ARC Review--Beyond the Grave by Mara Purnhagen

A haunting new tale in the Past Midnight series...

I can’t move forward with my life until I know my demons are confined to the past...

Being Charlotte Silver, the daughter of famous paranormal investigators, means my life isn’t like that of other teenage girls. Especially after what happened to my parents. Things changed. I missed prom and deferred my big college plans. But I still have my boyfriend, Noah. He’s everything I could want—if I can figure out what’s up with him. Suddenly Noah is secretive.

I fear it has something to do with what happened to us three months ago. The bruise Noah suffered during a paranormal attack has never completely faded. Now I’ve learned Noah is researching demons. And when he disappears, it’s up to me to find him—before something else does.

I received this e-ARC courtesy of NetGalley for review.

I started reading the Past Midnight series probably earlier this year and totally became addicted! Mara Purnhagen writes a terrific series, its dark, edgy, has a nice creep factor and the characters are enjoyable as well!

Beyond the Grave--which might be the last in the series if I'm remembering right--was fantastic!! The events of One Hundred Candles was by far the most shocking I've seen! Those events have a key effect on the whole story of Beyond the Grave. What was done is not finished.

Vague enough? Okay, if you haven't read One Hundred Candles yet, it's best to stop reading for I will be mentioning spoilers. Charlotte's mother is still in a coma after having her head whacked good by the man who was possessed by The Watcher. Charlotte's family is broken now, things haven't been the same for her. Her father spends most of his time at the hospital and is rarely home, while her family friend Shane and Trisha are planning their wedding.

Charlotte is about to attend a community college in order to be close to home for when her mother wakes up, while her friend Avery goes out of state. Noah, Charlotte's boyfriend is in his final year of high school, but has been acting really weird ever since that fateful night came to an end.

That's where the story begins. There's some pretty intense and creepy things happening this time around. Disembodied voices, a break-in, even a lawsuit with a previous client. Also there is a new character to the fun, Michael. He has a very important role in the scheme of things--which I won't get into it. Because then when you see him the first time you'll know more than you should, and more than Charlotte knows!

Also, Briss returns as well. I didn't care for Briss at all in the past, she was your typical mean girl, but her character has taken on a whole different persona now. Having to deal with the death of her grandfather has changed her--which we sort of saw last time around too. We also get to learn more about her character, seeing a whole other side to her. It was pretty cool really! I like getting to see the other side of characters that we once felt differently about.

The pacing was decent. The whole evolves around Charlotte trying to find out what's going on. She begins to communicate with the other side--which has a surprising twist in the end--to find a way to help her mother out of her coma. And to help Noah. Noah, as mentioned, as been acting differently for awhile now. He's not been himself ever since the events of One Hundred Candles and Charlotte is concerned. Her life has turned completely upside down and spun into chaos.

No one ever said college would be easy! I totally loved this book! Probably my fave from the trilogy! And if this is truly the end, then I think it ended rather nicely!

Overall rating 4.5/5 stars

Beyond the Grave releases August 23, 2011