Review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Book: Hourglass by Myra McEntire
Publisher: Egmont USA
Pages: 387
Source: Bought
Links: Goodreads | Amazon

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?

I'm not so much for time travel novels; they just never seemed to appeal to me. However, after requesting Timepiece (the sequel to Hourglass), I felt like I had to read Hourglass. And lo and behold, Hourglass went on sale for Kindle, so...I bought it! (Obviously.)

I read it, and this book gave me a somewhat dangerous disease: mixed-feeling-itis! (OH, THE HORROR! *cue the dramatic music*)

WHAT I LIKED:

• This heroine is the bomb diggity.
• After a few pages, I already knew that I was going to love Emerson. She has the best sense of humor and I just love how strong and independent she is. McEntire strayed far far away from the whiny heroine path, which is an A plus in my book.

• This book has vacuum-like qualities.
• Vacuum-like meaning it sucked me in and didn't let me go! I swear, McEntire must have some magic voodoo skills in her writing because I was pretty much dying to know what would happen next after each chapter.

• I really liked the idea of the Hourglass.
• As the title suggests, the book revolves mostly around the Hourglass and Emerson herself. A little reminiscent of X-Men, the whole idea was pretty unique and it left me pleasantly surprised when I found out what the Hourglass really was.

•  When Emerson met Michael, d'aaww.
• Well, okay, I don't know why, I just do. I completely adored the scene when Emerson met Michael for no reason. The instant click between them, the emotions, the hotness radiating off Michael like he's some dazzling star, just everything! ♥ It was an incredibly well written scene, and perhaps my most favorite scene in the book.
• Emerson's inner dialogue during this scene was also pretty hilarious at times.

• Kaleb, you make my heart race. *swoon*
• Kaleb is just so swoon worthy. If the hotness radiating off Michael is like a dazzling star, well the hotness radiating off Kaleb was like of a thousand suns! Flirty with a wicked sense of humor, McEntire did not fail at all to make him one-dimensional at all. Go, complex secondary characters!

 

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:

• The thing that bothers me the most is the instant love in this book.
• If I may recall (and correct me on this if I'm wrong), the time frame for all of the events in this book took two weeks, right? I firmly believe it is not possible to fall in love in two weeks. 
• Of course there's an underlying, deep physical attraction between Em and Michael but two weeks can't cut it for me.
• I didn't even swoon over Michael and Emerson, save a couple of scenes. The romance between them just didn't light any kinds of sparks in my heart. And although Michael was pretty hot, I just couldn't bring myself to like him for some reason. Le sigh.

•  The major plot twist in this book wasn't entirely surprising.
• As a reader, I like to be kept on my toes with my heart pounding and teeth chattering. It just disappointed me that I kind of saw what was going to happen. However, not to say I completely saw it coming, the plot twist did manage me to let out a small gasp. 

• I couldn't feel anything for this book.
• Aside from the humorous scenes and banters between characters, the sad scenes just weren't that... er, sad. 
• I mean, I want to be bawling and have my heart ripped into pieces on the floor (okay, maybe, that's a bit too gruesome) but my main point is that the emotion-packed scenes didn't necessarily warm or break my heart, which made me feel rather disappointed.

THE VERDICT:

• Being the fast-paced, engaging read that it was, Hourglass had many positives for me. I enjoyed the realistic banter exchanged between characters, I swooned and squealed over a few things here and there, I even adored the heroine to bits! However, there were too many negatives that brought it down for me, so in all, it was just an okay read.