Review Tempest by Julie Cross

Title: Tempest
Author: Julie Cross

Published: January 5th, 2013 (MacMillan Children's Books)

Pages: 413

Source: bought

Series: Tempest #1

Rating: 4 stars

Synopsis from Goodreads: 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.

The best thing about Tempest is that it's a book about time traveling! I love time traveling. It did surprise me that it took me so long for me to finally read, since I bought it a couple of months ago. I blame my huge TBR! 
But I finally read Tempest and I thought it was awesome. 

Books about time traveling are just made to give you a headache. One tip; don't think too deep about it! It will mess with your head. I must say Julie Cross did an amazing job with this story and the time traveling. She did throw in timelines, alternating and being able or not being able to change the past (and the future), but it sounded right and it made the story just perfect. 

The story is told from Jackson's point of view. He's a time traveler, which he discovered a year ago, but he only makes half jumps, which means his body stays in the year he's jumping from. Together with his ("normal") friend Adam he's experimenting with the possibilities. His girlfriend Holly doesn't know about it and when she and Jackson are attacked, he accidentally makes a full jump back to 2007 and he doesn't seem able to get back. He feels really bad about leaving Holly behind while she just got shot and he's determined to find out more about his ability and travel back. 

I loved the three main characters. Jackson is this really sweet, but at the same time kick-ass boy. He makes the 007 Holly (Holly in 2007, love that nickname!) fall in love with him all over again and she's so lovable. The chats between Jackson and Holly are so adorable! You just really want them to be together! 
And then there's Adam. Every time his name was mentioned I got this picture in my head of Q (Ben Whishaw in Skyfall, I know I'm a bit weird). He's helping Jackson (2009 and 2007 Adam) to learn more about the time traveling and the role Jackson's father plays in it. Jackson's Dad made some serious plot twists happen! Once I thought I had it figured out, everything changed! It made the story even more awesome!

Next to the amazing story and characters, Julie Cross has an amazing writing style! It kept me on the edge of my seat! I can't wait to read Vortex. (I tried the time jumping myself to January 2013, but failed miserably *sad face*, so the "normal" waiting begins...). The ending of Tempest brought me to tears and I'm waiting for an amazing plot twist in Vortex!

Have you read Tempest? What did you think of it?