ARC Review--Elegy by Tara Hudson

This stunning conclusion to the Hereafter trilogy is perfect for fans of Hush, Hush and Beautiful Creatures.

A stalker ghost, misguided Seers, and spellbinding wraiths--Amelia Ashley has faced them all. Now her greatest hope is to spend the rest of her afterlife with her living boyfriend, Joshua. But the demonic forces return to give her an ultimatum: turn herself over to the darkness or watch them murder one living person per week until she does.

Amelia fears she might really be doomed, until the forces of Light give her another option. She can join them in their quest to gather souls, with a catch: Once she joins them, she can never see Joshua again.

Faced with the impossible choices, Amelia decides to take her afterlife into her own hands--and fight back.

I received this ARC at the Romantic Times Booklovers Convention 2013. I was in no way compensated for this review.


Tara Hudson's Elegy was an astounding end to the Hereafter trilogy. Ghost books can be hard to write, especially when they involve romantic interests and you know, romance. But somehow Tara manages to do it in a remarkable way! I was truly moved by the ending to this one, while I could see this ending coming, I still didn't expect it.

Amelia is now Risen, giving her a few extra perks to being a ghost, but also taking away her ability to touch, aka kiss Joshua. And other humans, but that's not as important as Joshua. While living as a ghost isn't all that it's cracked up to be, Amelia is managing it. She loves Joshua and has even created some pretty good friendships with other living humans, but the demons that live near High Bridge and make their hellish home beneath it, will not be satisfied until Amelia is theirs. And they're willing to kill anyone and everyone to get her. Starting with those she loves first.

It's amazing how much death there was in this series, despite the whole Amelia is a ghost thing. There were quite a few deaths to occur in this trilogy, including this one. It was mindblowing! And yes, tragically sad. Yet all the deaths did serve a purpose. There was meaning behind them. It didn't make them any easier to swallow, but stepping back later, you can see how they fit into the plot arc overall.

Amelia knows that this battle to end all battles will not end well. In some way or another, she knows she will have to die...permanently. If she wants to protect Joshua and her new friends, she's going to have to keep some secrets and make her own plans, while still agreeing to their main plan. Yeah, vague details, but it's the best I can tell you.

There was quite a bit of action to this one. Amelia and her friends make a few attempts at bringing down High Bridge, but they all prove fruitless. The end results are going to require a bigger sacrifice.

The best way to describe this novel is that it was intense! Lots of emotions were going around. But I think the love between Amelia and Joshua was one of the strongest. They knew that their days together were dwindling, yet they were too afraid to admit it. I enjoyed how Tara built up their moments and took it a new level. Again, I want to say more but I don't want to give out too much info.

While the ending was final and resolved, I still felt like there were some unanswered questions. Sort of along the lines of what just happened? What next? You know, the basic kind of questions that pop up when a series ends. Of course there are no real answers. I guess we readers just have to use our own imaginations to give ourselves the answers. I can't even touch on how I felt after the ending, because I feel that it will spoil things for you. It was definitely emotional, that's all I'll say!

This has been a great trilogy that explored more of the ghost--a classic in all things paranormal, because they're real (at least I believe so)--and yet they are so untouched in paranormal reads, except for when Scooby and the gang are being chased by one! Or something like that, because yeah those ghosts weren't real...expect for Scooby-Doo and the Boo Brothers...I'm getting off track obviously! But yes, having a ghost as the main character in novels can be hard, yet when one does come up, I usually enjoy them! And Tara Hudson's Hereafter trilogy was definitely one of them!

So if you're looking for a "ghost" book to read and don't want the scary type, but more light-hearted one, this series is definitely one I recommend!


Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars


Elegy releases June 4, 2013