The Golden Spiral by Lisa Mangum

The Golden Spiral (Hourglass Door #2)

Lisa Mangum

May 10th, 2010

Pages: 365 (now in paperback)

Publisher: Shadow Mountain

Source: Publicist

Summary (Spoilers for 1st book):

The bank is eroding. The barriers are thinning. And time is running out. 

The hourglass door has closed behind Dante, sending him back in time to hunt down Zo, Tony, and V. Although giving him up was the hardest test she ever faced, Abby knows that Dante is the only one who can stop the others from destroying time itself. But almost immediately, things start to change, and Abby's worst fears are realized when Zo begins targeting her past specifically.  

With each change that ripples into her present, Abby's life continues to spiral out of control. Her relationships with Jason, Natalie, and even her family are threatened to the breaking point. Zo's power is greater than Abby ever imagined. Will her love for Dante be enough to turn the tide? 

The Golden Spiral is nothing short of spectacular. The story is creative and exciting - Lisa Mangum is an author to keep an eye on.

Abby’s life is becoming more of a mess by the day as Zo flits through time with only chaos on his mind. The more he changes Abby's life, the more the barriers of time begin to wane. Despite everything horrible that’s happening, Abby toughens up and actively attempts to fix everything – including her seemingly impossible task to save Dante. But it is characters like Valerie and Zo who truly steal the spotlight. Zo is more threatening than ever with his controlled yet chaotic behavior, while Valerie's manic personality constantly surprises with every story she tells. Valerie especially grew to be a favorite character of mine, despite how frustrating I found her in book one.

Mangum intertwines events from the past novel together with those taking place in The Golden Spiral quite expertly. Time travel and the drawbacks of messing of time are more present in this story in comparison to the previous one. The characters are more developed, the risks are higher, and the ending will have you eager to snag a copy of newest and final novel, The Forgotten Locket.

Highlights: The characters, especially supporting ones like Zo, V, and Valerie, truly stunned me with how much more depth they all gained as characters. The build up to the conclusion was especially well done, and managed to surprise me despite a few hints here and there. Mangum's writing is as beautifully descriptive (and sometimes even poetic) as it was in the first novel.

Lowlights: Just once, I got a bit iffy regarding the dialog between Abby and Dante (the spot I'm referencing seemed a dash over the top). Things also seemed to work out too well regarding a couple aspects of the plot.

Note: You need to read The Hourglass Door (#1) to understand this novel, and I'd definitely recommend it.

Rating: 4 out of 5

The Hourglass Door by Lisa Mangum Review

The Hourglass Door
Lisa Mangum
May 13th, 2009
Source - Publisher
My Summary:

Abby's life has always gone according to plan, nothing ever changes. Except now that it's her senior year, she's thinking about different options...like instead of going to State with everyone else, she might really want to go to Emery back east. And maybe perfect, always-has-an-answer Jason just might not be the guy for her. Everything starts unraveling at the seams when she meets Dante Alexander, the new foreign exchange student. He's unlike anyone else in town, and shrouded in mystery. Time doesn't seem to pass the same way whenever she's around him. The more Abby gets to know him, the more she can't deny that there is something unusual about him. In the end, Abby's life could change because of one guy, and his secrets...

Surprising and intriguing, The Hourglass Door is addictive from the very first page to the last. 

Abby's got her life all pulled together in a neat little bow, but it all falls apart when Dante comes around. I found Abby to be very easy to relate to, especially since she's a stagehand for her school's play productions (a job I used to hold when I was in high school). At first, she came across as a bit bland, and very average (but I felt like she changed throughout the novel). Dante himself is intriguing, but what I love about him most is that he isn't the "bad boy" that YA books seem to love throwing into stories. He's actually a really good guy, and his relationship with time travel is very different than I expected. 

The characters that make up the band Zero Hour were interesting as well, and their roles have me curious about what will happen in the second novel. The plot surprised me at a few points, and the end shocked me again. By the time I finished the last sentence of The Hourglass Door, I was scrambling to start The Golden Spiral in order to find out what happens next in such a captivating trilogy. This is a very fun novel to read if you're in the mood for a bit of mystery, romance and an ending that will leave you wanting to dive into the sequel. 

Highlights: I've never read a time travel book quite like this one. The Hourglass Door grabbed me when it should, and made it very difficult to stop reading. 

Lowlights: It did seem like there was something missing, although I can't really say for sure what. It got a bit confusing at a couple points too, so I had to reread a few sections. Much like Meyer's Twilight series, Mangum is a great storyteller, and I can easily see people enjoying this one. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Image from Goodreads