Book Tour: Tempest by Julie Cross

"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."

Krystal over at Live to Read is hosting a fun little arc tour for Tempest! Luckily, I got to be a part of this cool little crowd of folks on the tour and got my chance to read it this past week. The best way I could describe this book is The Time Traveler's Wife meets The Butterfly Effect.

I liked the whole science fiction meets love story idea, but I could've used a little more of a love story personally. The time travel aspects seemed to be a little too much for me, and oddly enough made the story drag sometimes. The overbearing theme didn't help me get into any of the characters for the most part. One of the characters that made me sigh pretty much right away was Jackson's best friend, Adam. I can't stand a character written for convenience, and I think that's exactly what he was. It was hard to believe that there just happened to be a friend who understood the space time continuum pretty well.

I will say Cross had a good handle on her ideas of time travel. It was interesting to see a slightly different take on the idea than we usually see. As a start to a trilogy, I hope to see a bit more development into characters as we jump deeper into the story. If you're into the whole jumper aspect, this story will definitely keep you reading!