Review - Tempest (Tempest #1) by Julie Cross

Title: Tempest

Author: Julie Cross

Series: 1st

Pages: 339

Published: January 17th 2012 by St. Martin's Griffin

ISBN: 9780312568894

Source: Publisher via Netgalley 

 

Description: 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. 

I Give This ...

 

This book was definitely an interesting read for me.  It's always a change of pace when there are elements of the story that work, and then others that don't.  In the end, I decided to let it go and just enjoy it.

I think what kept this story going for me was the simple fact that I liked Jackson.  He enjoyed the fact that he's a rich kid, but does everything to contradict that stereotype.  I found it interesting that hid his ability to time travel from his father.  I wondered if the events hadn't unfolded the way they did if he would have every told him.  I loved that he is so loyal to his friends that when he's transported back to 2007, he purposely seeks them out.  He knows that he's going to need them now more than ever.

 For the most part, I enjoyed the time travel storyline.  I thought it was interesting that he could only do little jumps at first.  I also found it intriguing that he couldn't change an events and that any people he had contact with would not remember it in the future.  I was also intrigued when he seemed to change "permanent" time periods.  But, honestly the story lost me when they tried to explain what all that meant.  I couldn't determine if it was a parallel universe or timeline or what.   I didn't understand what the government really wanted with Jackson or what the "bad" guys wanted.  But, I found that I could just overlook all that.  I think I was over thinking it and the more I did, the more holes I could poke in the idea.  

I ended up just letting my misgivings go.  In the end, I really just enjoyed the story and the idea of time travel.  I liked the idea of being stuck in a time you've already lived.  I'm sure I will read the next one!