Review: Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler

Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler

Genre: Urban Fantasy

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 alternatively terrifying, beautiful, and deadly- all of which perfectly describe 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 the genie's lamp.

If you love Sookie Stackhouse, then you'll want to dive into Nicole Peeler's enchanting debut novel.

Thoughts:

Tempest Rising has to be one of the strongest debuts of a series I’ve read in a long while. From the cover it brings to mind a light and fluffy story, with a flavor of humor. Instead what the reader gets is a book with the same flavor of the Sookie Stackhouse series, while it clearly stands alone and shares nothing but flavor with the Sookie books. It’s dark at times, but manages to crack a joke quite often without making Peeler look like she’s trying too hard.

Jane has been an outcast in her small town since her mother came into town stark naked, on the stormiest of nights. If showing up naked in town wasn’t bad enough she’s stole the town’s most eligible bachelor, then abandons him and his daughter years later. On top of that the town gets more fuel for hating Jane after her star athlete boyfriend dies. Jane’s past is truly tragic, while life has her beaten down readers can still see that Jane is quite ready to submit to those who hate her.

When Jane finds out that paranormal creatures are real and walk among humans, she’s not a skeptic for long. It only makes since that she’s one of them as she can swim in whirl pools without getting killed. Even though Jane enters a dark and deadly world, she’s found a place where she actually belongs. Jane blossoms into a fantastic leading lady, but what’s more fantastic is that readers can witness the journey of self-forgiveness.

Another thing to really loved about Tempest Rising is the humor. Good humor is the food of life! Besides great running dialogue between characters, Jane’s mind is full of quick comebacks. Even if her internal comebacks are voices in her head. Her proper self speaks back to her and cautions are not to do things, her slightly evil side laughs at people’s misfortune and urges her on to some dark paths. My personal favorite would have to be the voice of her libido. At certain points the conversation between Jane and her libido had me rolling on the floor with laughter.

The paranormal creatures in this book are never classified. Vampires exist, but they’re not really vampires. Werewolves exist, but they’re not really werewolves. Peeler makes her paranormal creatures her own, showing readers where some myths are correct and other parts of the myths aren’t. While the paranormal creatures in this book have the feeling of Faye, they are not Faye per se. There is a court system that governs the society, but it’s not the courts of Faye myth.

In this first book we get a yummy, yummy, “vampire” lover to occupy some page time. The lover aspect fits well in to the story line without feeling like a Paranormal Romance title, Tempest Rising is clearly a Urban Fantasy. The aspect of Jane knowing that she isn’t in love with the vampire is nice. She cares for him, but she’s been in can’t-eat-can’t-sleep love before and she knows this isn’t it. This is a nice change of pace for a UF as most of the time the main characters seem to fall in love in the first book. Besides, there is clearly time for some other yummy paranormal hunks to enter her life.

Bottom Line: If you’re looking for something with a Sookie Stackhouse flavor that can clearly stand on its own, look no further. Be prepared to enter a dark world of the paranormal, with great humor on top for good measure. This is a book for fun characters, dark intrigue, character growth, and some good ol’dirty times.

Sexual Content:

Some sex scenes, not as graphic as what you find in PNR titles. Also, tons of dirty humor to be found.

5/5- Fabulous, a beautiful obsession!

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Amazon: Tempest Rising (Jane True)

goodreads: Tempest Rising