Thursday 3 January 2013

TEMPEST BY JULIE CROSS

ISBN: 9780312568894
Publisher: Macmillan Kids UK
Pages: 352
Formats Available: Hardback, Paperback, E-Book

BLURB 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.


MY REVIEW
I was sent a paperback of this book by the lovely people at Macmillan Kids UK in exchange for my honest review. My mum also bought my daughter the hardback of this book, which will be staying on the keeper shelf along with the gorgeous hardback sent to us for review. This book is also my first read of 2013! and the book also starts me off on my Reading Challenges Goals , it's No 1 in the First in a Series Challenge hosted by Darlene's Book Nook.
What can I say to express how I feel after reading this book in just 1 to 5 words? Er...to coin a rather old word/phrase from a cartoon I watched as a child (I know giving away my age here) Wowzers!
I prefer the cover of the paperback, to the one of the hardback. The hardback is a sludge type of grey colour which makes the book blend in, on the shelf. Where as the paperback is a much brighter eye catching, stand out on the shelf shade of blue. The picture is more dramatic on the paperback too. The cover of the hard back did not make me think of time-travel, to me it suggested Angels, Gods and maybe Goddesses to me. The paperback cover fits the drama of being snatched away into a different time a lot better.
"TIME WILL TEAR THEM APART" is the brilliant byline and fits with the story line perfectly. I love a good byline! The byline really describes Jackson and Holly's relationship so well. There's the continuing theme of "will they, won't they" get together which runs alongside the brilliant Time Travel plot line. The book has danger, drama, mystery, conspiracy theories, and lots of love floating through time too.
I was seriously apprehensive about reading this book, I thought "Time-Travel" yuck! but I have been seriously won over. I ended up loving this book. I ended up carrying it all over with me, hoping for a chance to read a little more. The book is written so well by Julie Cross, you become attached to the characters within the book. For example you begin maybe feeling a little sorry for Jackson's dad, then you literally go to being so suspicious of him you end up almost hating him and how he treats Jackson. Then at the end of the book, it feels like all is revealed, why he acts as he does, and you really feel for him and the life he is leading. You end up thinking does Jackson really know his father at all? They have so many secrets between them, can they ever get past them and have anything like a normal father/son relationship.
It's hard to talk in detail about the book without giving away spoilers. One of the last things I thought this book would evoke in me was the strong emotions that it did.
There is a scene where Jackson is with his sister, you will know the scene I refer to when you are reading it, you will probably reading blurry words at that stage, just like I was, tears rolled down my cheeks, a tight kind of burning feeling in your chest. It was written so beautifully, yet simplistically. 
The second scene I loved was very near the end of the book. I felt Jackson's sorrow, yet I also felt his knowledge that he was doing the right thing. I mean one thing the book teaches you is that the future is never set in stone, there are so many factors, influences that can change it so very easily.
Another character I love is Emily, she is a bit of an enigma, in that who is she? where is she from? how can she do what she is doing at such a young age? who are her parents? I have a few alternating theories as to who she is and how she came about, but to discuss them here would break my reviewing rules on revealing too much of the book and it's potential second book.
So did I enjoy the book? Wowzers! I sure did! Would I recommend the book? Definitely! This Time Travel genre was new to me, and this book has put Time Travel right up there near the top of my list of favourite genres. Would I read a Bk#2? Yes there is soooo much potential of what can happen. I want to learn more about Emily, and desperately want Holly to still be around. Then there's Adam, I hope he is still around helping Jackson with the science geek bits of time-travel. Would I read more by Julie Cross? Yes I would definitely look out for other series's by her too.

Available from Amazon.co.uk it's a must read book!

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