Beyond the Grave by Mara Purnhagen

This is the last book in this series, which consists of three actual books and two novellas that take place between the books' events. I didn't read the second novella, since I found the first one weak.

I have read the other two books, though. I really liked the first one, Past Midnight, and was disappointed with the second, One Hundred Candles. Beyond the Grave has been out for a while, but I didn't buy a copy until recently because I had lost interest in the series.

The problems that I saw in the second book are still present in this one, unfortunately. Charlotte is still passive and doesn't make connections between events/people that are glaringly obvious to the reader. There's not as much of the goofy new age crystal beliefs, but there's a character who's not-a-guardian-angel-but-really-he-sort-of-is, although I think he's actually called a protector. The plot is all about Charlotte being pursued by a demonic entity (not-a-demon-but-really-he-sort-of-is).

I got really tired of Charlotte waffling back and forth about her boyfriend Noah. Noah lies to her, has stopped attending school and bathing, and admits to chronic insomnia and severe bouts of sleepwalking. He has a non-healing bruise on his neck from where the demon from the last book touched him. Yet Charlotte only worries about him intermittently, and when they're together, she convinces herself that everything's okay. This is one girl who is all ready for her first dysfunctional adult relationship.

Part of the plot concerns Charlotte's mother, who is in a coma after the events of the previous book. Charlotte's grief and uncertainty about her mother, and her relationship with her father, is more compelling than anything else in the book, eclipsing the rest of the plot and frankly making all the woo-woo ghosty stuff seem frivolous. There's also a subplot of two characters getting married, which got way too much page-time.

I like Purnhagen's writing, though. I'll be interested to see what she does next. I hope it doesn't include crystals.

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Raising the Dead by Mara Purnhagen

I'm pretty sure this novella is only available as an ebook. I bought mine from the Sony Reader store, but I'll link to the B&N ebook site below so anyone who's interested can go look at the description even if they don't have a Nook.

Raising the Dead takes place between the first and second books in this series, a few weeks after the events of the first book. During a talk by Charlotte Silver's ghost-busting father (a talk where she's helping out by handing him props, much to her chagrin--it's Friday evening and she has nothing better to do), a massive storm moves in. On the trip home through the downpour, Charlotte sees a coffin floating down the flooded street.

The coffin, and many others, have washed out of an old cemetery outside town. Charlotte's parents volunteer to help identify the remains so they can be reburied. Charlotte is still unsettled by the haunting she went through over the summer, and the cemetery dates back to the same era of her ghost, so she joins her parents to help and maybe learn more about what happened to her. But the cemetery holds more mystery than history*, from a strange figure lurking around to some coffins that aren't quite what they seem.

Since this isn't a full-length novel, there's not as much going on in the plot as in the other books. Also, since it's an interstitial story that doesn't really fall in the arc of the regular series books, none of the important issues (like Charlotte's incipient romance with her friend Noah) are really addressed. It is a mostly fun little story, though, set in the week before Halloween.

I get the impression that this might have been initially released as a serial story online, judging from the repetition of events and information at the beginning of chapters. There are also some weird discrepancies that argue a minimum of editing--for instance, one character mentions his grandchildren early in the story, but later on it's a plot point that he has no family.

The plot starts out slow but picks up quickly, and becomes really exciting halfway through where some of the mysteries start to come to light. But the ending is terrible. I do like that the mysteries are more natural than supernatural, and Charlotte still shows some spunk in this story. But the ending is so lame it overshadows everything that was good about the book.

*did you see what I did there?

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One Hundred Candles by Mara Purnhagen

I reviewed the first book in this series, Past Midnight, a few weeks ago. I really liked that book and had high hopes for this one.

One Hundred Candles picks up a few months after the previous book's events. It's Christmas and Charlotte isn't happy to be spending the holiday in an abandoned asylum, hunting for ghosts with her parents and a so-called demonologist. Charlotte is more than a little skeptical of the demonologist's abilities, but she changes her mind when his assistant suddenly appears to be possessed and attacks Charlotte. But after that, things seem to be back to normal at home. Charlotte's thrilled when a popular football player seems interested in her, especially when he asks her to prom. Attending prom is the epitome of normal to Charlotte, who's still working hard to overcome her family's weird profession.

As in the first book, there's a lot going on in this one beyond the main plot. Charlotte's parents aren't getting along, for one thing; her dad refuses to believe that anything supernatural happened during the demonologist's assistant's attack, while her mom is becoming more and more interested in new age spirituality to answer her questions. Charlotte's friend Noah has backed off abruptly, making sure she understands he just wants to remain friends--nothing more. And strange things are happening in Charlotte's high school, from ghostly images picked up on the security cameras to bizarre vandalism.

The book is realistic and compelling, just as good as the first one...until the end. It becomes clear partway through the book that a creepy entity is stalking Charlotte, but its big reveal was just a WTF moment. It didn't make any sense, and another character's explanation of it is even more nonsensical. Worst of all, the ending resolved nothing and only set up for a sequel that will in all likelihood be a retread of this book (since, you know, this book resolved nothing). And you know how much I love that.

One thing I found particularly irritating was the increased reliance on new-age spirituality to explain the supernatural events. It wasn't as pronounced in the first book, but in this one, Charlotte wears a big honkin crystal around her neck and gets advice from a generic 'wise woman' character who I freaking could not stand (because she made no sense, because she spoke in platitudes, because her new age mumbo-jumbo jarred against the realistic rest of the book, because she had no personality beyond being a cliche, because she was only in the book to provide wisdom and plot points). I really don't like that Charlotte's own rational skepticism is proven wrong.

Charlotte's also a very passive character. Since that was something she was working on improving in the last book, it was depressing to see her revert to her old wishy-washy self--particularly since her own passiveness leads to a lot of bad things happening, which makes me feel the author's hand pretty clearly. Charlotte also misses some obvious clues and comes across as kind of dumb as a result.

I was very disappointed in the book, particularly since most of it is so good. The ending was crap with a cliffhanger denouement, not at all satisfying. While I'll undoubtedly read the next book in the series, if it has the same flaws I'll be more than a little cautious about picking up the author's future books.

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Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen

I can't remember where I saw the review of this book that convinced me to buy a copy. When I got it and saw that it was published by Harlequin Teen, though, I immediately expected the worst. Fortunately, my assumption that the book would be a shallow, poorly written romance was completely wrong.

Charlotte Silver's parents are paranormal experts who investigate haunted buildings scientifically and film documentaries about their results. As a result, Charlotte and her older sister have moved frequently throughout their lives. Charlotte's used to starting a new school almost every semester; she's also used to the way people at first think her parents are cool, then--after Halloween, typically--they start spreading rumors about seances and cults. For her senior year, though, Charlotte's thrilled that her family plans to spend the whole year in one place, and in a brand new house instead of a haunted one. She's determined to act as normal as possible. The trouble is, at her parents' latest investigation, something strange happened--and suddenly Charlotte is hearing things, seeing things, and having disturbing dreams.

I liked Charlotte, who is practical, intelligent, and friendly. Her difficulties seem real, no matter how bizarre they really are, because the writing is so good. I also liked the layers of plot going on. Charlotte doesn't just have to keep her new classmates in the dark about her parents' ghost-hunting while figuring out what to do about her own haunting, she's also dealing with a new best friend with a dark secret, a strange boy in school who everyone shuns for no reason Charlotte can figure out, her relationship with her older sister--now in college--and her parents, and what to do about her own future after high school.

The pacing starts out a little slow, but picks up after a few chapters. I enjoyed the way the various mysteries unfold and intersect, and how Charlotte's friendships develop. There's only a small romantic subplot that works well with the story and leaves the possibility open for more in the sequels.

I do want to read the sequels--I think there are two already, although this book was just published last year. That brings me to another thing: Past Midnight is very short. I read it in only about two hours. It's one of those 'bonbon books,' short and delicious and hard to stop after just one.

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