REVIEW: Tempest by Julie Cross

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.

It is safe to say that I really wasn’t expecting to enjoy Tempest as much as I did. I thought that my rating would probably be a four so when I rated it 5 stars once I’d finished it I was very happy. I didn’t know a lot about the plot, but the little information I did know intrigued me.

Jackson has a secret: he is a time traveler. I haven’t actually read any books about time travel before and so I was a little apprehensive, but I actually found the concept interesting and thrilling. We first meet Jackson in 2009 where he likes to carry out time-traveling experiments with his friend, Adam. There is also the small issue of his girlfriend, Holly, who doesn’t know about his gift.

As an exciting character, I enjoyed reading the novel from Jackson’s point of view. I don’t know what I expected, but I really didn’t think it would be told from his view. I realise that this was a bit stupid of me as it really couldn’t have been written in anyone else’s. Throughout the novel, Jackson really transformed and even though I liked him from the first page, I loved him at the end. He was so calm and focused and was admirable for that reason. I wouldn’t act like that if I was in that situation!
Holly was a generally sweet character who I enjoyed learning about. The thing I most liked about her was her maturity and ability to stay cool in difficult situations (she was definitely in a few!). What set her apart from other YA characters was the fact that she was natural. Some authors make their characters perfect in every way but the characters in Tempest were true to real life.
Adam was likable and, although not one of the main characters, he felt just as important as Jackson and Holly, and also had his own role.

This novel kept me constantly on my toes, anticipating the plot line and it made me think: Is being normal so bad? Would I really want the pressure that Jackson had?

I really can’t wait to read Vortex as the ending of Tempest left me shocked. Why are authors so cruel to us?! How am I going to cope now, not knowing what happens?!