Review: Tempest by Julie Cross

Book: Tempest by Julie Cross
Series: Tempest Trilogy #1 
Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy
Buy A Copy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository
Available Formats: Ebook / Hardcover
Publication Date: January 17th, 2012
First Sentence:  "How far back should I go?"
How Did I Get This Book:  From Publisher, For Review
Edition Review: ARC
Description: 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.

Tempest by Julie Cross is the story of Jackson, a 19 year old guy who just happens to have the ability to time travel. It's definitely an exciting story that keeps you on your toes.

I was a bit worried I would have a difficult time keeping everything straight with all the time traveling. You see, there are all of these different rules and loopholes about time traveling that make it kind of an intimidating setup. Sometimes when Jackson travels back to the past it’s almost like a memory – he doesn’t really change the outcome. He can alter the past while he is in it, but it doesn’t change the future. But sometimes, once he starts getting the hang of time traveling he really can change things around. This means when he has interactions with people during a time jump, they sometimes remember it and they sometimes don’t - but Jackson always does. Am I confusing you yet? Honestly, I was intimidated by the whole thing, but it’s not hard to keep track us. Cross does a great job establishing the parameters of each time jump as well as the outcomes. I can see how it could get confusing when reading the next book, simply because everything won’t be fresh in your mind. I can just picture myself thinking, “does this person know that? I remember it happening, but did it still happen?” 

Now I loved the concept of Tempest and I loved most of the plot. My main issue with the storyline is that we don’t really get a concrete vision of Holly and Jackson. Yes, their relationship takes center stage in the story, and we do see them together a lot, but it’s with all of these different versions of Holly. Let me explain – we’re back to the whole time travel thing. There are two main Holly’s in the book; 007 Holly and 009 Holly (Holly from 2007 and Holly from 2009). When the story begins, Holly and Jackson are living in 2009 and if I remember correctly met earlier that year. Well after some time travel gone haywire, Jackson gets stuck in 2007. He seeks out 007 Holly, but she obviously doesn’t remember him, because she hasn’t met him yet.  So we’re got these two different versions of Holly, which mean, really we have two different relationships. So as a reader, it’s hard to come to grips with what their relationship actually is and how they are together.  I know that I liked them well enough, but with two different Holly’s it really throws a monkey wrench in things.  Honestly, I don’t know what I would have preferred happen. I did like the both Hollys and I liked Jackson with both of the Hollys. It was just hard to separate the Hollys from one another. I guess it would be different in 2009 Holly remembered 2007 Holly and Jackson, but she doesn’t.  And there I go confusing you again. 

Now, let’s talk about my favorite aspect of Tempest. There is this whole mystery/espionage thing incorporated into the story and let me just tell you – it is awesome.  Jackson not only has to try and figure out how to control thing time traveling ability, he also has to unravel this mystery surrounding his life and the people around it. As the story progresses, he uncovers more and more secrets that make him question who he can really trust. Honestly, it’s incredibly exciting. There is another surprise around every corner and believe me; it all makes the mind reel.

I’m going to be straight with you guys, Tempest was awesome. It’s absolutely brimming with adventure, mystery and excitement. What am I looking forward to the most about the next book? Courtney. I caught that foreshadowing, Julie Cross.  So bring it. Seriously everyone, you won’t be disappointed, go find yourself a copy right now!

Favorite Quotes

Bad. Very Bad. Absolute wrong thing to say. I cringed, waiting for her to shout or grab another shoe to launch in my direction. 

"I don't mind hearing your secrets, even if they're sad."

Maybe it wasn't good and evil, but a whole bunch of gray area. 

Her scream was deafening and I went into machine mode as I jumped. Not through time, but an actual jump. Off the roof. 

I squeezed my arms around her so tight, I don't know how she kept breathing.

"I'm trying not to think about what we just saw, but I have a feeling therapy is in my near future."