Release Date: June 14th, 2011
Genre:  Romance, Supernatural, Paranormal
Publisher: Egmont
Pages: 400
Rating:
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Summary:

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?

Review: Egmont has published some real winners (The Dark Divine series is one of my FAVORITES) so I had really high hopes for this book. I was very sad when it fell short of my expectations.

I feel bad for this book. If it had been written 5-10 years ago it would have been a smash hit. It's got a great story and is well written. As it is, I know that many people will still adore it, as well they should.

Please note that I'm totally biased in this review. As soon as I realized what kind of book Hourlgass was going to be (much more romance than paranormal) I instantly put on my "critical glasses."

For me, Hourglass felt like every other paranormal romance out there. The biggest thing that bothered me is that the two love interests had that "instant connection" thing. As in, when their skin touched they felt paranormal tingles. I've come to feel like this is kind of a cop-out. I never know if the author is using it as a plot element, or an easy way to get out of fully developing a relationship. I believe it is the former, because the main guy addressed the "instant love" issue in the book. Either way, it made me jaded. Then the author introduced another love interest, and that just confused me. Is she trying to introduce a love triangle? Are we supposed to like this guy? I did

The author did a great job of making her story original. I've never read anything that has this kind of time-travel/visions idea and that was really cool. However, I felt the originality of the concept wasn't enough to overcome the standard-ness of the plot. Even though the concept was worked into the plot in interesting ways, it was still the same plot-structure that many paranormal romances seem to follow.

And so, I'll end this review like I end many reviews:

If you're LOVING the influx of paranormal romances into the YA litsphere, then you'll love Hourglass. It's well written and interesting. However, if you (like me) are tired of reading paranormal romances that all seem to blend together, Hourglass is not for you.



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