Review: Hereafter by Tara Hudson (Hereafter #1)

Title: Hereafter by Tara Hudson

Published: June 7th 2011 by HarperCollins

Source: Puchased for Kindle

Challenges:

Grade rate: C+

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.

My Review

Hereafter is the first paranormal romance that I’ve read in which the main character is a ghost.  In fact, the book is narrated from Amelia’s point of view and we know what it feels like to be a ghost, and be confused and lonely.

Amelia is, as I mentioned, a ghost of an 18-year-old girl that wonders around near the place of her death.  I think she develops a strong personality with a very ferocious sense of right and wrong and protectiveness towards those few that she loves.  Joshua is a sweetheart (not to mention gorgeous!), he is also protective, but ill equipped to defend Amelia.  Eli is evil and obviously the bad guy (or known bad guy) of the story, he has a distorted sense of ownership and a twisted mind. I hoped that Jillian, Joshua’s sister turned out to be one of the “good guys”, but I guess we’ll see in the sequel.  I did not like Josh’s grandmother at all.  She had knowledge about ghosts and demons but sees everything as black and white and is unwilling to help Amelia.  Other characters were minor, such as Joshua’s friends, and parents. 

Hereafter’s plot was original and the story was paced nicely.  I guess that this first book left a lot of questions unanswered and it was a bit confusing.  I honestly don’t understand how a ghost and a human can be together (it’s just creepy, right?) and the instant-love from Josh’s side was a little unbelievable.  I only have good things to say about Ms. Hudson’s writing.  It was well paced, lyrical, and the descriptions seem to take a life of their own.

I will still read Arise, book two of the series due to be published this June, as I want to know how it will all work out for Amelia and Joshua.

About the cover: It is a beautiful cover, very appropriate for the plot as it shows Amelia as a ghost and the dark river.