Review: Tempest by Julie Cross

 Today Jackson and Holly 
are in love

Tomorrow she will lie dying
in his arms

Yesterday Jackson must 
undo it all

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 an interesting take on an old theme. Time travel and romance. Jackson has a secret but it seems that more people know about it than he realized. His jumps to the past are harmless fun and a great source of data for his geek friend Adam who is helping him develop his new talent. But he becomes the hunted and his girlfriend is shot when the Enemies of Time try to recruit him. There is nonstop action and plenty of danger as Jackson desperately tries to change Holly's fate and possibly his own.

I enjoyed the book and the suspense kept me turning the pages. As secrets of the past are revealed more complexities are slowly unveiled. I enjoyed the storyline and this take on time travel. I liked most of the characters, especially the quirky ones. The teenagers were usually believable as teens and age appropriate. They were quite self absorbed in the beginning but the more obstacles they faced the more they changed and matured.

It may be because I'm older and not a teen but there were details that bothered me. I don't want to give anything away so I won't list many specifics. I found some of the actions to be odd and not so believable. These kids have had their lives threatened but security often leaves them alone. Do they really need to go for a walk when their enemy can literally pop up at any time? And later in the story the time travel became confusing because it branched out in so many directions. The loose threads do set up the storyline for the rest of the trilogy though. I am curious to see how they untangle and I look forward to the next book coming in 2013. Overall I found it to be a good start to the series and an easy read by the fireplace.

First in the Tempest trilogy
Bonus short story Tomorrow is Today
www.facebook.com/TempestSeries
www.juliecross.blogspot.com


Thank you to LibraryThing Early Reviewers for an ARC to review.


Publisher: St. Martin's Griffn
Release date: 1/17/12
Pages: 352
Price/format: $17.99/hardcover
Type: YA fantasy