Review: Hereafter by Tara Hudson

Hereafter by Tara Hudson
Release Date: June 7th 2011
Publisher: HarperCollins
Edition: Paperback, pages 404
Goodreads | Book Depository

My Rating 4/5


From Goodreads: "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 new found happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world . . . forever"

This is the first book I have read that surrounds ghosts, and I was a bit unsure before I started it, but it didn't let me down! This is a beautifully written and easy to read book, that kept me hooked the entire time. I really love the idea behind this love story, a ghost and a human? Not a very favourable combination!

Amelia is dead. She is a ghost wandering around aimlessly not knowing how much time has passed since her death. She is confused and lonely, having not seen any other ghosts like her. No one can see her. That is until Joshua. Joshua can see her having died for a couple minutes in the river, and Amelia helps Joshua to get to the surface. By help, I pretty much mean she just yelled at him to get moving, since she can't actually touch anything, being a ghost and all.

Since that day in the river, Joshua has been trying to find Amelia to find out what really happened in the river, since no one else saw her. Amelia tells him that she is a ghost and that he is the only one who has been able to see her since her death.

Joshua was a little too accepting of this for my liking, there was no freak out on his behalf. This was the one thing I didn't like about the story. I just think if you found out that you had been hanging out with a ghost you would maybe freak out a little (or a lot). Anyway, that was pretty much the only problem I had with this book.

 Joshua's Grandma is a Seer, and when Amelia turns up at Joshua's house, she can see her. His Grandma thinks that Amelia is an evil ghost and wants to get rid of her, not realising that Amelia is actually a good ghost.

Then there is Eli. Oh how I hate him. Eli is the evil ghost that the Grandma thought Amelia was. He wanders earth trying to captures ghost and take him to his world, to use for evil purposes. He is trying to recruit Amelia as his "apprentice" but she won't have a bar of it!

With twists and turns and and old rickety bridge, Hudson has created a love story between two unlikely companions. I look forward to the second instalment of this series!

Happy reading!
-Amy