Author: Julie Cross
Pub Date: January 17, 2012
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Series: Tempest, Book 1
Source: Publisher via NetGalley
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]
I. Love. Time travel! Love it! I enjoy the complexity of it, and that you can basically make up your own rules for it. However, I’m so picky about the story making sense, and making sure there are no inconsistencies. The author did a pretty good job at making everything mesh, and took an interesting route with the time travel. It wasn’t the best I’ve read, but it was pretty good.
First of all, the main character is a guy. That doesn’t matter to me, but I know that’s a big plus or minus for some of you. Jackson is a sweetheart, plus he’s smart, rich, and funny. He discovers that he can time travel, but not in a way you would expect. At first he can only do half-jumps, where his body stays in the present, and when he’s back in time, anything he does won’t change the future. That is until a couple of guys attack him and Holly, his girlfriend. Suddenly, Jackson is two years in the past, not as a half-jump, but as a full-jump. Unfortunately, he can’t figure out how to do it again and gets stuck in 2007.
There was a lot of action in Tempest, and I enjoyed Jackson trying to discover what exactly is dad was. Also, it was cute how he weaseled his way in to Holly’s life, even though they technically hadn’t met yet. I think Adam, Jackson’s friend, and only person he’s told about his ability, is my favorite character, especially when he’s had caffeine.
Though I enjoyed the book, there were a few things that just didn’t feel right. I’m not going to list every little thing, but it seemed like once it got to a certain point in the book, I had to roll my eyes a couple of times.
Overall, Tempest didn’t completely wow me, but it did intrigue me enough to want to read the next book in the trilogy. If you like time travel, with some action and romance, then you might want to give this one a try.
It also contains the first 4 chapters of Tempest.
You can download it free at:
Title: Tempest
I love time travel themes, too! I am really looking forward to this book after all the positive feedback it has been getting. I'm happy you were able to enjoy it, even though it didn't completely WOW you. I can't wait to read it myself!
Awesome review, Christy. 
Sam @ Realm of Ficton
Great review! I haven't read much time travel so far, but I know I find it real intriguing! And I always like having a boy as a main character for a change. I've read so many good reviews on this one that I can't wait to try it! Glad you enjoyed it.
Great review! I'm super glad you pointed out the eye-rolling moments too – I hate it when I go in expecting a lot, as it happens when a book has made as much noise as tempest, and end up having Whaaaat? moments.
I think this would be worth a shot, though. Probably in the form of the prequel – that way I'll see if I like the characters and the idea well enough to make the “full jump”!
Thanks for sharing
Ron @ stories of my life
I have YET to LOVE a time travel book…. Maybe this one????
The guy main character isn't a big plus/minus for me but when I think about it, most books I've read had female characters mostly.
So it'll definitely be different! I'm still waiting for my copy but I'm really looking forward to reading this! And I love time travel related films/books too!
Tempest was so full of action and I loved every minute of it. Jackson was an amazing MC who I easily fell for. Not only him but all the characters were so well written. Especially Courtney, even though most of the time she was a ghost character, she was just so unique. Her and Jackson's relationship was so beautiful I did get emotional at times. I loved how Jackson was described when he did a half jump. It was funny picturing him sitting vegetable like and every time he jumped I just laughed some more because it was so easy to see it happening. All of Jackson's jumps were really fascinating and different. Not just because of the year but also the weather was always different, Jackson had to use all types of different money. It was amazing he could remember things that happened in the past. Oh how I wish for book two to hurry up and come out lol. I absolutely loved Tempest and am so curious as to what will happen next.