Excellent, excellent, excellent book. Very creative and unique take on the old "mysterious immortal boy meets teenage girl" business. The mystical world that Mangum builds for us and all the detail it contains is incredibly interesting.
I love seeing that Abby's life goes on outside of the paranormal world as well as in it. I love that she is a strong character, and though she's "special" she's not suddenly and magically the most powerful person ever in the whole world. The fact that we only find things out as the characters do can be frustrating, but also intensifies your desire to keep reading.
There are a few flaws, like the fact that the book starts with Abby not being the spontaneous, adventurous girl she "used to be". Since we don't know anything about her character yet, it was kind of a surprise for me to hear that. By the end of the book we see that Abby much more clearly. There are also a few aspects of the "time" business and some powers that aren't explained very much, but I'm hoping it'll be expanded upon in the future books.
Reviewed by Joan Stradling for TeensReadToo.com
Abby is enjoying her senior year of high school. She has a cute boyfriend, great friends, and the possibility of a college education. But everything in her world changes when Dante Alexander, a foreign exchange student from Italy, walks into the auditorium during play rehearsal.
Abby is drawn to Dante and, before she knows it, their lives are intertwined. But Dante isn't who Abby thinks he is, and she is drawn into a mystery reaching all the way back into sixteenth-century Florence.
Everything she's worked so hard for, everything she thought she wanted, is threatened by the dangerous truth of Dante's past. Only Abby can make things right, but is she strong enough to open THE HOURGLASS DOOR?
The premise of the book sounded interesting, but I never imagined the adventure I'd find when I opened THE HOURGLASS DOOR. Abby and Dante's world is intoxicating and I didn't want to leave.
Though the beginning was a bit rough for me, the rest of Mangum's book flowed smoothly and effortlessly and led me through a tale I'll not soon forget.
Abby and Dante are characters I look forward to meeting again in the upcoming continuation of THE GOLDEN SPIRAL. Its release date can't come soon enough for me!
