Review for THE HOURGLASS DOOR by Lisa Mangum

THE HOURGLASS DOOR

by Lisa Mangum

Published
May 13th 2009 by Shadow Mountain

Hardcover, 416 pages

Placement in the Pile:

Reaching New Heights

Summary:

His past. Her future. Can love bring them together in time? Abby s senior year of high school is going according to plan: good friends, cute boyfriend, and college applications in the mail. But when Dante Alexander, foreign-exchange student from Italy, steps into her life, he turns it upside down. He's mysterious, and interesting, and unlike anyone she's ever met before. Abby can't deny the growing attraction she feels for him. Nor can she deny the unusual things that seem to happen when Dante is around. Soon Abby finds herself drawn into a mystery whose roots reach into sixteenth-century Florence, and she uncovers a dangerous truth that threatens not only her future but the lives of those she loves.

Review:

This was a really fun read. Lisa's descriptions were really lovely. I did feel like there maybe a little bit too many though, I wanted to be able to savor them more, instead of having so many one on top of the other. Also, I got really sick of the white's of his eyes being described in varying ways with "frost" (e.g. "the frost-white rims of his eyes"). But those are really my only two complaints. It was a fast, easy read. I recommend it for anyone looking for a romantic book, with some intensity and mystery behind it. The prologue is totally baffling until you read the whole book, then it makes total sense. The story takes a little bit of time to build up, and then gains momentum all the way until the intense (and be warned - cliffhanger) ending.