Hourglass is the first novel by writer Myra McEntire. In this book, Emerson Cole has been seeing what she believes is dead people since just before her parents die in a terrible accident. However, when Emerson meets Michael Weaver she learns that these visions are not the dead, but snapshots of the past and that Michael also can see what she sees. Emerson and Michael prove to be parallel souls who together can change a wrong, but at what cost to them and those around them? Hourglass is an impressive premiere novel that takes a unique look at the idea of time travel.

Emerson Cole has just returned home to her small Tennessee home from boarding school, facing her senior year among her former classmates after learning that her scholarship to the boarding school has been discontinued. Emerson is less than happy about the prospect of facing the same classmates she once had a complete mental breakdown in front of, but her brother, and guardian, refuses to discuss the idea of allowing her to simply test out of school. Thomas is wants Emerson to have as normal of a life as possible following her depression and mental struggles after the deaths of their parents four years ago. However, the fact that Emerson can see dead people places a damper on his attempts to give her a normal life.

Thomas has hired a great number of people in the past who thought they could help Emerson, but each proved to be some kind of charlatan, leaving Emerson skeptical. Therefore, when Thomas tells Emerson about Michael Weaver and Hourglass, she is reluctant to meet him. That night, however, Emerson is intrigued by the fact that Michael can see some of the same things that she can see. It also helps that Michael, who is close to Emerson's age, is very good-looking.

Over the next couple of days, Emerson and Michael meet often and discuss their gifts. However, Emerson becomes annoyed when Michael refuses to answer her questions directly. Finally Emerson backs Michael into a corner and forces him to tell her the truth about their gifts. Michael says that it is not the dead that Emerson sees, but snapshots of the past as part of an ability to travel into the past. Michael claims that he has a comparable gift, but that his gifts allow him to move into the future. Michael claims that they are soul mates, meant to use one another's gifts to move in time. In fact, Michael tells Emerson it was she, from the future, who told him to come to her.

When Emerson follows Michael to the headquarters of Hourglass, the organization he works for, she learns about Michael's mentor, Dr. Liam Ballard, the founder of Hourglass. Liam died six months before in a fire in his laboratory. However, Michael believes that it is possible for both him and Emerson to save Liam from his fate without disrupting the time-space continuum due to the circumstances of his death. Emerson is willing to try, not only for Michael, but for Liam's son and Michael's best friend, Kaleb. However, on the night they make their attempt, Michael is killed in the fire that was meant to take Liam's life.

Emerson, devastated by Michael's death and the knowledge that he knew he was to die, agrees to return to that night with help from Michael's adviser, Dr. Cat Rooks. However, after saving Michael, Emerson and Michael find themselves confronted by the man they believe caused Liam's death originally, Jonathan Landers, who, it turns out, is Cat's lover. Emerson manages to trick Landers into believing she has given him what he wants, the formula for exotic matter that will allow him to time travel. However, what she really gave him was a formula for a drug to keep his empathy in check and from becoming overwhelmed by other's people's emotions.