Arise by Tara Hudson

I read Hereafter last year. It wasn't awful, just a nice tale of a dead girl and the living boy with whom she falls in love (On the next Maury...sorry, couldn't help myself. Actually, I'd really like to see that show). My review from the first installment is here. I have seen a lot of sequels on Netgalley and Edelweiss, and it bums me out when they are for series that I haven't read (Though even more when I acquire them and then find out that they are part of a series I haven't read). When I saw Arise, I was just excited that I'd read the first one. Happily, I like the second book even better.

In Hereafter, Amelia was a wandering spirit, all alone until the day she saw Joshua fall into the same river in which she died. She helps save him, he can see her, they fall in love. Throughout the book, he helps her to remember who she was, and at the end they figure out the truth about her death, and who killed her. In Arise, Amelia is still spending a lot of time with Joshua, but she is starting to worry. He has been avoiding his living friends and spends all his time with her. As much as she wishes things were different, Amelia knows that they can't have a future. It becomes even more apparent when she finds out that the evil spirits of the bridge (where she died) have been looking for her. They will use Joshua and his family to get Amelia to join the dark side.

All that, plus Amelia has been dematerializing randomly. She cannot control when she leaves or where she goes. Joshua and his family are taking a vacation to New Orleans for the holidays. It looks like Amelia will be able to escape the baddies and maybe find some ghostly answers. Plus she plans on leaving Joshua forever. Let's just say that New Orleans brings some changes. It gets interesting.

I received my copy of Arise from Edelweiss, courtesy of Harper Collins. It's available now.