Hourglass

Goodreads summary:
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.

I planned on avoiding this one; I really did. I read a lot of reviews talking about paranormal romance and cheesy love triangles, but I gave in. I blame it on the time travel plot.

Which is hands down the best part of this book.

Oooh I so loved the time travel and the plot. It was a great convoluted mess that made perfect sense in the end. Myra McEntire's plot was intense and mysterious and fascinating - a completely new twist on time travel that I've never read before. Her language and descriptions were also beautifully done. And I loved Emerson as a main character. Strong and intelligent and brave.

But... (you knew that "but" was coming, didn't you?) it's true: the romance is annoying and the love triangle is unnecessary. I liked the second boy better than the main boy too, which was enough to make things really irritating. The romance is too sudden, too "electrical" (gag me), too predictable. But I have to give credit to Myra McEntire's overall plot, because while I thought the romance happened way to fast, she eventually shows that there was actually a reason for it. A reason that made perfect sense. A reason that made me think, "Ok... that was kind of brilliant." Which was how I felt about the book as a whole because as things went on they got better and better and by the time I closed the book I thought, "Ok... that was really brilliant."

I enjoyed this book, but I know a lot of people didn't (and won't). Hopefully I've given you enough information on it so you'll know whether or not it's a book that you will like. :D

Supernaturally

Goodreads summary (which doesn't give much of the first book away, so I'll go ahead and post it):

 Evie finally has the normal life she’s always longed for. But she’s shocked to discover that being ordinary can be . . . kind of boring. Just when Evie starts to long for her days at the International Paranormal Containment Agency, she’s given a chance to work for them again. Desperate for a break from all the normalcy, she agrees. 

But as one disastrous mission leads to another, Evie starts to wonder if she made the right choice. And when Evie’s faerie ex-boyfriend Reth appears with devastating revelations about her past, she discovers that there’s a battle brewing between the faerie courts that could throw the whole supernatural world into chaos. The prize in question? Evie herself.

So much for normal. 

I enjoyed the first book in this series, but I think that by the time I'd finished this sequel most of the charm had worn off. Do you have any friends that are overly hyper and funny? In the right mood, they are hilarious, but prolonged exposure leads to irritation or worse. That's how I feel about Evie. Sometimes she makes me laugh out loud, but other times I'm so sick of her. She whines about things over and over and she thinks about clothes and shoes entirely too much for my taste.

If you can get past that, the plot is really very interesting. There were some shocking revelations that I've been waiting to find out. Lots of complicated layers. I think Kiersten White did a great job on the plot. It's not her fault that Evie gets on my nerves. It's just a personality clash. :D

Hex Hall

Summary: Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire student on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

I think the reason this book is successful and has such good reviews on amazon and goodreads and such is because it's much more complicated than the blurb up there would lead you to believe. It sounds like just a teenage story - with a little magic thrown in - but the plot ended up having some very interesting and subtle layers. I enjoyed peeling them back bit by bit and found myself completely engrossed in this book. I liked the characters, particularly Sophie. And HOLY COW!!! There is a twist that really threw me. Completely unexpected. Such a shock. I'm an expert at predicting books, so when this happens I really love the feeling.

This book is also very clean, but I have to add the disclaimer that one of the main characters is gay. I was really disappointed in that, because being a Disney-Hyperion book, I thought it would be perfectly clean. It bothered me a bit, but it wasn't a huge part of the book. I plan on reading the sequel because, really, the story is so interesting!

The Lost Saint

I've pretty much sworn off all vampire/werewolf/paranormal stories, except for series that I've already started. I'm so sick of them! The Lost Saint is a werewolf book, it's true. So, if that's not your thing I wouldn't recommend it. Now, I really liked the first book. I won't give you a summary of this one because I don't want to give any spoilers from the first. Oh, and just so you know, the cover really has nothing to do with the book. I wish I wasn't so... I don't know... bare-legged-y. This book is 100% clean and written by an LDS author.

My big complaint about this book is that it's been to long since I've read the first. Because of that, I didn't feel very connected to the original story. I couldn't really remember it until about half-way through the book. Also, this being a sequel, the romance is suffering from serious sequel-phase (fighting, things tearing them apart, that kind of rubbish). I hate that because they worked so hard to be together in the first book and then they threw it all away. Stupid. The focus of the book also seemed to be on the romance, and I wanted more of the mythology and the plot in general. Anyway, overall, I didn't enjoy reading this as much as the first book (The Dark Divine).

Linger

Linger is the sequel to Shiver which I read last year and really disliked. For some reason, I decided to get the sequel from the library and give it a go. I actually really liked it. Probably because I read it sandwiched between Faulkner and Hemingway. It was a pleasantly light break. Another reason this is better than the first book is because the teens-falling-in-obsessive-love plot isn't present. The plot focused on more interesting things and I got sucked in. This book is fast-paced and intense at times. Really, not bad. For a teen werewolf book.

YA books by LDS authors

I'm always interested in YA books by LDS authors. First off, they're usually very clean and I always appreciate finding books like that. Most of these books are piggybacking on Stephenie Meyer's success with Twilight, but I have to admit that that fact doesn't bother me much. If Twilight is going to make publishing companies give books written by LDS people more attention that's fine with me. :D If you liked Twilight these are books I'd recommend.


Paranormalcy just came out (I think last week). I was first in line for it at the library so I got it pretty quickly. Kiersten White has a very vivid and entertaining writing voice. It was such a fun read. This is not a vampire or werewolf book, and in fact rather gleefully makes fun of some of the stereotypical aspects of those overdone characters. Paranormalcy is completely original and I was engrossed by it. It's about a regular human girl named Evie who works for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, keeping paranormals under control (using her special ability to see through their glamours). Of course, everything turns to havoc as a mysterious power is killing all paranormals, and Evie herself discovers that she's not as normal as she once thought. There were lots of surprises in this book, and I really love it when I can't predict a plot. Definitely high marks for Paranormalcy and Kiersten White. I'll be waiting for her next book.





Spells is the sequel to Wings, which I really liked. It's very fun YA lit and there's a lot of mythology, magic, and faeries involved. I think Spells is more mature than Wings, but I still think the series is not as intense or interesting as I'd like it to be. It seems to rely too heavily on its romance to drive the plot, and I always get irritated when love triangles get dragged on too long. This book definitely suffers from that. Just my opinion. I really wanted to see Laurel develop her faerie powers, but that subplot wasn't given much attention. Overall, I was disappointed, but I still plan on reading the final book in the series whenever it comes out.




The Dark Divine has nothing to do with bare legs wrapped in purple tulle! Just saying. From reading author blogs I've learned that a lot of authors are very irritated by the fact that they have no control over what goes on their covers. That's completely up to publishing companies and how they want to advertise your book. It's quite obvious what kind of audience The Dark Divine is being marketed towards. I can guarantee you that this is a very clean book, though. Unfortunately, this is also a werewolf book. I didn't realize that fact until I was too far in to want to put it down. I'm just sick to death of werewolves and vampires. There were some original touches, and I liked the story and setting well enough. The book is about a girl named Grace Divine, whose father is a pastor. I thought bringing in some Christian touches made the book extra interesting. The story is a little dark in places, but nothing that bothered me. I probably enjoyed reading it more than Spells, even if it was a werewolf book.