Review: Hereafter by Tara Hudson

Hereafter by Tara Hudson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Synopsis:

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.

Review:

This book has been on my TBR pile for ages. Finally, I wanted to read something different, and what could be more different than a ghost story with a twist.

Sadly I was left a little bit underwhelmed. I liked the premise of the story, a girl ghost saves a boy from drowning and thanks to his Seer skills he's now able to see and feel her.

The story is a narrative and deals with all sorts of complications. Amelia can't remember her last name, her family, where she lives etc. But most pointedly how did she die? And how can she and Joshua begin their relationship, complications notwithstanding.

I felt the flow of the story too slow in places. A few repeated emphasis' that could have been left out and a whole lot of extra filler which made the book stagnant. I actually wanted to reach the end just so that I could finish it.

The story itself started well and had me gripped to find out what was going on but by the middle of the book I got the impression that there wasn't much more story to tell. The evil bad ghost was even a little too - lame? And the ending was tied up nicely but not with a ghostly haunted feel to it, more of a fizzled out firecracker.

This isn't meant harshly in any way towards the book. It IS a sweet love story which I found refreshing and unique to the YA genre. I just wanted a little more action.

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