Series ~ Tempest #1
Author ~ Julie Cross
Release Date ~ January 17, 2012
Publisher ~ St. Martin’s Griffin
Source ~ St. Martin’s Griffin
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.
Finally, an awesome young adult book told entirely from a guy’s point of view! There are no alternating perspectives between Jackson and Holly. No narrator telling us what's going on. No hormonal bad boy who just moved to town. None of that. Instead, every single word is told from the point of view of Jackson, an ordinary guy who happens to be able to jump around in time. That's right, Jackson is a good guy. He thinks the way normal guys think. Jackson is one of us!
Jackson is the kind of guy most girls want to fall in love with her. He is romantic, sensitive, confident, funny and sweetly devoted to Holly. I adore everything about this guy! He cares about Holly and doesn’t take advantage of her, even when he easily could. You see, when Jackson goes back to 2007, he is 19 and Holly is only 17. Instead of taking advantage of the younger Holly, Jackson is patient and he takes his time getting to know her. Other than loving and caring for Holly, he has no other motives driving his actions toward her. Jackson is pretty much the definition of a nice guy.
Holly 2007 and Holly 2009 are as different as they are the same. Holly 2007 is a free-spirited romantic. She is kind to others in a feel-good, girl-next-door kind of way. Holly 2009 has grown in confidence since graduating from high school. She has become more of a leader who knows what she wants and is comfortable with herself. So, Holly grows emotionally from 2007 to 2009, or maybe I should say she grows backwards from 2009 to 20007, but her core values are still there and she is still the same amazing girl.
What about Adam, the sarcastic and extremely nerdy friend to Jackson and Holly? He is hilarious! This guy is so nerdy that I didn’t understand half of what he was talking about – jumps, half-jumps, string theory, alternate universes. This is just how a nerdy guy would talk and it was believable. I know some guys like this at school and well....Adam is them. And the way Adam comes to trust Jackson is genius! What I loved about Adam was that he cared deeply for Holly, but not in a romantic way. It really is possible for girls and guys to just be friends. Thank you Julie Cross for proving it is true!
Tempest is skillfully written so that side characters and conflicts are introduced here and there. While some of them are minor now, I have a feeling they will play a bigger role as the series continues. Foreshadowing of what is to come. Getting that little taste now and waiting for the main course to come later.
There is so much to love about Tempest. Jackson and Holly are one of the most realistic couples in young adult books – EVER. Getting to enjoy their story from Jackson’s point of view makes it even more enticing and addicting.
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