Tempest Rising

Move over, Mercy Thompson, Kate Daniels, Sookie Stackhouse, and the other strong, wonderful woman characters that populate today's urban fantasy landscape. I love you all dearly, and hold my breath for your new books, but it is time to scootch over a bit, as Jane True has come to town! I just found Jane while perusing my local bookstore, and I couldn't be happier.

Jane is a very complex character. If you really haven't had any "life experience" (read here, if you don't understand loss, mourning, or the pain of living where everyone knows you, and holds your family's history against you) then you probably won't understand Jane. But if you do, her strength of character can absolutely rock your world, like it did mine.

Jane is a reluctant show more hero, and yet her ability to roll with the punches and become more than she had ever thought she could be is a HUGE encouragement to women who have been drug through the tunnel and come out on the other side stronger than ever.

The characters are well developed, the storyline keeps you guessing, and it is great fun watching how Jane grows and learns her own strengths - strengths she never dreamed she could possess. And she has a tremendous sense of humour, and a potty mouth to match. I have been spending my mornings, before work, sitting outside in the sun, reading Jane's exploits while laughing laughing like a loon at her hysterical dialog (her mental libido cracks have me rolling on the floor). She is strong, strong-willed, and one of the most likable of all the tough female urban fantasy characters that I adore.

I can hardly wait for #4!! show less

Move over, Mercy Thompson, Kate Daniels, Sookie Stackhouse, and the other strong, wonderful woman characters that populate today's urban fantasy landscape. I love you all dearly, and hold my breath for your new books, but it is time to scootch over a bit, as Jane True has come to town! I just found Jane while perusing my local bookstore, and I couldn't be happier.

Jane is a very complex character. If you really haven't had any "life experience" (read here, if you don't understand loss, mourning, or the pain of living where everyone knows you, and holds your family's history against you) then you probably won't understand Jane. But if you do, her strength of character can absolutely rock your world, like it did mine.

Jane is a reluctant show more hero, and yet her ability to roll with the punches and become more than she had ever thought she could be is a HUGE encouragement to women who have been drug through the tunnel and come out on the other side stronger than ever.

The characters are well developed, the storyline keeps you guessing, and it is great fun watching how Jane grows and learns her own strengths - strengths she never dreamed she could possess. And she has a tremendous sense of humour, and a potty mouth to match. I have been spending my mornings, before work, sitting outside in the sun, reading Jane's exploits while laughing laughing like a loon at her hysterical dialog (her mental libido cracks have me rolling on the floor). She is strong, strong-willed, and one of the most likable of all the tough female urban fantasy characters that I adore.

I can hardly wait for #4!! show less

O..M..G!!! I have absolutely no idea what took me so long to buy this incredibly hellah fun book. It's been on the WWBL ever since I started reading Nicole's bloggage on League of Reluctant Adults and interviews here there and yon in anticipation of the release of TEMPEST RISING last November.
I bought it when I joined up Literary Escapism's mini challenge to read as many League books as possible in February, preferably the League authors we hadn't read yet. Good enough to go book shopping and put this one in the cart. Then it became the next book after Jackie Kessler's HELL'S BELLES. I was two for two in new author 'YAY, I'm so glad I found this author' pool.
I could empathize with Jane's outsider-ness and the small cache of friends she show more loved and who loved her. I'm glad Nicole didn't dwell on the sheer town bastards who treated Jane like shite at every opportunity. Rather, Jane glowed when she showed her strength of character, her love for her father and fab friends, especially the owners of the bookshop where she worked. And her love of the ocean without understanding why she felt so at home and at peace when in the water.
Then she found the body on the beach and her world started to change. Anyan, the talking dog arrived as did Ryu, the uber hot vampire and investigator for the fae world. The body on the beach wasn't just any body, he was a halfling, half human and half...well, not human. As was Jane.
I liked how Nicole gave Jane just enough 'Wuh-haaat?' incredulity and the right amount of common sense to go along with the flow of events as they occurred.
And, oh the fab 'dirty drawer'....snort laugh funny throughout, excellent fight scenes, well written other world characters, both full and halfling varietal. The humans are pretty much secondary in the whole book and that's just fine with me. Especially since the majority of the humans in the book are aith-holes and life is too short to read about them...movin' on....not to say that the fae world is all la-la-la airy fairy nice. Nope, there's some eeeevil ones on that side of the bed, too. The good ones are good and ornery and funny and the bad ones are eeeevil. Fab mix.
So...I changed up the rating..TEMPEST RISING gets to be the first five sparkly diamond rating....I'll still do coffee beans, but the really special ones from now on will get the diamonds....
Here's five sparkly diamonds for Jane and the gang.... show less

La Principessa delle Tempeste è il primo romanzo della nuova serie urban fantasy (con decisi tocchi romance) per adulti di Nicole Peeler. Nonostante una copertina decisamente troppo "young", perfino bruttina se proprio vogliamo essere onesti, il romanzo regala al lettore esattamente ciò che promette: qualche ora di intrighi, passione e divertimento.

Lo stile dell'autrice ricorda un po' quello di L.K.Hamilton con il suo continuo "ironizzare" e, soprattutto, l'onnipresente autoironia (con tanto di monologhi interiori assolutamente esilaranti!) della protagonista che, goffa e un po' assurda, sconfina spesso nell'autoflagellazione. Povera Jane, dopotutto non deve essere stato semplice essere metà umana e metà foca, visto che stiamo show more parlando della figlia mezzosangue di una selkie (esseri marini in grado di mutare in uomini le foche).

La protagonista, è veramente divertente e con una mente molto assurda. Spesso ci chiediamo se sia semplicemente pazza o qualcosa di diverso... Molto probabilmente è qualcosa di "diverso", troppo presto però per giudicare. Le sue reazioni di fronte alle creature soprannaturali che, scoprirà, la circondano non sono abbastanza "assurde e prive di controllo", come molti lettori hanno notato. Probabilmente è vero, Jane True non si fa prendere dal panico e di fronte ad un bel vampiro perde l'ormon...ehm, la bussola. La ragazza non si lascia andare a pianti isterici, interminabili crisi di nervi o fughe nella notte in preda al panico, semplicemente assimila le informazioni che le vengono poste e piano piano si rende conto di essere sempre stata troppo strana e di aver provato sempre cose troppo diverse rispetto agli altri e incomprensibili per permettersi il lusso di dubitare; dopotutto era una ragazza che in inverno, ogni mattina, si faceva una nuotata vicino ad un gorgo che aveva ucciso decine di persone e non ha mai avuto neanche un raffreddore, no?

Vista in questa ottica il comportamento le reazioni, apparentemente incomprensibili, di Jane assumono tutta un'altra sfumatura e riusciamo ad accettarlo.

Quello che non accettiamo pienamente è il comportamente del co-protagonista Ryu, vampiro investigatore di professione e sexy-gigolò nel tempo libero; ovviamente quando le due cose non si sovrappongono.

Ryu non viene tratteggiato abbastanza bene, o meglio, non viene tratteggiato affatto. Sappiamo che è un investigatore, sappiamo che ha 260 anni o giu di lì e che come vede Jane ha già praticamente deciso che se la sarebbe portata a letto. Fine. Profondità emotiva pari, se non inferiore, alle battutacce a sfondo sessuali che propina a Jane e fanno nuovamente dubitare della sanità mentale della donna: perchè non replicare con un bello schiaffo? Magari sono gli 8 anni di astinenza della ragazza a placare la sua stizza.

Quindi, riassumendo, abbiamo un bellissimo background su cui si muovono due protagonisti, uno interessante e un po' svampito e uno talmente piatto da lasciar basiti. Nuovamente però, di fronte alla consapevolezza che stiamo leggendo il primo di un'ennesima saga, ci fermiamo e decidiamo di dare fiducia a questo fantomatico Ryu.

Un altro personaggio intrigante e molto equivoco è Anyan, uomo o cane a seconda delle esigenze, ci chiediamo con una certa ansia se in futuro dovremo sorbirci un'ennessimo triangolo amoroso alla Twilight. Personalmente mi auguro di cuore - e di fegato - di no, sinceramente potrei avere il tanto atteso tracollo nervoso che molti lettori si aspettavano da Jane di fronte ai mutaformi, gnomi e goblin.

Un paranormal thriller che brilla in quanto orginalità, confezionato in una versione economica "Newton Pocket" un po' ingannevole, ma molto conveniente, che sicuramente ci permette di essere "curiosi" e di dare una seconda opportunità a questa serie. Cosa sono, dopotutto, 6€ quando, in cambio, potremmo scovare, finalmente, qualcosa di divertente e nuovo? show less

Jane True is an outsider in her own home town of Rockabill, Maine. She has a strange penchant for swimming in the cold ocean waters. When Jane stumbles across the body of a murdered man, she is introduced to a world she never knew existed. She is confronted by all manner of otherworldly creatures such as gnomes, shapeshifters, vampires, and much more. But the biggest surprise is that Jane, herself, is only half-human. The supernatural investigating the murder of the man Jane found is gorgeous and irresistible. But Ryu is a vampire and one of the more dangerous creatures.

Jane is an incredible likeable character. I was completely drawn into her story and lived it right along with her. Jane has a painful past. But when her eyes are opened show more to those around her, Jane is finally able to relate to people. And the other characters are just as vivid, sometimes larger than life. Ryu is a great leading man in this story, but I’m more excited to see where Jane’s relationship with a certain shapeshifter goes. He’s more brooding and mysterious.

As most urban fantasy’s go, the main plot follows a mystery – the murders happening in Rockabill. But this story focuses more on the characters and their interaction with Jane. There is a refreshing sense of wonder and excitement, rather than heavy-laden action and fight scenes. Tempest Rising is witty and fun, with a dash of dark suspense. Peeler has built a fantastic world in this debut novel. And I’m certainly eager to see what new adventures are in store for Jane True. show less

This was such a quirky book. I wasn't sure what I expected, but it was nothing like I imagined. It was funny, touching, and unique. I've picked up the next book in the series to see where the author plans to take this memorable character.

Nothing really exciting here, but still a fun paranormal fantasy (and I still remember having read it four weeks later). One can tell that it is a first novel, because writing and construction are a bit clunky at times, but for the most part it is quite entertaining. There are not many half-selkie heroines around, and the glimpses we catch of the world Tempest Rising is set in are quite intriguing, with a generous amount of hints scattered throughout the novel that there are larger things afoot and more mysteries to be unveiled in later volumes.

I for one thought it was a nice touch that Nicole Peelter attempted to make the intimate scenes between Jane and her lover Ryu realistic rather than perfect, i.e. introduced some humour and some show more awkwardness into them. While the execution did not always live up to the intent there, overall it was quite delightful to read about sex that was not ohmygod-the-skies-shook all the time, but somewhat more down to earth.

Mostly, though, what carries Tempest Rising through is its charm, and that seems to me based on a certain naiveté – of the heroine’s wide-eyed wonder (and occasional terror) at the magical world she is finding herself to be part of, but also the author’s, whose enthusiasm for writing the novel infuses every page of it. I hope Nicole Peeler will be able to hold on that enthusiasm as the series continues and at the same time manage to polish her writing skills, this might turn out to be a very delectable series if she does. show less