Tempestuous by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes

3 out of 5 stars, Thanks NetGalley!

“Recently banished, unfairly, by the school’s popular crowd, former “it girl,” Miranda Prospero, finds herself in a brave new world: holding dominion amongst a rag-tag crew of geeks and misfits where she works at the Hot-Dog Kabob in the food court of her local mall. When the worst winter storm of the season causes mall workers and last-minute shoppers to be snowed-in for the night, Miranda seizes the opportunity to get revenge against the catty clique behind her social exile. With help from her delightfully dweeby coworker, Ariel, and a sullen loner named Caleb who works at the mall’s nearby gaming and magic shop, Miranda uses charm and trickery to set things to right during this spirited take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest.”—Goodreads.com

Tempestuous: A Modern Day Spin on Shakespeare’s The Tempest by Kim Askew and Amy Helmes is the first book in this duo’s book series Twisted Lit. In my years of schooling, specifically my college years, I have encountered Mr. Shakespeare on numerous occasions. Even when we are not looking, references or even similarities of his work jump up at us in other works of literature. It never gets old to read the line “Something wicked this way comes…” no matter how many stories incorporate it. Twisted Lit is not the answer to all the teenagers in the world assigned a Shakespearean play. It is not your No Fear Shakespeare, that’s for sure; however, Twisted Lit is fun! There are similarities with the plays and also the undercurrent themes are still there, just not as visible as you might think. Askew and Helmes have been able to interweave the themes in Shakespeare’s plays with the ever so melodramatic happenings of teenagers.

I am not going to sit here and bash the two authors for not keeping everything the same, what for? Nowhere did I get the impression that they were trying to do a real life remake of the plays. I do have to say that when I was reading this book I had the same giddiness as watching movies like Mall Rats or any 80s movie that had a group of teenagers with no parental units around that could do whatever they wanted for the night or weekend. It was a fun quick read with hilarious moments, delivered by Ariel a lot of the times. I have to say that The Tempest is not my favorite play, only the Wishbone version, really; however, this version was pretty cool and surprisingly fun. I suggest following Miranda and her band of misfits in this hilarious first book in the Twisted Lit Series.