Book Review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Hourglass by Myra McEntire
(Hourglass, #1)
Release Date: June 14, 2011
Publisher: EgmontUSA; 400 pages

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.

Seventeen year old Emerson Cole's parents died when she was younger, and since their death has lived with her older brother Thomas and his wife Dru. Oh and the little fact that right before her parents death, Emerson started seeing people from the past. Imagine sitting in your room and suddenly seeing a Civil War soldier shining up his gun. I personally would freak out. Things got so bad for Emerson that she eventually was put on medication and was hospitalized. After going through many therapist and psychologist, her brother eventually introduces her to Michael Weaver. Michael is only a few years older than Emerson, and he works for this mysterious company called Hourglass.

Electrifiying. That was the first word that came to my mind when I first started to categorize the relationship between Emerson and Michael. Emerson and Michael parallel each other. And when they touch sparks fly...literally. I think everyone dreams of meeting their soul mate, their other half. While Emerson sees people from the past, Michael sees people from the future. And when Emerson meets Michael, she finds out that they can both time travel.

I will say that paranormal is usually not my genre. It's not that I have anything against it. It's just that I usually get very confused and can't understand it. Plus I have a phobia of anything horror. I get scared easily and get frightened out of my mind. But Hourglass captured my attention from beginning to end. There was never a point in which I was confused, or didn't understand anything that was going on.

I absolutely adore this book, and I love the characters. Emerson is very quirky. She actually reminds me a lot of myself when I was a teenager. Except she says a lot of things out loud that I would never say, but would usually think. I think the author does an amazing job of telling the story of a seventeen year old. Sometimes when I read YA books I often question if the author can correctly tell the story of a teenager. Not with this book.

The sequel Timepiece comes out in June and I cannot wait to read it.