Hourglass by Myra McEntire

One of the drawbacks of reading new releases is coming across a book that you really love, only to realize that you have to wait a year for the next book to be released.  This happened to me while reading Hourglass.  I read a lot, and I have to say that Hourglass really stands out--it pulled me in from the beginning and kept my attention all the way through.  A lot of novels that are first in a series get bogged down with exposition and character introduction, but Hourglass does not fall prey to these mistakes.  The entire story flows so well, the characters are well developed without being over written, everything just works.  I truly did not want the story to end.

The story centers around Emerson Cole, a seventeen year old girl who has spent years trying to deal with the fact that she can see and interact with dead people.  After being hospitalized and then escaping the scrutiny of her home town at boarding school, she returns to Ivy Springs to live with her older brother & sister-in-law.  When her brother Thomas suggests bringing in another consultant to 'help' Emerson with her issues, Emerson wants nothing to do with it.  Thomas' track record with bringing in consultants is significantly less than stellar.  When she meets the mysterious Michael at a party, she is instantly drawn to him and when she later discovers that Michael is Thomas' latest consultant, she agrees to work with him.  She learns from Michael that what she sees are not ghosts but ripples in time and that she may have even greater untapped abilities lurking beneath her surface.

Although the main character is a seventeen year old girl, Emerson is hardly a YA heroine.  She is mature, intelligent and independent.  Although she does show some insecurities, a lot of the teen angst present in a lot of YA works is notably absent in Hourglass.  It's also a nice change to read a YA fantasy book without supernatural creatures.  Don't get me wrong, my shelves are full of vampires, weres, fairies and the like, but change is good and so is Hourglass.

I really enjoyed Hourglass.  The story itself blew me away and although I had suspected a few of the twists in the plot, there were still a few that I didn't see coming.  The story set up also allows for sequels, and I hope that Emerson has a lot of new adventures coming.  According to Goodreads, the untitled sequel to Hourglass is expected in 2012.


Article first published as Book Review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire on Blogcritics.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan is riveting.  I am not normally drawn to post-apocalyptic stories, but this one is an exception.  I'd read so many good things about the series that I decided I'd give it a chance, and I am so glad that I did.  I'll admit that while reading it, I often wondered if Carrie Ryan got her idea for the story while watching The Village by M. Night Shymalon.  However, her concept is original enough that any comparison to the movie would be cursory.

Mary lives in a very simple world where everything is controlled by the Sisters.  Her village is very Godly with everyone contributing and everyone provided for.  You just have to stay inside the fences.  Outside the fences are the Unconsecrated--victims of a plague that kills and then re-animates its victims as mindless flesh-eaters.  Mary, however, is restless and unsettled.  She was raised with her mother's tales of the ocean and a world untouched by the Return and the Unconsecrated and she longs to find that world.  When she stumbles upon some secrets being kept by the Sisters, they do everything in their power to bring Mary under their control.  However, circumstances in the village change and Mary is about to learn more about the world than she bargained for.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth blew my mind.  As I said earlier, this is not my normal style of book.  However, the story captivated me from the onset and kept me interested throughout.  I am very much looking forward to reading The Dead-Tossed Waves and The Dark and Hollow Places (Forest of Hands and Teeth, Book 3) in the near future.

Review: One of Our Thursdays is Missing

 It's been almost four years since the last installment of the Thursday Next series, but One of Our Thursdays Is Missing: A Novel by Jasper Fforde was well worth the wait.  The novel follows the Written Thursday as she traverses BookWorld looking for the Real Thursday, who seems to have gone missing while deep undercover.

The majority of the story takes place in BookWorld, which has recently undergone a remaking based on a geographic model.  The peace talks between Racy Novel and Women's Fiction and Dogma are coming up fast and the Written Thursday is being pressed upon from all sides to find the Real Thursday or replace her at the peace talks.  Her journey takes us all around the BookWorld, through fiction and non-fiction, with interesting treks into Vanity and Fan Fiction.  Along the way, she manages a trip into the Outland, where she finally meets her love, Landon.  Landon is killed off early in the written series, so the Written Thursday has spent her life longing for someone she's never known.  Her trip to the Outland raises questions about her identity:  could she possibly be the Real Thursday?  Suffering from some sort of delusion?

I love this series.  The stories are original and smartly written.  Fforde uses literary device to his own ends to create something spectacular.  This is classic.  He reminds me of Mark Twain in his use of humor to address societal issues, while still poking fun at himself and his work.  I can't find strong enough words to explain how much I enjoy his work.  If you haven't read any of the Thursday Next series, go get started on The Eyre Affair: A Thursday Next Novel.

Mr. Fforde, if you're out there, please do not make us wait another four years for Thursday.  While worth the wait, not much out there that can fill the void while we await another Thursday Next adventure.

This Side of the Grave by Jeaniene Frost

This Side of the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 5) by Jeaniene Frost is awesome!  It continues the adventures of Cat and Bones, who are facing more trouble than they know what to do with.  I honestly loved this book & had been anxiously awaiting the release to see what Cat and Bones got into next.  But, I have had the worst time trying to write a review of it.  I've been trying off and on for several days, but every time I write something it feels too spoiler-ish and I start over.  I figure that if you are reading the series, you certainly won't be disappointed and if you're not familiar with the series, start it.  Go buy or download or borrow Halfway to the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 1) and get started.  Cat is an incredibly interesting character who continually evolves over the course of the series & Bones is, well, Bones is freaking hot :)  If you like a little spice with your vampires, et al, read Jeaniene Frost.


Enough said.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Deborah Harkness' debut novel, A Discovery of Witches: A Novel, is amazing.  I was drawn in from the first and did not want to put it down.  It's like a mature Twilight (The Twilight Saga, Book 1) meets The Da Vinci Code.  The characters are interesting and complex, the story is exciting without being too ambitious or overcomplicated.  The book held me spellbound and is responsible for a few hours of lost sleep. It's an historical-supernatural-romance-adventure-mystery--my favorite genres wrapped into an exceptionally good book.

Diana Bishop is not going to use her magic--at least, that's what she keeps telling herself.  She is the last in a long line of powerful witches, with a father as powerful as her mother.  However, having lost her parents when she was seven years old has turned her away from her heritage and her magic.  While researching alchemical manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, she comes in contact with a volume that reaches out to her magic.  Panicked, she returns the book to the stacks, but it is too late--word is out that she has discovered the lost Ashmole 782 and now all species of creatures are after her.

Enter Matthew Clairmont, renowned scientist and vampire.  He has been searching for Ashmole 782 for centuries and is determined to retrieve the book Diana has recalled.  He feels drawn to Diana, feeling the need to protect her from the other creatures, despite witches and vampires being notorious separatists.  They are thrown into an uneasy friendship when the worlds of witches, vampires and daemons descend upon Diana, all looking for the manuscript.

A Discovery of Witches: A Novel is one of the best books I've read in quite a while.  It's clearly written to have a sequel, possibly more than one, and I am anxiously awaiting the next book.  I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys reading.

My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent

The second novel in the Soul Screamers series finds Kaylee adjusting to living with her newly returned father.  She is taking lessons from Nash's mother, Harmony, on 'how to be a bean sidhe' in order to avoid the kind of trouble she got into in the past.  The problem is, Kaylee seems to be looking for trouble or, at least, trouble finds her pretty easily.  She and Nash, with some help from Tod, stumble upon a system where a Dekker media, bearing a very recognizable resemblance to Disney, sells the souls of young entertainers to an avarice demon in order to guarantee financial success and market domination.  Kaylee and Nash are thrust into the middle of the whole ordeal when we learn that Addison, Tod's old girlfriend and rising teen star, has sold her soul for fame and fortune.  Tod, who clearly still cares for Addy, plays upon Kaylee's sense of righteousness and convinces her to help him find a way to reclaim Addy's soul.  Of course, things can't go smoothly.  Kaylee finds herself in a mess with her father and, along the way, Addison's sister Regan sells her soul as well, so Kaylee is faced with having to save two souls instead of just one.

In the end, all doesn't end happily.  But, I think that's one of the things I like best about Vincent's writing.  She's not afraid for her characters to fail--or, at least, not succeed entirely.  I would have liked more of the story to have taken place outside the main plot line.  Kaylee's character is facing some major changes and I'd like to see more exploration of that.  Also, I hope that, in the future, Aiden's character, Kaylee's father, is more developed.  I'm sure that Kaylee and Nash's relationship will be explored in more depth, as things progress and the characters grow.

My Soul to Save (Soul Screamers Book 2), overall, is a good story.  I feel like it was focused a bit too much on the main plot, to the extent that character development was minimal.  Aside from some insight into Tod, I don't feel like I learned a whole lot more about the story's characters.  I didn't really care for Addison or Regan, so it wasn't easy to empathize with Kaylee's desire to help them; though I easily understood Nash's reluctance to have any part in helping them.  I am looking forward to reading My Soul to Keep (Soul Screamers, Book 3), and I hope that I'll learn more about Kaylee and her family/friends in the books to come.

My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent

Recently, Barnes & Noble's Free Fridays download offered Reaper by Rachel Vincent, a part of the Soul Screamer series.  It looked pretty interesting, so I downloaded it and then decided that I needed to read the series up to Reaper before reading it.  So, I started with the novella, My Soul to Lose, which was released as a prequel to the Soul Screamer series.

My Soul to Lose introduces us to Kaylee Cavanaugh, a young girl suffering from unusual panic attacks.  They are triggered when someone in close proximity to her is going to die and when onset occurs, she can not stop screaming.  Usually, she is able to sense when it is happening and can remove herself from the situation before losing control.  Unfortunately, she isn't able to avoid a dying soul at the mall one day and ends up in the psychiatric ward.

What a great teaser for the series.  Kaylee has no idea the purpose for her abilities or why she even has them.  We are also introduced to Lydia, another young girl with special abilities, allowing her to absorb other's pain.  I assume that Kaylee will be the focus of the Soul Screamers series, but it will be interesting to see if Lydia appears in any of the other books in the series as well.

I was a fan of Rachel Vincent's Shifter series prior to reading this, and I hope that this series is as interesting and well written as the Shifter series is.  Next up for me is My Soul to Take (Soul Screamers Book 1), and then, most likely, the rest of the series.