Tempest by Julie Cross

Title: Tempest [Goodreads][Amazon]
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: January 17, 2012
Grade: B
Final Thought: Interesting take on time travel that kept me intrigued.

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.

The cover caught my attention. The premise is what drew me in. Add that fact that it was told from a male’s POV, I had to check it out. I find it’s often difficult to write a good time-traveling book since the issue can be a bit confusing, story lines have to be kept severely in check, and you have to figure out what rules you want to play by. Cross does her own take on time-travel, effectively takes all that we know about it and adds her own little twists. The whole plot was different and intriguing.

At first, it took me a good halfway through before I became engrossed in the book. The beginning didn’t help much with figuring out the origins of Jackson’s ability, which I understand, but there were just so many questions, twists and turns, and frustrating moments that I think Cross could’ve saved us from. I understand the author trying to build up to the “big reveal”, but I felt like she could’ve done it sooner. There were a couple times I was wondering where this was actually going.

Eventually, though, things started falling into place, making more sense, and SOME questions were answered. It wasn’t until Jackson’s enemies really came looking for him and both sides of this crazy war butted heads that really caught my attention. There’s a moment where it’s so crazy and such a whirlwind, you really don’t know who is good or evil or what’s going to happen. I do love the idea of jumping through time, catching glimpses of the past, and seeing what changes, if anything. The past holds a very important piece of Jackson’s history that he holds dear to his heart.

Jackson and Holly relationship is a cute one, and though not an epic love story, it still plays a pivotal role and you’ll definitely root for them. I loved learning about their past, how they met and fell in love, and about the kinds of people they were before they met.

Overall, it wasn’t the page-turner I originally thought it would be, but still a decent read. I’ll be sure to grab the sequel and see where Cross takes this.