2/5 StarsYour classic ghost story mixed with the now overused YA storyline. Girls saves boy, girl loves boy, but girl is a ghost and hijinx's ensue.
I'm not usually one to give two stars, it is pretty easy to please me, especially when it comes to a YA. All I ask is for a little bit of personality, a splash of action, a dash of romance and you have a cocktail that will suck me in over and over again.
Unfortunately, Hereafter, does not deliver. The main character Amelia to me has no personality, she was a boring narrator that I found myself wishing would just cross over. If I was Jenifer Love Hewitt I would have "Ghost Whispered" her to the other side and saved myself the time in reading this book.
There is no action that takes place in the entire story until the last 30 pages. In a 400 page book I longed for multiple plot arcs, or at least some character development to fill the void that the lack of action leaves behind.
I could tell Hudson expected the relationship between Amelia and Joshua to fill the gap in action but to me their entire relationship felt forced and fake. They fell in love instantly when Amelia saved Joshua from the river *swoon* and from there they spent all their time together discovering Amelia's past (which was also boring). Honestly, Amelia says I love you to Joshua after only a few days, to me it felt needy. Joshua felt like an unrealistic male character. He was always too nice, too perfect, and he never questioned or wavered in why he was dating a ghost. At least Amelia had the good sense occasionally to see that this might not work out.
Even with all of these errors I could have been conned into giving the book and additional star had the ONE action sequence been resolved. Instead the ending leaves you on a pathetic and not really cliffy cliff-hanger, and all of the questions the book brought up were sadly left unanswered. It is clear that this will become another one of those YA series that has no plot (e.g. The Immortals Series) and I for one will not be picking up the next book.
I really tried with this book, I'd put it away then come back and just kind of roll my eyes at it. I was mostly surprised because it's harper, and I love all things harper. You're totally right about the characters being forced, I wanted to read it to find out certain things, personally, I think she's in a coma at a hospital somewhere, but I'll never know because I won't have the patience to read it, which is why I haven't reviewed it. Kudos to you for finishing and reviewing it though.
ReplyDeleteOh what a shame :( Thanks so much for leaving the link to this for me, I am not looking forward to reading this but since I received book 2, I feel like I should. I won't be buying it, luckily my library has a copy in - wish me luck!
ReplyDeleteAlso, great honest review, Em! xox