Arise: review

Title: Arise (Hereafter #2)
Author: Tara Hudson
Genres: ghost ya, paranormal
Summary: Amelia—still caught between life and death—must fight for every moment of her relationship with the human boy Joshua. They can hardly even kiss without Amelia accidentally dematerializing. Looking for answers, they go to visit some of Joshua’s Seer relatives in New Orleans. But even in a city so famously steeped in the supernatural, Amelia ends up with more questions than answers…and becomes increasingly convinced that she and Joshua can never have a future together.Wandering through the French Quarter, Amelia meets other in-between ghosts, and begins to seriously consider joining them. And then she meets Gabrielle. Somehow, against impossible odds, Gaby has found a way to live a sort of half-life...a half-life for which Amelia would pay any price. Torn between two worlds, Amelia must choose carefully, before the evil spirits of the netherworld choose for her.


Isn't the cover so pretttttyyy?? But I think they cut her head off. Ohmygod, is that why she is a ghost!? O.O Kidding. But I do love the cover.


Arise is a great sequel to Tara Hudson's debut, Hereafter, but I think I liked the first one just a little bit better.

I have to start out by making a Twilight reference...I can't resist! And I'm just pointing it out neutrally. So the main plot of this book: Amelia (the ghost) is figuring out that she can't stay with Joshua (the human) forever. Duh moment. So when she tells him this, "You'll be forty someday still dating an 18 year old girl!" And of course, like Bella, he is okay with it. "I don't mind!" It's kind of funny because it's pretty much the plot of New Moon...alright, Twiference over. :)

Amelia and Joshua are a cute couple, even though they've obviously both been slipped a heavy dose of INSTA-LOVE. But since they are both equally head-over-heels it's okay, it balances them out. And it's fun and light enough to keep me reading.

Gabriella is a new supporting character introduced in Arise, and she became my favorite character. She's funky, and new, ultimately full of surprises! Wink, wink.

Most of the book is set in New Orleans because Joshua's family goes there to celebrate Christmas and visit family. Amelia tags along of course, and soon she realizes there are a lot of voodoo abracadabra magic stuff going on. It's a dangerous place for a ghost to be and the demons don't give up that easily. And it creeped me out just a little, with her ever-more-frequent "dematerializing". Also, although her dad is mentioned a few times, I'm guessing that Amelia finding and recovering him from the Netherworld will the be the plot of the last book, Elegy. (Elegy: comes from the Greek 'mournful poem) Ohhh exciting...

Last year, Hereafter introduced me to the overlooked genre of ghost books. and since then, the few other ghostlike books/series I've read, I've liked. A few examples are Anna Dressed in Blood, Born at Midnight, and Dead Beautiful. Not all of them have only ghosts, but they're a central theme, in my opinion. Oh and the Evernight series! I knew there was one more. But I read those awesome books years ago, and they have vampires in them too. The ghosts are knows as wraiths. ;)

Even though I pointed out a few little annoying things in Arise, I am actually still excited to read the last one because of the crazy turn of events that happened in the last third of the book. Honestly I didn't see it coming and it made everything super-cool!

-Jane