Timepiece by Myra McEntire

A threat from the past could destroy the future. And the clock is ticking...

Kaleb Ballard's relentless flirting is interrupted when Jack Landers, the man who tried to murder his father, timeslips in and attacks before disappearing just as quickly. But Kaleb has never before been able to see time travelers, unlike many of his friends associated with the mysterious Hourglass organization. Are Kaleb's powers expanding, or is something very wrong?

Then the Hourglass is issued an ultimatum. Either they find Jack and the research he's stolen on the time gene, or time will be altered with devastating results.

Now Kaleb, Emerson, Michael, and the other Hourglass recruits have no choice but to use their unusual powers to find Jack. But where do they even start? And when? And even if they succeed, it may not be enough...

The follow-up to Hourglass, Timepiece blends the paranormal, science fiction, mystery, and suspense genres into a nonstop thrill ride where every second counts.

Review of Hourglass, Book 1 in the series.

The first thing you’ll notice is that Timepiece switches to Kaleb’s point of view. McEntire is just as natural writing a male pov as a female, and I loved getting to know the inner workings of another character in the series. Kaleb’s specialty as an empath gives his character a boost in some situations, but McEntire is good about limiting those powers logically and showing how they can be stumbling blocks just as much as stepping stones. In fact, Kaleb suffers more than benefits from his empathic ability, and a lot of his character growth centers around his learning to deal with the pain and suffering he can sense in other people. The people around him are great as well, helping him to learn to deal as well as learning about him in the process. We also get a good view of Emerson and Michael’s relationship development, which I like because Kaleb’s third person view rather mimics Emerson’s view of her brother Thomas’ relationship with Dru. I did feel that Kaleb’s relationship with Lily felt a bit contrived, like the author was pairing up the last available characters because everyone needs a couple, but the relationship felt realistic enough that I excused the “we all need someone to complete us” vibe I was getting from it.

Although the book is heavy on character development there is a great plot going on as well. I won’t say much about it so you’re not spoiled, but we do learn more about Hourglass and Jack’s history as well as motivation for what Jack and Chronos do and why they’re scared now and want to bring down the Hourglass. The plot moves quickly, leaving little time to notice the few small flaws it may have. In all I thought this was a good second book, not suffering at all from second book syndrome, and other than the small irritation of relationship contrivance I loved reading it.

A copy of this book was provided to me through NetGalley for free in exchange for an unbiased review.