ARC Review: Tempest

Title: Tempest
Author: Julie Cross
Genre: YA Fantasy/Sci-Fi
Release Date: January 17, 2012


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. --Goodreads


Tempest had been on my TBR list since the first day I heard about it… and that had been quite some time ago. So, when I received my copy--won through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers-- I was completely ecstatic and dove right into reading it the day it arrived in the mail.


Something felt just a little off, though. It wasn’t disappointing in the slightest, and I really enjoyed reading this action-packed romantic adventure. But… still, something felt… off. It took me awhile to figure it out, and I finally did. I had a bit of a struggle to keep focused and I kept putting the book down. No matter how much I enjoyed, I still always found myself laying it down after reading a couple chapters and going to something else. It wasn’t boring in the least. There was just a lot going on and information that I felt I had to absorb before I could just keep reading in my normal style. What I liked most particularly was the unique trait--time jumpers. I’ve heard of these abilities before with characters, but Julie Cross made this her own and it felt like it could be realistic. Especially when throwing a science geek into the mix who had his theories. I also really liked the male perspective and hero. This isn’t found as often in YA, and in my personal experiences, haven’t been done too well whenever they are or a connection isn’t found for me. But in the case of Jackson, I liked him. His character was driven and charming. You wouldn’t even know the author was female writing the male character. She did a fantastic job creating his personality and made him come alive from the pages.


I liked both Hollys in different ways. I’m not going to say much on that statement because you should read it for yourself. As you are aware from the blurb, his girlfriend of present (Holly) gets “hurt” and he jumps back in time. There’s an entirely different, younger Holly there to say the least that he meets up with… but I enjoyed that character in a different way for other reasons as well. Cross was great at integrating everything, past and present, and the visualizations for me were easy to come by.


So, rumor has it that Tempest is already in production to be a movie, or about to be? If true, then good. After finishing, I saw this easily becoming the “next big Hollywood film”. Not just for the audience, but for the action, adventure, and romance. This will intrigue both genders of all ages, I’m sure of it. I can’t wait to read the next installment.


4 stars!