Review of Tempest By: Julie Cross

Tempest
By: Julie Cross
Release day: Jan 17th 2012
Amazon


Summery from Amazon:
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.




My Review:
Take away the fact that he can travel into the past and Jackson is your typical young adult male. Sweet, charming, average intelligence and well kinda just going with the flow of young adult life.  He knows he loves his girlfriend Holly, but sometimes  has issues showing it, and opening up to her completely. Not just about his recently discovered time traveling abilities, but even things much more mundane.Things  like how he is still affected by the loss of his twin sister, or how distant his father is. Much like your typical male, check that person, ('cause girls we are guilty of it too!) he doesn't even realize quite what Holly means to him until she takes a bullet meant for him.  Even when he has the opportunity to start over and make things right with a younger Holly in the year 2007, he still keeps trying to go back to 'his' Holly. 
I REALLY liked this book.  Cross did a wonderful job with her main character.  You can see Jackson emotionally mature as the story progresses.  It was also interesting to see the differences in 007 Holly and 009 Holly. The younger version still in high school, not having been molded by her future life experiences. 
This book isn't JUST a love story though.  It is also has it's mysteries. How did Jackson get to be this way? Is his father a heartless CEO or a ruthless CIA agent? Who is the redheaded girl, who looks almost identical to Jackson's long dead twin sister? Just to name a few.  Some questions are neatly answered, some only leading to more questions and others still a mystery.  Yes it is the beginning of a trilogy, so I expected some of the questions to remain unanswered.  However Cross did it in such a way that it made me more intrigued to read the next novel, and not annoyed.  
Some of the explanations of the time travel were a bit confusing. She did use Jackson's voice to help dumb down some of the more technical explanations. But still there were some that I had to reread or just shrug my shoulders and hope it would be explained differently later in the novel, or hopefully later in the series. 
Again, I REALLY liked this book. Even with some of the more technical aspects of time travel and how Jackson's brain works, I was drawn in. This is strong start to her series, and I can't wait to read more.  It's being released a little late to be used as a Christmas present, but might I suggest you pre-order it for yourself?  That way after all the craziness of the holidays is over, you have something to look forward to as a treat to yourself.  

*****In compliance with FTC guidelines, I'm disclosing that I received this book for free through GoodReads First Reads. ****

(I recommend everybody should go check out all the awesome first read giveaways they have!)