Friday, January 11, 2013

Review: Tempest by Julie Cross


Tempest by Julie Cross
Tempest #1
Release Date: January 17th, 2012
Number of Pages: 352
Publisher: St.Martin’s Griffin
Source: Bought
GRAmazonBD - Chapters

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. 
Tempest left me with mixed feeling, if I’m completely honest. Yes, did enjoy it. Yes, I’m really excited for the sequel, because I did get attached to the characters. The thing is, the idea of the time jump not leaving a trace in the past slightly annoyed me. It may sound strange, but to me, if you can jump in time and have no effect on it, than I wouldn’t call it time travel. That’s the one thing that made me really step out of this novel with annoyance.

Maybe it’s picky of me, since I found the characters really intriguing. Not only was Jackson really interesting to follow, but also the supporting characters were simply as interesting. I liked Adam and the way he was ready to do so much for Jackson. Their friendship was so fun to read about. Holly’s complexity as a character, the way 2007 Holly was different from 2009 holly, how easy it was to see how she could have grown from one into the other. Then there’s Courtney, Jackson’s twin sister. She may be dead, but she still leaves a shadow in everyone’s lives, and I have a feeling we will see more from her. Finally, I can’t forget about Jackson’s father, whose intentions can be a little unclear by moment. Yet, I still came to care for him.

When I think about Jackson’s power, I had a problem with the idea of his travel not influencing the present. I just don’t understand how that could possible. That took me out of the story, and made it really hard for me to love the novel. Still, Vortex will be in my reading pile when it comes out.

Overall, the novel was interesting and intriguing. Yet, certain details made it impossible for me to completely love it. Yet, I still enjoyed it very much, and I would still recommend it.

About the Author
(from NetGalley)

Julie lives in central Illinois with her husband and three children. She never considered writing professionally until May of 2009. Since then, she hasn’t gone a day without writing.


2 comments:

  1. That's the one thing everyone keeps saying that keeps me from reading this book, it doesn't scientifically make sense for someone to go back in time and change something but doesn't have it affect the future. Something like that would annoy me in a book, and I can't make myself pick this book up. Maybe one day I'll get it from the library. Glad to hear that the characters are someone you can get attached to though.

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  2. I also Love books!! ❤This one looks interesting :)
    Maybe you would like to read a poem I wrote yesterday
    http://petiteeloise.blogspot.mx/2013/01/growing-up-is-never-easy-poem.html?m=1
    Just trying to get some attention(:

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