Recent Reads - Tempest by Julie Cross

Tempest (Tempest #1), Julie Cross

  4.5 of 5 Stars

Age Group/Genre: Young Adult, SciFi

Pages: 352

Publication: 1/17/2012, St. Martin's Griffin

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Why I Chose It: I received an Advanced Reader's Copy (ARC) from the publisher in exchange for a thoughtful and honest review.

Synopsis from Goodreads:   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-traveler.  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.

My Review:  I am completely in love with this series, not only because the first book Tempest was an action-packed thrill ride, but because the potential for this series is mind-blowing. Oh the things Julie Cross could do.

Moving right along--I will tell you that I'm a sucker for a novel written from a male perspective and Jackson Meyer did not disappoint. His voice grabbed me immediately and I loved the fact that he was a little older than the traditional YA male. He's a jerk sometimes, but he's a guy. It only lends to the authenticity of his character. If he was perfect all the time, I probably wouldn't have loved him nearly as much. As you should all know by now, I like my heroes flawed.

I also enjoyed the fact that there are some kick-ass adult roles in this novel, like Jackson's dad, Chief Marshall, and the super powerful "villains" known as the Enemies of Time or EOTs. I put villains in quotation marks because while they are responsible for a lot of the bad things that happen in this novel, it is unclear if they are truly the bad guys. I don't want to say too much because I don't want to be spoilery. If you want to know, read the book. Which I recommend you all do.

I know a lot of people have been saying that it's too hard to follow, there are too many time travel discrepancies, etc. Here's the thing though, I didn't find this to be the case. If it didn't make sense I figured it was either simply the unknown nature of time travel or because I wasn't meant to understand it yet. This is a series. Not a standalone. There are going to be questions left unanswered. I'm okay with that because this novel has an ENDING. OMG, I cannot tell you how refreshing that is. I was left wanting more but not completely at a loss.

I think in the end whether you love or hate this novel (and there will inevitably be many on either side) will come down to whether or not you felt it necessary to over-analyze it. I however, chose simply to enjoy it.

I'm definitely recommending this one to my readers. Tempest is a clever, twisty, fast-paced science fiction debut that is at its heart a love story. No triangles here. No instalove or unrequited feelings. Just a love torn apart by a tragic moment and Jackson's desperate attempt to make things right.

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Tempest is also available as an audiobook from Macmillan Audio and they've been kind enough to offer a free preview:

From Publisher - Tempest webclip - eSnips

Like what you hear? Buy it from Amazon or Macmillan Audio.

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