Tempest by Julie Cross

The Synopsis:
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.

My Thoughts:
I'm trying my best to kind of gather up all of my scrambled thoughts for this one because not only was it fantastic, but it was heart-wrenching!  Tempest kept me at the edge of my seat and was an astounding and beautiful tale of how, as Jackson my man would put it, "Amor vincit omnia." Love conquers all.  I'm not one for the usual fluff romance.  Don't like it.  But, there was more to Tempest that stole my heart.

Okay, so lately I've been reading quite of books that have half or full male POVs.  I'm not sure why, but I love them so much.  And don't get me wrong, I do certainly enjoy reading a book in a girl's POV, but I've come to very much enjoy the voices of guys in books.  And this does not does not exclude Jackson.

Jackson was not the character that I thought him to be.  And the fact that he was able to prove me completely wrong within the matter of a few chapters is impressive.  Usually, I'm able to pinpoint the type of person a character is because their characteristics are usually obvious and sometimes stereotypical.  I fell in love with Jackson's character pretty quickly and wanted to give him a nice big squishy hug for a huge part of the book.  No lie.  And there were the threat of tears, but that's another matter entirely.  Jackson was real.  I felt him through the pages (weird expression but it's true).  I just . . . he's my new favorite YA man.

However, there were a few things in Tempest that niggled me.  While it was full of plot twists and such, it was a little predictable every now and then.  It's not a big deal necessarily, but it's just one of those things.  Another problem is that I thought the pace of the book to be a little choppy here and there.  Again, not a big deal, but it was a little uncomfortable for me.  It was kinda like that student driver that's all smooth sailing on the road and then all of a sudden slams on the brakes and continues on.  In the case of the book, it was like a light slam on the brakes.

Overall, Tempest was fantastic read.  I usually don't describe books as beautiful, but Tempest certainly earned the title.  Cross effectively conveyed Jackson's emotions throughout the story and created a highly entertaining story for readers.  I wish I could have said more about this book, but I'm positive I will give something away if I do because Everything is a Secret!  It's kind of like Doctor Who in that way.  Fans of sci-fi, time travel, and a breathtaking narrative will possibly enjoy this book.