Review: Tempest by Julie Cross

Title: Tempest
Author: Julie Cross
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Pub. Date: January 17, 2012
Format: Paperback (ARC)
Source: Publisher

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

I’ve never been crazy about books based on time-travel, so Tempest completely took me by surprise. I was intrigued by the book, solely based on the cover. While the premise didn’t entirely thrill me, I got the sense that this book had something in store for me, and that little instinct is what made me request a review copy.

Tempest is written from the male protagonists POV, which is not something that I am used to. It honestly took me a while to get used to it, but once Jackson found his voice and his love for Holly started to shine through, I really got into the story. I think the reason that I prefer female POV is because, as a woman, I am better able to relate. Surprisingly, it was amazingly easy to connect with Jackson and it didn’t take long before I found myself rooting for him.

The relationship between Jackson and Holly was so sweet it could give a reader cavities. I thoroughly liked both characters and enjoyed the character growth that they both experienced throughout the book. It was interesting to be able to see Holly and several other characters during different years, at different times of their lives. It added this whole interesting dynamic to the story, and I thought that Julie Cross did an amazing job of switching time periods without making it confusing.

There was a great secondary cast as well. Adam was a lot of fun, and I really came to like Jackson’s father. There were several characters that I was intrigued by and I wanted to learn more about them, but never got the opportunity. I hope to see more of these characters throughout the trilogy.

I wanted to read this book for the obvious romance (and there was plenty), but the plot really drew me in until I eventually couldn’t put the book down. The action starts fairly early on in the book and then the pacing slows towards the middle, but the appeal never stops. Actually, this is one of my favourite parts of the book. There wasn’t a whole lot of action, but truths and plots twists are revealed and a whole new level of suspense is reached.

The pace picks up again near the end and the action is on. I was so torn, trying to decide who the bad guys and the good guys were, and where Jackson fit in. Despite everything that had been revealed, I had so many questions. That is one thing that I really enjoyed about Tempest, is that I never knew which way the story would take us. And it was surprisingly emotional, particularly when dealing with Courtney.

The ending was like a sucker-punch to the gut. Naturally, any book that is part of a trilogy is not going to have a nice, clean, happy ending. But Tempest ends off on a complete cliff-hanger, and a shocking one at that. Anyone who is expecting a HEA best wait until the trilogy is published. I am not at all excited about having to wait to find out how Jackson’s story ends.

Overall, Tempest takes readers on a thrill ride full of exciting twists and leaves you wanting more. It is superbly written and really draws you to the characters and the relationships. The concept of time-travel is uniquely woven together, and leaves the reader with several questions begging to be answered. I for one can’t wait to pick up the second book in this trilogy and see where the author takes this story.