Such an emotional roller coaster. One minute Tempest is happy as can be and the next she is miserable. There are a ton of trust issues that carry on in the sequel to Tempest Rising.



Tempest is still confused about her choices and who she is. She doesn't seem to be able to accept herself and feels like she is split in two. In her eyes, there is no way she'll ever feel like a complete person. The prophecy that's is supposedly about her doesn't help matters either.



Kona was less likeable to me in this book. He shows his anger, but doesn't want to willingly give her the reason why. However, he expects Tempest to fill him in on everything. He spazzes when he loses sight of her, and she doesn't tell him exactly what she's feeling or thinking every minute of the day.

Mark definitely won brownie points. I had written him off after his jerky moments in TR, but he really does care for Tempest. His actions speak for themselves. Mark also explains some of his behavior in TR. And he did it without Tempest having to badger him the way she has to Kona.

I was on edge the entire time Tempest's brother was injured. I'm not going to say which it was, but it definitely tugged on my heart strings.

I liked this installment. It was emotionally deeper than the first book. You also see the strength of the friendships Tempest has built. That definitely added points. It's a novel about self discovery that could change everything. ( )

Tempest is not setting in well as the merfolk’s saviour. She misses her home, she misses her family and, most guilt causing of all, she misses Matt, her human ex-boyfriend. Something she hopes to keep from Kona, her Selkie current boyfriend – and a prince no less.

To make matters worse, she and Hailaine, merQueen, keep butting heads and can’t seem to agree with anything, least of all the many many things that Hailaine thinks she needs to learn.

But Tiamat is still out there and still plotting to take down both Kingdoms and dominate the Pacific – and Tempest doesn’t feel even close to ready to face her.

I protest most strongly to the name of this book.

Tempest Unleashed is a terrible description of the events recounted within. I propose a better title: Tempest Mopes. Or maybe Tempest Monologues. Or Tempest Naval Gazes.

For much of this book not much happens and there isn’t much pretence of a plot. We open with Tempest worrying about her human family (somewhat reasonable) who she had to abandon. Which quickly turns into worrying about Matt, which turns into worrying about Kona because blah blah love triangle, blah. She doesn’t get on with the merQueen because REASONS (more on this later) and this causes more musings. Then musings about whether she and Kona can ever be together.

New character Sabyn shows up to train her, he flirts with Tempest, he and Kona don’t get on, Tempest spends pages talking about this. There’s lots and lots of conflict with Kona over boyfriend issues.

Tiamat is in the background doing bad evil stuff which everyone talks about… but doesn’t do anything about.

An event eventually drives Tempest back to land where she… sits around and has lots of angsty arguments and discussions. I don’t think there’s much else she could have done in the situation, but it adds on to the general inaction that permeates this book to be incredibly frustrating. It would have probably helped a lot to see Tempest more deeply involved in training, seeing what she learned etc. Or maybe her spending more time with the merQueen, learning what’s happening in the realm, how they’re resisting Tiamat, training, making plans etc – at least then there would have been some actual concrete action taken by Tempest in the face of the overwhelming threat

Instead we had pages and pages of discussion, arguments and moping, discussion argument moping over and over again – I reached over half way and realised that absolutely nothing had actually happened in the book.

Finally the action hits, Tempest swims off, pulls a super power out of her arse and TA-DA day is saved. Does that count as a spoiler? Because, really, it’s pretty weak.

Back to the merQueen, there’s a huge rift between Tempest and Hailaine in this book and, beyond “Hailaine is an evil meanie” it’s not really explained. I think it’s supposed to represent how hard Hailaine has become from the difficult decisions she’s had to make as a queen – but she doesn’t actually make any decisions. In fact, the only indication she’s ever had to make bad decisions is a memory of Tempest’s mothers – so it can hardly be disagreement over the decisions Hailaine is making. It all seems even more bizarre since Hailaine is apparently grooming Tempest to replace her – so why the rift? Why the treatment designed to drive her away? I can see many ways there could be a rift – so show them! Rather than just have Hailaine be randomly unpleasant for reasons unknown, actually develop it. As it stands, the conflict seems to be there just so Tempest won’t trust her since that’s vital for the plot to work.

Read more ( )

I did not like the ending of this book AT ALL. Two days later and I am still fuming over this one. The only redeeming factor is that I know there will be a third book, which brings the hope that an ending I am satisfied with will occur. With the ending aside, everything else was great. I enjoyed the world building, characters, plot, and beautiful descriptions. There are many things to love about Tempest Unleashed.

The love triangle between Tempest, Kona, and Mark continues. In fact, it gets more complicated in this book since Tempest can’t seem to stay away from the human world. Other characters are brought into the story that complicate things. The major twist is Sabyn, Tempest’s new trainer. He’s a shady character.

The action is fast-paced in this one. I was highly impressed. The story begins with Tempest spying on her family, despite her better judgement. That leads to a steamy encounter with Mark (hence the continuing love triangle). One her way back to the mercastle, she gets attacked by Tiamet’s shark-men. Suddenly, this crazy new power reveals itself, making Tempest a flippin’ awesome merwarrior type. She rocks. Seriously. I really enjoyed her growth throughout the story, even if I am still miffed about her choices in the end! Boo!
I can’t go into too much detail about this book because it would give too much of the plot away. Just trust me when I say it was a very enjoyable read. I am anxious to see what is in store for the third book because I want to see Tempest kick some more evil sea witch tail. ( )

*contains spoilers for Tempest Rising (Tempest #1)*


After choosing, in Tempest Rising, to embrace the mermaid side of herself and live in the ocean with her mother's mermaid clan, Tempest is happy with her decision. It has taken her away from her family on land - her brothers and her father whom she lived with after her, now deceased, mother abandoned them seven years ago - but she knows it's what has to be done. She's training every day, to one day be ready to take over the throne and to be ready to battle the evil sea-witch Tiamat when the day comes.

When news of something wrong with her family back on land reaches Tempest, she leaves immediately - no matter the consequences. Back at home she's reunited not only with her family members but also someone she didn't plan on seeing again: Mark.

As she waits for things with her family to be okay, she learns just how much has changed with her family - and Mark - in the months she's been gone. And how much has not.

While she's been on land and out of communication, things have not been quiet under the sea. Tiamat seems to have stepped up her plans. Lives are in danger and Tempest will have to help.

Once again she'll have to choose: sea or land. . . and maybe even Mark or Kona.



Tempest Unleashed is the sequel to Tempest Rising where Tempest Maguire came into being half mermaid - she'd already known some about it - and was forced to choose between the land she'd lived on her entire life or the sea that continued to call her. Tempest Unleashed picks up several months after the end of the first book.

The beginning of this one was hard for me to get into. Tempest didn't seem like the strong minded, tough girl character I'd come to love in Tempest Rising. She had excellent fighting skills, for sure, but I think the book starting out with her kind of losing her mind over her ex-boyfriend threw me. Things didn't quite click for me in Part I - I couldn't quite get beyond the surface. Part II (and subsequent parts), I liked much more.

This book was at it's strongest when there was some tension or when things get combative - through literal combat or vocally. When Tempest has a good back and forth going with one of the characters (even the non-argumentative ones), it really flows well. When Tempest was being introspective or things were laying the groundwork for something, it fell mostly flat.

The very end was a bit frustrating and one I need to mull over. I'm not sure if it's only because I'm not quite happy with a character decision or if there really was not quite enough basis for it to feel justified. Either way, it wasn't bad, I'm just not sure about it!

Rating: 7/10 ( )

Deebs continues to impress me with her elegant ability to create a magic mermaid story. Many attempts at such a story will seem to “cheesy”, for lack of a better word, and remain overall realistic. The tempest series seems to overcome many of the obstacles, and create not only a realistic like story, but one that readers will enjoy imagining. After the close of Tempest Rising I was anxious to see where book two would take us after Tempest made the decision to choose the sea. It was interesting to see her settling into life as a mermaid queen heir, but as interesting to see her return to land for a reunion with past characters. On the downside I was a bit frustrated with this development in the sense of the continuation of the love triage. Upon conclusion of book one I was ecstatic with Tempest choosing Kona, but with the developments of this book it seemed as though the author was rehashing this entire scenario again. Readers such as myself might find this to a tired complication. As Tempest continues to learn her powers she will have a battle of honing her skills for the ultimate show down with Tiamat. The loved action packed sequences from Tempest Rising continue throughout this sequel; leaving readers with a open ended conclusion that hints for a third book.
~BookWhisperer Reviewer JO~ ( )