Guest Review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

I am Very happy to have Richard (Did y’all know my husband blogs?) do a guest review today! Richard from Bound & Determined To Find A Good Read has a Southern book tour coming up next month, there will be info at the bottom of this post if you would like to get involved

Title: Hourglass
Author: Myra McEntire
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: EgmontUSA
Release Date: June 14, 2011
ISBN-10: 1606841440
ISBN-13: 978-1606841440
Author’s Website
Source: Self Purchase

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. (Goodreads)

Review

So, what’s the best thing about this book?  You don’t have to have a PhD in physics to understand how they time travel.  It’s not complicated.  At all.  And that’s also the weakest part of the book.  There doesn’t seem to be enough of the science behind why they can time travel.  Ok, I’ll give that this is the first in a series, so maybe more comes up, but just roll with it for now.
 
I really didn’t like Emerson or Michael.  I did like the cast of support-characters, though.  Thomas and Dru are at the top of the list.  Kaleb even makes the top three, but Emerson and Michael are just severly lacking development.
 
And don’t get me started on the romance element.  Yuck.  It was…scripted and expected just like in every other YA-love-triangle-romance ever written.  I know that’s a generalization, but really.  Have you read Twilight?  You know the whole Edward-Bella-Jacob thing?  Yeah, just change the names, the theme, and the setting and you’ll have the basics down for Hourglass.  It was very been-there-done-that.  And I really didn’t buy that Emerson would be as willing to trust and buy-into the whole Hourglass thing just because she felt something special between her and Michael.  It made her seem naïve, not broken; gullible, not vulnerable.
 
Is Myra McEntire a genius?  I think so.  She’s written an interesting story with themes I have yet to read in YA, much less adult fiction.  Time travel is the next vampire or werewolf.  Mark my words.  Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating again, but seriously, McEntire gets major props for crafting a tale that, though I didn’t like the main characters and really wanted them to get hit by a bus, I kept reading.  I was hooked on the story itself.  Will I read the next book? YES!  Will I like Emerson and Michael any more than I do?  Time will tell.
 
Get to reading,
 

 

 

Other Books in the Series

 

Now about Richard’s Southern Book Tour. I am super excited about this! I wont be able to explain the tour any better than his page does, so…I’m just going to steal it and paste it below. I hope a lot of you participate. 

 

Southern Book Tour

Having been inspired by the “Putting the Yall in Yall Fest” panel at Yall Fest 2011, I got the idea to have a Southern Book Tour on my blog.  It will feature guest posts by Southern authors, reviews of books set in the South, guest posts by Southern book bloggers, previews of upcoming Southern books, and (of course) GIVEAWAYS!
 
I am wanting this event to be HUGE with at least 1 post every weekday of April 2012!  “Why am I posting about this now?” you may be asking yourself.  Well, one reason is because I’m a planner.  I have to have this organized and ready before April or I will go insane!  And the most important reason: because I’ll need help.  LOTS of help.
If you fit into any of the categories above, would be willing to post a guest review, or guest blog, fill out THIS FORM.
 
Thanks for checking this out and thank you for your interest!
 
Now…
 
Get to reading (and filling out the form!),
Richard