Two YA Reviews: Hourglass *Myra McEntire* & But I Love Him *Amanda Grace*

I had high hopes for Hourglass (Hourglass #1) by Myra McEntire. One of the reasons is the blurb made it sound much like the movie, The Sixth Sense. Unfortunately the writing failed to engage me and the set up took too long. I ended up DNFing Hourglass half way through when this supposed tale about a teenage girl who sees ghosts transforms into an out of the blue time travel. Also the setting is in the South, but I never got that feeling because of the lacking descriptions.

Emerson Cole sees ghosts. This started to happen when she was fourteen, most likely brought on by the sudden death of her parents in an accident. Emerson has taken medication to keep her from seeing the ghosts, but she stops taking the meds because they make her feel lethargic. She lives with her older brother, Thomas and his wife who renovate old buildings. But because the town of Ivy Spring has a great deal of history, ghosts are all over haunting to their delight. Thomas finds a group called the Hourglass that could possibly help Emerson with her growing problem. And that’s where she’s introduced to Michael Weaver who also has a secret ability much like Emerson has. Michael is older and dashing and seems very interested in not only helping her, but being her friend and possibly much more. As Emerson slowly unravels the mystery surrounding Michael and the Hourglass organization, she becomes a participant in an experiment that could destroy not only her own life but the very world.

Hourglass has many elements that will pull YA readers in. There’s sci-fi, supernatural, romance and a super hero comic book undertone, much like X-Men. I guess there's also a small town feel to this book, but then again I missed that aspect because it wasn’t defined enough. Emerson’s personality doesn’t necessarily have anything wrong with it, but she didn’t bring any big thrill to the story, nor did Michael who came across as too one-dimensional to me.

Myra’s writing is so-so and lacks that sparkle needed to succeed in today’s YA market. The only recommendation I can give Hourglass is it has one of the best covers this year. Sorry to say, but Hourglass is a pass. (Egmont)

Final Grade: DNF

A few other Hourglass reviews:
The Discriminating Fan Girl
Novel Thoughts
YA Reads

But I Love Him by Amanda Grace is one big gimmick that doesn’t work because of poor writing and bad execution. Amanda tried to do something very creative with the storyline by writing it in reverse chronological order. The story begins at the end, over the course of a year for Ann and her abusive relationship with her boyfriend Conner. Ann has been beaten and bloodied and left with a broken wrist by Conner. We then go back over months and the days to the beginning of when Ann first met her unbalanced lover.

The material is meant to be dark since it deals with the psychological and emotional abuse of a young girl who has given up everything- her family, friends and future to be with an emotionally disturbed and unstable person. The reason is because Ann loves Conner to the depths of her very soul and feels she’s the only one who can get him help. At no point while I read did I get any sense of a connection between Ann and Conner.

There just wasn’t enough depth or dimension. Everything is surface reading and thrown out with disjointed explanations. Ann comes across as an unreliable narrator who tells the audience the why’s, but doesn’t really show why Conner is so important to her even as he lashes out for no reason. We are given examples why Conner acts the way he does, from his drunk of a father who also abuses his mother and Conner’s low self-esteem, but he’s as flat as the paper this book is written on.

I had such a disconnect while reading But I Love Him. One reason is because there seems to be major chunks of the story missing. This is one convulsed tale with no real justifiable reason for any of it.

But I Love Him is far from unique, and the devastation lies from it being incredibly flawed and defective. (Flux)

Final Grade: C-

A few other But I Love Him book reviews:
Electrifying Reviews
Naughty Book Kitties
Zoe's Book Reviews