Author: Julie Cross
Published: Januay 17th 2012
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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.
I think this book (series) is better to be read when you have a full day (depending on how fast you read) to absorb all the goodness, because reading a chapter or two per night did nothing for my excitement, to be honest with you. I liked the story as a whole and there were a lot of things that took me by surprise, but did I love it to no lengths? Nope, not exactly.
"But as Adam says, I must be like this for a reason and it's up to us to find out why."
I like the world and that there are different ways to time travel—half jumps and full jumps; the jumping is genetic and whatnot; there are different timetraveling groups fighting against each other. It’s all very fascinating and I really enjoyed how the world was developed throughout the book as Jackson was learning stuff with us, not providing a whole bunch of information at once. I loved the relationship between Holly and Jackson and also adored the sibling relationship between Jackson and Courtney, one scene in particular bringing tears to my eyes. I love that the male POV is written in a very realistic way. Jackson makes guy mistakes and there’re actually very rational reasons behind the mistakes. I really, really enjoyed the narrative.
What I found to be weird was not Adam being a genius, no, but rather how he had contacts in different labs for instance. How in the world can someone—a random college kid, basically a no one—just randomly have a DNA test done in a genetics lab? W-what? How? This doesn’t make any sense. There were the few things like that usually don’t bother me, but as I mentioned before, I read a few chapters per night so my rational side ruled over the emotional parts of my brain, so I got a little nitpicky.
The book in general was pretty complicated: the whole time-lines thing and the specifics of the jumps. Also, it’s hard to guess who the bad guys are. At first, it’s not easy to tell what’s even going on, let alone point fingers at anyone. Not sure what will happen now, after that emotionally gripping ending, but so far? Me is in love with the fact that there are zero love interest for Jackson other than Holly. They gave me feels and surprise, surprise! Sex is mentioned (and done) in YA lit. *gasps* Whaaat? I know, scandalous! It was all very realistic and their relationship was totes adorbs!
As a whole, Tempest brings a good time travel story to the table and the guy POV is extremely well-written. Enjoyed most of it, but there were tiny bits and pieces that made me cringe a little. Can’t wait to continue and find out what new obstacles lay ahead of Jackson. Things are still pretty crazy after all. If you haven’t read this series yet, give it a try. Julie Cross gives a captivating and thrilling story with a lot of heart.
Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5.0
Stars: ★★★
I confess that I wouldn't have expected a complicated book there so I'm quite surprised. But I'm happy to see you had a good time with it. great review!
ReplyDeleteFantastic review Siiri, I really loved how you talked about the time travel parts. Time travel really fascinates me but it's rarely done well you know? Because of the confusing nature of it. Glad to hear the relationship was good, even with a bit of sex (let's face it, it's realistic).
ReplyDeleteYAY! I am glad to hear that Holly was the only love interest for Jackson and it better stay that way *shakes fist*
ReplyDeleteI've had my eye on this for a while but male POV and the time travel bits have put me off (so basically everything that makes this book what it is). I've always been a little iffy about male POVs because not all of them are fantastically done and actually make the male characters sound organic. Time travel has always been a little iffy for me because it can either blow my mind away or let me down terribly so yeah....
I am going to wait for you to continue on with the series and perhaps spoil the ending for me before I dive into this one. ^_^
Gorgeous review, Siiri!!! :)
Rashika @ The Social Potato
That cover reminds me of These Broken Stars so so much. x) But that's okay because I adoooored These Broken Stars and this one sounds really cool! I'm adding it to the tbr! Bit worried about the little plot holes. Complicated story lines and hard-to-tell-badies, though?? I'm in.
ReplyDeleteThe time travel element has made me want to read this for a while, and even though the complicated world at times, sounds like its worth a read
ReplyDeleteI put off reading this book because time travel books never work for me. I've tried multiple ones, but none of them have been successful for me.
ReplyDeleteThis does sound really interesting, especially with the characters and the relationships between them, but I do think some of the things that Adam is able to do despite being a random college kid would bother me. Is there no explanation for that btw?
Anyways, Holly and Jackson sound adorable though and yes for sex in YA! I always appreciate it when an author doesn't shy away from that in books.
I'm sorry this wasn't an epic read, but I'm glad you still liked elements of it. :)
Great review, Siiri-bear!
RIGHT SIIRI!!! It's such a rarity to find a YA book that focuses on the relationship between two people without the introduction of a third party at any time. IT'S AMAZING!!!! *falls down dead from shock* I'm glad that despite the few issues you had, you still enjoyed this one overall. It's been a long time since I read this and my memory is a bit fuzzy, but I remember being entertained which is enough on its own sometimes:)
ReplyDeleteWell this is one of the series that one really good friend of mine told me to stay away from. She knows me too well so she knows when to use that power. I mean it does sound interesting but male POVs are really tricky. I'm so glad you enjoyed this one and I really hope you'll enjoy the rest of the series. Great review, dear :)
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean about reading this book in one sitting, as I've not been able to pick this book back up since I put it down. It does have an interesting concept, and I've been through the whole guessing who the bad guys can be too, and I did really enjoy reading from Jackson's pov, I guess I just wanted him to get back to 2009 asap instead of dawdling about! lol Lovely review Siiri! :)
ReplyDeleteWhen it takes me days to read books, it does make me start to lose interest too :(
ReplyDeleteI read this one years ago and loved it. I still think it's one of the first 'NA' books.
I need to read books i. Only one or two sittings or else i also loose interest and procastrinate on my reading so i understand you! I remember picking this one up a year ago and DNFing it midway. It just was 't for me. I love time travel stpries but this one was just too confusing and didn't hold my interest. I'm happy you managed to like it though! Great review Siiri :)
ReplyDeleteReading this felt like a total flashback post! Not because I've actually read the book (because I haven't, lol!) but because I remember hearing SO much about it last year and I was so excited to buy it and it was one of those books I kept 'uhming' and 'ahing' about when to buy it. Then I forgot about it because I'm old and we know how my memory gets :P
ReplyDeleteBut TIME TRAVEL. It's like Doctor Who, but with teenagers and a plot that's entirely different (hehe).
Ohhh and a good main POV. I'm frequently disappointed with male POVs in books when done by a female author, because a lot of the time it doesn't sound authentic and I'm like 'NO TEENAGE BOY SAYS THAT STUFF'. So I'm glad Julie Cross nailed the bejeezus out of it.
Right, so adding this BACK to my TBR after a year ^-^
I read this and loved it a few years back. Holly and Jackson's romance was the main reason and it was surprisingly mature for a YA read. I liked that Jackson learned from past mistakes, taking Holly for granted and tried to correct them. I never finished the series. Someday I will. Wonderful review, Siiri! :)
ReplyDeleteGlad you loved this, Siiri. I read one review before that ripped this one out so much, I almost heard the book soul crying as I read the review. It made me really hesitant to pick up this one, but now that I know there's nothing to fear and that although some aspect are a bit irrational/illogical, it was still realistic in other ways: The sex, male POVs and all that jazz. I must admit time stuff just give me a headache but I'm willing to try this one. Lovely review, Siiri! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm agreeing with you the whole way through that review! I loved the premise and when it got to the middle of the book, that's where it kicked off. I get where your coming from with Adam, he sort of reminds me of the Doctor! And Jackson is Rose if that makes sense. They are opposites. I was brought to tears by a certain moment in the book with Courtney too! That was such a precious moment! Lovely review, Siiri! :)
ReplyDeleteAwww, seeing this rather low rating sure deflated me! I have been wanting to read this book for many, many months now, but I'm now concerned whether or not I will come to like it. Well, 3.5 isn't that bad, but I've always wanted it to at least be worthy of 4 stars and above. And you're right, it's definitely suspicious (aka HIGHLY UNLIKELY) that a random college kid can have a genetics lab run a DNA test for him. That usually takes a.) money, and b.) authorization. Definitely loopy, there.
ReplyDeleteFaye at The Social Potato
I gave the audiobook a try a couple years ago. I don't know if it's my mood or that I'm tired of paranormal YA, but I couldn't get into it. You've convinced me to give it another try! Great review, Siiri!
ReplyDeleteI actually quite love this series, I can tell you that with each book there's crazy amounts of good character development and things get more complex and convoluted. Personally I enjoyed each book in the series better than the last, so I suppose Tempest was my least favorite.
ReplyDeleteOh Adam and his casual DNA tests [; You really do find some things about him in future books that explain things regarding his character on a better level. Let's just say he has some secrets too.
I love Jackson! His narration develops and changes throughout the three stories, however I found it consistently organic. It sounded to me like an actual guy narrating the story and added to the realism of the story. I also loved Jackson and his relationships with Courtney and Holly. They're so complex, however even with that you truly know that Jackson cares about them deeply.
Lovely review Siiri! (: