Review: Timepiece

Title: Timepiece
Author: Myra McEntire
Publisher: Egmont USA
Release Date: June 12, 2012
Pages: 325
Format: NetGalley (Giant thank you goes out to Egmont USA!!!)

A threat from the past could destroy the future. And the clock is ticking…
Kaleb Ballard’s relentless flirting is interrupted when Jack Landers, the man who tried to murder his father, timeslips in and attacks before disappearing just as quickly. But Kaleb has never before been able to see time travelers, unlike many of his friends associated with the mysterious Hourglass organization. Are Kaleb’s powers expanding, or is something very wrong?
Then the Hourglass is issued an ultimatum. Either they find Jack and the research he’s stolen on the time gene, or time will be altered with devastating results. 
Now Kaleb, Emerson, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their unusual powers to find Jack. But where do they even start? And when? And even if they succeed, it may not be enough…—from Goodreads

 Around this time last year, I read Hourglass by Myra McEntire, not realizing how much I would love it.

And then I read it. And realized. And a lot of y’all did too.

That last part makes me happy.

But what makes me more happy is that Timepiece, the sequel to Hourglass absolutely holds up to the first book.

Not that I was worried.

With Timepiece our beloved Miss Myra McEntire made the OMG SO BRAVE decision to switch narrators on us. We meet and really get to know and fall in love with the wonderfully sassy Emerson Cole as she narrates Hourglass, but in Timepiece we have a new narrator—Kaleb (KALEB!), the oh-so smokin’ guy we met ’round about halfway through Hourglass, but never really got to know.

I mean, it was easy to tell that he’s smokin’. And an empath. And great. But we weren’t involved in what was happening in his brain.

And though I did miss Emerson as the narrator (I really gelled with her. But it’s not like Em went anywhere. She’s still around, sassin’ peeps and generally doing her thang.), McEntire did a great job with Kaleb. The narrator switch was a brilliant way to connect the audience to a character introduced late in the first book, and to provide a fresh reading (and, I’m sure, writing) experience.

And. AND! One should not forget that Kaleb is an empath. So, having him narrate provides a lot of emotional insight  about other characters and about him, which makes the characters richer and more layered. And although Kaleb can read the emotional room, he can’t read the motivations behind the emotions. Which makes things interesting.

But Kaleb isn’t the only Hourglass minor character who made the leap to the majors. You know who else is still around? Lily.

OH LILY, MY LOVE. I am so glad we are better acquainted.

Lily Diaz, Em’s spitfire of a best friend who works at Murphy’s Law, was introdued in Hourglass, but was a peripheral character. But in Timepiece Lily is all kinds of around. And, just as you get to know Kaleb better, you also get to know Lily. And y’all. You’ll be so glad of this.

And though I am very enthusiastically urging you to go BUY THIS BOOK, I do have a word of advice for you. Before you ravenously devour Timepiece, take a little revisit to Hourglass. Reread the whole thing if you have the time. If you don’t, read at least the last two chapters or a very spoilerific review of the book.

Because time traveling and timeslipping can be intensely confusing.

There were a couple times while reading Timepiece where I found myself thinking, WAIT, WHAT?! And I’d run back to my copy of Hourglass and was all, “Oh yes. That. I remember now.” So don’t do like me, and instead PROPERLY PREPARE YOURSELF. You’ll be glad you did. Unless you’re one of those people who just REMEMBERS ALL from every book you read.

I am jealous of you if you can do that.

In sum, if you enjoyed Hourglass, you’ll be very, very, VERY happy with Timepiece. And if you didn’t like Hourglass, then you can leave. (I kid. You may have your own opinion. Just know that it is a stupid one.) But seriously. Timepiece is great and Myra McEntire is great and Egmont USA is great, and you should give them your monies in exchange for this book.