This review was first posted on http://www.rubysreads.com 
 Hereafter has a whole lot going for it. There's the lovely cover for one thing. And the fact that Amelia reminds me a bit of Evie from Paranormalcy, or maybe Clara from Unearthly. Both of whom I loved. However, I think ghost stories may not be my thing. Because, while Hereafter has a lot going for it, I find it difficult to move beyond the whole dead and incorporeal thing. I mean, a ghost doesn't have a body. It doesn't live and it won't age. All of these things kind of put a damper on the romantic element I'm so fond of. Particularly in a Teen novel. 
 I also have to point out that I didn't know until I finished the book, got home, and began to draft for this review, that Hereafter wasn't going to be a standalone. While I was reading it, I was wondering how things could possibly end happily. So, what, Joshua is going to spend the rest of his life in a relationship with a ghost-girl no one else can see? That didn't sit well with me. Not that it's fair to ask Amelia to give up the one person willing to communicate with her (without a hidden agenda), but Joshua is the one who is still, you know, alive. And in possession of a future. I wanted one them to be realistic about the fact that, to the rest of the world, it looks like Joshua talks to himself and, apparently, makes out with the air. I'm just saying--It's a fact that needs to be considered. Luckily, there will be two more books in which to explore this complication in their relationship. I just didn't know that while I was reading it...and so I found Amelia and Joshua's relationship a trifle...strange. 
 I think the main problem I had with this novel was that I was confused a lot of the time. Perhaps it's just my puny brainbox, but I wasn't clear on why Eli was doing what he was. Or, rather, why he was being asked to do what he was. And what were Joshua's grandmother's powers, anyway? Why do she and her grandchild have them, but not her child? What has so thoroughly convinced her that all ghosts are evil? While I enjoyed this book--it read easily--I'm not sure it works as a stand alone. Well--obviously it doesn't. It's part of a series. Duh. But sometimes a series can only be read from one book to the next. Which works if they've all been published, but not if you have to wait a year for the next installment. I need enough answers to find the first book satisfying while still wanting more. 
 I want to add that the mystery surrounding Amelia's special abilities, and the role that she's going to take in the hereafter, are compelling. I want to know more about them. And I want to know what the deal is with the Seers, and how many there. But, more than anything, I'm wondering when Joshua's going to wake up a little and realize that there are going to be some drawbacks to having a ghost for a girlfriend. I'm not saying that I want Hudson to make the complications insurmountable, but that Joshua comes off as incredibly naive and incredibly young by his complete denial that there are any. 
 All in all, I think this was a satisfying debut. I look for more from Tara Hudson in the future.