Review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire

Synopsis:

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.

Book Details:

Publisher: Egmont USA

Pub. Date: June 14, 2011

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 397

My Review:

What exactly is Hourglass by Myra McEntire? I can tell you the answer to this question. Whether or not I can tell you without sounding like a total fangirl might be next to impossible. When I first heard about Hourglass I knew I had to read it ASAP. Hourglass sounded totally original, and it is original.

Hourglass is about Emmerson Cole who has been seeing visions of people from the past. She's tried just about every way there is to help get rid of her problem, or at least try to find out why she is seeing these peope from another time. Nothing has helped and Emmerson is tired of taking medication. So without the knowledge of her brother and his wife, Emmerson stops taking the medication. Reluctantly she agrees with her brother to try conselling one more time.

I'm so glad Emmerson agreed to her brother's wishes. If she didn't who knew if she would meet the amazing Micheal Weaver. Actually they more than likely would have met at some point. Micheal helps Emmerson discover what she is and how to handle life with her situation. Emmerson and Michael are now one of my top favorite YA couples. Added plus was that Myra never tortured me by having me wait too long for Emmerson and Micheal to meet up with each other.

Besides Michael all the other charcters are very likable. I mean it when I say all of them. But of course there is a major twist at the end of the book that you'll never see coming. Now that I think about it the whole book was unpredictable. Hourglass seriously has everything anyone could ever want in a book and then some. The last sentence of the book's synopsis says it all perfectly. I found myself laughing a lot because the characters are so funny. Seriously, I adore this book.

To prove my point as to how epic Hourglass is I'm going to say that if time travel were possible and one could only bring one book with them on their travels I would choose Hourglass by Myra McEntire. Really how many times in your life do you come accross a book that has you mesmorized with every word? For me, not many times. Myra McEntire is pure, literary genius. Where has she been all my life? Myra knows how to write an excellent novel. While I was reading Hourglass I kept thinking, "Dang Myra could write any genre, even genres that I don't like, and I'd buy every single book".

Didn't I tell you it'd be nearly impossible for me not to go all fangirl with my reveiw? :)

What Myra McEntire Does When She is Not Writing

Well the title of this post seems self explainatory. First things first I would like to introduce Myra McEntire. Myra is the author of Hourglass which hit the shelves June 14. I highly suggest, and recommend, every EVERY reader to go out and get a copy. Myra most certainly has made her place on my most favorite author list. Now here is her post where she talks about what she does when she is not writing.

When I’m not writing ……….. I’m kind of always writing. The longer I am a writer, the more details I notice in how people answer questions and interact. I watch the way they hold their bodies, what happens when expressions change. I love sciencey headlines and documentaries, so that any reading or TV watching generally falls under the “work” category. Even when I’m doing things like folding laundry, my plots are running through my head!

But if hobbies are what you’re after, I love to: Read, garden, tweet, and I’m addicted to my iPad. Those time management games, like DINER DASH or SALLY’S SPA? Sanity in a handheld device. That’s probably the only time I can really turn off. OH! I’m also trying to catch up to the last three years of television. I missed a bunch when I was writing. I still haven’t seen the last season of LOST!

________________________________________________

Thanks Myra for your time. I'm thrilled to have you as a guest on my blog. I love those time management games too! To all the readers, If you are interested in reading more posts for, and about, Hourglass by Myra McEntire please click the banner at the top. Trust me this blog tour is awesome!

Also not too long ago the book trailer for Hourglass was released. If I had not already read Hourglass then this trailer certainly would of made me dying to get my hands on a copy.

If you want click here to read my review for Hourglass by Myra McEntire. (Review will be up later in the morning/early afternoon. )

To find out more about Myra and the latest news visit:

-Her blog

-Her Twitter

-The Hourglass Books' Facebook page

Hourglass by Myra McEntire is now available wherever books are sold!!!

Winner of EVERLASTING By Alyson Noel

Congrats to Amber B. for being the lucky winner of Everlasting by Alyson Noel! Your book should be on its way to you soon. :)

If you didn't win don't worry. You can buy your copy of Everlasting at a bookstore near you or online.

Also, there is still a giveaway going on right now that'll end tomorrow at noon.

If you would like to win a copy of My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody please click here.

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Guest Post: Author Jessica Brody

Todays guest poster is Jessica Brody author of both Adult and YA books. I would like to take the moment to say a big thanks to Jessica for taking the time to write such a wonderful post. Without further ado here is the awesome post about High School.

For me, high school was defined by three words: Finding My Place.

Although my quest was more out of necessity than anything else. You see, before high school was middle school and I wasn’t popular in middle school. Not by any stretch of the imagination. I would even go as far as to say I was kind of an outcast. I had moved from the big city of Los Angeles, CA to my small town in Colorado when I was 12 and it was clear from the start, I didn’t fit in. I spent the majority of my seventh and eighth grade years trying to fit in. Trying to be like everyone else….particularly the popular crowd. And much to my dismay, failing miserably.

But in high school, everything changed. I stopped trying to shape myself to a mold that I would never fit, and instead started to discover places where I already did fit. Exactly how I was. I focused on academics, which I was good at. I joined the French club, which I loved. I started competing in debate competitions, which would go on to be some of my happiest high school memories. And along the way, I made friends. Real friends. Ones that I had things in common with. Not ones I had to pretend to be someone else to impress.

I slowly let go of my desire to be popular and hang with the “it” crowd, and slowly started to not only accept, but appreciate who I really was and what my real interests were.

Now that I’m “all grown up” and living in the real world, I actually use a lot of what I learned in high school in my daily life. Particularly being an author of teen fiction. I honestly don’t think I would be writing young adult novels had I not struggled with my identity in middle school and high school. Those experiences stayed with me. Long enough that I’m able to use them in my writing. An author friend who writes picture books for kids once told me, “I think we write in the age we’re stuck in. I’m still eight years old at heart, so that’s who I write for.”

He’s right. I’m fairly convinced that I’m still stuck (and forever will be) at age 15, trying to sort out the details of my identity.

All of my characters thus far have had a little bit of myself in them. But when I set out to write My Life Undecided, I wanted to try something different. I wanted to write a character who was nothing like me. I wanted to give myself the chance, as an author, to experience high school on the other side of the fence. Where the grass, is, of course, greener. So I invented Brooklyn Pierce. She’s popular. She hangs with the “it” crowd. She’s invited to all the cool parties. She has better things to do than study. And her best friend, Shayne, is the most sought after, most beautiful girl in the school. Yep, pretty much the polar opposite of who I was in high school.

But as I dove further into her character, I realized that she, too, was not much unlike me. She had thought she had found her place (in the inner sanctums of Shayne’s royal palace) but after an unfortunate event on page 1 of the book, she soon finds herself cast out. On her own. With no friends. And without a clue to who she really is outside of the darkness of Shayne’s shadow.

And as the book goes on and Brooklyn is able to see her former life from the outside, she starts to wonder if that really was her place to begin with.

In writing this story, I learned a valuable lesson about high school and life in general. Everyone is trying to figure it out. No matter how glamorous someone’s life looks from the outside, no one has all the answers. We all feel a little lost, scared and out of place from time to time.

I think that’s the reason My Life Undecided is my favorite book that I’ve written so far. Every author starts out a book with something to say. Something to teach. At least I do. And I set out writing My Life Undecided with a valuable lesson to teach Brooklyn Pierce—my lost, misguided and decisionally-challenged fifteen year-old heroine. But never, in a million years, did I expect her to teach me something.

But I suppose that’s why we write. That’s why we live. To learn something from everyone who comes into our lives…real or fictional.

##

Jessica Brody is the author of My Life Undecided, The Karma Club, and the forthcoming, 52 Reasons to Hate My Father (out summer 2012), which has recently been optioned for film. She also has published two novels for adults. She currently lives in both Los Angeles and Colorado.

My Life Undecided Book Summary:

From the Inside Flap:

PLEASE READ THIS! MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!

Okay, maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but I’m sorry, I’m feeling a bit melodramatic at the moment.

Here’s the deal. My name is Brooklyn Pierce, I’m fifteen years old, and I am decisionally challenged. Seriously, I can’t remember the last good decision I made. I can remember plenty of crappy ones though. Including that party I threw when my parents were out of town that accidentally burned down a model home. Yeah, not my finest moment, for sure.

But see, that’s why I started a blog. To enlist readers to make my decisions for me. That’s right. I’m gave up. Threw in the towel. I let someone else be the one to decide which book I read for English. Or whether or not I accepted an invitation to join the debate team from that cute-in-a-dorky-sort-of-way guy who gave me the Heimlich Maneuver in the cafeteria. (Note to self: Chew the melon before swallowing it.) I even let them decide who I dated!

Well, it turns out there are some things in life you simply can’t choose or have chosen for you—like who you fall in love with. And now everything’s more screwed up than ever.

But don’t take my word for it, read the book and decide for yourself. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll scream in frustration. Or maybe that’s just me. After all, it’s my life.

My Life Undecided Book Trailer

Review & Giveaway: My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody

Synopsis:

PLEASE READ THIS! MY LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!

Okay, maybe that was a bit melodramatic, but I’m sorry, I’m feeling a bit melodramatic at the moment.

Here’s the deal. My name is Brooklyn Pierce, I’m fifteen years old, and I am decisionally challenged. Seriously, I can’t remember the last good decision I made. I can remember plenty of crappy ones though. Including that party I threw when my parents were out of town that accidentally burned down a model home. Yeah, not my finest moment, for sure.

But see, that’s why I started a blog. To enlist readers to make my decisions for me. That’s right. I gave up. Threw in the towel. I let someone else be the one to decide which book I read for English. Or whether or not I accepted an invitation to join the debate team from that cute-in-a-dorky-sort-of-way guy who gave me the Heimlich Maneuver in the cafeteria. (Note to self: Chew the melon before swallowing it.) I even let them decide who I dated!

Well, it turns out there are some things in life you simply can’t choose or have chosen for you—like who you fall in love with. And now everything’s more screwed up than ever.

But don’t take my word for it, read the book and decide for yourself. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll scream in frustration. Or maybe that’s just me. After all, it’s my life.

Book Details:

Publisher: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (BYR)

Pub. Date: June 7, 2011

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 320

My Review:

My Life Undecided by Jessica Brody is one of the most fun books I’ve read this year. The novel is about Brooklyn Pierce who has made bad decisions all her life. One day she realizes she needs to make some changes. So she sets up a blog where her readers will make all the decisions for her.

Now Brooklyn’s blog was one of many things I loved about this book. Brooklyn would tell her readers the situation and then they would choose (vote) what she would have to do in that certain situation. I was always curious to see how the readers will vote. In other words the results of Brooklyn’s fate. This is one reason why I kept reading.

Jessica’s characters are the best. She knows how to write books for YA. Brooklyn was one great protagonist. She was funny and she was all around a good person just trying to figure out where she belongs. Plus she was also trying to figure out how to make good and safe decisions. Brooklyn’s so-called best friend, Shayne, is the classic Ms.Popular. The girl who gets everything she wants. In the book Shayne dumps Brooklyn as a friend. In actuality it should of been the other way around, because Shayne is the kind of person who uses others only to benefit herself. Mrs. Moody is the grouchy old lady in the nursing home where Brooklyn has to serve community service. Mrs. Moody has some secrets and they get revealed towards the end of the novel that explains why she is always so moody.

Brooklyn also has a tricky love life. She is crazy about the cute new boy from the South. The new guy is Hunter and let me tell you he is smooth. I loved the part where he willingly got in trouble just to be able to talk to Brooklyn. I hope I didn’t spoil anything by mentioning that part. Face it we all have wanted the pretty and sly boy at one time or another. In life there is always that one person that you don’t see right in front of you. This person would be Brian. He has the brains and knows manners and how to respect people. Brian is the boy who has more to him than what Brooklyn sees on the surface. Which guy will she end up with in the end? Well read the book to find out!

Because the book is so much fun to read I found it hard to put this book down once I started reading every time. My Life Undecided is the first book I have ever read by Jessica Brody. But it certainly won’t be my last. Jessica knows what makes a great YA novel. My Life Undecided has a lot of good messages to send out to readers. So take Brooklyn’s journey with her, like I did, and figure out life too. Trust me. It’ll be worth it. Plus its a great book to sit out in the sun to read.

Giveaway will end June 14 at Noon EDT.

Everlasting Book Trailer & Giveaway!

Hi everyone! Can you believe the end of the Immortal series is right around the corner? I can hardly believe it. But I bet it will be a great ending. Recently the book trailer was released. So if you haven't seen it yet, take a look for yourself below.

Did you like the book trailer? Feel free to let me know your thoughts on the trailer, and even your thoughts on the book series thus far.

Also feel free to fill out the super quick form for your chance to win a free copy of Everlasting by Alyson Noel. This giveaway will end Friday, June 10 at Midnight EDT.