Hourglass (Hourglass #1)
Myra McEntire
Published June 24, 2011
ARC Received from Publisher
For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.
So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past.
Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?
Full of atmosphere, mystery, and romance, Hourglass merges the very best of the paranormal and science-fiction genres in a seductive, remarkable young adult debut. –Goodreads
When I first saw the cover of this book I thought, “No freakin’ way! Looks insanely creepy and I hate creepy.” That’s why you should never judge a book by it’s cover, y’all. It does have some creepiness to it, our main character, Emerson, can see ghosts and talk to them, but this book is more than that. It is time travel and love story and ghost story and all kinds of awesomeness rolled into one book. I absolutely loved it.
There are some things about Hourglass that were kinda annoying, the start of a love triangle mostly, but I can forgive McEntire for that because the rest of the story is so good. I love a book that has a new concept we don’t see in every book and Hourglass definitely has it – time travel. Time traveling is so fun and interesting and there are so many different ways it can be explained. That was my favorite part of this book and I think McEntire does a great job of developing the story and explaining how the time traveling works within the story she has created.
That’s not to say that I didn’t love the characters, I definitely did – especially Emerson. Emerson has been through so much – how she is still function is beyond me – so for her to still be as funny and tough as she is is great. I know some reviewers didn’t seem to like her brother but I thought he did a good job of taking care of Emerson with all the crap she’s gone through. I like that she actually has a authority figure in her life – a lot of YA paranormal books are lacking that. Michael was also a very interesting character. I’m interested to see how their relationship plays out after everything that has happened in Hourglass. It also looks like McEntire has set it up for a love triangle (one that I hope doesn’t get developed) with Kaleb, Michael’s friend and colleague at Hourglass. I do like Kaleb though. He is an interesting character and brings a lot to the story – I just hate me some love triangles.
If you are looking for something away from vampires and werewolves and want something a little more on the sci-fi side – Hourglass is definitely for you. I’m looking forward to the next book in the trilogy.