Title: Timepiece
Author: Myra McEntire
Publisher: Egmont USA
Release Date: June 15, 2012
Pages: 336 pages (hardcover)
How I Got the Book: ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.
Purchase/Pre-order: Amazon; Barnes & Noble; Book Depository
A threat from the past could destroy the future. And the clock is ticking...
Kaleb Ballard's relentless flirting is interrupted when Jack Landers, the man who tried to murder his father, timeslips in and attacks before disappearing just as quickly. But Kaleb has never before been able to see time travelers, unlike many of his friends associated with the mysterious Hourglass organization. Are Kaleb's powers expanding, or is something very wrong?
Then the Hourglass is issued an ultimatum. Either they find Jack and the research he's stolen on the time gene, or time will be altered with devastating results.
Now Kaleb, Emerson, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their unusual powers to find Jack. But where do they even start? And when? And even if they succeed, it may not be enough...
The follow-up to Hourglass, Timepiece blends the paranormal, science fiction, mystery, and suspense genres into a nonstop thrill ride where every second counts.
Light bulbs and appliances exploded because two people loved each other so much and had such chemistry. Someone made a glass fog up with their hands even though it's impossible. A girl could not stop talking about how hot her guy was long enough to get anything done. I tore my hair out. And all of that was just in Hourglass. Why did I read on? I hoped Timepiece would be an improvement since it's entirely in Kaleb's point of view and he was more tolerable than Em.
Well...
As with Hourglass, Timepiece was compulsively readable and flowed smoothly. A large number of short chapters (some as one front-and-back page) that all end in small cliffhangers keep things moving as the Hourglass kids are given a deadline to find Jack by and try to stop the rips that signal problems with the fabric of time. Whatever I have to say about the content of her novels, I can't say McEntire doesn't know a thing or two about pacing. Lily, Kaleb's love interest, is kind of adorable and I like her backstory. The insta-love between her and Kaleb never gets any better and they don't have any chemistry, but I would still kidnap Lily and keep her in my closet so I could huggle her whenever I pleased. Kaleb can go away. He's such a cockwaffle.
Kaleb sounds exactly like Em. Their narrative styles have little to no difference and it can really mess up how you read the book. When Kaleb lusted over Em's best friend Lily, it could have been Em lusting over Lily. When Kaleb fawned over Em in the first chapter or two, it sounded like Em fawning over herself and Michael and pretending it wasn't her doing the fawning. The two characters have different personalities and the two of them sounding the same the way they do is a serious flaw.
Then there was this line (the context of which is that Lily and Kaleb were making out in her bed and starting to strip off their clothes):
"I wanted to unzip my skin and pull her inside." (ARC p. 250)
?! o_O
The above was my exact response to that line. At the time, there were literally no words I could come up with. Some people are going to like that imagery, but all I get from it is that he basically wants to eat her and I hate it. Is cannibalism the new Hunger Games? I've seen this happen in other books too. Characters are making out and they're biting at each other like they're trying to eat each other (like Jace and Clary in one of the Mortal Instrument books I never read) and it's supposed to be romantic and I'm like YOU PEOPLE ARE CANNIBALS. Stop romantic cannibalism before it starts, people.
Yet another cliffhanger and clues to the location of the Infinityglass, an artifact everyone spends the entire book chasing, close out the installment and set up the plot of a third novel in the Hourglass series. I don't think I'll be reading on this time unless Lily narrates it because I don't think there is anymore hope for me and this series. Bad metaphors that invoke a reaction of OMG CANNIBALS are a deal-breaker. And yes, there are still exploding light bulbs and appliances when people kiss.
2 stars!
What am I reading next?: Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman
Author: Myra McEntire
Publisher: Egmont USA
Release Date: June 15, 2012
Pages: 336 pages (hardcover)
How I Got the Book: ARC from the publisher through NetGalley.
Purchase/Pre-order: Amazon; Barnes & Noble; Book Depository
Kaleb Ballard's relentless flirting is interrupted when Jack Landers, the man who tried to murder his father, timeslips in and attacks before disappearing just as quickly. But Kaleb has never before been able to see time travelers, unlike many of his friends associated with the mysterious Hourglass organization. Are Kaleb's powers expanding, or is something very wrong?
Then the Hourglass is issued an ultimatum. Either they find Jack and the research he's stolen on the time gene, or time will be altered with devastating results.
Now Kaleb, Emerson, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their unusual powers to find Jack. But where do they even start? And when? And even if they succeed, it may not be enough...
The follow-up to Hourglass, Timepiece blends the paranormal, science fiction, mystery, and suspense genres into a nonstop thrill ride where every second counts.
Review:
Light bulbs and appliances exploded because two people loved each other so much and had such chemistry. Someone made a glass fog up with their hands even though it's impossible. A girl could not stop talking about how hot her guy was long enough to get anything done. I tore my hair out. And all of that was just in Hourglass. Why did I read on? I hoped Timepiece would be an improvement since it's entirely in Kaleb's point of view and he was more tolerable than Em.
Well...
As with Hourglass, Timepiece was compulsively readable and flowed smoothly. A large number of short chapters (some as one front-and-back page) that all end in small cliffhangers keep things moving as the Hourglass kids are given a deadline to find Jack by and try to stop the rips that signal problems with the fabric of time. Whatever I have to say about the content of her novels, I can't say McEntire doesn't know a thing or two about pacing. Lily, Kaleb's love interest, is kind of adorable and I like her backstory. The insta-love between her and Kaleb never gets any better and they don't have any chemistry, but I would still kidnap Lily and keep her in my closet so I could huggle her whenever I pleased. Kaleb can go away. He's such a cockwaffle.
Kaleb sounds exactly like Em. Their narrative styles have little to no difference and it can really mess up how you read the book. When Kaleb lusted over Em's best friend Lily, it could have been Em lusting over Lily. When Kaleb fawned over Em in the first chapter or two, it sounded like Em fawning over herself and Michael and pretending it wasn't her doing the fawning. The two characters have different personalities and the two of them sounding the same the way they do is a serious flaw.
Then there was this line (the context of which is that Lily and Kaleb were making out in her bed and starting to strip off their clothes):
"I wanted to unzip my skin and pull her inside." (ARC p. 250)
?! o_O
The above was my exact response to that line. At the time, there were literally no words I could come up with. Some people are going to like that imagery, but all I get from it is that he basically wants to eat her and I hate it. Is cannibalism the new Hunger Games? I've seen this happen in other books too. Characters are making out and they're biting at each other like they're trying to eat each other (like Jace and Clary in one of the Mortal Instrument books I never read) and it's supposed to be romantic and I'm like YOU PEOPLE ARE CANNIBALS. Stop romantic cannibalism before it starts, people.
Yet another cliffhanger and clues to the location of the Infinityglass, an artifact everyone spends the entire book chasing, close out the installment and set up the plot of a third novel in the Hourglass series. I don't think I'll be reading on this time unless Lily narrates it because I don't think there is anymore hope for me and this series. Bad metaphors that invoke a reaction of OMG CANNIBALS are a deal-breaker. And yes, there are still exploding light bulbs and appliances when people kiss.
2 stars!
What am I reading next?: Beautiful Lies by Jessica Warman
