Review: Hourglass (Hourglass #1)

Title: Hourglass (Hourglass #1)
Author: Myra McEntire
Publisher: Egmont USA
Pages: 397
Source: Library
Challenge: 2011 Debut Author Challenge


My Rating:

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? -summary from goodreads.com

17-year-old Emerson, or Em, can see “ghosts” from the past. As soon as she touches them, they “pop”, or disappear. After the tragic death of both her parents Emerson now lives with her older brother Thomas and his wife. To help her get rid of her visions (as her brother likes to call them), Thomas hires Michael, a worker for the Hourglass Company. It’s through Michael that Em discovers that she’s not alone, there are many like her. (Don’t want to give more on the plot, I feel I’ll just spoil the story for you.)

This was book was AWESOME! Science fiction, romance, a coming-of-age story, action, and peril- this book has it all! I can't believe this is a debut novel. It had such an enthralling storyline, the plot was perfectly paced and characterization was great. Emerson, or Em for short, is a great strong willed protagonist. Although she doesn’t know much about her “condition”, she proves over and over again that she can take care of herself. She’s very easy to relate to. I loved learning about the “rips” and watching Emerson slowly accept who she is.

Then there’s Michael, Charming, loyal, self-sacrificing …. My only complaint about Michael is the whole hot and cold attitude. One minuet he’s kissing Em, and the next he’s saying their love can’t be (you’ll see why). It drove me nuts! But then came to my rescue Kaleb. Ah, Kaleb… 3 words; hot and complicated. Kaleb’s got the sexy bad boy with a heart of gold thing covered. One thing I loved about him was that he was very direct about his feelings. He held nothing back. The few scenes he did have with Em were wonderful, totally swoon worthy. I want to know more about him in the next book… When does that come out?

Overall, Hourglass is a creative and exciting debut! I’d say it’s a mix between X-men and Heroes. Did anyone ever watch Heroes? I know the series got cancelled a while back, but Hourglass reminded me a bit of it. Regardless, if you haven’t had time to read Hourglass, and you’re a fan of either show, I’d suggest you check it out soon :)

Review: Clarity (Clarity #1)

Title: Clarity (Clarity #1)
Author: Kim Harrington
Publisher: Point
Pages: 256

My Rating:

Clarity "Clare" Fern sees things. Things no one else can see. Things like stolen kisses and long-buried secrets. All she has to do is touch a certain object, and the visions come to her. It's a gift. And a curse. When a teenage girl is found murdered, Clare's ex-boyfriend wants her to help solve the case--but Clare is still furious at the cheating jerk. Then Clare's brother--who has supernatural gifts of his own--becomes the prime suspect, and Clare can no longer look away. Teaming up with Gabriel, the smoldering son of the new detective, Clare must venture into the depths of fear, revenge, and lust in order to track the killer. But will her sight fail her just when she needs it most? -summary from goodreads.com

CLARITY is 256 pages of AWESOME! I loved everything about it! Ms. Harrington did a phenomenal job creating a story that kept me guessing till the end, it was so suspenseful that I had a hard time putting the book down! I really enjoyed Clare's family. You could really tell how much they loved each other and how they would do whatever was necessary to ensure each others well being. They work together as a team giving physic readings to tourists in their small hometown, Eastport. But after the tragic murder of a teenage tourist, Clare is asked to “assist” the police by using her psychic ability.

Clare is a great protagonist. The author captures the voice of a teenage girl quite well. We get to see Clarity struggle with self-doubt because of her powers. She tends to isolate herself because she thinks no one would be friends with a “freak”, but it’s easy to see that there are many people who care about her. She is a strong and yet vulnerable character…. I loved that. And of course, we have our typical YA love triangle.

On one end we have Justin, Clare’s ex-boyfriend whom will stop at nothing to get her affection back, and Gabriel, the hot new boy detective in town. Want to take a guess at who I’m rooting for? Well you shouldn’t because I don’t even know. Yes, that’s right; little ‘ol me, the hopeless romantic, DOES NOT know who to root for! (Can you tell this has never happened before?) I thought both guys where really great and I was still undecided at the end of the book as to which one I wanted to see Clare with.

Update on Challenges

In the spirit of updating the blog, scheduling some posts and interviews, I’ve decided to do a quick update on my reading challenges. Being a relatively new blogger, this year I decided to participate in only 2 challenges; Debut Author and the YA Series challenges.

Lets begin with DAC over at The Story Siren:

Status: 3/12 books

DAC is pretty much one book a month, seeing as we’re only on month 3, there’s not much to update on that. So far, I only have one review on the blog, and that was for Unearthly. As some as you know, this past February I was MIA around the blogger world because I was busy moving… and let me tell you, it was a HASSLE! I never expected moving to be so tiring and tedious, I hated it! Alas, I didn’t have time to post a review for DAC- February but I did read Beth Revis’ Across the Universe. I’ll be posting a review for that, and my March DAC (Whither) review, soon :)

Debut Author book list: 
1. Across The Universe by Beth Revis
2. Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
3. Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
4. The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney
5. Wither by Lauren DeStefano
6. Die for me by Amy Plum
7. Illegal by Bettina Restrepo
8. Timeless by Alexandra Monir
9. A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford
10. The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
11. Never Eighteen by Megan Bostic
12. The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton

Now onwards to the YA Series over at Stalking the Bookshelves:
 

Status: 19/45 books

I have been finishing these books at a fast pace! I cannot get enough of them, they are so good! A special thank you to both Shannon, and the lovely ladies Brit and Farrah, for hosting this challenge.

The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa 

1. The Iron King

2. The Iron Daughter

3. The Iron Queen

The Wolves of Mercy fall series by Maggie Stiefvater

Books in series-

1. Shiver

2. Linger

3. Forever

Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead 

Books in series-

1. Vampire Academy

2. Frostbite

3. Shadow Kiss

4. Blood Promise

5. Spirit Bound

6. Last Sacrifice

The Darkest Power series by Kelley Armstrong

Books in series-

1. The Summoning

2. The Awakening

3. The Reckoning

The Dream Catchers series by Lisa Mcmann 

Books in series-

1. Wake

2. Fade

3. Gone

Immortals Series by Alyson Noel

Books in series-

1. Evermore

2. Blue Moon

3. Shadowland
4. Dark Flame
5. Night Star
6. Everlasting

The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare

Books in series-

1. City of Bones

2. City of Ashes

3. City of Glass

4. City of Fallen Angels

Hush, Hush series by Becca Fitzpatick

Books in series-

1. Hush, Hush

2. Crescendo

3. Silence

The House of Night series by PC Cast

Books in series-

1. Marked

2. Betrayed

3. Chosen

4. Untamed

5. Hunted

6. Tempted

7. Burned

8. Awakened

Heavenly Series by Jennifer Laurens
Books in series-
1. Heavenly
2. Penitence
3. Absolution 

Fallen Series by Kate Lauren

Books in series-
1. Fallen
2. Torment
3. Passion

Wow! I that is one mighty list I have going on... but I will finish :) Are you signed up for the challenge? How far along are ya? Well, that's it for now....Til next time, happy reading!

Review: Unearthly

Title: Unearthly
Author: Cynthia Hand
Publisher: Harper Teen
Pages: 435
Challenge: Debut Author 2011


My Rating:

Clara Gardner has recently learned that she's part angel. Having angel blood run through her veins not only makes her smarter, stronger, and faster than humans (a word, she realizes, that no longer applies to her), but it means she has a purpose, something she was put on this earth to do. Figuring out what that is, though, isn't easy. Her visions of a raging forest fire and an alluring stranger lead her to a new school in a new town. When she meets Christian, who turns out to be the boy of her dreams (literally), everything seems to fall into place—and out of place at the same time. Because there's another guy, Tucker, who appeals to Clara's less angelic side. As Clara tries to find her way in a world she no longer understands, she encounters unseen dangers and choices she never thought she'd have to make—between honesty and deceit, love and duty, good and evil. When the fire from her vision finally ignites, will Clara be ready to face her destiny? -summary from goodreads.com

In this story we follow Clara, who is one-fourth angel blood and now that she is 16, she receives a “purpose” in a form of a futuristic vision, which will help her fulfill her earthly purpose. Her visions point her to a certain boy in a burning forest. Later on she meets this mysterious boy; Christian, and tries to befriend him in hopes of one day rescuing him from the fire.

It was very nice for a change, to read a book for the protagonist knew what she was. Clara knows she’s an angel; it’s not something that was suddenly announced to her one night. While I was very intrigued by the background of the Nephilim, one of the complaints I have about Unearthly was that there are entirely too many things left unexplained, questions unanswered, which, to me, left too many holes in the plot. I understand that the reader learns things at the same time as Clara does, but I find it hard to believe that she is able to accept such incredible things with barely any explanation as to what is going on or why. It really bugged me that Clara's mother was always super secretive and never gave Clara any answers to the questions she asked.

Being the hopeless romantic that I am, my favorite part of Unearthly was the romance. It's not at all what I expected, but it's the surprising direction it takes that makes it so memorable. There's a genuine tenderness that grows between Clara and Tucker that you can’t help but love it. Half way through the book, when Christian all of a sudden comes back into Clara’s life, I found myself thinking, “Oh yeah… this story is supposed to be about Christian, not Tucker.” I loved reading how Clara and Tucker’s friendship grew into something more, that I completely forgot about Christian and Clara’s purpose. In the beginning, I really liked Christian. I was rooting for Clara, in hopes that she would get to keep Christian to herself, but after what happened at the dance, I was like, "oh hell no!"

*Slight spoilers* The only thing that didn’t go to well, personally, was the ending. One scene that really bugged me was when Clara and Christian finally meet up at the fire. To be honest, their whole conversation felt rushed and left a lot of things unexplained. I was like, "That's it?! 'I love Tucker and, oh yeah, don't you love Kay'?" ugh. but I guess that will work out cause there will be more books in this series.

Overall, I think Unearthly is a fun, romantic read! It's a pretty awesome debut by Mrs. Cynthia Hand... Here’s to hoping the sequel picks up right were Unearthly left off :)

2011 Debut Author Challenge

This will be my FIRST challenge ever :) I'm super excited to get started. The 2011 Debut Author Challenge is hosted by a very awesome girl named Kristi over at her blog, The Story Siren (Click the link to sign up). If you've never heard or visited her blog, DO SO NOW! It is AMAZING! I just recently stumbled upon it and I was literally blown away. She has so many awesome events going on... I will most definitely be participating in her weekly In my mailbox :) Anyhow... sorry about that. I tend to ramble on and on when I get excited. Ok, back to my list;

1. Across The Universe by Beth Revis
2. Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton
3. XVI by Julia Karr
4. The Iron Witch by Karen Mahoney
5. Wither by Lauren DeStefano
6. Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton
7. Die for me by Amy Plum
8. Timeless by Alexandra Monir
9. Lost Voices by Sarah Porter
10. Flawless by Lara Chapman
11. A Touch Mortal by Leah Clifford
12. The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab
13. Hourglass by Myra McEntire
14. Illegal by Bettina Restrepo
15. Never Eighteen by Megan Bostic
16. Queen of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
17. Rival by Sara Bennett-Wealer 
18. The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton
19. Witch Eyes by Scott Tracey
20. Posses by Gretchen McNeil 

That's it for now... although I will probably be adding a few more books later on. I'm aiming for 24 books total. That way I can read two every month. I'm super excited, can't wait to get started!