Arise is the second book in the Hereafter trilogy. In the first book we met Amelia, who is a ghost, and her human boyfriend Josh Mayhew. Josh is part of a family of "seers" with a long history of being able to see and interact with ghosts.
At the beginning of Arise, we learn that Josh's grandmother Ruth (who was the leader of a coven of seers who tried to exorcise ghosts in Oklahoma) had moved to New Orleans. After Amelia helped save Josh's sister from the evil ghosts at High Bridge in book 1, his grandmother no longer wanted to harm her.
At this point I thought life would be more normal for Josh and Amelia because they no longer had Ruth to contend with, but that was far from the case. There were new Demons trying to lure Amelia to the netherworld.
A large portion of the book is actually spent in New Orleans because Josh's family spent the Christmas holiday with his extended family. There were several new Mayhew seers for us to meet along with their apparent leader Alexander Etienne. I have to admit, when I read his name I immediately thought I would like him because his name reminded me of Etienne St. Clair. WRONG. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but he is about as far from St. Clair as one can possibly get.
Amelia also met Gaby, another ghost in New Orleans, who comes from a voodoo family. Thanks to Gaby, Amelia acquires some new abilities, but she may have lost her ability to touch humans in exchange. Will she still be able to touch Joshua? You will have to read the book if you want to find out the answer to that question.
Overall, I enjoyed Arise. Much like New Moon in the Twilight series, I struggled through a large portion of this book because Josh did not have as large of a part. The main focus was on Amelia and Gaby trying to conquer the demons. Amelia was trying to protect Joshua by keeping him out of most of the action, which was a bit of a mistake for this reader. I think I would have enjoyed it more if Josh and Amelia worked together and were the focus of the book. Hopefully that will be the case in the final book in this series.
I haven't read this series but a friend of mine felt the same as you about this book.
ReplyDeleteI don't like when they set up a romance in the first book then kind of push the boy aside and then ramp it back up for book 3.
I agree 100%.
DeleteI just picked this book up at the library but I've been debating about reading it. I liked the first one but it sounds like I'm not going to love this one. Hum, the debate...
ReplyDeleteIt is worth reading, but I was glad I got it from the library.
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