“TEMPEST,” by Julie Cross, Macmillan Audio, Jan.17, 2012, (ages 14 and up)

Imagine closing your eyes one second and opening them the next, only when you open your eyes you’re in a different place and time.

That’s what’s happened the first time Jackson Meyer jumped through time. Now 19, Jackson is pretty much a normal college student — aside from the whole time traveling thing that is. Jackson has a girlfriend, goes to classes and works as a day camp kids counselor.

There’s only one person who knows about Jackson’s “gift.” With the help of his friend Adam, Jackson has been testing his abilities. He can only jump back in time and nothing he does changes the future. For the most part, it’s a harmless jaunt. For the most part…

Turns out the jumping wasn’t completely harmless. By making frequent jumps, Jackson has unwittingly attracted the wrong kind of attention. It all culminates when two men burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly. There’s a struggle, and Holly is fatally shot. While Jackson mentally freezes, his other reflexes don’t and he jumps back two years. And this jump is different. Jackson finds himself stuck in 2007, and he can’t return to save Holly. He’s going to have to stay where he’s at, but that doesn’t mean he can’t start preparing for the inevitable…

“Tempest,” by Julie Cross, is told from Jackson’s point of view and as such is narrated by a man, Matthew Brown, for the audiobook. Matthew does a great job of capturing Jackson’s naïve and sort of arrogant tone early on and his subtler and maturing personality as the story progresses. Overall, Matthew does a great job with different voices throughout the novel, with some exceptions. His personification of a few of the female characters felt a bit stereotypical and over the top. While I found this annoying, it wasn’t too distracting to quit listening.

The part that almost had me stop listening had nothing to do with the narration or quality of the recording, which is very good. What had me questioning if I should finish was the use of profanity. I generally don’t use it in my everyday life, so the F-bomb repeatedly coming through my speakers was not only a surprise but grating as well. In part because I read so quickly, I have trained myself to almost ignore profanity in books, but while listening, there’s really no way to know when it’s coming. For some people this is a minor or nonexistent issue, but for those who are more sensitive to language — consider yourself warned.

“Tempest” reads or — in the case of the audiobook — sounds like a Hollywood popcorn movie. And that’s both a good and bad thing.

While there’s plenty of action and dramatic moments, there’s also a lot of jumping around in “Tempest.” And not just Jackson jumping through time, there’s also flashbacks of certain events. It can get confusing. And my guess is that it’s even more confusing when reading on the page rather than listening to an audiobook where the narrator denotes change through pauses and changes in timbre.

I enjoyed “Tempest” but I didn’t finish it feeling wowed. While some elements felt fresh, others felt like a rehash of books, TV shows and movies I’ve already forgotten. I liked the story enough to be glad I listened, but not enough to listen again.

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“CINDER,” by Marissa Meyer, Feiwel & Friends, Jan. 3, 2012, $17.99 (young adult) also “CINDER,” by Marissa Meyer, audiobook by Macmillan Young Listeners

By now you should have heard about Marissa Meyer’s “Cinder,” which has a solid standing in the race for “IT” book of winter 2012.

“Cinder” is the first book in the four-part Lunar Chronicles. Each subsequent novel introduces a new, strong, young female protagonist inspired by a different fairy tale — Scarlett, based on “Little Red Riding Hood,” Cress, based on “Rapunzel,” and Winter, based on “Snow White” — who all have their own riveting histories that compel them to join Cinder on her quest.

The first book is a take on the “Cinderella” fairy tale of old, but it’s much more than a trendy knock-off.

Cinder is a gifted mechanic, who happens to also be a cyborg — part human, part machine. Cyborgs are considered second-class citizens, not really fit to receive the benefits afforded to full humans. Cinder lives in New Beijing, with her stepmother and two stepsisters, not even remembering what her adoptive stepfather was like.

A gifted mechanic, Cinder is put to work at the weekly market, acting as New Beijing’s only full-service mechanic. She has a reputation for impeccable work; too bad her stepmother keeps all the proceeds. Cinder’s life is an unchanging cycle of following her family’s orders and fixing other people’s things. She dreams of the day she will be free, but fears it will never come.

Prince Kai is on the verge of becoming emperor. His father has contracted letumosis, a deadly plague ravaging the population. Kai doesn’t want to become emperor, and he certainly doesn’t want to marry the queen of Luna, but if he doesn’t find a cure and a missing Luna princess, that’s exactly what will happen.

Kai’s android is key to solving his problems, but she’s broken. There’s only one person he thinks can fix her — Cinder.

“Cinder” really does live up to its pre-launch hype. I admit some trepidation upon hearing it was a cyborg Cinderella tale. It sounded a bit silly. Wow, was I wrong. Author Marissa Meyer has so cleverly crafted her tale, you forget about the delicate glass slipper from your childhood princess book. It’s proof that a gifted writer can make words sing.

And Marissa is a gifted writer. Her prose is clean and thoughtful. There’s no rambling thoughts or stray words unless specifically attributed to a character’s personality. Her dialogue is flows naturally and her descriptions quickly help readers construct Cinder’s world in their minds. My one complaint — I don’t want to wait for the next book. I would have been perfectly happy if Marissa had kept going with the story.

What spoke to me the most throughout the book was Marissa’s treatment of character interactions. I love Cinder’s bantering friendship with the android Iko and her sisterly respect for Peony, who has a loveable flightiness to her. When Cinder interacts with Kai and Dr. Erland we see whole new dimensions.

I was one of the lucky reviewers who not only read an advanced copy, but listened to an advanced copy of the “Cinder” audiobook as well. The audiobook is amazing. It’s a toss-up as to whether I prefer it to the paper version, and that’s saying something.

Read by Rebecca Soler, “Cinder” truly comes to life. Rebecca reads each character with different accents, and she does it so well it’s at times hard to tell the same person is reading the entire text. Cinder’s spirit really comes alive through Rebecca, and I found myself focusing on different elements throughout the story because of it. It’s a long recording — more than eight hours — but totally absorbing and well worth listening to.

**Marissa will be at the King’s English Bookshop in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 11, at 7 p.m.

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“GLOW,” by Amy Kathleen Ryan, book published by St. Martin’s Griffin, audiobook read by Ilyana Kadushin and Matthew Brown, Macmillan Audio, Sept. 28, 2011 (ages 12 and up)

As someone who loves to read physical books, thumbing through the pages at varying rates and dog-earing corners to mark my spot, audiobooks never really appealed to me. They seemed cold and impersonal, like a teacher reading a book aloud in an elementary school class.

Having now experienced “Glow,” written by Amy Kathleen Ryan and read by Ilyana Kadushin and Matthew Brown, I can honestly say I was wrong. There are some definite benefits to having a book read to you, depending where you are.

“Glow” is a dystopian novel that takes place in space. For the children of the Empyrean, space is the only home they’ve ever known. Fifteen-year-old Waverly is one of the eldest children, who are pivotal to the success of the Empyrean’s mission — settling New Earth.

Being one of the eldest comes with great responsibility. Waverly knows she must marry young in order to have children who can carry on the mission — it’s what’s expected of her. Kieran, her boyfriend, seems the most likely choice for a husband; he’s handsome and being trained as the future ship captain. They certainly care for one another, but Waverly’s just not sure she’s ready for what everyone thinks is the best thing to do.

When the Empyrean’s sister ship, the New Horizon, comes in contact with the Empyrean, Waverly doesn’t have time to make a choice. Under the guise of a rescue mission, the New Horizon crew boards her ship and escorts all the girls off. Before anyone can stop them, the girls have been whisked away to a home that’s both eerily similar and vastly different.

Waverly and Kieran instantly find themselves leading dangerous missions far from the comfort of each other’s arms. The children, it seems, have been called to save the mission long before the call was expected.

Told from Waverly and Kieran’s points of view, readers/listeners get an up-close view of events on both ships. Voiced by Ilyana Kadushin and Matthew Brown, the tale takes on some of the personality of the talent. Both do an extremely good job of adding tension and other emotions when needed and change the tone of their voices for other characters when they speak.

Ilyana has a smooth calming voice that equally conveys Waverly’s fears and courage. She is easy to listen to, though perhaps sounds a little older than the 15 Waverly is supposed to be.

Matthew, on the other hand, sounds exactly like a squeaky teenage boy; so much so that it’s harder to get past that and listen to the story. He does do a fine job of growing with Kieran and it feels less forced as the story goes on.

Though it took a little while to get used to the voices, it was only a few chapters before I got lost in the story and the characters.

“Glow,” itself came as a bit of a revelation for me. There were twists I wasn’t expecting and religious elements that came when least expected. Author Amy Kathleen Ryan has done an excellent job mixing good and evil, bending and blurring the lines to keep the reader/listener guessing and thinking about what their own responses would be.

I listened to “Glow” while driving to and from work. At about 10 hours, that’s a little more than two week’s of commuting time. If I had read the book, it probably would have taken me a little more than 3 hours to read the some 320 pages. The reading would have been different, too.

There were a few times when I got frustrated, waiting in the parking garage for the end of an intense chapter. While the voice talent worked to draw out the tension, I know I would have been careening through the same section on my own, had I been reading it myself.

The problem is, I couldn’t be reading the book while driving the car. And that’s where I had to remind myself that I wasn’t wasting time, rather I was making better use of it. While listening to “Glow” my commute went smoother; I wasn’t frustrated as much with other drivers and I got to listen to a good story instead of commercials on the radio.

Audiobooks aren’t for everyone. You actually have to pay attention. It can’t be in the background. But there are times when they’re perfect — when working on a mindless project or a time when you just want to sit back and relax.

“Glow” is excellently produced. The quality is superb, and I enjoyed experiencing a new book in a new way. This experience has turned me into an audiobook commuter.

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