Hourglass

Emerson Cole would rather not go through the purgatory of her senior year. As a freshman, she had a screaming argument in the cafeteria with someone who wasn't actually there and was sent away, first to a mental hospital, then to boarding school. Now the money has run out, and she's back in her small Southern town, dreading school and the new therapist her older brother, Thomas%E2%80%94her guardian since the death of their parents%E2%80%94has found for her. Michael, however, is like no therapist Emerson has ever met, and he tells her things she can hardly believe%E2%80%94the ghosts she talks to are real, time travel is possible, and Emerson herself can alter the future. And every time Michael touches her, the sparks literally fly. McEntire's debut attempts to incorporate many genres (romance, comic book superheroes, science fiction, paranormal), not always with equal success. But the story centers itself in Emerson's voice%E2%80%94by turns sardonic, world weary, ardent, and hopeful%E2%80%94and that voice is strong enough to carry readers through occasional improbabilities. Ages 12%E2%80%93up. (May)