Series: Hourglass Book 1
Author(s): Myra McEntire
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Scifi, Romance
Publisher/Year: Egmont USA/2011
-Webpage/blog: Myra McEntire Webpage and Blog
Synopsis: 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?
Rating:
Review: Realistically speaking this is more like a 4.5 for me. Even though I stayed up all night reading it, and skipped out on doing something else.
The concept behind Hourglass had me hooked. Its a blend of paranormal and scifi--time travel tempered with scientific reasoning and explanations, none of which I understand (they said Doctor Who! I understood that)--but works well. There's insta-love involved (kind of) and I can't really explain more than that without spoilers, but thank you McEntire for not making the romance sappy and overly dramatic.
While Emerson isn't the most level-headed teen I've read about lately, I appreciated that much of her anxiety and issues were rooted in serious problems from her past. Her fear of being called crazy has a very real foundation from when she was dosed with drugs all the time. Her off kilter way of behaving had a lot more to do with the disconnect she felt with her (much) older brother and guilt over her parents death then her need for attention. Even before some startling truths came to light in regards to her past, I felt horrible for her.
Though its fashionable to paint the main character as having a highly dysfunctional family life, I think McEntire kept it grounded in reality. There's quite an age gap between Emerson and her older brother Thomas, plus a wealth of unspoken emotions that bubble to the surface at times, but never truly come out. There is obvious affection between the pair however and Thomas's wife, Dru acts as a good go-between for them when things get dicey.
In some ways I grew impatient with the romance storyline with Michael. Though he said 'this is wrong' and sort of tried to convince Emerson of the fact, he also didn't so enough. Until about three quarters of the way through the book I was deeply suspicious of him and his actions. Scratch that even after I finished the book I was deeply suspicious of him. Granted some of his shadier moments are given a good explanation, but for some reason something didn't sit right with me. I'm hoping this feeling disappates when I read book two.
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