Timepiece by Myra McEntire (Hourglass # 2)

*Review based on the ARC*

"Anything taken can be returned. Anything given can be destroyed."

Timepiece, by Myra McEntire, is the second installment in the Hourglass series. This time around the story is told by 17 year old Kaleb Ballard, son of Liam and Grace Walker who lies in a coma after events of Hourglass. Kaleb is an empath. He can sense people's emotions as well as their timelines.

Timepiece also focuses on the growing relationship between Kaleb and Lily Pillar Diaz Garcia who is Emerson's best friend. Lily has a few secrets of her own that come to light over the course of the story. I actually found Lily's story to be a bit more interesting than Kaleb's because of what her own past reveals about her over the course of this book.

Timepiece continues with Jack Landers being one evil piece of work. He's already killed Kaleb's father Liam, and messed with the timeline and truth of Emerson's own life. He wants Emerson's help in such a way, that he goes after everything she holds dear to her including Michael.

Emerson, naturally, is prominently featured as well as Kaleb. How can she not be? She has the traveler gene which allows her to travel through time. Those with the time gene can now see that the rips have increased to the point where people from the past are appearing into the present. If someone accidentally enters a rip, they are stuck there until they are able to be rescued.

The big news is that Chronos has given the Hourglass people until Halloween to find Jack before they are forced into action. This leaves Emerson, Michael, Nate, Dune, Kaleb and Lily scrambling to find the InfinityGlass.

As for my overall opinions about Kaleb...meh. He starts out as a drunkard and a flirt who actually grabs Lily's ass. He then bemoans his situation especially his relationship with his father who, it seems, actually thinks Michael is his kid not Kaleb. By the end, you are wondering why Kaleb didn't think about his abilities more when it comes to seeing others timelines including his own mothers!!! Hello?

Naturally, we not only had a happy ending, but a cliffhanger as well that will tie directly into InfinityGlass when it releases next year. I'm one of those genuinely interested in finding out who will be the narrator of InfinityGlass.

Overall, maybe not such a great idea to have the story be told by Kaleb instead of another character like say Dune, or Ava, or Nate.

Expected publication: June 12th 2012 by EgmontUSA