Arise by Tara Hudson

Publisher’s summary: New Orleans
Saint Louis
Number One Cemetery
A night there can change a life . . . or a death.

Increasingly worried that dark spirits will carry out their threats and hurt the people she cares for most, Amelia is ready to try anything to protect them. And for his own very different reasons, Joshua has come to this cemetery at midnight to join her in a powerful ritual.

Both know that once Amelia steps inside the Voodoo circle and the beautiful girl from the Conjure Café begins the cere¬mony, everything will change.

Tara Hudson's enthralling sequel to Hereafter escalates the danger and excitement, bringing a new dimension to her already mesmerizing story of a haunted love.

My take: Once again Tara Hudson introduces me to a refreshing book and story! If I have to compare the first and the second book, I liked Arise a lot better than Hereafter.

However, when I began reading Arise, I started to get worried that I might not like the story as much. Even though I still thought the romance between Joshua and Amelia was sweet, I began to think that the relationship is a lost cause. How can a relationship with a human and a ghost really work? But I was a little relieved that Amelia saw this as a problem as well, and . . . well, you’ll have to read Arise to see how she handles it! Another thing that had me concerned and that made me think I might not like this book was that Amelia’s lies were really starting to get on my nerves. Luckily, these two concerns weren’t the main substance to this book.

I really started to get into the story when the first new characters were introduced in the book. And when two more characters were introduced about midway through the book, I was really sucked in. These additional characters gave the story so much more! There’s a lot that happens starting about midway through Arise, and it’s probably the last quarter of the book that was the best part. And how the story ends was absolutely perfect. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this story will continue in Elegy, which will be released in 2013.