Showing posts with label Myra McEntire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Myra McEntire. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Infinityglass Book Birthday Celebration: Mini Review + Giveaway

INFINITYGLASS
Hourglass #3
Myra McEntire
Paranormal Young Adult
336 pages
Releases Today!
Egmont
Source: Finished copy from publisher for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
The Hourglass is a secret organization focused on the study of manipulating time, and its members — many of them teenagers -­have uncanny abilities to make time work for them in mysterious ways. Inherent in these powers is a responsibility to take great care, because altering one small moment can have devastating consequences for the past, present, and future. But some time trav­elers are not exactly honorable, and sometimes unsavory deals must be struck to maintain order.

With the Infinityglass (central to understanding and harnessing the time gene) at large, the hunt is on to find it before someone else does.

But the Hourglass has an advantage. Lily, who has the ability to locate anything lost, has determined that the Infinityglass isn't an object. It's a person. And the Hourglass must find him or her first. But where do you start searching for the very key to time when every second could be the last?


MY THOUGHTS
Infinityglass sees the continuation of the battle between those who thirst for power and those who would thwart them, but this time from the dual first-person perspectives of Hourglass member Dune and newly-discovered infinityglass Hallie. Like Timepiece before it, Infinityglass proves to be a bit more complex both in terms of the space-time continuum and with regard to Hallie’s abilities with the rips. There are times when the explanations for how she’s able to close the rips are fleeting and the story moves on before we’ve fully comprehended what took place, but the strength of this final romantic pairing easily pulls us through when the immeasurable possibilities stemming from the disruption of time and space threaten to overwhelm.

Hallie, for all that she enjoys playing games with the few people with whom she’s allowed contact thanks to her painfully sheltered life, is someone easy to like and even easier to root for, her delicate relationship with her father and her deplorable relationship with her mother causing the protective instinct in us to flare up even though she’s perfectly capable of handling herself. Dune is equally likable, a few secrets from his past brought to light to give us a more complete understanding of the scope of his ability and why he works so hard to keep it under wraps. The two of them together have undeniable chemistry, delighting all of us romantics who love to see a relationship unfold even (or perhaps especially) in the middle of chaos.

Though there is some confusion in the final showdown between Teague and the Hourglass team (I’m not entirely sure exactly what happened or why it worked), it’s a pleasure to see the entire cast of characters working together in this final book, making us laugh and swoon and wish for another few books for the remaining characters who have yet to be center stage.

Rating: 4/5


This book was sent to me by the publisher  free of charge for the purpose of a review
I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

• • • • • • • • • • 
 
MYRA McENTIRE


Myra McEntire has had her nose in a book since she could hold one. She was once caught reading in the shower (true story) and only stopped when her father disconnected the hot water heater. She lives in  Nashville, Tennessee, with her husband and two boys.  


• • • • • • • • • • 

GIVEAWAY


Thanks to Media Masters Publicity and Egmont USA, I have a fantastic giveaway to share with you all today! One lucky winner will receive copies of all three books in this series plus a very cool "melting" clock designed specifically to hang from a bookshelf (see above picture). How fun is that? To enter, please just fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, August 1, 2013

The Hourglass Series: Mini Reviews of Hourglass + Timepiece

HOURGLASS
Hourglass #1
Myra McEntire
Paranormal Young Adult
390 pages
Egmont USA
Available Now
Source: Bought

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
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 also 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've happened?


MY THOUGHTS
Hourglass is a story we enter into with no small amount of trepidation, time travel a subject matter that can often be extraordinarily confusing when trying to understand the how’s of it all and the ramifications of any minuscule change in the past, but Hourglass luckily focuses predominantly on Emerson’s ability to see people from other times rather than on the science (so to speak) of the travel itself. There are moments when the focus being elsewhere is both a blessing and a curse however, the ease with which Emerson is able to make her first trip to the past with neither any previous experience nor the knowledge she was even capable of doing so causing us to itch slightly with the desire for a tad more explanation, but such a desire is certainly nitpicky at best.

Emerson is a highly enjoyable heroine, her obvious struggle with seeing things other people can’t creating an almost instant connection as we want nothing more for her than to feel comfortable in her own skin after all she’s been through, and aside from a few rash decisions here and there stemming from an unquenchable (but understandable) curiosity about the Hourglass and her abilities in general, she is easy to root for throughout. The tension between her and Michael is utterly delicious, a little push and pull present but in no way irritating, the obstacles between them and their few minor misunderstandings all adding a believability to their interactions given how very out of sorts first love can make us feel.

Rating: 4/5
 


TIMEPIECE
Hourglass #2
Myra McEntire
Paranormal Young Adult
325 pages
Egmont USA
Available Now
Source: Bought

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
A threat from the past could destroy the future. And the clock is ticking...

Kaleb Ballard was never supposed to be able to see ripples - cracks in time. Are his powers expanding, or is something very wrong? Before he can find out, Jonathan landers, the man who tried to murder is father, reappears. Why is he back, and what, or whom, does he want?

In the wake of Landers' return, the Hourglass organization is given an ultimatum. Either they find Jack and the research he's stolen on the people who might carry the time gene, or time will be altered - with devastating results for the people Kaleb loves most.

Now Kaleb, Emerson, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their unusual powers to find Landers. But where do they even start? And when? And even if they succeed, it may not be enough...


MY THOUGHTS
Timepiece moves us from Emerson’s first person point of view to Kaleb’s, a switch that has us excited to crack the spine of this second installment given the hurt and pain we watched him attempt to numb with alcohol in book one, hoping against hope he finds solace somewhere other the bottle in this installment. Luckily for us, Kaleb’s mind, while battered and bruised thanks not only to his ability as an Empath but also to the events of the past several months, is still a fun place to be, his sense of humor and his status as an unrepentant flirt adding a touch of levity to what would otherwise be a darker tale than Hourglass.

While highly entertaining and thoroughly action-packed, Timepiece isn’t quite as strong as its predecessor merely from the standpoint that the disruptions in the space-time continuum are becoming greater and broader in scale, the confusion factor that accompanies time travel stories thus ratcheting up a few notches as we realize just how much Jack’s adjustments to various people’s timelines are affecting the current reality. There’s also a cliffhanger to contend with in this middle book, something that was blissfully absent from book one, but despite those drawbacks it’s still a story eagerly devoured with a strong set of characters that ensure we are invested in every aspect of their lives.

Rating: 3.5/5


Find Myra:


As part of the countdown toward the August 6th release of the third and final book in this trilogy, Infinityglass, Myra has been releasing fun teaser quotes each week on an Hourglass series tumblr. I wanted to go ahead and share my favorite of the ones she's posted so far because I adored this last book. See the above link to view them all!


Gotta love Hallie! She's blunt. I like it.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Triple Threat Blog Tour: Kate Ellison, Notes From Ghost Town and a Giveaway

 

Welcome to Stop #15 on the Triple Threat Blog Tour featuring Myra McEntire, Kate Ellison and Jennifer Lynn Barnes! Today I'm pleased to welcome Kate Ellison, author of Notes from Ghost Town and The Butterfly Clues. Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of this post for a fantastic giveaway as well as the details on the Triple Threat Blog Tour grand prize giveaway!

ART AS A FORM OF EXPRESSION

I like to think the impulse to create most art comes from needing to better interpret or understand the world around you. This is what we do when we write, and when we read; this is what we do when we make art, or see it, or watch plays, or act in them. If the things we are creating are unrecognizable, aren’t in some way connected to what we see and experience as living, breathing, eating, loving, dying human beings—even if this connection or representation is one of absurdity or surrealism or whatever else best expresses your view of the world—I don’t see the point in making it in the first place.

That’s sort of a broad sweep of the whole thing, but, in terms of my own processes and my own impulses when writing and when drawing or painting: they, in many ways, come from the same place. I observe myself, and the people around me, interacting with the world. I take in the various clots of relationship and nature, their interstices and their dissections, and can’t help but be confused and amazed and stunned by the whole plot of living. And when I sit down to write, or to draw, I’m not necessarily sure how my desire to work through it all will manifest, or what exactly I am trying to manifest, I usually just know I need to make something. Both art forms give you amazing opportunity to interpret everything you see and experience and touch and visit and dream, however you like, however it comes out.

Sometimes I’ll go through periods when all I’m doing is writing, and my hands will just start to feel itchy for some fine-motor, and when I let them—when I sit down and make a drawing or a painting or a piece of jewelry—it’s somewhat like a drug. Not all the time— sometimes it’s just sort of a drudge that I’m forcing myself to do to keep up the skill—but sometimes it’s like not having had anything sweet for a very long time and then eating a really incredible slice of cake. That’s almost what it feels like in your hands, speaking synesthetically.

Writing can do this too, to me. Sometimes, similar to drawing, I’ve got to force myself to sit down and hammer out a bunch of words in case something decent comes, but other times its like a full-body high; it’s like being spoken through, like your body is buzzing at a higher vibration. That’s much more rare, but it’s a reason to keep doing it, through all the times when it feels like your head is just made of dough.

And, most of the time, for both mediums, you’ve got to bring yourself to wherever it is you’re doing the work and just do the work, trusting that you can go into it without necessarily knowing what will come out of your fingertips. Sometimes, I think you’ve got to be okay with the fact that it is that something is coming out at all that counts, the feeling of that. Creating for the sake of creating, because it feels good, because it’s important, and because you’d be more than half-dead without it.

KATE AND HER WORK






Thanks so much for stopping by Kate! More information on Kate and her books can be found here:

Website
Facebook
Goodreads
Kate's Art
Notes from Ghost Town on Amazon
The Butterfly Clues on Amazon

Don't miss out on your chance to chat LIVE with Myra McEntire, Jennifer Lynn Barnes, and Kate Ellison tomorrow at 8pm on Mundie Moms!


THE TRIPLE THREAT BLOG TOUR CONTINUES

Though this is the second-to-last day of this amazing tour, you can still check out all the fabulous stops that came before it, each with a different giveaway as well as one of the puzzle pieces for the Infinityglass cover reveal which is something you'll need to enter to win the grand prize giveaway. Full giveaway details are below!

• Tuesday, January 22nd – Read for Your Future

• Wednesday, January 23rd – I Am a Reader, Not a Writer

• Thursday, January 24th – Pageturners

• Friday, January 25th – Read, Breathe Relax

• Monday, January 28th – Evie Bookish

• Tuesday, January 29th – Reading Teen

• Wednesday, January 30th – Cari’s Book Blog

• Thursday, January 31st – YA Books Central

• Friday, February 1st – Once Upon a Twilight

• Monday, February 4th – Bookhounds

• Tuesday, February 5th – Luxury Reading

• Wednesday, February 6th – Good Choice Reading

• Thursday, February 7th – I Read Banned Books

• Friday, February 8th – All Things Urban Fantasy

• Monday, February 11th  - Supernatural Snark

• Tuesday, February 12th – 8-10 pm ET LIVE book chat on Mundie Moms 

GIVEAWAYS

 
Notes From Ghost Town/The Butterfly Clues
 
One lucky winner will receive a finished hardcover copy of Notes From Ghost Town (I absolutely adored this book, my review will be up tomorrow) as well as a paperback copy of The Butterfly Clues. To enter, please just fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US/Canada only. Good luck everyone!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Infinityglass Cover Reveal Grand Prize Giveaway

•     There are a total of 15 pieces to the puzzle - one for each stop on the tour.  

•     Collect all 15 pieces to reveal the cover of Infinityglass by Myra McEntire (pubbing in July)

•     Submit the assembled cover via the following this link by no later than 2/12 at 10pm ET.  You will be entered to win the 6 book Grand Prize Giveaway of:  Jennifer Lynn Barnes' Nobody and Every Other Day, Kate Ellison's Butterfly Clues and Notes from Ghost Town and Myra McEntire's Hourglass and Timepiece

•     The puzzle can either be assembled electronically or a picture of the assembled printed pieces is also acceptable.

•     The winner and completed cover will be posted on Myra McEntire's blog www.myramcentire.com on 2/13. 

Puzzle Piece #15