In 9 hours, my childhood ends.

Some people are going to roll their eyes and scoff at this post. I feel sorry for the ones that do because they are clearly missing out on something truly amazing.

In less than 12 hours, my childhood will officially be over. Sure, I'm almost 17 so many would say it's been over for a long time but in 12 hours, the series that I grew up with, the series that got me through so many things, will end. Forever. No more books. No more movies. Yes, there's Pottermore but that's not the same.

Almost all of the characters I've loved for the past ten years will die. The rest will end their adventures I've followed so slowly.

Harry Potter has been a huge part of my life since the time I was in kindergarten. I was 6 years old and had 2 best friends. My one friend introduced the other two of us to Harry Potter. Every recess throughout the entire year we'd run around yelling random spells, using sticks as our wands. I was always Ron because my one friend refused to be a guy. I still remember how much trouble the two of us had pronouncing names like "Dumbledore" and "Hermione". Our school teachers even began referring to us as "The Trio".

I bought the first 3 books because my cousin from Florida said they were cool and I wanted to be just like him. It took me a while but once I got into them, I devoured them. Again. And again.I threw Order of the Phoenix at the wall and bawled when Sirius died. I wrote Remus and Tonks fanfiction as I waited for years as I waited for the final book to release. I forced my mom to take me to Kmart at midnight to buy the last book and put up with cranky salesclerks going "Harry Potter is so stupid" and "I'd never let my kid watch it!"

When I was 7, my cousin came over to spend the night. She was a few years older than me and therefore, everything she did was cool. She brought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, on VHS (yeah, that long ago), and put it in. I remember being captivated to stay up, even after she fell asleep, and periodically waking her up to go "Is this part scary?! I'm scared!" until she finally gave up and shut it off for the night.

I've watched Prisoner of Azkaban, my all-time favorite movie, so many times that I can recite the lines. My friends and I, the original three of us, have attempted to watch all of them in a row more times than I can count. I saw Deathly Hallows Part 1 in the theaters multiple times, something I've never done for any other movie.

At one point, my life was covered in pictures of the cast. I ran a (very bad) fansite. I wrote fanfiction. I read fanfiction. I had dreams about the characters.

And now, in just 9 mere hours, it's all over. Sure, I can reread the books, watch the movies again, but it's never going to be the same.

All of those years, my childhood, it's officially ending.

And I'm not really sure how I feel about it.

Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs

Title: Tempest Rising

Author: Tracy Deebs

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Summary:

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.

My Thoughts:

Tempest Rising is a fantastic and original addition to the paranormal market. Deebs created a world and story that is believable and magical at the same time.

I was expecting a semi-cliche mermaid romance but Tempest Rising is far from that. It was nice to read about a character that KNOWS about mermaids, rather than spending half of a novel waiting for her to figure it out. Because of that, more of the novel was spent on developing the world and I loved that. The setting was easily my favorite thing about the novel. Deebs did so well at describing everything clearly without overdescribing and I really felt transported into the world.

I also loved that there was a love triangle where both of the guys were decent. There was no tall, dark, and broody boy in this story, which was a nice change. The romance doesn't overtake the story but it adds nicely to it.

Deebs took this story to places that I did not expect it to go. There were a few moments where I went "No, that won't actually be real" but then it WAS. I love when novels surprise me like that!

Overall, I really enjoyed Tempest Rising and I highly recommend it. I am hoping for a sequel sometime soon!