View source for Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs

{{infobox1
|title=Tempest Rising
|author=Tracy Deebs
|reviewer=Robert James
|genre=Teens
|summary=Extremely angsty paranormal romance which will satisfy genre fans but doesn’t really offer much new.
|rating=3.5
|buy=Maybe
|borrow=Yes
|pages=352
|publisher=Bloomsbury	
|date=July 2011
|isbn=978-1408820186
|website=http://tracydeebs.com/
|cover=1408820188
|aznuk=1408820188
|aznus=0802722318
}}

Sixteen year old Tempest is going through some changes in her body. But they’re not the usual changes teen girls go through as they grow up. Instead, she's developing gills and a tail.

That’s right, Tempest is a mermaid. Faced with the impossible choice of staying on land with her loving father, two brothers, and boyfriend Mark, or following in her mother’s footsteps and taking the plunge (sorry!) and living permanently underwater, she’s already struggling with this decision when the handsome and mysterious surfer Kona turns up and complicates things even further. As she grows closer to Kona,
she also finds out there is a mysterious prophecy that concerns her and that her choice could have huge consequences for everyone beneath the waves.

There are some good points about Tempest Rising – notably strong descriptions of life underwater and the various sea creatures, along with some really interesting support characters in Tempest’s father – still hoping her mother will return after about six years away from him – and her two brothers, who I thought were adorable. I also thought the battle scenes were exciting and well-written.

That said, there were some drawbacks which stop me from recommending this particularly strongly. For a start, Tempest is a rather whiny narrator (and the angst level overall is crazily high, to the point where even [[Twilight by Stephenie Meyer|Twilight’s Bella Swan]] would be advising this girl to chill out a bit), while the two love interests seemed completely generic and I wasn’t particularly bothered on whether Tempest ended up with either of them or not. I find it difficult to get too excited about a book when I’m not really invested in the characters and that rather hurt my enjoyment of this one.

If you’re a big fan of mermaids – or of paranormal romance/adventure in general – there’s enough here to make it worth your while taking a look at this novel, at least. If you’re not already a genre fan, though, I’d say this isn’t especially likely to appeal to you.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.

Further reading suggestion: For more underwater action, check out [[Siren by Tricia Rayburn]] for a dark and devastating story, or [[Forgive My Fins by Tera Lynn Childs]] if you prefer your mermaids fun and frothy. If you’re looking for paranormal romance in general then the anthology [[Kiss Me Deadly by Tricia Telep (Editor)|Kiss Me Deadly]] (edited by Tricia Telep) is a fantastic starting point which gives you 13 very different authors to sample and includes several absolutely wonderful stories.

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[[Category:Paranormal]]