Title: Hereafter
Author: Tara Hudson
Series: (Hereafter #1)
Pages: 416
 

I admit that the reason I picked this one up is the cover. The publisher’s art department knows how to attract readers — and I’m on of those who fall in love with the book based on its cover.

Amelia is dead. But she doesn’t know when, in fact there’s a lot of missing information surrounding her identity — like her last name. But she knows for sure, she died from drowning and the flashes of this terrible accident resurfaced when she saw someone dying — the same way as she did years ago. Amelia saved him from drowning — she saved Joshua. This incident took Joshua’s interest on her. He sought her at the place of the accident, and he found her. Since there’s nothing else she can do, she told him the truth… that she is dead. But she doesn’t know much about how and why he (specifically him) can see her. Then when Joshua took her to her house, his grandmother saw her. She can see her — and even planning on exorcising her. Turns out, she is a seer and so is Joshua. With all the revelation about her and urban story surrounding the high bridge, she decided to ask stuff about her situation. She asked Eli the guy who said who’ve been observing her since the day she died, and the caretaker (more of harvesting than caretaking) of the lost souls in the bridge. But she found out it was Eli who orchestrated her death, not only that she also possess power, much more than Eli and the people (if they are) are taking noticed of her potential.

What can I say about this book? Why is it sometimes so hard to tell good things about a book you like than those that flipped the crap out of you? It’s hard I tell you, because right now I can’t tell you why this book has enthralled me three hundred sixty degrees. I love it! I was weighing if I should give it 4 stars, 4. 5… but as you can see I gave it full marks — 5 stars. I think it deserves it, if I stay true to my words that I’m rating the books for its enjoyment factor then each of Hereafter’s stars is all worth it.

The book captured my interest from the moment I started reading it. I read it in one sitting, the plot just gripped me hard tight that I couldn’t let go of it. There’s nothing extravagant or mind blowing with this book. In reality, it is a simple ghost story, with YA generic flavors to spice things up. But I don’t know, I’m lost for words, all I can say it was good. I love it. Interesting backdrop, characters, the romance and author’s style are all synched in perfectly. It kinda remind me of Hollow by Jessica Verday but this book is definitely have a better plot and the sequence of events is not dragging… which I’m very thankful for (I don’t need trivial and unnecessary events). I like the moment I flipped the first few pages of the book, I was immediately jammed in. In the first chapter we learned about Amelia’s situation, then we met Joshua and learn about him. We— readers are in the same boat as them, as they find the truth so did we. I like the author didn’t withhold the information for plot sake. I really like the pacing of the story, it wasn’t slow nor fast. It was just right for me.

I love the characters and that’s so important to me. I know that Joshua isn’t exactly the brooding mysterious type (sometimes that become too cliché for YA— well to me, it is. And msot of the time it depend how it was executed). He is nice, not faultless (mr. perfect guy is sometimes overrated) and for once he is the normal one in the relationship (technically not that normal being seer and all that, but you do get my point, right?). I also like Amelia, she is spunky, honest and very likeable. I like how she tells the story. It was… good.

All in all, it was great. Some may like it, some may not but it definitely belongs to my fave book list. I already sounded like broken record but I’ll say it again – I love it!