"The Tiger Prince" is the story of Jane and Ruel.

A riveting tale of revenge, heartbreaking and acceptance, this book takes you on a roller coaster ride. We begin with our heroine Jane escaping a whorehouse at the age of twelve, after pleading the man who she believed fathered her for mercy. She takes along a crippled friend Li Sung, and a mutt.

Fast forward a few years, our hero Ruel and his brother Ian come to the kingdom of Kasanpore with a hidden motive. At the same time, our heroin...

"The Tiger Prince" is the story of Jane and Ruel.

A riveting tale of revenge, heartbreaking and acceptance, this book takes you on a roller coaster ride. We begin with our heroine Jane escaping a whorehouse at the age of twelve, after pleading the man who she believed fathered her for mercy. She takes along a crippled friend Li Sung, and a mutt.

Fast forward a few years, our hero Ruel and his brother Ian come to the kingdom of Kasanpore with a hidden motive. At the same time, our heroine escapes some rapists to protect an infamous artist she's been shielding. We soon realize that she is the chief brain behind the railroad construction taking place, while her drunk patron takes all the credit.
The hero and heroine's paths cross, and their mutual attraction is too strong to deny. Soon deception, lies and evil motives contaminate their lives..

The second act focuses on the hero scheming his way to obtain his dream- the island of Cinnidar, and finally being able to leave Kasanpur, while helping the heroine's troops. Things go very wrong, a tragedy strikes and a false blame falls on the heroine. We see the hero vow vengeance, and trap the self righteous heroine in a servitudinal prison. The story then moves to Glenclaren Castle, where we are introduced to secondary characters like Ian's childhood sweetheart Margaret and two years pass, with the hero returning at the very end. The heroine is still repenting.

The third act has us moving to Cinnidar. The hero finally gets chance to take his ultimate revenge, but is that what he really wants? Li Sung meets his match- both in human and animal form, we have some elephant drama, deal with the heartbreak of primary and secondary characters, ethical dilemmas and almost adultery- until we reach the climax, where things finally culminate in a kinda HEA for all.

It's not a conventional romance. The hero is definitely a grey character, who tries very hard to be mean and *almost* succeeds. His need for revenge is too strong, and unfortunately the heroine becomes his victim, due to her "caretaking" and sacrificial lamb attitude. That being said, she is still a strong, and very likable woman- and he is definitely not an evil or sadistic person. There is loads of drama, angst, romance and insanely hot sex in this book. We also get glimpses of romances blooming between the secondary characters, the hero grovels hard and hurts harder, things end on a hopeful note and we just get a glimpse into what must have lied ahead for all.

It made me cry like a baby. I enjoyed it!

Safe
4/5