{Review} Tempest by Julie Cross

Tempest by Julie Cross
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

GENRE: Future, Adventure, Romance
THEME: Time Travel
RECEIVED: For Review from St. Martins Griffin
AUTHORS BLOG: Julie Cross' Site


BLURB:

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.

REVIEW:
This was not only rare for me but it was such a breath of fresh air to read. It’s been a long time since I read and enjoyed a novel where the protagonist is male. Not only were the lead characters compelling but the time travel story line was so wonderfully original and exciting.

Tempest follows Jackson, a nineteen-year-old boy in 2009 who carries the unique ability to jump back in time. But he can only go as far as about thirty minutes and he has his best friend Adam, who helps him keep track of his travel.  Jackson is trying to figure out how he can jump back in time and if he can even go to the future. But something horrible happens when waking up one morning with his girlfriend Holly; mysterious people come barging in and shoot her while Jackson is detracted. In a moment of panic Jackson jumps back in time only to go back to 2007. The major problem is he can’t jump back to 2009 and now his only way of fixing the future is starting in the past.

Jackson is your average college boy except for the fact he can jump back in time. He’s had a tough upbringing with no mother, an absent father and the loss of his younger sister. I loved how Jackson’s family was a major focus in the novel, there were so many heart pulling moments with his sister that I got teary eyed a couple of times.  Jackson father really grew on me as his story unraveled and his past in raising two children alone was not a planned. The time travel ability is not just in Jackson but many others who want to do more harm than good with the future.

Holly was such a fun and very understanding girl. A lot happens where she has to take in the fact of what Jackson can do and what danger his in. I liked her in 2007 and how she was just a nervous 17 year old girl with a crush, while in 2009 she was more up front and bold. It was almost like watching each character grown up as the reader follows Jackson jumping even farther back in time.

Overall this story is about family, love conquering all and one boy determined to make things right. Jackson has to face a lot of his past fears, see what the future dangerous are that are lurking and fight an enemy that can travel faster than he can.  The ending was killer for me but I understand what needed to be done, I thought it was the right thing to do. I’m interested to see what happens next with Jackson, especially with his new knowledge of time travel.


RECOMMENDATION:
This is a young adult novel with never ending action! Fans of writers Veronica Roth of Divergent and James Dashner of Maze Runner will love Tempest by Julie Cross.

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