Hereafter by Tara Hudson

Hereafter

Author: Tara Hudson

Pages [hardcover]: 404

memorable quote:
Not the kind of unconsciousness that torments the dead, but the kind that kills the living.

favorite characters:
ruth & amelia

summary: 

Can there truly be love after death?

Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she’s dead. With no recollection of her past life–or her actual death–she’s trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but “will” him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.

Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit named Eli is doing everything in his power to destroy their newfound happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world . . . forever.

Thrilling and evocative, with moments of pure pleasure, “Hereafter” is a sensation you won’t want to miss.

review:

Hereafter is amazing, addictive, awesome, and leaves you craving more! I started this book yesterday . . . Last night, actually. Then when I woke up this morning, I kept on reading until the very end. I certainly didn’t expect to push everything aside just to get in a few more pages . . . which quickly turned into the rest of the book . . . but I couldn’t resist finding out more about Amelia, Josh, and Eli.

I loved the entire concept of the hereafters, Amelia’s ghostly ways, and her nightmares. I liked Josh’s appearance and importance as well as his grandmother Ruth’s-though, really, after a while I was busy screaming at Amelia and Ruth to USE YOUR WORDS. I feel like so many more problems could have been solved if everyone just sat down for a chat. Goodness.

Usually I don’t like novels where there’s the instant and super fast attraction/romance between main characters, but it makes sense, at least in Amelia’s case. She hasn’t had anyone so much as glance her way for years, really, so she knows she can’t just let this guy get away from her. He, on the other hand . . . Well, I can understand his interest, but there are some things that just don’t add up. Not enough to especially bother me, but enough to make me want to see what’s going on in his head.

The bad guy is great! Two parts creepy, one part pitiful, all parts desperate and willing to do anything to get his horrible plots to work . . . Finding out more and more as the story progresses, some of which is easily predictable, other parts that are more of a surprise, was a preferable change to the classic information dump. Sure, Amelia only has a few sources of information, but the wording remains believable and conversational, not like paragraphs of info read from a textbook.

For people continuously annoyed by love triangles, there isn’t one in this book. So far. Not really..

I was looking for a bit more ghostliness in Hereafter, a little haunting, maybe. But I liked the balance between life and death and the little things added together are really what made this book so catching and lovely for me. I really, really recommend it; I was reluctant to start because it seemed like another typical YA paranormal book, but look at what happened to me. I’m hooked.

HAUNTING. 5/5 stars