Arise by Tara Hudson

Goodreads Blurb

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

Amelia has stopped having her nightmares ever since she escaped the demons and into Joshua’s arms. She’s finally safe and happy. If you don’t stop and think about her random materializations and vanishing acts whenever a) her emotions run high or b) when she and Joshua are getting a bit…steamy, if you know what I mean. And that is quite the problem, isn’t it? And then Amelia discovers that the demons are after her and will kill anyone and everyone she loves. Including her mother, Joshua, even Jillian who seems to hater her. Any living being she associates with will be killed. And that’s when Amelia decides to leave Joshua, if only to protect him. But when New Orleans, Amelia finds that about five others can hear her, one of them are able to see her. Something that comes as quite the shock, especially when it turns out that they want to help, not harm, Amelia. Or do they? Because something weird is going on, especially when she meets Gaby, the ghost who lives half a life. Exactly what is going on? Is there a traitor in their mist? How does Gaby become solid? Questions are raised and answered in this sequel to the debut Hereafter.

We get to see new characters who I absolutely adored, even if a few weren’t very…real, and get to see more of old characters such as Joshua and Amelia as their budding relationship blossoms into something more…but that was the problem. The entire story, every little thing, was based on the romance. Amelia was in danger because she loved Joshua. She met the other evil ghosts...because she loved Joshua and wanted to leave him to protect him. She tried to become semi-human...for Joshua. OMG, Joshua, Joshua, Joshua. It just annoyed the heck out of me. Especially when the guy in questions is acting just a wee bit immature. And Amelia starts trusting almost everyone she meets. Really, Amelia?

On the other hand, I did enjoy this novel, especially because it's set in New Orleans which, as most know, is filled with ghosts so it was the perfect setting for this story. The characters all seemed to have a place in the story, so no one was exactly just there. The story line flowed naturally and beautifully so tehre weren't any akward moments, thank goodness! Our two main characters were in such a sweet romance and they seemed to be so loyal (maybe a bit too much.) The action was still there and I was at the edge of my seat, flipping through page after page. I’m still not sure if I think it suffered Sequel Syndrome where there is no actual plot since there were many revelations and plot development in Arise, but it seemed irrelevant though definitely interesting and fun to read.  The Hereafter series is definitely one of my favorite ghost stories!

Pages: 404
Series: Hereafter #2
Genre: Paranormal/romance
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release Date: June 5
Rating: 4 stars

"Then when I finished apologizing, I would ifnally tell him I loved him. More than anything."