Hereafter: Review

Title: Hereafter

Author: Tara Hudson

Release Date: June 2011

Published By: HarperCollins

Pages: 416

Goodreads Rating: 3.93 stars

Review: Amelia has no memory of her past life - all she knows is that she's dead. She drifts through the world with no sense of time or reality, until she sees Joshua drowning in the same river she died in. When she rescues him, they discover a bond between them that neither ever thought possible. But even as they fall hopelessly in love, a frightening spirit is emerging. He wants to drag Amelia back into the dark world of the dead, and he will do whatever it takes.

A lot of people are saying that HEREAFTER is different from all the other paranormal romances out there, but one aspect of that genre that's always bothered me is present here: insta-love. For those of you who don't know, this is when two characters meet and all of a sudden are deeply in love, whether it's for a mythological reason or it's just more convenient to the plot. This is a major pet peeve of mine, and I really disliked the way Amelia and Joshua were declaring their profound love and adoration for each other about three days after meeting.

However, besides the insta-love part, their romance was well-written. It had the right balance of steamy and sweet that had me falling in love with Joshua along with Amelia (although at a bit of a slower rate). I felt like both of them were fleshed-out characters with rounded and honest personalities, which made the romance that much more fun to read about. There was major chemistry between them, but I appreciated how that didn't completely shadow the rest of the plot even though it was a big part of the story.

Speaking of the plot, though, I did wish certain things were explored more deeply. In particular, I wanted to know more about how Joshua being a seer would affect their relationship. Aside from his ghost-hating grandmother, it didn't really do anything, at least not in this book. However, I did find out that this is the first book in a series, so I won't let that bring down my opinion of this book without reading the rest to see if anything more is explained.

I'm not normally the hugest fan of ghost stories, but I did like reading this. My enjoyment of the book was a bit reduced because of the insta-love, which always bothers me a lot, but aside from that, I concede that the romance was perhaps the best part of the novel. The characters were well-developed, and there was actually a plot, although I did wish for a bit more of it. If you're a fan of paranormals but want something a little different, or if you just like ghosts, I recommend giving HEREAFTER a try!


I received a free copy of this book for review. This is no way affected my review, which is 100% honest.