Tempest

A Novel

By: Julie Cross

Narrated by: Matthew Brown

Length: 10 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

In Julie Cross' Tempest, 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.

©2011 Julie Cross (P)2012 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

“Matthew Brown narrates the extraordinary events of Jackson's life in the same tone and pace that he delivers the ordinary ones, lending authenticity to this mix of mystery, science fiction, and everyday teen experiences.” —AudioFile Magazine

“I have seen the future and it is Jackson Meyer! I loved Julie Cross's engrossing and engaging TEMPEST. If I could time-jump, I'd read the sequel yesterday at the very latest.” —Nancy Holder, New York Times bestselling author of the CRUSADE series

“Once I started TEMPEST, I couldn't put it down. Once I finished TEMPEST, I was dying for the next installment. Julie Cross takes readers on an unforgettable trip through time in this inventive, suspenseful and romantic tale. A thrilling debut from a fantastic new voice.” —Courtney Summers, Award-Winning author of CRACKED UP TO BE and SOME GIRLS ARE

Sorry, I was not impressed.

I'm sorry to say this story is quite far from the best writing I have read. This book did not have that "wow" factor for me, and I did not find many of the scenes or most of the dialogue compelling. In fact most of the dialogue was overly-simplistic and stilted. I found the narrative distracting at some points when all of the sudden some random fact is mentioned that the (reader) is just supposed to accept as truth when it's not integral to the story and is just inserted like a random detail. The whole premise of time-travelers, conspiracy, government agencies, rougue groups, and scientific experimentation in labs was just not well-formed and fleshed-out. I did not find it convincing. The book finally engaged me a lot more only as I reached the two-thirds or more point in the story. I stuck with it because I had paid for it and also because I don't feel right about reviewing anything I don't finish. I was rewarded with the last one-fourth of the story all of the sudden being a lot more interesting. We finally got to two scenes in particular that grabbed me and engaged my feelings.
The audio production was sorely lacking. The narrator's normal voice was fine to listen to, but the voices he did for some of the characters were completely annoying. The MC's best friend and science-geek is made to sound like he has a septum problem or very heavy sinus congestion (bad cold), and a supposedly highly-educated and highly-esteemed scientist-doctor is voiced to sound as if he's a simple-minded ghoul that belongs in one of my other favorite series. I cannot imagine how anyone thought that was a good production choice. Wrong!

Unique take to time travel

I found this story entertaining because it took an original approach to time travel. Moreover, the story unfolded in an organic manner, which is usually rare in a book that swayed back and forth in time. As such, it was also great to see Jackson, the main character, grow and change throughout the book. He went from being a snobby, rich teen to living through actions and consequences in a way that most nineteenth-year-olds would not.

Not your average time traveler story

The book starts with the character saying "forget everything you know about time trave"l. which I'm glad the author did because this was a really good book and very easy to follow the timeline between the different times.

Grandma of two teens

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes, fast moving

What other book might you compare Tempest to and why?

Robin Cook. His books usually have lots of surprises (twist & turns)

Have you listened to any of Matthew Brown’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No but I do listen to lots of audio books and he did a great job

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I could not stop listening to it. It made me laugh when Jackson had to clean up the bathroom at the gym which overflowed.
There were several scenes that made me cry but the most powerful one was when Holly read the card Jackson had written to Courtney(his sister) who died with his feelings about her but he never actually gave it to her.
I don't want to spoil it but the ending was sad to me too.

Any additional comments?

You will not want to stop listening once you get started. Great debut book for this author. Sad that I have to wait until next year for the sequel.

every man's dream

If you could sum up Tempest in three words, what would they be?

A fantastic book

Who was your favorite character and why?

?

Which character – as performed by Matthew Brown – was your favorite?

?

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes this was another book I couldn't get enough of the story. It was kind of out there but I think in a way it's every man's dream to go back in time. To be able to time travel that would be awesome.

Really good story, amazing narration

I actually give this book 3 1/2 stars, but bumped it to 4. I found the first half of the book to be a little slow, but I was still into it. The second half was awesome. I actually didn't realize this was a series and had to draw my own conclusions from the end, but I'm glad to see they'll be another one.

If you like time travel and/or the movie 'Jumper', then this book is for you!

Narration: This is the best single-person narration of any book to date. Each character was 100% distinguishable from the other. I was so happy just listening and being able to discern who was speaking.

An enchanting twist to time travel stories

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would recommend this book to people who love what time travel stories do best; explore the choices people make in an atmosphere where they can have a second stab at getting it right. In otherwords, time travel stories allow characters to get a really good look at themselves from many angles and sometimes have a second chance (and sometime more) at making good their mistakes.T.T. stories also throw characters from different times together, to butt heads and therefore, ideas.

What did you like best about this story?

I liked that the author thought up some new concepts for time travel, creating situations where characters went back and sometimes could change things, but there were other times they can't. That was different, I think, so good for Ms. Cross.

What about Matthew Brown’s performance did you like?

The story started with a smart ass kid and Mr. Brown caught his vibe perfectly. In fact, as the book started out, I thought I might not identify with the book because the character was too young. Then I realized something. As a writer of time travel books myself, I remembered that my first time travel novel was sometimes accused of being aimed at too young an audience because the characters started out young. Some readers didn't want to give them a chance to mature. So, I gave "Jackson" a chance. Very quickly I got into the story and I must say it was well enough written and performed to keep an adult's interest. Mr. Brown also did a fantastic job with the many voices, capturing their spirit. And his readings of the emotional bits had great atmosphere and timing. (well, except for his Scottish accent, but he was fantastic at the rest)

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I listen to a lot of audio books, mostly when I'm at the gym or driving, so I usually won't sit all day and do it. But if I was sick in bed or on a long flight, I do think this book could keep me listening.

Any additional comments?

Again, as a writer of time travel books, I really liked the ground Julie Cross broke here. Often there are time travel conventions that writers cross at their own peril. I can't wait to see what she does next with the story. Maybe I can find a way to be an early reader.-Lory KaufmanKingston, Ontario

Nice plot line for a time travel story

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

I wouldn't say that I enjoyed the book per say , but it was bearable to read and finish , I understood the point but the plot didn't intrigue me

What did you like best about this story?

maybe the way he is trying to earn the girl's love all over again

What aspect of Matthew Brown’s performance would you have changed?

maybe his tone , he seems he want to sleep most of the time

Could you see Tempest being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

yeah I would love to see it as a tv movie and I trust the director's choice with the stars

Any additional comments?

nice story and it goes by fast but there is something missing in it I don't know what

"Author Buries The Lede!" (Read All About It ;)

(Mild Spoilerish Content)

I LOVE time travel stories! I especially love repeat/loop-ish time travel stories! And I REALLY love time travel that has love themes. (Although I DETEST the ole barechested-man-on-cover romance-type novels. Gag!

This novel has as its main character (MC) a persona who can move through time with some physical consequences and in at least two different ways. One way doesn't cause alterations in the past while the other does.

Another thing that the MC can do is learn things very fast (near instantly) and recall pertinent information unregistered by the conscious mind long ago. The MC can even gain language comprehension by listening to language subaudibly while sleeping.

The "smart" and/or skilled and wise secondary characters in the book fail to highlight these powers for the MC. There is ZERO reason the MC should be having most of his conversations in his permanent timeline existence. He could be learning most things with his unchange-time jumps and just go full groundhog day till he knows all players, circumstances, build skills, and probably much more. Combined with his mega-learning power!...that would be an awesome book!!!

But no, this goes nearly completely untapped. The bone-head goes through most of the book like a numbskull, making permanent f-ups like you and I. I thought about this at length and unless I missed something the rules of time travel as explained by the author through exposition do not forbid this awesome superpower activity.

So, [long tired sigh] I don't think I'll move on o book two. Also, because several reviews warn me off. I don't mind stories of stupid teens that aren't SUPER POWER LEVEL STUPID (and he is just average stupid, really) but there are other time travel/loop/romance books to read out there.

Oh yeah, the end of the book is a setup promising that the next book have as it's super power be THANOS-LEVEL YA angst. Ick! So, unless, you liked how the end of the Toby McGuire Spiderman movie set up for the next movie to be icky-angsty (this is going to be MUCH WORSE) you probably wanna avoid reading book two. And if you wanna avoid book two you might as well start by passing on book one.

However, this is a fair production by the author and I'd give another work by said author a chance.