosh. What an amazing, heart pounding, page turning ending. I couldn't of imagined it any other way. Simply wonderful! Colleen has outdone her self once again!! ❤️❤️❤️

I'm not sure if I'm going to finish this. Already it has a lot of elements in young adult romance, that I don't like. Aka fast moving attraction. The day when someone realizes, it's not needed to woo the audience, will be the day that young adult fiction improves. Plus the main character so far isn't coming off as appealing to me. I'm all for independent women, who go after what they want. But it feels more like she's trying to be that way, because she knows her parents expect her to be. Which happens more often than not, but she doesn't have anything to really define herself outside of the fact that she's the dutiful daughter, who has all this money at her expense. The beginning held promise, but the moment it switched over to Lilliana it diminished. I've been having to really push myself to pick the book up. Which is never a good sign. I'll give it another twenty more pages, but if it doesn't improve I'm done.

When seventeen-year-old Lilliana Young enters the Metropolitan Museum of Art one morning during spring break, the last thing she expects to find is a live Egyptian prince with godlike powers, who has been reawakened after a thousand years of mummification.

 

And she really can't imagine being chosen to aid him in an epic quest that will lead them across the globe.

 

But fate has taken hold of Lily, and she, along with her sun prince, Amon, must travel to the Valley of the Kings, raise his brothers, and stop an evil, shape-shifting god named Seth from taking over the world.

 

Review 4*

 

This is the first book in The Reawakened Series. I really enjoyed it.

 

Lilliana (Lily) Young is a character I didn't really like very much at first. She comes across as rich, shallow and more than a little selfish. However, as the story progressed, she grew on me. She still made my teeth grind at times, but I enjoyed watching her mature. Whilst visiting the Egyptian display in Metropolitan Museum of Art she comes face to face with a mysterious stranger who needs her help. Little does she know that her life will never be the same again.

 

Amon is a character I felt sorry for. He does comes across as arrogant and imperious at first, but this is because he was brought up to be the next pharaoh. He's young Egyptian prince who swore to protect the world from Seth, a shape-shifting god who is determined to rule the Earth. Unfortunately, he had to sacrifice himself to do it. His sacrifice and that of his two brothers (not by blood though they were brought up as brothers) has kept Seth away for a millennia. Now Seth's power is on the rise and Amon is in a race against time to find his brothers to stop him from ruling over Earth. But, he needs Lily's help to navigate the modern world he now finds himself in

 

I fell in love with The Tiger's Curse series, so when I heard that this author was writing another series based on Egyptian mythology (which I love) I became excited. However, due to my large reading list, I haven't been able to get to it until now.

 

I started reading this story and didn't put it down until I had finished it. It is mostly told through the eyes of Lily, though there is a scene near the end from Amon's point of view.

 

Although I enjoyed this book, it took me a while to like the two main protagonists. They felt a little flat and one dimensional at first; they didn't seem to have a spark to make them more alive. As the story unfolded, however, they felt a little more real. However, I liked both of Amon's charming brothers almost instantly when they were introduced. Asten is a total flirt and Ahmose is more serious. They have different powers and, when combined with those of Amon, they are able to close the portal that allows Seth access to Earth. There is another character introduced that I liked too. Dr. Osahar Hassan is an archaeologist who also happens to be the Grand Vizier (High Priest) who's job is to watch over the tombs of the princes'.

 

This story is a wild ride of danger, adventure, mystery, mythology and romance. There are several twists that I didn't see coming. However, when the 'bad guy' behind the rise of Seth was revealed I wasn't surprised. I had guessed the culprit well before the end. I did love the way the author wove the story though. I have always been interested in Egyptian gods and the myths surrounding them. I did feel a little disappointed that this story didn't seem to have the same passion mythology-wise that the Tiger's Curse series had. Nevertheless, the ending did leave me with conflicting emotions. I am in two minds whether to read Recreated when it becomes available, though I probably will, just to see what happens next.

 

Colleen Houck has written another fantastic YA adventure. I love her writing style, which is fast paced and exciting, without being rushed and the flow is wonderful. Her research into myths and legends seems to have been rather thorough, but well embellished with poetic licence. This made the story seem more believable in places, but also a bit far fetched in others. This is not a complaint, because I like stretching my beliefs, especially in entertainment. It keeps things interesting.

 

I highly recommend this book if you love YA, Mythology, Romance or Action/Adventure genres. - Lynn Worton

Untitled - Colleen Houck

This review was originally posted on One Curvy Blogger

I rarely buy books full price. I can’t afford it and I have a knack for seeking out decent deals, but in this instant, I was glad to fork over the money. I’m a huge sucker for Egyptian mythology and was so fascinated by the premise of Reawakened. Did anybody else watch Tutenstein on Discovery Kids as a child? It has a similar theme to the book and it made me jump for joy to discover this book.

After devouring Reawakened I can honestly say that while I had some issues with execution, I loved it! It was everything I could ask for in a mythological romance. This is another story I couldn’t put down and wound up staying up until I read every last page!

Let’s Chat Characters!

While Reawakened could never be described as “realistic fiction” (because when do you ever run into a thousand-year-old mummy?), Houck gave the supernatural story a realistic main character that I could relate to on a personal level.

Lilliana aka “Lily” was born to wealthy parents that see her see her more as an extension of success and wealth instead of an individual with her own desires and talents. Lily feels a tremendous amount of guilt for wanting a different life for herself. She often feels stifled by the wealth she was born into and craves independence and an emotional connection.

I completely relate to her struggles. I was born into a far from wealthy family, but it really doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, almost every child feels the weight of familial pressures and so it was pretty easy to relate to her, even though we live completely different lives.

Not to say she was a perfect main character. There were quite a few instances when she had the typical I’m-so-insecure female heroine moments and was completely blind to certain obvious situations, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t shrug off. J She is a teenager and deserved a few stupid moments.

Amon knelt in front of me, taking a new tissue to dab at my sticky cheeks, and sighed. “I have found over the centuries that my heart is of very little use to me.”

Let’s move on to the really fascinating character: the hero, our ancient sexy Egyptian-prince-slash-mummy, Amon. (ah-moan) Yeah, I see that look you are giving me, I did describe our mummy main character as “sexy.”

I promise he is not mummified for the entire book. If you watched Tutenstein as a kid like I did, erase Tut’s character from your mind. When Amon was awakened, he turned back to his flesh-filled mortal body.

This would have been a completely different sort of romance novel if that weren’t the case (and it probably wouldn’t be YA, either.)

Anywhoo, I enjoyed his character. There were so many facets to his personality. He was appropriately arrogant at times (probably goes with his title. I can’t say this accurately because I have never met an ancient prince. But if I had, I would assume he would be arrogant), surprisingly selfless and kind, frustratingly stubborn, but oddly sweet and innocent? Yeah, it’s a weird combination but it totally fits.

Oh, he also belly dances.

And wears man-skirts.

I gave his skirt a pointed look. “Um, I think the only place you would fit the dress code for would be a hot dog stand.”

Wrinkling his nose, he exclaimed, “You eat dogs? That is almost as bad as people!”

“No!” I snickered. “Boy, you are from out of town. Hot dogs are made from pork or beef.”

Can you see why Lily and I love him so? I bet you can, you pervert. (Welcome to the club!)

*coughs*

Oh, the plot was nice too, btw.

Before I start drooling, do you remember when I said I had a few issues with execution? I didn’t mean I hated the plot. I actually loved it. It was impressively complex and continued to surprise me with it’s twists and turns. The only issue I really ran into was that there was a large amount of info dumping. I know other bloggers mentioned this as well, but it’s only honest to mention I noticed this, too. There were clear opportunities Houck could have used to reveal info to Lily (and us readers) that would have been more entertaining if she hadn’t told us, but nobody is perfect so I’m not too disappointed!

I really enjoyed Reawakened by Colleen Houck. It was my first read from her, but I am sure I will be picking up her previous series. Without a doubt, I am eagerly anticipating the second book in The Reawakened series!