Book Review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Synopsis (from Goodreads):  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 also 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've happened.

 

My Thoughts:  I bought this book when it first came out because I really wanted to read it.  I haven't read anything about time travel yet so the idea intrigued me.  However, life happens and ARCs kept coming and this book just kept getting pushed down the pile.  Well, I took a little bit of a break from blogging due to house problems and packed all my books when I moved.  My sister returned this book to me and since it was one of the few I had that wasn't in a box in a garage somewhere, I was finally able to read it!

 

Emerson is an interesting character.  She has dealt with a lot in her life but I never saw the twist at the end coming...the twist of how Landers found her.  But...Emerson is special.  She can see "rips" better known as ghosts or spirits.  Emerson, who lives with her older brother and his wife, isn't sure how to handle this so her brother brings in a specialist, Michael, to help her.   Michael is from an organization called the Hourglass.  

 

Of course, Emerson and Michael have an instant attraction but the romance is forbidden.  That doesn't stop Emerson though.  Then Kaleb enters the picture and there is a (very) small love triangle.  

Together, Emerson, Michael and Kaleb have to figure out how to go back in time and change the past...without, you know, changing the past.  They can't "disrupt" the timeline so they have to get it just right.  And there is a bad guy that tries to mess it all up.  

One of the things I did have a problem with was Lily, Emerson's best friend.  She was huge in the beginning, always being there for Emerson.  Lily even has her own special abilities that briefly get touched upon but then...poof!  She's gone.  Okay, she's not really gone but she falls WAY back in the book.  I think there is one or two mentions of Lily during the time travel period but that's all.  Emerson gives her a call to warn her about something and then Emerson calls her after everything is over to tell her she can't work at the coffee shop anymore and that's it.  No more on Lily's ability or even her just being there for her bestie.  It was slightly disappointing as I liked her character a lot.

 

Still, I was completely engrossed in this book.  The twists and turns were unexpected and the romance was hot!  I loved that it wasn't too much science fiction (that just loses me) but this book was very easy to understand.   I am very glad I have the second book...and it's even on my Nook so I don't have to dig through boxes to read it!