Book Review: Eye of the Tempest by Nicole Peeler

Review: Eye of the Tempest
Series: Jane True – Book 4
Author: Nicole Peeler
No of Pages: 319
Release Date: 26 July 2011

Nothing says “home” like being attached by humans with very large guns, as Jane and Anyan discover when they arrive in Rockabill. Seeing Anyan fall awakens a terrible power within Jane, and she nearly destroys herself taking out their attackers.

Jane wakes, weeks later, to discover that she’s not the only thing that’s been stirring. Something underneath Rockabill is coming to life: something ancient, something powerful, and something that might destroy the world.

Jane and her friends must act, striking out on a quest that only Jane can finish. For whatever lurks beneath the Old Sow must be stopped…and Jane’s just the Halfling for the job.

My Thoughts:
Eye of the Tempest was another fast paced instalment in this fantastic series.

Jane accidentally short circuits herself when she pulls the water from several human beings to protect Anyan during an attack. It kills the men, and it nearly kills her as well. When she wakes up, a month has passed and strange occurrences are becoming more frequent in Rockabill.

Jane once again had me in fits of laughter; her trademark libido vs. virtue monologue is absolutely hilarious. Jane is growing as a character; those changes are quite obvious but also well earned. Her training is increasing and because of it she is becoming more powerful learning new tricks to impress us with in each new adventure.

Anyan was a little bit of a disappointment for me this time; I feel his real character is starting to show through. He has gone from this adorable, burly man who any woman would count their lucky stars to be with to more distant and a bit of a jerk. Anyan always seems to be around when Jane is naked or he even turns up to get her naked, but he doesn’t seem to treat her properly. When Ryu and Jane were sleeping together it was obvious that Ryu was using her for blood, but with Anyan it’s a little more subtle. The connection between them doesn’t seem to be there. As Jane pointed out herself Anyan always seemed to cop a feel, but they had never even kissed properly.

For me, this was a little bit of a letdown with Anyan, it might just be my natural distrusting ways, but if I were Jane I’d put my foot down and not give over anything until I knew where I stood.

The actual story was once again very well written. It didn’t have the adventure in that Jane actually stayed in Rockabill for nearly the entire novel, but it did have a deeper story. One in which Jane got to meet a being that was literally millions of years old. Jane also had to man up because Nell and Anyan, her two most powerful allies, were rendered completely helpless and it was up to Jane and Blondie, who Jane didn’t trust, to help them.

Peeler’s writing was once again superb; I do feel though that she is playing up a little too much on her Jane monologues. After such high praises of the ingeniousness of it in previous books, Libido and Virtue were appearing what felt like all the time. Every new situation Jane was put into it felt like those two felt the need to be heard, it was actually kind of annoying after a while because it was obvious what was happening, just because a device has worked in the past doesn’t mean you have to become a one trick pony.

Eye of the Tempest was once again a fabulous read, it kept me engrossed from start to finish and I once again cannot wait for the next instalment.

Others in this series:
Tempest's Rising
Tracking the Tempest
Tempest's Legacy
Tempest's Fury

Book Review: Tempest Rising by Nicole Peeler

Review: Tempest Rising
Series: Jane True – Book 1
Author: Nicole Peeler
No of Pages: 344
Release Date: 1 November 2009

Living in a small town in Rockabill, Maine. Jane True always knew she didn’t quite fit in with so-called normal society.

During her nightly, clandestine swim in the freezing winter ocean, a grisly find leads Jane to startling revelations about her heritage: she is only half-human.

Now, Jane must enter a world filled with supernatural creatures that are terrifying, beautiful, and deadly – all of which perfectly describe her new “friend,” Ryu, a gorgeous and powerful vampire.

It is a world where nothing can be taken for granted: a dog can heal with a lick; spirits bag your groceries; and whatever you do, never – ever – rub the genie’s lamp.

My Thoughts:

Many have compared Jane True to Sookie Stackhouse; it even says it on the back of the book. Tempest Rising is in a complete league of its own and although Sookie is good, she is nothing like Jane.

Tempest Rising was an awesome rollercoaster ride that took us through the pains and perils of Jane True a rather odd young woman who has a passion for swimming in the middle of storms.

During one of the nightly swims she encounters a dead body floating in her sea and pulls him out, entangling her in the world of supes and magic as she becomes part of the investigation trying to track the dead man’s murderer. The investigator is none other than Ryu (pronounced Roo), a handsome vampire detective who is head of the case.

There are many things I love about Tempest Rising, the first is the characters. Jane is strong, although she doesn’t feel it, she has been through the pain of a whole town hating her and wrongly accusing her of killing the love of her life, Jason. She has been so traumatised by this that she now believes it too, although she could have done nothing to save him.

Jane isn’t dumb and when she knows that she is in danger, she doesn’t blindly plough on; she stops and asks for help or just stays within reach of someone who can help her, which I didn’t see as weak for a second, because she can hold her own.

Jane is also exceptionally funny, I think we can safely say that she is borderline certifiably insane. This is understandable once again from the past; she talks to herself, not out loud, but in her head and the conversations are absolutely hilarious. Her virtue and her libido are constantly quarrelling over what she does with Ryu, old weak Jane pipes up every now and again when new strong, alive Jane moves in for her time to shine, down-to-earth Jane sighs irritably when girly vain Jane pops her head out to drool at some pretty shoes.

I also loved Ryu; he is someone that personally I wouldn’t go for, why? He’s short. Taller than Jane but only five foot nine, and I loved it, he was definitely very good looking, but the fact that he wasn’t some six foot six hulking, brick out house of a man made him that much more real, because he too was unique.

I loved the style of Tempest Rising as well, the sex was there, and was detailed every once in a while, but it wasn’t constantly being thrown in our faces and many a time was glossed over with only some very provocative insinuation. The characters were just about flawless in their reality, in their actions and in their words. The relationship between Jane and Ryu was again, so real. They weren’t professing their love for one another, and Jane freely admitted she was in lust, and considering Ryu’s profession and the fact that he lived in Boston didn’t expect anything more than a fling.

The smattering of such different characters was absolutely intriguing, we didn’t just have standard Vampires, Were-wolves and shape shifters, we had goblins, gnomes, kelpies, fire elementals and elves that would probably kill you for calling them elves. The mythology and folk lore packed into this tale was absolutely stunning and seamlessly put together.

Peelers writing was real, and it’s what kept me going back for more and the detail was subtle and just enough to keep it colourful and still quickly paced.

I absolutely can’t wait for the next Jane True novel, Tracking the Tempest, and if you didn’t know it, you would never ever pick Tempest Rising as a debut novel, it was that good.

Also in this series:
Tracking the Tempest
Tempest's Legacy
Eye of the Tempest
Tempest's Fury