Review--Tempest Rising

LIVING IN SMALL TOWN ROCKABILL, MAINE, JANE TRUE ALWAYS KNEW SHE DIDN'T QUITE FIT IN WITH SO-CALLED NORMAL SOCIETY.

During her nightly, clandestine swim in the freezing winter ocean, a grisly find leads Jane to startling revelations about her heritage; she is only half-human.

Now, Jane must enter a world filled with supernatural creatures that are terrifying, beautiful, and deadly--all of which perfectly describer her new "friend," Ryu, a gorgeous and powerful vampire.

It is a world where nothing can be taken for granted: a dog can heal with a lick; spirits bag your groceries; and whatever you do, never--ever--rub a genie's lamp.

Started this book on a whim, was thrown off by the cover when I first saw it because it was cartoon-y and I haven't really seen covers like this. I thought it was a kid's book or possible anime. But then I actually read the BOC, stumbled across a name drop by another author and became vastly intrigued. I started it before the holidays and just finished it this morning. It was very entertaining!

Nicole Peeler's debut Tempest Rising has absolutely everything in it. You aren't just getting the vampire boyfriend, but a whole slew of entities that many people probably did not know about. I knew of most of them since I am considered a geek, I guess--to me I'm just normal. ;)

There were selkies, succubus, shapeshifters, gnomes and oh-so much more! it was amazing. The supernatural creatures have their own society living in secret among humans. It was quite fascinating.

Peeler grabs you attention with the first chapter as that is where the action the BOC describes takes place and she reels you in with an unknown secret that drives you mad! At least it did for me, I was wanting to know!! I discovered said secret today when I was around the halfway mark, could have been a little past it too.

Jane is the absolute perfect character, she is simple Jane in the beginning--this has to do with her secret and why she does not fit in with the small town she calls home. There are monstrous secrets going on in little Rockbill. And there is still Jane's family secrets regarding her mother who left her as a child, some of it gets explained but there is a tiny door left open that more problems or secrets may come about from this tidbit.

Jane is introduced into the supernatural community fairly early in the book and takes most of it with stride. There are still plenty of surprises along the way to greet her. Such as a talking dog. That there has many-many surprises in itself.

Her romance with Ryu was sweet almost as it was her first relationship in awhile being an outcast in her own town. They had some pretty intense scenes together but they were not overly graphic either, which to me is a plus.

With a fascinating cast of characters, many of different species is enough to leave the reader gasping, but the plot was decently developed as well. It may have dragged in some areas, but it was mostly due to Jane being introduced to the new community. Those parts derailed her from the current problem that was the central focus.

Ms. Peeler has done her research well for all the species of supernatural dudes she has in her book and it was done superbly. I am anticipating the release of her next novel, Tracking the Tempest, coming July 1 2010. To quote Indigo from The Princess Bride, "I hate waiting".