In the summer after graduation, Autumn and Finny reconnect and are finally ready to be more than friends. Growing up, Autumn and Finny were like peas in a pod despite their differences: Autumn is “quirky and odd,” while Finny is “sweet and shy and everyone like him.” But in eighth grade, Autumn and Finny stop being friends due to an unexpected kiss. They drift apart and find new friends, but their friendship keeps asserting itself at parties, shared holiday gatherings and random encounters. The finely drawn characters capture readers’ attention in this debut.Īutumn and Phineas, nicknamed Finny, were born a week apart their mothers are still best friends. Action scenes sometimes seem intrusive or arbitrarily placed, and the mysterious Infinityglass feels contrived, as relationships rather than plot drive the story.Ĭlearly a sequel but still makes time fly by. Kaleb’s bad-boy persona and habits hinder his quest-he deadens his empathic powers with alcohol, tattoos, piercings and casual hook-ups-but he reveals a sensitive side in his evolving interactions with the hot-tempered Lily Garcia, Emerson’s friend and the newest, informal addition to the team. Kaleb replaces Emerson as the narrator, and, accordingly, his motivations are clearest of the characters’: He seeks to revenge Liam’s (temporary) death, to restore his comatose mother’s lost memories and to protect Emerson. Stronger temporal rips and unwanted attention from the Chronos group also complicate their pursuit of Jack. Each teen has many reasons to find him, but fewer methods as now only Jack possesses enough “exotic matter” to travel through time.

Jack Landers, murderer and saboteur, is still on the loose and wreaking havoc on the time continuum.

Though Emerson Cole brought her boyfriend, Michael, and Kaleb’s dad, Liam, back from the dead, time is still out of joint for the super-powered teens at the Institute. Bad boy Kaleb Ballard struggles with his empathic powers and complicated relationships in this sequel to Hourglass (2011).

Timepiece by Myra McEntire