Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Hourglass by Myra McEntire
Release Date – June 14, 2011
Publisher – Egmont USA
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages - 397
My Rating- 8/10
Obtained - library

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

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.

I picked up this book due to the sheer number of people buzzing about this book. Science fiction novels and I do not usually agree, so I was not really sure what to expect. Myra McEntire’s novel is one of the few science fiction novels I have enjoyed.

The characters in this novel really make the difference. There were some characters I really liked and surprisingly they were not who I was expecting.

Emerson is a puzzle. She’s snarky and tries to keep people at a distance. She is afraid of people finding out about her visions, and thinking she’s weird. She’s also someone who has been through a lot. I felt it harder to connect to her as a character. Her family consists of her brother and his wife. I liked how concerned her brother was for her, and the relationship she has with her sister-in-law is actually really sweet.

Emerson’s best friend Lily was fantastic. She provided a lot of humours moments, and was a really fun character. I think I liked her more than Emerson. I really hope to see more of her in the next books.

The character of Michael is very typical of the “cute boy” in a lot of books. He is good looking, is a little snarky like Emerson, and is part of the Hourglass organization. He and Emerson have this hot and cold relationship and I found myself just wanting them to talk it out already.

Kaleb is another boy who ends up on Emerson’s radar and could potentially give Michael some competition. I liked Kaleb a lot too. He was damaged, and broken. He made mistakes. I liked that even though he had some awful things happen in his life he could still joke around. I hope he is in the next few books a lot more.

The science part of this was really unique and my favourite part of the story. Michael asks her to help him prevent a murder that happened and to do this they travel back in time. I haven’t read a lot of books that deal with time travel so I was really excited to dive in. I felt it was adequately explained and I wasn’t confused.

I was expecting a huge cliffhanger as I read this is just the first book in a series, and was surprised to see that was not the case. There was enough to set up the next books though, and I am looking forward to getting to know these characters more.