The Reading Date

Hereafter has an atmospheric, hypnotic quality and an intriguing premise. There is a living/dead couple, a ghost with a memory problem, evil spirits, and high stakes mysteries to solve. The premise is strong, the writing is descriptive and lovely, and the cover is gorgeous. On the flip side though, the pace is a bit slow for my taste. A little more action sprinkled throughout the book would have kicked it to the next level.Amelia has tragically died. As a ghost, she drifts alone at the site of her death with no memory of her life. Suddenly she awakens from her fog when she finds Joshua drowning in the same river where she died. Joshua’s brush with death triggers his ability to see Amelia. When Amelia saves Joshua, it’s love at first sight for the unlikely pair. To further complicate matters, Joshua grandmother is a Seer, someone who can see and banish ghosts. Joshua has picked up this seer talent, and his grandmother wants Amelia gone now. An evil spirit named Eli lurks around Amelia. He wants to recruit her to the dark side, but he seems to have some of the answers Amelia seeks about her death.Amelia leads a sad and lonely afterlife and is scared of everything around her. When she latches on to Joshua, that’s when she begins to wake up, so to speak. She starts to remember bits of her past but is frightened of what she might find out. She does eventually discover that she has some cool powers as a ghost, even though she can’t walk through doors by herself. Joshua is a nice guy and committed to their forbidden romance despite the many obstacles they have to overcome.Since this is the first book of a trilogy, there are many questions that linger. I would like for the sequel to address Joshua’s family history of Seers. It would be interesting to learn more about Amelia’s powers, and about Eli and the netherworld.The book did not stand out to me overall due to the pacing and the lack of character depth. It is an entertaining read but not as memorable as other Paranormals on the shelves.Although this book was not my favorite, fans of YA Paranormals such as Hush Hush or Fallen should give it a try. The book overall has a moody and dreamlike quality, and a love story that should appeal to many YA fans. The next book in the series is called Arise.