Review: Hereafter

Summary:  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.


Review:Alas! A book that I was eagerly anticipating and was not disappointed by! I was originally drawn to this book by the cover, I think it's beautiful. Usually when reading a book it takes me to about page 100 to decided if I'm gonna have a positive or negative review on it, that was not the case on this one. I literally knew for certain by page 7 that I was gonna love it. I was hooked so early on that I knew my liking would only grow with time. I was right. I have a lot of things I liked about this book. Amelia, the mail character has such a like-ability to her that I could imagine being her friend. I liked her shyness, it was really cute and genuine. She fidgets, squeaks, and coughs in uncomfortable situations. The scene in Josh's room was so genuine. She was nervous to enter his room because she had never been in a boys room before, she stood there crumpling her skirt in her fists, I really liked that scene. Along with this scene I really liked Josh's room, and the description of all his books: "Leather-bound leaned against paperback. Creased and much loved covers sat next to fresh ready to read ones." Any lover of books knows exactly how it feels to look at a bookcase jumbled with all sorts of loved books on it. It was a refreshing change from most YA the way their relationship evolved and grew. In most YA its one look and they know they're in love and the next day they're proclaiming their love and undying loyalty. While i'm not complaining about this, because I do read those books and enjoy them, i'm just saying this was a pleasant change from the ordinary. Their relationship grows from pure curiosity (on both their parts) her, for how a human can see her? and him, for who was that girl in the river, was she really there? To a sort of friendship, then to something a little more when they begin to have stronger feelings for each other. Throughout the book Amelia is having flashbacks of her previous life, trying to figure out what, when, where, how, and who she was before she died. The flashbacks were always fun to read about, you're finding out who Amelia is at the same time she is. Amelia just wants normalcy and a family, and in the part when she wakes up and is planing to meet with Eli, she wakes up and calls him sweetheart, just to test it out and tells him she loves him before she leaves. When he responds she squeals with joy. It was such a cute moment. I would ABSOLUTELY recommend this book (in fact I already have to many people) I loved it so much.