I'll admit it. I bought this book because of the cover. It's such a beautiful mix of tattoo art & Lisa Frank, it just popped out at me from the bookshelves. And I have to admit, it's every bit as good as I'd hoped it would be. 
 `Tempest Rising' starts out with Jane True deciding about her dinner and thinking about her life in the small town of Rockabill. Later she'll take a swim amongst the humongous whirlpools, only to discover a dead body of a tourist visiting her town. It's shortly after this that Jane begins to realize two things. One is that she isn't all that human & the other is that the body wasn't a suicide or thrown in by accident. 
 This book was so much better than I thought it would be. The character of Jane is incredibly well written & to be honest, I could relate to her far better than I could to other UF women. She's incredibly realistic (minus all the supernatural elements of course) & she doesn't put on airs. Also, her reactions to many of the things in the book are believable. Peeler does a fine job of writing a woman who suddenly discovers her true heritage & that the supernatural does exist. 
 I also have to give Peeler kudos on her portrayals of many of the supernatural characters. She has vamps, goblins & such, but they aren't the "vampy vamp vamp" that so many other authors make into. Peeler goes more into the mythos & makes her supe characters into something more than just the typical fodder & cliches that tend to abound in UF nowadays. It's incredibly refreshing. 
 It's also refreshing to see that the character of Jane doesn't take on astounding powers, nor does she immediately sacrifice all of her mental powers when the love interest of Ryu is introduced. She is enticed by him, but she doesn't spend all of the book thinking about how hot he is or spend time with needless rehashing of his looks. Again, it's a refreshing chance of pace. There's the potential for Jane to gain huge powers in future books, but it's nice that she doesn't start off being some automatic butt kicker. 
 The story is also well written. There's *just* the right amount of information given to tease us until the big reveals are shown & I find it a good touch that Peeler makes the seemingly mundane world of Rockabill just as interesting as the court of the supernaturals. At times this book did sort of have a "teen UF" feel to it, but that may have been because the cover reminded me so heavily of Lisa Frank. 
 Long story short, this book rocked. Hard. I'll definitely purchase the next book when it comes out & will be waiting with baited breath. I just wish I didn't have to wait until next year to get the next one...