Review: Tempest by Julie Cross

     

Title: Tempest
Author: Julie Cross

Series: Tempest #1
Pages: 432

Publisher: Macmillan
Release Date: January 5th 2012
Source: For Review
Rating: 4.5 stars

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 was action packed from start to finish. It was wonderfully written, from a guy's POV and had a nineteen year old protagonist. What is not to love?

The story jumps right in, with Holly being shot in the first 5 chapters. Adam travels back to 2007, trying to figure out what happened to Holly and who shot her. There was so much mystery and suspicion that I didn't know who to trust. I felt like I was guessing with Adam and subsequently felt very connected with him.

I give Julie Cross major brownie points for writing a male perspective so convincingly. Whilst he was sweet and sensitive, he was still masculine and boyish. He was extremely likeable and has now been added to the list of 'sexy book boys I wish were real'. This being said he still had flaws which I love about characters. He definitely had the essence of a 19 year old boy.

Holly was lovely too. She was sweet and kind and through the time travel aspect we were able to find out a lot more about Holly. I felt like I was discovering things about Holly just as Adam was. Her relationship with Adam was so real. They had their tough moments but they just worked.

I learnt a lot about time travel. There was a lot of science about whether it was possible and how it was possible. It was a little heavy at some points and took a lot of concentration to understand how it all worked but it really added an extra dimension to the story.

The mystery and suspense of the story was written superbly. I was led in multiple different dictions and I loved not knowing who to trust. It made me keep reading to find out who was responsible.

Overall, Tempest is a great debut novel and a wonderful start to the series. I can't wait to read the next one!