Tempestuous by Kim Askew, Amy Helmes

Tempestuous (Twisted Lit)

by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes

After a mistake with big financial consequences topples her throne, former "it girl" Miranda Prospero is bitter: she finds herself stranded in a crazed new world, holding court among geeks and misfits at a mall Hot Dog Kabob stand. Then, she gets her chance for revenge. When the storm of the decade snows in the mall workers and last-minute shopaholics for a long winter's night, Miranda sets out to get back at the catty clique who was behind her exile. But there's a complication. She somehow gets handcuffed to sullen loner Caleb. With him (literally) bound to her side, Miranda learns more in one night about her own heart, and human nature, than she ever did as prep royalty. With this twisted take on Shakespeare's The Tempest, authors Kim Askew and Amy Helmes prove again that, from Juliet's grief to Cordelia's rage, no one knew about teen angst better than the Bard. His wisdom holds up nearly half a millennium later.

Reviewed by Raven on

5 of 5 stars

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Thank you Netgalley for providing my advance copy.

After being roped into the greatest cheating scandal her prep school had ever seen, Miranda is forced to take a job at Hot-Dog Kabob in the mall as a way to repay her "debt to society" for her involvement. Banished and ridiculed, unfairly, by her classmates, Miranda struggles to maintain her dignity in her low-wage, highly embarrassing job. When the biggest snow storm of the season traps the mall workers and last-minute shoppers in the mall overnight, Miranda decides to use her charm and cleverness to get back at her former best friends, the ones who had shoved the blame of the scandal on her shoulders. With the help over her over-zealous coworker, Ariel, and the cute loner, Caleb, from the video game store, she gets her revenge and discovers a lot about herself in the process.

This was super cute. I should let it be known that I haven't read The Tempest since I was about nine and I honestly don't remember it at all. Not being familiar with the original tale, will not hurt this story for you. I wasn't able to see how many nods there might have been to the original story, but it didn't feel lacking to me at all.

Miranda is a great character. She is a great planner, and people seem to rely on her to solve their problems. She does get sick of being everyone's go-to girl for their problems, but at the same time, she relishes the attention. It was great to watch her realize who her real friends were, and get over her anger as the night went on. Caleb is a great male lead. He is sullen and cynical and just makes for a great companion to Miranda. They are so ridiculously perfect for one another that it just makes their interactions that much better to watch. Ariel is the cutest friend. She is not one to be underestimated either. The characters were really good, and they had a lot of fun throughout the night. It made for great entertainment.

The plot was cute and simple. It had underlying things that needed handled, but a lot of the book felt really random. In any other story, that wouldn't work, but it totally worked here. It was a lot of fun to see their adventures through the night play out. The one thing that was a recurring issue in the book that wasn't mentioned in the summary is that there is a shop-lifter locked into the mall with them. They spend the night getting increasingly more worried about it until they realize who it is. The danger element was there, but it was done in a way to not be a killjoy. This book wasn't meant to be a mystery, so it turning into one would've been really unsettling.

This story was short, easy to read, and hard not to love. This is definitely a series that I plan to keep my eye on. I can't wait till this one is released so I can buy it for my book shelf. I recommend it to everyone.

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  • Started reading
  • 22 October, 2012: Finished reading
  • 22 October, 2012: Reviewed