HOURGLASS by Myra McEntire, A Bookanista Review

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?

From me:

Myra McEntire swept me away immediately in this genre-bending tale. Emerson Cole is an engaging protagonist – witty and yet humble, sensitive but totally badass. She was complicated, just as characters should be. I loved so much about her. I loved her relationship with her brother and his wife. I loved that she was an outcast, a girl who struggled to come to terms with a gift that, until the events of the story, were very much a curse. I loved watching her accept and then learn to master her ability.

Hourglass peeled back in enjoyable layers. The spectral story in the earlier part of the book morphed seamlessly into a story about time travel. The romance also developed at a great pace. Michael, the primary love interest, has very likable, but I have to cast my vote for Kaleb, a character who appears later in the story. Kaleb is awesome.

Hourglass is thoroughly enjoyable. And look at that cover. Stunning, isn’t it?

Check out what the rest of the Bookanistas are reading this week:

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Christine Fonseca interviews YA Fiction for Dummies author Deborah Halverson – with giveaway

Beth Revis interviews A Scary Scene in a Scary Movie author Matt Blackstone

Carolina Valdez Miller is wowed by Wildfire – with giveaway

Shana Silver gushes over Hourglass

Jen Hayley delves into Divergent

Rosemary Clement-Moore thinks Chime is divine

Stasia Ward Kehoe has applause for Trauma Queen