Hereafter

Hereafter
Tara Hudson
404 pages
Publisher: HarperTeen
Source: library
★★★☆☆

You can read the Goodreads summary here.

Amelia is dead, but she doesn't know who she is or how she got that way.  All she knows is she died in the turbulent waters under the infamous High Bridge and she's still trying to get a handle on being a ghost.  When Joshua is tossed into the river and very nearly drowns, it awakens his Seer abilities and now the two are on a journey together to find out what the deal is with Amelia.  And why is that guy Eli so keen on, well, owning her?

The first thing that struck me about Hereafter was the the writing - Tara Hudson does a wonderful job at creating and setting up scenes and then describing them.  I was immediately drawn into the book by that, and then by the immediate romance between Amelia and Joshua, which had such a sense of urgency that I quickly turning the pages when I should have been asleep.

And then I noticed something - there was a lack of plot.  Sure we knew Amelia was a ghost and we were trying to figure out what her connection with Joshua and Eli was, but there wasn't much of a real plot until nearly the end of the novel when Joshua's sister must be saved.  So I would have liked to have seen more plot from the beginning, and I would have liked to have learned more about the grandmother and her group of church ladies who perform exorcisms.  Their role was too minor.

I get that it's a YA book and as such was focused on the young characters, but just because the book was written for teens doesn't mean we can't focus on some of the older characters.  And I mean this as a criticism of YA in general, not just Hereafter.

So three stars because I liked it.  It drew me in, but for no real reason.  If you're a YA paranormal romance junkie, this will be right up your alley and I recommend it.
















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