EARLY REVIEW: Hereafter (Hereafter,#1) by Tara Hudson

Hereafter by Tara Hudson

Publication Date: June 7th 2011

Publisher: HarperCollins

Hardcover, 416 pages

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Can there truly be love after death?


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 newfound happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world . . . forever.


Thrilling and evocative, with moments of pure pleasure, Hereafter is a sensation you won't want to miss.

Hereafter,to be completely honest with myself,left me quite disappointed.I really expected so much of this book, and although the potential was there,the final result was a book I won't remember for long after finished reading it.

To put it in a few words,Hereafter just didn't work for me.I couldn't connect with the heroes and found them lacking in development,the story was something I have already read in one version or the other,plus I felt it dragged a lot.For the better part of this book,nothing of matter happens and I just found myself being bored through the lengthy descriptions of things and places.Surely,the descriptions were vivid,but that many details,just took my mind of the main story and made me wish for them to end.Usually,I love descriptions and vivid images in books,but somehow in Hereafter,I felt that they were used just to feel some blanks and space...

The characters were a bit flat and one dimensional.Amelia,had some interest as a character but soon after the beggining of the story,I just lost it.Same goes with Joshua,her love interest.The romance between them...I just couldn't feel it.Joshua accepted way too easily the paranormal fact of Amelia's existence and soon after that his role in the book was to just stand by her side and play his role as the love interest and nothing more.

Once more,as soon as the couple meets in the very beggining of the story,they instandly feel attracted to each other and soon after declare their undying love and march to face whatever obstacles there are in their relationship...I just can't remember how many times I've read such a scenario...But,if the plot is good and interesting and things keep happening in the story,I, most of times, overcome that fact.But unfortunately in this case,the plot didn't help...As I said,for the better part of the book nothing happens,we just follow Amelia and Joshua through various mundane things.The only parts that held my interest were those that Amelia started remembering things about her past and the way she died,but still,it was just an aspect of this book,that could barely hold my interest in whole.

Despite the fact that this book picked up a bit towards the ending,I just couldn't overcome the fact that everything just came way too easily to Amelia,just when she wanted it without, or the briefest, explanation,from the way the door to her home was conveniently left unlocked when she decided to visit to the fact she remembered differential equations(!) when Joshua needed her despite the fact she couldn't even remember her last name!

Anyway,Hereafter was one of the books I couldn't wait to read and I was beyond excited when NetGalley granted me with an ARC,only to be left disappointed.Despite the gorgeous cover and the interesting premise,Hereafter fails to add anything new to the YA genre and just tells a story more or less similar to many others.Writing a negative review always saddens me,but unfortunatelly this book just wasn't for me.