Hereafter

Hereafter by Tara Hudson

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


It took me a while to finish this book. Not because it is a bad book, but because I am not really into a ghost story. I thought it is going to be a creepy kind one but I am wrong. It focuses more on the romance/love aspect of the book that I tend to forgot that the lead character is a ghost.

Amelia, our main protagonist, is like I said is a ghost. She can remember her first name, how she died (through drowning) and her age when she died. But she can’t remember anything from her past. Not even her last name and her date of birth. And then she somehow saved Joshua from a drowning accident. And now their lives are now intertwined. And amazingly he can see her. Of course how can they have a love story if he can’t see her? Right! Stupid me…

And then there’s Ruth, Joshua’s grandmother, who is a Seer and she has this mission to banish or exorcised the ghost in the High Bridge wherein Amelia died, Josh had an accident and Eli haunted. Now Eli of course is the guy who haunts the bridge and he wants Amelia as his partner in crime.

Amelia and Joshua’s relationship is a product of an instant connection and attraction. Another rushed kind of affair. I am getting tired on this kind of love story and I honestly don’t feel any connection at all between Amelia and Joshua. Don’t get me wrong, Amelia is a good character but I found her too naive for my taste. And Joshua is too good to be true. I found myself liking and rooting more for Eli, who is supposed to be the bad guy. I don’t know but I found him so cool with his marvelous ability and position in the hereafter.

I think the plot has a lot of potential. I really loved the idea of Amelia and Joshua slowly uncovering the mysteries of Amelia’s past. How Eli and Amelia are connected to each other and the life in hereafter. But there are some unanswered questions that are not really explained in the story. And what’s with Amelia’s “light” effect??? I really don’t get it. And how can she touch, kiss and hug Joshua but she can’t even open the door. How weird is that? Like I said there are too many unanswered questions and I am hoping I will get some answers in the second book. Hereafter would be better if it was focused more on the “hereafter world” the mystery and history of it rather than the love part of the book. But why am I complaining??? The tag line clearly stated “A stranded spirit, a sudden love”. So it is supposed to a sweet and instantaneous romance right?!

For me Hereafter is one those books that falls into the category of not that good but not that bad either. I kind of liked it, mostly because the writing is fascinating and somehow refreshing. I am hoping (really bad) that the next installment would be better. I need more information on Amelia’s past life and her supposedly role in “hereafter”




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