Review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Wow. This book was incredible! I love the mind-bending concept of time traveling and I’d never read a book about it before. It’s just so cool, even though if I think too much into the details it’s a bit hard to wrap my head around – like what traveling to the past and making any changes would do to the future. And paradoxes. Whaa – it’s like the dream within a dream within a dream stuff from Inception. Makes my brain hurt!

Let’s start with Emerson. She’s everything I want in a female protag that I wish many other books had. I absolutely adored her and right from the start I made a connection with her. Why, you ask? She’s witty and fluent in sarcasm (automatic brownie points), wears Converse, hates dresses, knows karate, and she’s short. Okay, so maybe I don’t know karate (even though I wish I did), but she’s lot like me. I loved her from the moment she punched Michael in the stomach and my thought was, she and I could be best friends in real life…
I loved her even  more when she told Michael, “Most of what comes out is complete truth. My edit button is broken.” YES! Mine too, girl! :D
A couple of quotes that made me relate to her:
“Lily’s the kind of girl who causes men to run into street signs and trip over chairs because they’re too busy looking at her to walk. If she didn’t have a wicked sense of humor and more loyalty than a Saint Bernard, I would probably hate her on principle alone.”
“The only  way I’d ever experience children would be vicariously, as the spinster aunt living in a tiny house with thirty cats.” DUDE, I don’t know how many times I’ve joked about this being my retirement plan. This was definitely my favorite quote.

I had mixed feelings about Michael. It was hard to dislike him with the way he made her feel since it was in first person, but there were times when I really just wanted to slap him. Particularly after Ava and Kaleb came into play. Kaleb was a great character too – a cocky smart-ass with a soft side – and I liked him instantly. I hated Ava, by the way. The jealously that she elicits in Em made me feel a bit of a grudge. And the snarky way she acted made me want to punch her lights out. Em, you know karate, what are you waiting for?!

The only complaint I had about this book was when Kaleb came in and all the sudden Em was all goo-goo-gaga over him. I didn’t really understand the relationship between them, because it developed in ten seconds flat and on zero basis. Okay, he’s hot and has a tender moment with you, so what? I didn’t get why she’d been after Michael all book and all the sudden Kaleb pops in and she’s stuck between them. Like, EW, instaluv AND a love-triangle? PLEASE NO. I thought the book would go downhill real fast, but thankfully it was short-lived.

The development between Em and Michael was definitely easy to get into. It came together fast, but unlike with her and Kaleb, it felt legit. After that there are a lot of moments of tension and frustration and it builds slowly – almost TOO slowly. Then there was a moment that threatened the whole relationship – and I must admit I was horrified – but I knew it wasn’t going to play out like that so I didn’t feel the sadness like I probably should have. Not saying I didn’t feel emotion for this book though, because I most certainly did. A certain betrayal toward the end had me gaping at the pages and even pulled a very loud, “WHAT?!” from me. And when the truth of the past comes out… whuh. It’s very rare for me to be that riveted by a book. There was even more gaping, and frantic page flipping, and staring in disbelief. Holy back-stabbing, batman!

Myra really had the emotion part down-pat – anger, horror, shock. And humor in bounds! I laughed SO much in this book…I truly cherish that in a story. I couldn’t stop myself from giggling out loud at many points, and if I’d been reading in public I’m sure I would have gotten the hairy eye from everyone around me. 

Hourglass was a fast-paced and delicious novel and I am seriously looking forward to the second book. Or anything else written by Myra for that matter!

Having a big brother taught me quite a bit about arguing with the intent to wear down my opponent. Like a rat terrier with a pork chop.

“You’re keeping secrets. Secrets about me. I know it, you know it – so why aren’t we talking about it?”
“Isn’t the information about your ability enough to digest right now?”
“The info is digested, Michael. As a matter of fact, it’s so digested it’s getting ready to come out  as a big pile of sh-“
“Don’t get snippy with me.”
“I’m not  snippy, I’m mad. And your personal health is in danger if you don’t fess up about what’s going on.”

My ass was grass, and big brother was the lawn mower.

I popped up, threw my body across the  counter, and proceeded to stick a long-handled rolling pin  into all the rips I could reach. It wasn’t easy – they started running once Biscuit Boy went down. Busy rip jousting like Don Quixote fencing windmills, I was too distracted to notice Lily backing into the swinging door from the kitchen while balancing a wide metal tray of piecrusts. A millisecond before she turned around I popped the last rip, slid back across the counter, and chucked the rolling pin over my shoulder.
Okay, so this one helps if you know what rips are and her reference to biscuits, but it had me laughing so hard    I cried!

Oh yeah, and she referred to vomiting as “blowing groceries.”