Review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire
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 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 didn’t want the Rapture to come and go without me having reviewed this book. McEntire stomps out of the debut starting gate with a fabulous novel full of geeky science, whovian references and kick ass prose.
I adore everything about our main character Emerson, from her name to her snarky attitude. She has the kind of humor that I love to read. The problem set in the book is unique and interesting to read. I immediately fell in love with Michael the main love interest. He is tall, dark, mysteriously broody and incredibly well written.
The science behind the time travel aspect of the book is tight. McEntire writes like an imaginative quantum physicist leaving nothing misunderstood to even the most unscientific mind. If you know me at all you know I don’t read time travel, or anything on a road trip, boat, or space ship. Myra kicked my judgmental ass by providing me with exactly the kind of science I want to see in this type of book.
I can’t stress enough that you should read this book. It has all of my favorite things, boys, secret organizations, fast-paced interesting plot and a self rescuing heroine for me to admire. I am looking forward to reading new things from the mind of Myra McEntire.
Review: Wildwing by Emily Whitman
From Goodreads: Addy knows there’s so much more to life than what she has. She must be destined for more than being a maid to an eccentric elderly man. And so when she finds a mysterious contraption in the gentleman’s study, of course she steps inside. Of course she bumps into the wrong button. Suddenly Addy is in medieval England, mistaken for the young woman betrothed to the lord of the nearby manor. It’s destiny. But is it home? And will she ever find her way back to her own time? Will she want to, once she’s met the shy, handsome falconer’s apprentice?
I first heard about Emily Whitman from Catherine at On the Nightstand. She was telling me about a book called Radiant Darkness. I ordered the book from my Library and it got lost on the truck. When Harper sent me Wildwing for review I was over-joyed. I wanted to read something from Whitman as her writing style has been praised over the blogosphere.
Wildwing was a fun read. Time travel books are always hit or miss with me and I do enjoy the ones from authors who researched the basics of quantum physics (I know nerdy). I put the improbabilities aside and tried to understand where Addy was coming from in her life.
A bastard, poor, working as a maid, and wishing she could go to school Addy has a lot on her mind. Mostly I felt Addy was selfish. She only seemed to have a care for others when she had went entirely too far with her travels and lies. Then still her first thought was to save herself. Always to save herself.
The characters in the book besides Addy were flat and not well fleshed out. Just when you think someone is about to get some depth the focus switches back to Addy.
I knew exactly what was going to happen around page 60 or so which isn’t always a bad thing but Wildwing was trying to build mystery and it was evident I wasn’t supposed to figure it out. I missed the jaw dropping revelation moment.
However it must be said that I didn’t put the book down and abandon it. I did enjoy some of the period drama but I missed descriptions like what did Henry III look like was he riding a palfrey or a war-horse.
If you like April Pike you will like Emily Whitman.
FTC Disclosure: This book was sent to me for review.
Review: Beautiful Dead (Book 1 Jonas) by Eden Maguire
Something strange is happening in Ellerton High. Phoenix is the fourth teenager to die within a year. His street fight stabbing follows the deaths of Jonas, Summer and Arizona in equally strange and sudden circumstances.
Rumours of ghosts and strange happenings rip through the small community as it comes to terms with shock and loss. Darina,Phoenix’s grief-stricken girlfriend, is on the verge. She can’t escape her intense heartache, or the impossible apparitions of those that are meant to be dead. And all the while the sound of beating wings echo inside her head! And then one day Phoenix appears to Darina.
Ecstatic to be reunited, he tells her about the Beautiful Dead. Souls in limbo, they have been chosen to return to the world to set right a wrong linked to their deaths and bring about justice. Beautiful, superhuman and powerful, they are marked by a ‘death mark’ – a small tattoo of angel’s wings. Phoenix tells her that the sound of invisible wings beating are the millions of souls in limbo, desperate to return to earth.Darina’s mission is clear: she must help Jonas, Summer, Arizona, and impossibly, her beloved Phoenix, right the wrong linked to their deaths to set them free from limbo so that they can finally rest in peace. Will love conquer death? And if it does, can Darina set it free?
Beautiful Dead has every element that I dislike seeing in a paranormal work. The book is about zombies but maybe I am missing the point. It seems like a lot of authors are taking from supernatural elements and renaming them into something they are not.
The teens die in a mysterious way and are reanimated by an overlord who gives them a year to the date of their death to solve the mystery of their murder. To me this feels more like necromancy especially with the supernatural elements that the author gives the said zombies. Time travel and magic over time. Each teen has a ‘death mark’ that is tattooed onto the spot of skin where they are killed.
I think I would have liked the book more if the author had left out the word zombie and had only called the characters the “Beautiful Dead”. I was not able to connect with the characters in any way and some of the character names seemed to pull me out of the story a bit. Such as having a boy named Phoenix and a girl named Arizona, I could only think of Phoenix, Arizona while I was reading.
Darina who is the main character you follow through the world is still alive. She helps the Beautiful Dead to find out from the living information that may be used to solve their murder before they pass on for good. I felt she was a very bad example for teens. She only cared for the boy who died, even more than caring for herself. I also disliked that yet again in a young adult novel the parents are lame, and hard, and on the point of being abusive. Not every kid has crap parents.
In the end I do not think I will be reading book two. I struggled over this review trying to find some silver lining to share with you but I am unable to do so. I suggest from the same publisher reading either Dreaming Anastasia by Joy Preble or Bran Hambric by Kaleb Nation. Both of these works are good examples of what Source is trying to convey with their Teen imprint.
