Hourglass by Myra McEntire
Published by Egmont USA
One hour to rewrite the past . . .
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.
Published by Egmont USA
One hour to rewrite the past . . .
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.
***
Hourglass is a uniquely different YA novel which I devoured in a matter of hours. It was fast paced and engaging throughout with excellent characters I just wanted to know more and more about.
Emerson Cole is a fascinating lead character. She has clearly been through a lot in her short life spending a great deal of time thinking she was stark raving mad because she saw ghosts floating around her to the point where she was institutionalised. Since being released back into the wider world she has spent her time trying to work out what has been going on. What I liked was that once she finally started to get some answers with the arrival of Michael on the scene she handled all the things thrown at her remarkably well whilst wanting to know more and more about her abilities and why she could see what see sees on a daily basis.
Michael is also a really interesting character. He is brought on the scene by Emerson's older brother a representative of the mysterious Hourglass company to mentor Emerson. Emerson finds herself immediately drawn to him to which he responds by attempting to be the perfect and totally gorgeous gentleman by her (with only the very occasional slip up). He is aloof throughout which seems to drive Emerson crazy meaning she goes to great lengths to get more answers from him as he seems to know an awful lot about Emerson and her condition. I loved how he starts to soften towards Emerson as the story progresses and found myself swooning in awe of his general gorgeousness.
Once the story gets underway the ideas put forward are awesome and the story is complex in how it plays out but I was never left wondering what was going on it that confused kind of way even though there were a few ideas you had to get your head round because the ideas were quite cleverly thought out. I loved the time travel element to the story and enjoyed seeing now the notion was used in the book in a very different way to what I have seen done before. I loved the twists and turns as they came along (me being me didn't see them coming at all) and am left wanting more, lots more.
Emerson Cole is a fascinating lead character. She has clearly been through a lot in her short life spending a great deal of time thinking she was stark raving mad because she saw ghosts floating around her to the point where she was institutionalised. Since being released back into the wider world she has spent her time trying to work out what has been going on. What I liked was that once she finally started to get some answers with the arrival of Michael on the scene she handled all the things thrown at her remarkably well whilst wanting to know more and more about her abilities and why she could see what see sees on a daily basis.
Michael is also a really interesting character. He is brought on the scene by Emerson's older brother a representative of the mysterious Hourglass company to mentor Emerson. Emerson finds herself immediately drawn to him to which he responds by attempting to be the perfect and totally gorgeous gentleman by her (with only the very occasional slip up). He is aloof throughout which seems to drive Emerson crazy meaning she goes to great lengths to get more answers from him as he seems to know an awful lot about Emerson and her condition. I loved how he starts to soften towards Emerson as the story progresses and found myself swooning in awe of his general gorgeousness.
Once the story gets underway the ideas put forward are awesome and the story is complex in how it plays out but I was never left wondering what was going on it that confused kind of way even though there were a few ideas you had to get your head round because the ideas were quite cleverly thought out. I loved the time travel element to the story and enjoyed seeing now the notion was used in the book in a very different way to what I have seen done before. I loved the twists and turns as they came along (me being me didn't see them coming at all) and am left wanting more, lots more.
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