Review--Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs

A paranormal romance you can really sink your fins into.

Tempest Maguire wants nothing more than to surf the killer waves near her California home; continue her steady relationship with her boyfriend, Mark; and take care of her brothers and surfer dad. But Tempest is half mermaid, and as her seventeenth birthday approaches, she will have to decide whether to remain on land or give herself to the ocean like her mother. The pull of the water becomes as insistent as her attraction to Kai, a gorgeous surfer whose uncanny abilities hint at an otherworldly identity as well. And when Tempest does finally give in to the water's temptation and enters a fantastical underwater world, she finds that a larger destiny awaits her--and that the entire ocean's future hangs in the balance.

This review is based on the ARC copy I won in a contest a long while back.

Okay, so what prompted me to read this out of the blue was seeing the next book in the series up on Netgalley. Still waiting for my approval, but I was interested in Tracy Deebs's Tempest Rising anyway! Haven't read any good mermaid tales in a long time--besides TLM! And I wasn't disappointed!

Tempest knows she'll turn into a mermaid one day. That once she reaches 17 she has a choice to make; either to remain human and on land, or to give in to the pull of the ocean like her mother did 6 years ago. Tempest doesn't want anything to do with her mermaid half, she has a lot of resentment against her mother for leaving. Especially since she has to deal with this problem on her own! Poor girl, had to go through puberty and this all alone without her mother's guidance.

It turns out that there's something waiting in the ocean for Tempest, something dark and possibly dangerous. But not everything about the ocean is bad. There's Kai, the mysterious surfer boy she meets one rainy day and immediately feels a connection with. Roll in her boyfriend and we have our ever popular love triangle.

This one actually wasn't too bad. Tempest really does care for Mark, he's one of her friends after all. But there are strange and different feelings stirring for Kai that she can't help.

The pacing was kind of unique in a way. While it wasn't real fast or super slow, it had the kind of pacing you get from a fairy tale almost. That while things may not be moving the plot ever further along, it's still engaging and excellent story telling. 

What it all boils down to is that Tempest has a choice to make. It's never said if her choice is ultimately final, but since there's a sequel coming on a few months, I would say it's not permanent. 

The only thing that bugged me about the story was literally the last 3 pages. It just go so hokey I couldn't help but rolling my eyes! I was seriously tempted to throw the book at the wall, but didn't want to since it was 3 pages, really two and a paragraph! 

But either than that, I truly enjoyed the book! It's sort of like a modern day version of TLM! But not overly in the Disney way...although there are definitely some common similarities! I will definitely have to read the next book either way!

Overall rating 4.5/5 stars