Review: Hourglass
Title: Hourglass
Author: Myra McEntire
Publisher: Egmont USA
Pub Date: June 14, 2011
Pages: 397
Format: Fire & Ice ARC Tour (Thank you SO MUCH!!)
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?–Goodreads
With Hourglass, debut author extraordinaire Myra McEntire balances science fiction, romance, and a coming-of-age story in one seamless, effortless package. McEntire’s prose are conversational, funny, and completely packed with Southern colloquialisms—something that makes my little Southern expat heart go pitter-patter—and she crafts and develops characters so fully that they seem to transcend the page.
The fabulously named main character, Emerson, is quite possibly one of my favorite female protagonists, oh, ya know, ever. (Really, she’s right on up there with Elizabeth Bennett, Anne Shirley, and Georgia Nicholson.) She’s sure of herself despite not knowing what she’s capable of, she’s full of a soft Southern toughness that proves she can take care of herself, but also draws people to her, and she is sarcastic and witty in a way that is endearing and not alienating. The mystery surrounding her ability to see things from the past just makes her all that more intriguing, even if it does mess with her head and make her go a tidbit bonkers from time to time.
But Hourglass isn’t just about Emerson—in addition to some very Doctor Who-esque sci-fi stuff, there’s also a boy. Michael Weaver, the Hourglass consultant that Em’s loving and attentive brother, Thomas, hires to help his sister work out her visions of things from the past, is a little, well, disarming. He’s young, handsome, mysterious, and has a more-than-professional interest in our (awesome) main character. AND he’s a man who knows how to apologize. Ladies, take a lesson from this book—a man should always bring flowers, preferably pink peonies, when apologizing.
But the great thing about Emerson is that, though she admits to her only friend, Lily, that she and Michael have an instant chemistry and that he is very attractive, Em doesn’t even think about her romantic feelings for him until the book is almost over. In fact, Em kind of avoids him for a good bit of the book because she’s a little freaked out by him. Because of the intensely traumatic things she has been through—and often sees—Em finds it hard to trust people, and refuses to let herself succumb to Michael’s charms despite the fact that she wants to. She’s a smart girl, that Emerson.
Now that’s not to say that there aren’t any steamy, sexual tension laden passages—there definitely are. Michael will have you all swoony and on his side, and then BAM. McEntire introduces you to Kaleb, another member of the intriguing Hourglass organization.
Oh Kaleb.
Where Michael is level-headed, careful, and self-less, Kaleb is. Mmm. He’s the bad boy. Me likey the bad boys. He’s everything a girl shouldn’t want in a guy—the exact combination of troubled, reckless, charming, and physically intimidating that just makes a girl lose her head, let down her guard, and get her heart trampled on. But Emerson seems to be just the girl Kaleb needs to get him out of his downward spiral, which makes for some delicious sexual tension between the pair.
When we realize exactly what it is Emerson can do—and how she fits in with the Hourglass organization—we also realize that Michael has a secret agenda that involves our lovely Miss Emerson. A secret agenda that involves some very large, very severe risks, and that requires a lot of sacrifice on one person’s part.
By the end of Hourglass, not only will you be BLOWN AWAY by the intricately plotted story, but you’ll be so in love with the characters that you’ll miss them. McEntire leaves Emerson in a place where she has both learned more about herself and is more confused about herself than ever. You’ll be satisfied with the story, but yearning for the next book in the series . . . which doesn’t come out until next year.
It’s going to be a loooong year.
Y’all. I’ve really refrained from writing this entire review in all caps and exclamation points and random characters to convey my excitement. So now I’m going to allow myself to freak out a little.
I REALLY FREAKING LOVE THIS BOOK WITH A DEEP, DEEP, BURNING PASSION!!!!!!
*dances around the room, with book*
I want to kiss it. In fact, I have kissed my finished copy of it. Several times. Perhaps I should marry it.
So now I will re-read Hourglass until I have it memorized, and will pimp this book until you have ALL read it. Because it is THAT good.
Seriously.
In fact. I love it so much that I’m going to guy buy a second copy and do a giveaway!
If you want to WIN A COPY of Hourglass (and you do), fill out the form below!
[Giveaway is now closed. But if you want a copy (and you do), you can purchase Hourglass here.]
Book Trailer: Hourglass!!
Review: The Twisted Thread
Title: The Twisted Thread
Author: Charlotte Bacon
Publisher: Voice (Hyperion)
Pages: 352
Release Date: June 14, 2011
Format: Galley via NetGalley (Thank you!)
When beautiful but aloof Claire Harkness is found dead in her dorm room one spring morning, prestigious Armitage Academy is shaken to its core. Everyone connected to school, and to Claire, finds their lives upended, from the local police detective who has a personal history with the academy, to the various faculty and staff whose lives are immersed in the daily rituals associated with it.
Everyone wants to know how Claire died, at whose hands, and more importantly, where the baby that she recently gave birth to is a baby that almost no one, except her small innermost circle, knew she was carrying.
At the center of the investigation is Madeline Christopher, an intern in the English department who is forced to examine the nature of the relationship between the school s students and the adults meant to guide them. As the case unravels, the dark intricacies of adolescent privilege at a powerful institution are exposed, and both teachers and students emerge as suspects as the novel rushes to its thrilling conclusion.
With The Twisted Thread, Charlotte Bacon has crafted a gripping and suspenseful story in the tradition of Donna Tartt s The Secret History, one that pulls back the curtain on the lives of the young and privileged.–Goodreads
The Twisted Thread is a murder mystery of the calm variety. Nothing necessarily sneaks up on you, you aren’t wracking your brain trying to figure out who-done-it, nor are you ever sitting with a pit in your stomach because of the incredible suspense. Instead, the story unfolds quietly, and when the facts are all finally presented at the end, you find yourself relieved to know what happened and ready to move on.
Although I liked how the story played out, I found it very slow-paced. I think it’s just an issue with my attention span, because Bacon’s prose are lovely and the characters she crafts are very well-developed, but there were many times that I just couldn’t focus on the book. My mind was everywhere BUT the story and I’d find I was just staring at a page for ten minutes, thinking about other things instead of reading.
I think part of my inability to focus was the fact that the story is told from multiple characters’ perspectives. Typically I really enjoy multi-perspective books, but in this one, I was only really interested in two of the the perspectives, and when those characters weren’t narrating, I became disinterested.
There were also times where I thought that certain characters and details were going to come back into play in a major way; I’d read it and think “Ah ha! I bet that’s super important!!” and then I’d never hear from that character again, or that seemingly important detail never made a comeback. I was sort of annoyed that I never felt the satisfaction of having my hunch be validated. Maybe that is my issue with this book—your hunches and suspicions are never really justified or discounted because it’s NOT that kind of mystery. It’s simply a story of what happens to the people in a small, class divided town when a wealthy girl is murdered and her secret baby disappears.
Overall, The Twisted Thread showcases Bacon’s rich, detail-filled writing and highlights her ability to create a very believable world of both the haves and the have-nots. It’s definitely not a book for those who want an action-packed, shoot ’em up mystery with a swanky detective, but if you’re in the market for a well-plotted book that slowly unfolds, The Twisted Thread will be right up your alley.
TGIF: YA Saves
So, this has been a fairly fraught week in the YA world. On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal published an article by Meghan Cox Gurdon who decided to assess the state of YA literature and determined that it’s too dark and too violent and gives troubled teens ideas of how to off themselves or otherwise wreak havoc on their lives.
*groan*
So naturally, Ginger over at GReads! has asked:
How do you feel about the “dark” books filling our YA shelves today?
They don’t bother me one bit.
I hate censorship. I hate when people want to discount or water down the teenage experience. And I hate when people point fingers and talk shit about things that they haven’t properly researched.
Luckily, the WSJ is a respectable newspaper, and have published a seriously moving piece written by YA author Sherman Alexie, who wrote The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian. Go read it. It’s awesome.
AND NOW I’m going to go prepare for my sister to come to NYC this weekend. I hope y’all have all had freaking fantastic week and that your weekend is going to be as much fun as mine!
Review: Beautiful Creatures
Title: Beautiful Creatures
Author: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Pages: 563
Release Date: December 1, 2009
So there were a couple things about Beautiful Creatures that really surprised me:
1. It’s from a boy’s perspective! I guess that because the jacket copy starts with Lena, I just assumed she’d be the narrator. But NOPE! I was very pleasantly surprised by the male voice and really, really liked Ethan as my narrator. Yay BOYS!
2. The density of the Southern-ness. This book is SO SOUTHERN. The speech, the food, the superstition, the fashion, the attitudes, the heritage–all of it is spot on. The setting feels so damn authentic that I actually Googled to find out if Gatlin, SC is a real place. It isn’t. 😦
Other than the setting and ambience of the book, I super enjoyed this, which surprised me. I’ve been on a, well, not an ANTI paranormal kick, but a reluctant-to-read paranormal kick. But, every time I went to visit the ARC shelf at work, I felt like I was drawn to this particular book, so I just decided that I was going to read it.
And I am so glad that I did.
Because of the high page count, I was a little concerned that I’d get burnt out or bored while reading this. But, as it turns out, the plot unfolds beautifully–it’s mysterious and intriguing and gives you just enough at just the right times to keep you turning to pages. And there are definitely a couple “OMG!” moments. (e.g., when you finally find out about Macon. I did NOT see that coming!!! I was on the train coming home from the City when I read that part and I gasped so loudly that the guy next to me took his headphones off to ask if I was okay. Yeahhhhh.)
But what REALLY made me enjoy this book was the lovely use of Civil War “history” and genealogy as driving sources. Southerners are so steeped in their own history and have such a pride of place and family, that the importance placed on the history of both place and family was really the glue that made all of the other components in the book work. Had this book been just a paranormal love story set in the South, it probably would have fine, but it definitely wouldn’t have felt nearly as authentic and, in a way, real.
Overall . . . I loved Beautiful Creatures. It’s very well-thought out, it’s beautifully paced, and it’s just one of those books that is so rich and lush in both character and setting that you can get lost in it. So basically: Love it, love it, love it. I can’t wait to get my hands on the sequel and spend some more time with Ethan and Lena in Gatlin!
Bethany Larson 