Format Read: Paperback
Number of Pages: 34
Release Date: November 1st, 2009
Publisher: Orbit
Formats Available: Paperback, Ebook
Purchasing Info:  Author’s Website; Goodreads; BookDepository.com, BookDepository.co.uk, Amazon,

Book Blurb:

Living in a small town in 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 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.

I bought this book with my own funds.

My Thoughts:

Many have compared Jane True to Sookie Stackhouse; it even says it on the back of the book. Tempest Rising is in a complete league of its own and although Sookie is good, she is nothing like Jane.

Tempest Rising was an awesome rollercoaster ride that took us through the pains and perils of Jane True a rather odd young woman who has a passion for swimming in the middle of storms.

During one of the nightly swims she encounters a dead body floating in her sea and pulls him out, entangling her in the world of supes and magic as she becomes part of the investigation trying to track the dead man’s murderer. The investigator is none other than Ryu (pronounced Roo), a handsome vampire detective who is head of the case.

There are many things I love about Tempest Rising, the first is the characters. Jane is strong, although she doesn’t feel it, she has been through the pain of a whole town hating her and wrongly accusing her of killing the love of her life, Jason. She has been so traumatised by this that she now believes it too, although she could have done nothing to save him.

Jane isn’t dumb and when she knows that she is in danger, she doesn’t blindly plough on; she stops and asks for help or just stays within reach of someone who can help her, which I didn’t see as weak for a second, because she can hold her own.

Jane is also exceptionally funny, I think we can safely say that she is borderline certifiably insane. This is understandable once again from the past; she talks to herself, not out loud, but in her head and the conversations are absolutely hilarious. Her virtue and her libido are constantly quarrelling over what she does with Ryu, old weak Jane pipes up every now and again when new strong, alive Jane moves in for her time to shine, down-to-earth Jane sighs irritably when girly vain Jane pops her head out to drool at some pretty shoes.

I also loved Ryu; he is someone that personally I wouldn’t go for, why? He’s short. Taller than Jane but only five foot nine, and I loved it, he was definitely very good looking, but the fact that he wasn’t some six foot six hulking, brick out house of a man made him that much more real, because he too was unique.

I loved the style of Tempest Rising as well, the sex was there, and was detailed every once in a while, but it wasn’t constantly being thrown in our faces and many a time was glossed over with only some very provocative insinuation. The characters were just about flawless in their reality, in their actions and in their words. The relationship between Jane and Ryu was again, so real. They weren’t professing their love for one another, and Jane freely admitted she was in lust, and considering Ryu’s profession and the fact that he lived in Boston didn’t expect anything more than a fling.

The smattering of such different characters was absolutely intriguing, we didn’t just have standard Vampires, Were-wolves and shape shifters, we had goblins, gnomes, kelpies, fire elementals and elves that would probably kill you for calling them elves. The mythology and folk lore packed into this tale was absolutely stunning and seamlessly put together.

Peelers writing was real, and it’s what kept me going back for more and the detail was subtle and just enough to keep it colourful and still quickly paced.

I absolutely can’t wait for the next Jane True novel, Tracking the Tempest, and if you didn’t know it, you would never ever pick Tempest Rising as a debut novel, it was that good.

I give Tempest Rising 5 out of 5 bookies.

***FTC Disclaimer: Most books reviewed on this site have been provided free of charge by the publisher, author or publicist. Some books we have purchased with our own money and will be noted as such. Any links to places to purchase books are provided as a convenience, and do not serve as an endorsement by this blog. All reviews are the true and honest opinion of the blogger reviewing the book. The method of acquiring the book does not have a bearing on the content of the review.

About Amanda

Amanda-Lee is a proudly addicted reader and writer from Sydney. She lives with her wonderful husband and their more like a baby than a kitten Hamish. Amanda-Lee has been blogging for 4 years now and is a lover of all genres, though she does have a tendancy to stray towards the weird and wonderful concotions in the paranormal and fantasy genres. In addition to being the Winged Lover on BLI she also runs the book blog StoryWings.

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