Review: Tempestuous

Tempestuous

by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes

Twisted Lit series, book one

 

Publication date: Dec. 18, 2012

 

Book Description:

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.

 



Review: This is the fun start of a series with an interesting theme.  The authors plan to revamp different classic tales and put out modern versions.  This first book, based on Shakespeare's The Tempest, was a fun ride.  Though some things have been changed from the original version and most of the characters have different names, there are definite pieces from the original that can still be found in this version.

This story takes place from Miranda's point of view, and Prospero (or here, her father) is not involved in the story at all.  Miranda has fallen from grace, falsely accused of being the ringleader of a massive school-wide cheating ring.  Now, to make reparations, Miranda must work in a disgusting fast food job at the mall.  On the positive side, Miranda's made some great new friends, including her new bestie, Ariel. 

When she and most of the other mall workers get snowed in at the mall during a freak blizzard, Miranda suddenly has a lot of problems to tackle! Ariel's surprise birthday party must be reimagined, her skeezy ex-boyfriend and her old frenemies are also locked in the mall causing trouble, someone is robbing the high end mall stores, and worst of all, she finds herself handcuffed to a boy that is so not her type.

With some *very* creative problem solving that had me laughing throughout, it was very fun to follow Miranda's wild and crazy night.  I liked the elements of romance that pervaded the story and I liked that those who needed a comeupance got it in one way or another...

There were some times that the characters sounded a little like they were in the wrong time period...like the authors had tried to use vintage dialogue from The Tempest and it didn't quite work, but aside from that, I thought this was a very fun update.  I'm looking forward to reading the next book in the series, Exposure.