Holly Hook

I received this book through a LibraryThing Members Giveaway program in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Despite the very interesting premise of this book (that of a young girl developing the ability to turn into a tornado when she encounters a storm), this book failed to grab me. It was a quick and easy read and well written but it was also bleak and short on humour. I didn't like the central character and found the unremitting moral dilemmas she faces as she deals with her new ability show more and with the circumstances of its creation wore thin quickly. The constant repetition of the murkiness of wrong and right and the difficulties of choosing between the greater good for a community or an individual made me feel as if I was in a philosophy class with a particularly humourless teacher facing that ongoing moral question of whether to save the fat guy on the bridge or push him over the rails to stop the train about to kill the railway track workers. show less

Tempest by Holly Hook. Even the name sounds intriguing and intense. Of course, those two words correctly describe this book. I went into this novel, thinking that it would be an interesting read though it probably would be just like any other young adult book out there. Girl meets boy, they fall in love, they live happily ever after. That idea creates a certain amount of comfort in the back of my mind as I start any book. It caught me off guard how much more than romance this story show more was.

Janelle is a fun character to read with all of her characteristics that make her truly a YA main character. I like that there is a certain pattern they follow but I wish that there was something that made her more unique and standalone. A quality that perhaps other books lack in their characters. But I loved her nonetheless. Her relationship with her father is admirable. Her relationship with her mother can be summed up in one word: frightening. Her whole story is great, I liked it.

The idea behind the plot is different, there are no vampires, werewolves, ghosts, mermaids, or any of that sort treading through these pages. I think that's what really captures your attention is that it touches on something I don't think I've ever considered or read about. My desire to read is fueled by things that I don't know and want to know more about. This book brought up a new type of creature or human and made me look at "tempests" in a whole new light.

I really liked this book. I think anyone who likes these sort of paranormal stories will enjoy this. show less

I'm glad I won this from Library Thing. I wasn't sure what to think of it at first, then it pulled me in (no pun intended). This is a book recommended for young teens/adults, so keep that in mind if your an adult wanting to read this story. This story was well written and flowed nicely. I found the ending great and of course it leaves you hanging for book 2. I would recommend this story for those who have teens or have a little free time to read a different story.

"Tempest" by Holly Hook is a YA fiction book, the first in the "Destroyers" series. It follows the main character, Janelle, after she moves to Florida and strange stuff begins happening. Janelle and basically everyone she knows or is related to is a Tempest, a strange sub-group of humans that become hurricanes once in their lives, and can do that really cool thing with their eyes that's shown on the book cover.

Before I say anything else, I want to make it clear that the premise of this book show more is freaking awesome. I cannot stress that enough. I don't pretend to understand that people who can turn into hurricanes any time they fall in salt water only do so once in their lives, because if I could turn into a hurricane, look out coastal cities! I did some research, and was a little annoyed to discover the named hurricanes that the WMO picks repeat every six years, but I stick like the concept that Tempests have a government mandated role call. If you've already read the book, feel free to follow the same wikipedia/google trail I did and be disappointed there is no Hurricane Adriana (although there have been several Adrians) or Hurricane Janelle in the real world. I am not against fiction books that borrow part of their information from reality, but I guess I was a little surprised by how easy it would have been to incorporate real hurricanes and give the book more of a "hidden world within a world" feel. Even though the ability to become some of the scariest, most powerful tropical storms is just fantastically cool, I would have preferred Hook had either completely veered off into a fantasy setting or maintained a more accurate representation of where the Tempests could have fit into our world.

It may look like I have a lot of complaints, but I really did like this book. I'm just kind of pushy. So while I have a few complaints about the deus ex machina style plot devices creeping into Hook's novel, they did not overshadow the excellent characterization and straight-up awesome premise. I was definitively entertained, even though I usually prefer to avoid YA. If you are a teen or just like reading teen fiction, I would strongly recommend this. Jump all over it! show less