Sam Cameron

I have no idea what the cover has to do with this book. It isn't about three young girls sunning on the beach, not at all.

This book surprised me by what it was. It was a coming of age story of a Florida teen. Robin, who is, at first, THE teen activist, the horrible one who has just discovered social justice and won't let up about it ever, grows into something so much more. She starts putting true belief behind her words, starts sorting out her priorities, and realizes that other people might show more have ones that are different from hers. She's also, at first, an average teen girl, dying for a summer romance, and she dreams about kissing every beautiful woman she sees. She leaps into romance and, inevitably gets hurt, and after that starts considering the entire woman before she kisses her. It's also a mystery with a confusing (and funny) solution.

(Provided by publisher) show less

Thank you Netgalley and Bold Stroke Books for granting my request to view this title.

I loved it. An intriguing mystery, well written, entertaining, with excellent characters and a great plot that kept me guessing right till the end. The writing was snappy, the dialogue witty and the characters were well rounded.

The story starts with its main protagonist, Robin, and her friend Sean, trying to sneak onto a movie set in their home town of Key West to get a glimpse of their favourite stars. show more Robin is a die hard fangirl and in love with actress Juliet Francine, and Sean has the hots for her costar Liam. Whilst sneaking on the set they learn that Juliet appears to be missing, Juliet's sister Karen is distraught, where her jackass co star seems to not care at all.

Robin manages to get hired by Karen to help her find Juliet as she's the only one who seems to believe that Juliet is really missing. So Robin gets to work on investigating. Robin knows exactly who she is, she's a lesbian who's totally comfortable with who she is and total advocate for Mother Earth and healthy stuff and environment. She was fun and well written with her beliefs and didn't preach about them, which made her more likeable. Each to their own, but don't throw it in my (the reader's) face. Robin was an excellent lead.

As she continues to investiage, she learns more about the movie making business, and the co star Liam and nothing is as it appears. The mystery is full of twists and turns, and at certain points seems to rather predicable in where it's going with the story, then it twits and throws you off balance going in a completely different direction.

A cast of fun lively characters, though a few times I felt like I was reading information I should already know about the supporting cast, like maybe this was part of a series, but that didn't really matter because it was so well written you could follow along easily without any trouble understanding who was who.

It wrapped up sweetly, with a realistic believable ending.

I loved it from start to finish. show less

The premise: ganked from publisher's website: Twin brothers Denny and Steven Anderson love helping people and fighting crime alongside their sheriff dad on sun-drenched Fisher Key, Florida. Steven likes chasing girls. Denny longs to lose his virginity, but doesn’t dare tell anyone he’s gay. Steven has a secret of his own. He lied to everyone, including his own brother, about being accepted into SEAL training for the U.S. Navy.

On the day they graduate high school, the twins meet the show more handsome new guy in town, a military veteran with a chiseled body and mysterious past. Meanwhile Brian Vandermark, a gay transfer student from Boston, finds himself falling for closeted Denny but hampered by his shyness. When an antique yacht explodes in Fisher Key harbor, all three boys are caught up in a summer of betrayal, romance, and danger. It’s the Mystery of the Tempest-—and it just might kill them all.

My Rating: 6 - Worth Reading, with Reservations

Being an adult who reads mostly speculative fiction, I definitely wasn't the target audience for this. The straight up mystery was interesting enough, but the real selling point of this book is the twin boy protagonists, one who's gay, the other who isn't. Seeing a gay protagonist fall in love while struggling to accept his own sexuality (struggling in terms of officially coming out) was rather compelling, and it's a sweet story besides. There's more here than gay romance though, and the mystery was pretty entertaining in and of itself with some fun nods to Shakespeare. I think if you're a reader who enjoys reading mysteries, and/or a reader who's dying for more gay protags in fiction, this book is right up your alley. I can't comment on how well received this will be for young readers, or whether or not gay teen readers will relate, but I hope they do, and I hope the book (series) does well. Personally, I prefer the author's speculative fiction (which reminds me, I still have two of her books to read in my TBR), but that's a matter of preference. I'm glad this is out there.

Spoilers, yay or nay?: Nay. It's a new book and a short one at that, so spoiling the story would be a gross injustice to the book. The full review is in my blog, which is linked below. As always, comments and discussion are most welcome.

REVIEW: Sam Cameron's MYSTERY OF THE TEMPEST

Happy Reading! show less

4 STARS
Denny Anderson was joining the coast guard after graduation. Denny was also gay and hiding it.
Steven Anderson was Denny twin. He told everyone he joined the Navy and was going to be a seal. Steven lied he did not pass the physcal for seals because he was color blind.
Denny and Steven have solved mysteries since they were 12. Their father sheriff. After graduation party Steven went to Kelsey father boat to be alone. Denny gave a ride in his boat to Brian because he got left by his show more boyfriend without a car. Going by water to were the party they saw a boat on fire so Denny was swimming over their to see if anyone needed help when it blew up knocked him under. Threw Brian out of the boat. He was going under but a swimmer in the water rescued him and helped him and got Denny in the boat as well and got him breathing. Turns out Carter used to be a seal and said he was training for a triathalon.
The twins want to find out who blew up the boat and what was happening around them. What were they going to do about their secrets?
Their is a lot of action and the twins make mistakes but they also do some good things.
I would not mind reading another book about them. I was given this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for honest review. show less