Tempest

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Tempest by Julie Cross

Release Date: January 17,2012
Publisher: St. Martin's
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 352
Format: ARC
Source: ARC Tour
Intrest: Young Adult
Challenge: 2011 Reading Challenge

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.

When I first heard about this book, I thought the premise of it sounded so interesting and I was immediately intrigued by it. When I got my copy for review in the mail, I saw that this book has already  been optioned for film. That's crazy right? It's not even out yet! Within the first few pages of the book, I totally understood why!

Tempest is a crazy good story! It is about a boy named Jackson who can time travel. He can only travel a few hours back in time, and mostly just does it for fun. One day his girlfriend Holly gets fatally shot, and in his panic, Jackson accidentely travels back in time, 2 years. The only problem is, Jackson can't seem to find his way back. Desperate to go back in time, and save Holly, Jackson will do anything he can to get there. But the question is, will he be too late?

I was immediately excited about this book when I heard about it. I honestly can say, I have never read a YA book about time travel. So I was naturally really excited to read this one, and it did not disappoint. It is full of action, plot twists and turns, suspense, mystery and intrigue, true love, and family drama, It has a little bit of everything!

I honestly was so wrapped up in this book from the first few pages, and found it so hard to put down. It was so action packed, and full of suspense that it made it a super fast read. I really enjoyed the characters, their development and growth. My favorite for sure was Jackson's best friend, Adam, that computer geek stole the show!

Jackson has some pretty heavy family drama. His mother died when he was young and he doesn't even remember her. His twin sister died of cancer 4 years ago, and his father isn't really around. I think Jackson is a character that so many teens can relate to. I think all of us at some point have lost a family member, or felt really alone. It definately made his character more personable and really made you feel for him!

My only complaint about this book is that in the first few chapters, there is a LOT of time travel going on. He may time travel 5 or 6 times in the course of 3 or 4 pages. It got a bit confusing at times, as soon as you adjusted to where he was and why, you were off somewhere else trying to adjust all over again. Thankfully about 70 pages in things settled down and I was able to follow along a lot better. That is honestly what is keeping me from giving this a 5 star review, because other than that, it was amazing!

Tempest was a great, action packed, suspenseful book. I am dying to read book two in this trilogy and even more excited to see this one on the big screen!