Review: Hourglass by Myra McEntire (SPOILERS!)

This review has huge spoilers (which I apologize for), so if you haven't read it yet, you might just want to peek at the last paragraph and the rating.
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Hourglass (Hourglass, #1) by Myra McEntire
400 pages, Kindle Edition
Finished on 17/6/2012
Genres: Young Adult, Coming of Age, Fantasy, Romance
Synopsis via GoodReads:

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?

Motivation to Read It: When it came out everyone was buzzing about it, and I saw it at the library and really wanted to catch up. It worked in my favor, because Timepiece came out while I was reading it.

Review: This novel was absolutely wonderful. Between this and Shatter Me I'm honestly not sure which one I loved more.

Emerson was almost a completely normal girl. She could see people from the past; she'd been institutionalized and put on serious meds (which she stopped taking). Her brother Thomas has been trying to find someone who can help Emerson; like, actually help her and not just be another poser. Being that no one has been successful yet, Emerson isn't expecting Michael to be of much help. However, the fact that he works for an actual group sparks Em's curiousity.

The powers, if you will, that the characters have are really unique so that definitely eaerned awesomeness points. I mean, time travel is one of those topics that hasn't been thoroughly explored yet and still has tons of potential. I also liked how not everyone had time-traveling abilities (Cat, for instance). The powers, if nothing else, kept me interested throughout the entire novel.

But of course, there was something else. In this case it was most definitely the characters. I fell head over heels for Michael. It isn't often I have a book boy crush, but he's definitely one of them. Even though there was the no-dating rule with the Hourglass and Thomas, he couldn't help his feelings for Emerson, and she obviously couldn't help how she felt about him either. When Michael died I was so depressed; all I could think was "Why did this have to happen? While they were in the past of all times!" It hit me pretty hard because I had fallen in love with Michael as well. I think I might've been happier than Emerson once she got him back.

Hourglass was seriously amazing. Spectacular. Marvelous. Wonderful. Fabulous, fantastic, magnificent. I loved it beyond words. It would make me so happy if everyone could just see the beauty of the story from the cover, or have some sort of intuition that told them they just had to read it. 'Cuz they really do.

Look out for a review of Timepiece soon!

Shelf-Worthy
(Rating System)