Review ~ Tempest ~ Julie Cross



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Title:~ Tempest
Author:~ Julie Cross
Published:~ January 2012

The year is 2009.  Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.
But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveller.  Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

First Line:~ My name is Jackson and I can travel through time.

Last Line:~ I have no regrets.

Favourite Quote:~ And I could see it, a clear picture in my mind: her knuckles white, fingers gripping around a rock, and then the instant relief of letting go. Free falling, feeling nothing but air, no weight. No pain.

WOW! What to say about this book!?! I was so torn about how I felt! I loved how the book started, it got right to the point about who our main guy Jackson, was and the fact that he could time-travel. And with this time-travel comes a relative fast-pace story that could leave some readers feeling confused. I was glad of the journal entries Jackson made as I was able to keep up with what year he was in and what date he was on. But for me there were still some unanswered questions about his time-travelling.

I think it's not until the end of the story that you actually appreciate this book! Cross is able to slowly build a world in the readers mind giving them just enough information to keep them reading to find out what happens next. As Jackson's past unravels I was reading faster and faster to see what he would find out next about himself and his father's secret life.

I loved Jackson as a character, I found him easy to relate to and easy to care for. As the story concentrates mostly on Jackson some of the secondary characters are not as well developed but I think this will come over the next book. I did like Adam, Jackson's friend and time-travelling theorist and Holly, Jackson's girlfriend was like able. I warmed more and more to Jackson's dad and I hope to read more about him.

Although the book is fast-paced because of the time travelling, sometimes I was wanting more to happen and boy did I get it with the last 90 pages or so. This is where the story really picked up and I can't believe how Cross left the story!!! Who is that little red head? Where did she come from? Who are the goodies and who are the baddies? What is going to happen? Will Jackson make the right choice? This last part of the story were some of the best page I've read and part of me wishes the whole book had me as gripped as much as those 90 pages did!

3.5 out of 5 stars because Cross knows how to build a story in a readers mind giving them enough to just keep them hanging on. And if you can get your mind around the time travelling this book is worth the read. I think this is a series that's only going to get better!!