The Forgotten Locket by Lisa Mangum

The future is uncertain. The battle to control the past has begun. The final book in the riveting Hourglass Door trilogy begins when Abby steps through the black door, and she doesn't dare look back. Though it means leaving Dante—wounded, bleeding, and possibly blind—she knows it is the only way to save her family and stop Zo from manipulating the river of time and throwing the future into chaos. In the end, Abby must face a final confrontation that will take her to the very origins of the hourglass door.

The third and last book in the series, The Forgotten Locket, will make you want to reread the whole series. A good, clean young adult read!
The world in the Hourglass Door Trilogy is different than any I've read. I enjoyed reading the two worlds and I have to admit sometimes the intelligence of it all went over my head. But the time travel were intriguing.
I wanted to go back and read more about Leo and the relationships he has/makes from the beginning. I like reading about him, his past and the choices he made that rippled through time.
The love story is just right; not a tons of "poor us! how will we ever be together? Wah! Wah!" Their relationship was something they had to fight for, which strengthened it.
Zo is intense, charming and psycho. He tries everything to stop Dante and Abby and disrupt time.
A big part of the books that I LOVED was how important family was to the characters and story.

Rating: PG 13
V:Some fighting
L: None
S: Kissing

Wanna win this book?! Of course you do! Head over to GoodReads here and enter to win! The contest goes until May 31st.


Wanna buy the book? Click the link.


25% test (p. 91):
""Interesting question. We'll have to save that impossible situation for another round." Orlando said with a grin.
I laughed. "And playing this game helped your brother sleep?"
"Actually, no, not very often," Orlando said. "What did work, though, was when we'd come down to the fireplace, and I would brew up a warm drink for him to help him sleep." Orlando nodded at the empty cup still in my hands. "He was particularly fond of Father's special tea, too. Though when I made it for my brother, I always mixed in a wish."
"A wish?" I repeated. A quiet memory chimed inside, a feeling of light and the taste of pink.
Orlando nodded. "He always took his wishes very seriously. He would stop and think for a long time about exactly what he wanted to wish for. And his working was always exact--it wasn't 'I wish for happiness,' but 'I wish for the sun to shine tomorrow so that the flowers will bloom and make Mother happy.'" He shook his head in fond memory. "He was always more concerned about other people then he was about himself."
"What kinds of things did you wish for?"
Orlando turned his attention to the fire, avoiding my gaze. "Oh, I never made a wish myself."
"Why not?"
"I don't know. Maybe it was because I didn't want to look at my life and see what was missing.  Once you identify what you lack, then it's all you see anymore. Wanting something  couldn't have would only lead to unhappiness, so I tried to be content with what I had."

THE GOLDEN SPIRAL by Lisa Mangum

His eyes. His touch. His kiss. Dante was unlike anyone Abby had ever met. Now he’s gone, and Abby will do anything to get him back… The hourglass door has closed behind Dante, sending him back in time to hunt down Zo, Tony, and V. Abby knows that Dante, as a Master of Time, is the only one who can stop them from destroying time itself. She also knows that he will need her help. But almost immediately, things start to change and Abby’s worst fears are realized when Zo begins targeting her past specifically. With each new 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 – and beyond. Zo’s power is greater than Abby ever imagined, and as she struggles to free Dante, she receives help from an unexpected – and unlikely – ally. As Abby’s world fractures around her, she must face a terrible truth: either Dante didn’t make it through the door, or he is lost forever. So with Dante’s blueprints in hand, she begins construction on a new door, a new time machine that will either save Dante – or doom him. The river of time is running wild, churning up secrets and betrayals, revelations and promises. With each new turn of the river, Abby faces a new challenge. Who can she trust? And how many more changes can she survive? The bank is eroding, the barriers are thinning. And time is running out.

Interesting, well-written story. I would strongly suggest reading The Hourglass Door before picking the second installment in this trilogy. It took me quite a few chapters to get back into the swing of the story and even then I was still lost on a few details.
I felt like either I was missing something important with the whole time river idea or I was making it harder to understand than it was.
I didn't feel like I connected with character except the crazy ones. I had no sympathy for their plight.
The romance didn't make my heart thump. I actually liked Zo and his creepiness. He seemed to have more depth than Dante.
I'm debating if I want to read the last book. But in most trilogies, it seems the second book is the weakest. So maybe I should give the third a chance??

Rating: PG 13
V: Some
L: No
S: No

Page 69 test:
"By the time I woke up in the hospital four days later, he was already gone. That had been the last time I'd seen him. Until today.
I opened my eyes to check the time, and a fracture of white in the field of black caught my attention. Perhaps something had survived the blaze after all.
I ducked under the tape, carefully avoiding the burnt beams and twisted metal that lay scattered on the blackened earth.
It wasn't so easy to avoid the memories that flooded through me with each step.
Here was where the Signature Wall used to stand, collecting the names of my friends in their individual scribbles and scrawls.
Here was where Leo had tended bar, and where he had offered me his famous Midnight Kiss, filled with a story and a wish.
Here was the stage where Dante had recited his poem and where Zo and his band had played "Into the River" for the first time.
Here were the stairs that led to Dante's room, where I had forced my way to the bank to save him--only to let him go.
A sliver of white glimmered like polished bone amid the wreckage of the Dungeon. I crouched down, carefully brushing away the gray ash that coated the ground.
A delicate face smiled up at me. I recognized it immediately as the porcelain ballerina from Leo's cabinet of curiosities. I was amazed that anything had survived the fire, especially something as fragile as this. I turned her over carefully in my fingers, wiping..."