Hereafter

So I am taking a short break from my United States of YA book tour, although Hereafter by Tara Hudson does have a tie in to it.

Amelia has a traumatic past.  Traumatic as in she is dead, and died by falling from High Bridge into the river and drowning.  She knows very little about her life, only her first name and that she died by drowning.  That all changes when she tries to save a boy that has crashed his car into the river. She tries to find a way to save him even though she is no longer among the living.  He opens his eyes, and he can see her. Even as they carry him into the ambulance he talks to her.

After the incidence with the boy, she starts to become more aware of the world.  It is no longer like she is drifting through it.  Several days after the incident she is on the bridge again, when the boy, Joshua, shows back up.  He not only able to see her and talk to her, but he can touch her.

Joshua reintroduces Amelia to the world of the living.  As she becomes more involved with him, she gets more flashes of her life.  Together they discover who she was when she was alive.

Of course, life (or death in Amelia's case) never really can go that smoothly.  First there is Eli, another ghost who has a huge creepy factor going on, and what exactly is his job is even more sinister.  Then there is Joshua's grandmother, Ruth, who like him is a Seer, and she is not crazy about her grandson hanging out with a ghost.  In fact, she is convinced that Amelia is evil and needs to be banished from the world of the living.

Overall I really liked this book, but there were moments I felt like I had read this story before.  I think it is because the principle of the story reminded me a lot of Meg Cabot's Mediator series. Only this one the girl is the ghost and the boy is the Seer.  It definitely has a  darker tone than the Mediator series, but I think that helps the story.  The book has me really wondering how this romance between Amelia and Joshua  will progress throughout the series.

Oh, and as for the YA book tour tie in, the second book in the series is the book for Louisiana.

Currently Reading:
Tethered
by Meljean Brook