Mini Review: Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs

Tempest Rising 

by Tracy Deebs
Synopsis from Goodreads:

Tempest Maguire wants nothing more than to surf the killer waves near her California home; continue her steady relationship with her boyfriend, Mark; and take care of her brothers and surfer dad. But Tempest is half mermaid, and as her seventeenth birthday approaches, she will have to decide whether to remain on land or give herself to the ocean like her mother. The pull of the water becomes as insistent as her attraction to Kai, a gorgeous surfer whose uncanny abilities hint at an otherworldly identity as well. And when Tempest does finally give in to the water's temptation and enters a fantastical underwater world, she finds that a larger destiny awaits her-and that the entire ocean's future hangs in the balance. 

First of all, I love the tattoo! So beautiful and intricate.
For some reason, this book reminded me of the movie Barbie: A Mermaid's Tale (yes, I'm a grown woman and I still watch Barbie) - blonde/surfer/half-mermaid heroine, the mother was the mermaid who left their family, there was a sea witch out to get her. But I think that's where the similarities end.
I don't really read that much mermaid stories nor anything connected with the sea. The ocean stories never really called out to me. I'm more drawn to stories that are based on land. Maybe because I think that these stories and the people in them are more accessible, that could be grasped better. The ocean was, and still is, so mysterious that until now we often wonder what sort of things live in its depths.
I liked Tempest Rising. At first, I thought the title meant that a tempest, a storm is rising. Turns out its the name of the heroine which came from a prophecy made about her. Oops. I mentioned the prophecy. Did I say too much? Well, I haven't jot down the entire plot which I often tend to do when I'm talking about a certain book.
Of course, the story revolved around a half-human/half-mermaid and her struggles to choose between worlds and of who she really is. Is it always this way for half-human/half-mermaid stories? Finding one's identity? Yet I do realize that in the real world, we are always searching for ourselves and for our place to be. The only difference with Tempest's story is that hers is just more magical and fraught with more complications that I could probably handle. Although, getting a hot, gorgeous guy in the process is a huge bonus.