Judging from the cover and the blurb, I did have high hopes for Hereafterand I couldn't help but feel a tad disappointed. Amelia is a long-dead girl who makes her home at High Bridge Road. When she unwittingly saves a boy from drowning, she brings in a whole new dimension to her world. But a dangerous spirit wants Amelia for himself and he will stop at nothing to have her. 
 I think I'm going to be a little mean here and say; I didn't get the point of this novel. I understand that this is just book 1 and it's pretty much just setting up for the rest of the series, but Hereafter was sort of boring. Girl meets guy. Girl saves guy. Girl falls in love with guy, but something/someone is stopping them from being together. Girl or guy figures out a way for them to be together and it's sort of a happy ending. No, just no. 
 I do not approve of the relationship between Amelia and Joshua, because for one, it was way too fast. I get that, perhaps, the initial attraction in being with each other was the fact that Joshua is the first person in ages to see Amelia and you know, with him, she can feel things and touch people, but to jump from that to falling in love, it's a bit of a leap, if you ask me. 
 Eli is possibly the only "cool" character but even him, well, I do sympathize with him and I sort of understand where he's coming from but after chapters and chapters of him talking all psycho-blabber to Amelia, it's not quite hard to think of him as one of the talkative stalker/serial killers who meet an untimely death in the end. 
 Tara Hudson does have a knack for prose though. Everything is richly described with vibrant detail but one does need to get used to it, because it did feel a little draggy at times. Like I said, Hereafter is only book 1 of a planned trilogy so I'm sure the next installment should be a little bit more interesting. The bits and pieces of supernatural elements placed in book 1 should come together quite nicely in the sequel. 
 2.5 stars but I'm giving it 3 for the beautiful cover.