by Colleen Houck
Alright so, this was an interesting read, in a complicated sort of way. There were moments I was lost to the story and was loving every word. At other times I was rolling my eyes and thinking could this be anymore Bollywood. I mean does everything involving India have to be raunchy? Their culture is so rich and full why cheapen it? There were just lines like:{He turned and openly studied my appearance. His gaze drifted ever so slowly down my body. The longer he looked, the wider his smile got. Eventually, is eyes worked their way back up to my bright red face.
He sighed and bowed deeply. "Sundari. I was standing here thinking nothing could be more beautiful than this sunset tonight, but I was mistaken. You standing here in the setting sun with your hair and skin aglow is almost more than a man can . . . fully appreciate."} Yuck! This leaked strongly into the character of Dhiren. The way she is always describing him is just a bit much and hard to swallow. Come on we ladies don't need to be led like that we have imaginations and often flaws just add to the whole picture. I wasn't head over heels in love with Dhiren or the coupling. Then there is the whole contradiction thing. Dhiren is the character this most bothered me with. He is perfect, unbelievably so. And this isn't in a Edward Cullen sort of way but cheap romance novel sort of way. Romantically speaking he hasn't had any encounters as far as anyone knows. But the guy seems to have the moves of an extremely self assured and practiced scamp. I had a hard time seeing him as someone with the ability to have deep feelings for a female. He was just too yo-yo for me. The only thing that helped was when he seemed to have moments of actual feeling and weakness. There aren't too many of them and I may have added more to the moment in my desire to make him a lovable character. He loves hunting but sucks at it when in tiger form. He loves being animalistic but don't confuse him with the tiger. Anyway, his character is a bit wack.
Kelsey was supposed to make sense but came off as some girl who wants something but not really. He is good looking but I don't actually want to own this. Too much responsibility, I will take the caresses but won't commit. Yea, I know she is young but the way she describes their connection as permanent makes her choice toward him in the end plain stupid. I mean yeah, he is a man whore but you didn't have a problem in the first place. Basically, she really got on my nerves at the end and I wasn't too sad that a certain evil someone will be on his way. Hey, if you are going to be that dumb you deserve to suffer some consequences.
Now, the above sounds bad but I did like the book and will read the sequel. Here is to hoping for a bit more straight forward character development. The Indian lore does make for some good reading. There is still hope. As far as who I would recommend this book to, well you are on your own. For me it was a love hate relationship from page to page. Read at your own risk.
