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Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy:
www.allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.com

I had mixed feelings throughout this book, but not because of the characters or the writing. Simply put, this is a dark book for the Jane True series, with difficult subjects and situations. Therefore, it evoked a mixed bag of emotional reactions. I still laughed at Jane, admired her relationship sense, and enjoyed her developing powers, but I already hated Jarl so much before this book even began, reading this installment in the series was difficult. Fans of Jane will not be disappointed, and Peeler doesn't toy with our emotions when it comes to love triangles or super-villains, but I don't think I'm going to be unequivocally happy with the series until I read a book with Jarl's blood on the pages.

TEMPEST’S LEGACY opens a month after Jane and Ryu’s break-up. Very few relationships end with a clean break and unblurred margins, and Jane and Ryu’s is realistic in the most painful sense. The doubts, emotions, and make-up/break-up cycles are familiar parts of a relationships ending (or just taking “a break,” which brings the emotional rollercoaster back to “doubts”). I never felt like Peeler crossed the line to melodrama, but she writes very realistically about a painful subject, and succeeded in bringing my own emotions to the foreground.

Jane’s attraction to Anyan was another well-written, tense subject, and I have to say Peeler writes the best uncertain crush I’ve read in a long, long time. Jane is never sure of the nature of Anyan’s affection (and seeing as how the man prefers to hang out around Jane as a hellhound, I think her confusion is reasonable). The chemistry and uncertainty with Anyan kept me going through the dark parts of the book, just as Anyan himself supports Jane.

By “dark parts,” I’m not referring to Jane’s break up with Ryu. Jane’s ability to navigate relationships, while not without slip ups, is a pleasure to read. While I don’t want to offer any spoilers, this book contains genuine grief, loss, and despicable cruelty. Even writing about it euphemistically gets my teeth clenching and heart rate up. Seriously, Jarl needs to die. Slowly. All of the over the top wonderful aspects of this book were necessary to carry me past how much I loath Jarl and am completely impatient for his messy demise.

The further I read into the Jane True series, the more impressed I am by Peeler’s deft writing and emotionally savvy plot lines. She has created a world that I would like to live in (despite the despicable Alfar), and a cast of characters I would love to be friends with. Finishing this book would have been easier if I could have rush right into EYE OF THE TEMPEST, but Jane and her friends have given me enough to hang on to until August.

Sexual Content: Explicit sex, threats of rape, descriptions of rape.