We are back for round two in the Tiger Saga and Kelsey is still irritating. Book 2 in this series wasn’t my favorite when I read them the first time and its not my favorite now. You would think it would be because of my recent fondness for Kishan, but nope. The second book takes us on a adventure to Shangri La sans Ren but plus Kishan. Near the middle of the book, after about a 100 or so pages of Kelsey being heart broken that she left Ren in India to go back to Oregon (I had very little sympathy for her cause she choose this), Ren finally shows up in Oregon only to get captured by Lokesh like two months later. Kelsey and Kishan subsequently spent months, MONTHS, finding the second gift and saving Ren.

So I have a couple issues with the book… The first is that while in the first book Kelsey mentions several times that she wants to go to college, but she doesn’t really mention what she wants to study. Then all of a sudden shes attending a university and already has her major and minor picked out for her as a freshman and a full course load of upper class classes that you can only take when you have met the prerequisites that shes never taken, like excuse me but what? The Feminist in me died a bit and the college student in me was just like that’s some major bs and then to top it off the “assignments” she would mention for a particular class had nothing to do with the class and made very little sense. Another thing about Kelsey’s college experience is that she made ZERO friends. Sure she went on dates (thank god for Li who I will talk about in a minuet) but like she made no friends. This is also something that I had a problem with in the first book as well and will probably continually have it for the rest of the series. I just need her to have a confidant that isn’t a 300+ year old man or her boyfriend or her boyfriend’s brother. Kelsey needs a girlfriend who she can confide in goddamn it. People need friends not just significant others and their families. Problem number 3 I have with this one is Kishan’s behavior while I think its funny and a bit cheeky to flirt with your brother’s girlfriend to get under his skin it is not however okay to actively pursue your brother’s girlfriend especially when she has made it very clear that it makes her uncomfortable and is confusing for her. A big chunk of the plot is basically how at this point Kelsey has spent more time alone with Kishan then with Ren and Kishan’s ever growing feelings for Kelsey. Kishan definitely takes several liberties that he most certainly should not have. For Kelsey’s part she takes it like a champ. She’s insistent that she is in love with Ren, but is confused by her feelings for Kishan. Which makes sense to me. If I had a guy that (at this point in the story) I had spent more one on one time with then my actual love, who looks and acts a lot like my actual love and who is constantly hitting on me and making advances and taking liberties he should definitely taking then well I’d be confused too. While I understand that there needs to be tension and a cliff hanger to encourage the reader to read the next book (Tiger’s Voyage) I really don’t like the ending. Its definitely a twist I didn’t see coming the first time around and a twist a did see coming the second time around (and not because i have already read them… okay maybe a little of that but I haven’t read this book since 2011, so lie 8 years ago, so I basically only remember the gist… It was kinda obvious near the end what was going to happen and I definitely knew what was going on a good 50 pages before Kelsey did.)

Now for the things I actually enjoyed about the story… First Li. I loved him as a character and I love that he gave Kelsey the kick in the ass she needed to confront her feelings for Ren. I also love him as a rival for Ren because they are so different yet so very similar. I love how Li is super nerdy and yet so very fit. I also loved Artie and not because he’s some great and lovable character. I love him because he’s a complete douche and I want to throat punch him. I know men like Artie. They think they are gods gift to women when really they aren’t even a gift to their mothers. The fact that he could even hold a candle to Ren amused me and I really wish Kelsey had let Ren loose on him cause Artie deserved a good ass whooping, maybe it would teach him something. I also know that in the last review and even in this one I lament over the fact that Kelsey has no friends, especially girlfriends, but she does have Nilima who plays a bigger role in this book then she did in the first. I enjoy the relationship between the two girls I just wish there was more of it. Another thing that I really enjoyed was the amount of mythology that was woven into the story and the description of Shangri La and the Fairy people. It was really beautifully crafted and written. Kelsey also has a great deal of character development in the sequel which is nice. She gets stronger and realizes that shes not quite as helpless as she believes. Although she still lacks a lot of self confidence, agency and power, but she’s made some baby steps. All in all a solid 3 out of 5 stars.