Southside High

This book made my head spin (in a good way!) with its breakneck pace.

Loved Jackson (and loved a YA from male POV) and his romance with Holly, his feelings for her a major motivator throughout the book for his actions.
I like a book grounded in solid conflict.

I also like interesting, layered secondary characters and Tempest had that in spades.

From an author's perspective, I'm in awe of how Julie Cross kept the plot timeline fluid in this book. Would've been a huge challenge to write! Kudos.

And it's definitely a ‘film' book, one I can see playing out on the big screen.

This is a good story, although there are a few too many twists and turns that kind of took me out of it a bit. I wasn't in love with the ending, but since there's apparently a sequel maybe the author will fix that. Also, I found myself liking the 007 relationship much more than the 009 relationship.

Ok, there were also a few other things I didn't like. The whole CIA thing seems a bit cliched. And Director Marshall thinking that as soon as Jackson figures out he can time travel he will first confide in his father and second want to join the CIA time fighters club. That seemed unreasonably optimistic of him.

As usual, with almost any story the element of communication could have resolved a lot of problems. Jackson can tell his brainy friend Adam about what's going on, but he can't tell his girlfriend. He could have saved them both some heartache with just a few sentences and a quick test to show her he was telling the truth.

In spite of my complaints I really did enjoy the story. Once I started reading I didn't want to put it down. And I can't wait to read the next one.