Tiger's Promise by Colleen Houck (The Tiger Saga #0.5)

Genres: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Fantasy/Mythology, Romance, Novella
Publication Date: June 1st 2014
POV: Female - First-person, Past tense
My Rating: 5 out of 5

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Before the curse, there was a promise. A prequel to the bestselling Tiger’s Curse series, this much anticipated novella recalls the beginning of Ren and Kishan’s story. Before Kelsey there was a girl, raised by a villain, whose love for a hero changed the course of history.

Trapped under the thumb of her abusive and powerful father Lokesh, Yesubai struggles to keep her own magical abilities secret while evading his dark powers. When Lokesh promises Yesubai to the prince of a neighboring kingdom, she becomes the central pawn in his plot to destroy the ruling family and take power for himself. Yesubai is trapped by her father’s threats and desperate to protect the man she comes to love, but she knows that any decision she makes will have dire consequences. As dark forces gather around her, Yesubai must decide if she’s willing to reveal that somewhere deep within her she has the power to change everything.

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This book destroyed me! It was just the right combination of factors to rip my heart out.

First, it heavily featured Kishan, the 'book boyfriend' love of my life. Secondly, it was from the POV of a woman who loved him. When she met Ren and compared him to Kishan, she actually found him wanting. In Kishan's eyes she saw the warm sun and kindness, not a man who always fell short. And thirdly, the real clincher to my broken heart, is the fact that I knew what would happen in the end. I knew that once again, or for the first time, chronologically, Kishan's love would be ripped from him. Every time Yesubai thought of Kishan it broke my heart again, knowing that they would never be together. It was constant pain and suffering for me to finish this book. I can't remember the last time a book made me cry so hard.

 

And now I need to see Kishan find happiness one day. I know that he eventually marries Annamika, but the little we have seen of them together does not give me great hope for their happiness. I have to see it, read it with my own eyes. I used to always feel like Kishan marrying Annamika was like a betrayal to Kelsey. Even if she had treated him badly, and Kishan had lost her forever to his brother, I didn't want his great love for her to die. And I supposed a part of it never did, as he said in his letter to her. But I still didn't really want to acknowledge the fact that he married Annamika. 

I have now had time to come to terms with the truth, and after seeing the tragedy that was his relationship with Yesubai, I must see him find happiness with a woman who loves him most of all. Does Annamika love Kishan fully, as fully as he loved Kelsey? Or is it just convenient, a result of their circumstances? I can tell in the sneak peak that he is attracted to her, even if he is not acknowledging it yet. They better be featured heavily in Tiger's Dream. If Colleen can manage to show me their relationship become what Kishan has been without for centuries, what he so badly deserves, what I have been wanting for him for so long that I am at this very moment in tears, I will hunt her down and give her the hugest hug!

“Like the trees, his roots went deep, and I daydreamed that if he wrapped me in his arms, he could safely tuck me away within his branches and hide me from the world. He was shaken by nothing. He feared nothing.”