Review Detail

PREFACE:
After reading and falling in love with the Hourglass world and its characters, I was excited to finish the series. I had no hesitations going into this because I adore Myra McEntire and I couldn't wait to meet the characters again, and some ones as well.

WRITING:
McEntire has an easy style that is direct, but she brings the characters and places to life. She knows exactly which words fit the best for each scene, and the whole book played out like a movie in my mind. I read it so fast and didn't want it to end.

SETTING:
While a tiny bit of time was spent in Ivy Springs in Infinityglass, mostly we got to explore the vivid city of New Orleans. Again, McEntire made the locations, a pirate bar, a swanky hotel, the Mississippi River, and more, leap off the page. The locations didn't take over the story, but they were an integral part nonetheless.

CHARACTERS:
So, I thought when I read Timepiece that I'd found my favorite HEA couple. But I hadn't met Hallie and didn't really know Dune yet. And Oh. My. Stars.

When I saw McEntire at the SOKY Book Fest before Infinityglass was released, she told me that one of the narrators of the story, Hallie, could be characterized as who would result if Kaleb and Emerson had a baby. Needless to say, I was super intrigued. And that characterization held true. Hallie is a hundred handfuls and a half. She's snarky, tough, seductive, and smart. I adored her. She's the kind of girl you would love to be friends with but you would never want to be on her bad side. She also had a vulnerability that she hid pretty well until Dune arrived.

Dune was barely a blip on my radar in the first two Hourglass books. I was probably too enamored with Kaleb to notice much else. But when Dune takes the story, he took me with it. He was absolutely fantastic. I feel like he and Kaleb are two sides of the same coin. When Kaleb had his tragedies and trials, he went the bad boy route and lost his way. But Dune took the other path and grew wise and thoughtful and tried his best not to hurt anyone. The problem was he seemed to be solely focused on research and his quest for the infinityglass. When the Hallie and Dune met, it wasn't sparks flying - it was a super nova. And I loved every single second of it.

I was very happy to see the rest of the gang as well - Em, Michael, Kaleb, and Lily. There were lots of good intermingling moments in the group that allowed each character to reveal more of themselves. I was glad we got to see a little more of Nate and his character stuck with me this time where he hadn't before. I wish there had been more Ava. I really want to know what is going on in that girl's head. Poe was another addition that I hadn't expected but enjoyed.

The villains, Teague and Jack, were back like a bad habit. Jack wasn't as present this time, but when he was, he was still so creepy and crazy. And then Teague went to a whole new level of insane and inhuman, which was impressive. I was expecting Hallie's dad to also be a bad guy, and while he wasn't necessarily a good guy, he was no where near the evil of Teague and Jack.

COOL STUFF:
Swoon. There was so much kissing and flirting and sweet talking in this book. Even more than in Timepiece, which I didn't think was possible. If those swoony bits hadn't been fade to black, this would have barely been a YA novel.

While the story arc ended in the three books, there seems to be a chance for more to be written in the Hourglass world. There are plenty of characters left to explore (Ava and Poe please?), so I was happy that the ending was a little open. And the actual last bit of the book was awesome and definitely has my hopes high for possible future installments.

VERDICT:
I didn't think I could love this series any more than I already did, but Myra McEntire crafted a pitch-perfect finale to this trilogy. All the great wit, sensitivity, action, and swoon that I've become accustomed to was there and just left me wanting more. Finishing this book was bittersweet, so I'll just have to look forward to whatever McEntire comes out with next.

*10/10*