Arise
By Tara Hudson
June 5, 2012
HarperTeen
Reviewed: ARC from publisher
Author’s Website
Hardcover | Kindle
Amelia—still caught between life and death—must fight for every moment of her relationship with the human boy Joshua. They can hardly even kiss without Amelia accidentally dematerializing. Looking for answers, they go to visit some of Joshua’s Seer relatives in New Orleans. But even in a city so famously steeped in the supernatural, Amelia ends up with more questions than answers…and becomes increasingly convinced that she and Joshua can never have a future together.Wandering through the French Quarter, Amelia meets other in-between ghosts, and begins to seriously consider joining them. And then she meets Gabrielle. Somehow, against impossible odds, Gaby has found a way to live a sort of half-life…a half-life for which Amelia would pay any price. Torn between two worlds, Amelia must choose carefully, before the evil spirits of the netherworld choose for her.
JENNA’S REVIEW:
Fans of Hereafter will find even more to love with ARISE, the second installment in Tara Hudson’s deathly romantic series. But be prepared, all is not well with Amelia in this chapter.
The story starts off with the Amelia, Joshua and his family heading to New Orleans for Christmas vacation. After an unfortunate encounter with demons who apparently want to take Amelia by any means necessary (even to the point of hurting those she loves) Amelia is left thinking that she is a danger if she sticks around Joshua. Much of the plot is centered around the decision: Should she stay, or should she go? When it came to how she addressed this question, I personally thought that Amelia acted selfishly, which hurt her “likability factor” in my book. I also am not a fan of the “martyr complex” when they crop up in YA reads.
New characters are introduced in the book, as we meet Joshua’s family in New Orleans. No single character really pops out to me as being unique or overly interesting, as fairly little time is actually spent with the family. Joshua’s grandmother, Ruth, pops up, albeit a lot less than you would expect. Instead, the new character we learn most about is Gabrielle (or Gaby). Gaby throws the biggest wrench of all into the story, one that definitely packs a punch when it comes to the direction that this series is taking us. While I saw it coming as to who we could and could not trust in this book, this knowledge didn’t dampen my excitement when things actually did pick up. And in the end things “picked up” quite a bit indeed. As far as the pacing goes, while I wish that the first half could have been sped up a bit, the end was totally worth it. Amelia even redeemed herself a bit in my eyes once she got some sense (and a whole lot more) knocked into her.
I have high hopes for whatever the future brings for the leading couple in this series. I look forward to whatever Tara has in store for us in the third, and final, installment. If you like romantic ghost stories, you really must check out Hereafter and ARISE by Tara Hudson.
Plot: 8 (the tension is high in this one, but involved too much angst for a large part of the plot)
Characters: 7 (Amelia’s angst ruled the show early on, friendships were forged a bit too quickly)
Setting: 10 (New Orleans graveyards anyone? Yes, please!)
Pacing: 8 (the first half could have been cut down a bit, the second half was exceptional)
Style: 8 (Tara is a master of romantic love scenes, her ghostly creativity is superb)
Grade: 91
How about a giveaway?
Win an ARC of ARISE by Tara Hudson!
THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED. The winner of the ARC of Arise is Jennifer (Twitter @fourheadjen). You have been emailed. Please reply to the email within 72 hours to claim your prize. If you do not respond within 72 hours a new winner will be chosen. Congrats!
Sounds like a great book to me. Thanks for the giveaway.
autumnflower6ATaolDOTcom
I’ve heard some amazing things about this book – the characters, setting and premise. I love her moral dilemma and the new characters sound so interesting:)
Thanks so much:)
ccfioriole at gmail dot com
My tweet https://twitter.com/christinafiorio/status/208903835152953344
ccfioriole at gmail dot com
Awesome review I cant wait to read this one!!
agarcia6510 at columbus dot rr dot com
I LOVED Hereafter and look forward to reading this one!
Nicole dot m dot Fuentes at gmail dot com
Here is my tweet! http://t.co/jcLgh8lS
Sorry! This one: https://twitter.com/nicolemardell/status/208910784351313920… It’s hard to pull links on the iPhone. Fail.
thanks for the giveaway Gale pgan427@yahoo.com
https://twitter.com/pgan427/status/208921937588658176
I tweeted it:) thanks for this awesome giveaway:) https://twitter.com/immabelieve/status/208931943620947971
Eep! I loved Hereafter so I’m excited you enjoyed Arise. Agreed with you on the martyr complex. It’s too unreasonable for me, but I’m sure it won’t bother me too much when I read the book.
Thanks for the fantastic review.
Lindadao2060 at yahoo dot com
Thanks so much! This book sounds amazing! Fingers crossed :)
cazzyae (at) gmail (dot) com
My tweet: https://twitter.com/booknookblog/status/208948807713558530
cazzyae (at) gmail (dot) com
Great review! I wasn’t the biggest fan of Hereafter, but I liked it well enough to read the sequel, which you’ve actually kind of made me excited about now. :)
Thanks for the giveaway!
mrsjbruce(at)gmail(dot)com
I would love a chance to read this. it has been on my need to read pile.
helldog3 at aol.com
tweeted
https://twitter.com/helldog3/status/208963330742820865
helldog3 at aol.com
I love books and your review is a really good one, I’m very interested in reading this novel.
trishamonahan@hotmail.com
This book sounds soooo good!
jeep_wrangler_girl@yahoo.com
https://twitter.com/PirateVanRock/status/208970602969706496
Love your review! I’m grateful you decided to give it away! :)
fourheadjen at gmail dot com
I have heard some great things about this series! Thanks for the review and giveaway!
Tweeted https://twitter.com/redhedbookworm/status/208991972017446912
Great giveaway. This book sounds really good!
colleen at myartsite dot com
Wow sounds great! Thanks for the chance.
oops almost forgot foreverbama@gmail dot com
This sounds sooo good! Thanks for the giveaway!!
unabridgedbookshelf at gmail dot com
Sounds like an amazing book! Want it so bad!! Also, here’s my tweet link. ;) https://twitter.com/Summer1938/status/209012088302075904 and email is juliemcaninch88@gmail.com
Thanks for the giveaway!!!!
ennapenglin(AT)sbcglobal(dot)net
https://twitter.com/ennapenglin/status/209016072119140352
Thanks for the chance to win!!
natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com
This looks like an awesome series, I need to go get Hereafter now and start reading it.
misstrellyn@gmail.com
I’ve been waiting for what it seems like forever for Arise to come out. I’m so excited to read it. I had to skim the review b/c I didn’t want to read even the tiniest spoiler.
molly(dot)frenzel(at)gmail(dot)com
Tweet: https://twitter.com/dg_molly/status/209044669181591552
Can’t wait to read this one! Thanks for the giveaway!
beth6325(at)yahoo(dot)com
Tweeted: https://twitter.com/bderenzis/status/209056429309575170
Oh! So want Arise right now! Thank you so much for the giveaway! Here’s my tweet:
https://twitter.com/MyFairBooks/status/209057310075666433
caymanian_girl(at)earthlink(dot)net
yarereviews at yahoo dot com
It sounds so good!
https://twitter.com/yarereviews/status/209058165365547008
Thank you for doing this giveaway! I’m excited to read this book, I hope this sequel is even better than the first book!
kim3317@hotmail.com
I am so excited for this come out. Great giveaway…
https://twitter.com/jeneaw0716/status/209071897961431040
Jenea @ Books Live Forever
Sounds great! Thanks for the giveaway!
Laura @ The Revolving Bookcase
This book looks so good and the cover is gorgeous. Thanks for the chance at this great giveaway!
huntress023@hotmail.com
https://twitter.com/deasuluna/status/209089231807721472
This book sounds like such a great read. Thanks for the review and this great giveaway!
tweet- https://twitter.com/Mara80Cullen/status/209097709309796354
mararob80 at gmail dot com
This book sounds so good, love your reviews. Congrats on your own web domain! :)
melaniesbookreviews18@live dot com
I’ve been wanting to read this one for awhile! Great giveaway!
Tweet – https://twitter.com/trubloodjunkie/status/209140663462273025
sweetypetey2004 at yahoo dot com
sounds awesome! thanks!
barbarick2415@me.com
sorry forgot my tweet
https://twitter.com/lizasarusrex/status/209146453585702912
thanks again!
I really want to read this one- thanks for the chance!
twistingthelens@gmail.com
Ooh, this one sounds good! Thanks for offering!
deedee [at] grifmail [dot] com
Thanks for the wonderful giveaway!
insanityisnormal(at)gmail(dot)com
tweet: https://twitter.com/ashenowl/status/209438415060602880
insanityisnormal(at)gmail(dot)com
My tweet of the day: https://twitter.com/fourheadjen/status/209497675798818816
My tweet of the day: https://twitter.com/fourheadjen/status/209667309206388736
I would love to read ARISE!!
tweeted: http://twitter.com/lilboxism/status/209677604146515969
lilianxchengATgmail.com
Thanks for the giveaway! I’d love to read this!
brookea_2006 at yahoodotcom
Thanks so much for the amazing giveaway! Can’t wait to read this one :)
iliveforreading AT hotmail DOT com
Tweeted: https://twitter.com/iliveforreading/status/209687620698120192
iliveforreading AT hotmail DOT com
So excited! Thanks for the giveaway! :D
I entered to win an ARC of ARISE by Tara Hudson from @MTGReviews – and so should you! http://jennadoesbooks.com/?p=4065
WOW This is great! Thank you so much Jenna! I love the new domain. <3
Tweet: https://twitter.com/fourheadjen/status/210219791271735296
Tweet: https://twitter.com/fourheadjen/status/210441545327980545
This book sounds so wicked!!! Thank you so much for this giveaway!
Here is my twitter: smiling_ina
I hope that’s ok, because I don’t like putting up my email publicly. ;)
Thanks for the giveaway
Sounds awesome! Cant wait to read it.
Tweet: https://twitter.com/fourheadjen/status/210916803252203521
Great review and thank you for the awesome giveaway :D!
Tweet: https://twitter.com/fourheadjen/status/211583245387698178
This cover is so gorgeous. Thanks for the chance to win!
tweet: https://twitter.com/Dani_Nguyen/status/211629995058139137
I’ve read Hereafter and I loved it. I really want to read Arise, I’m dying to know what happens next. Thank you for the chance and giveaway! :)
linda_flor019 [at] hotmail [dot] com
Tweeted the giveaway: https://twitter.com/sirekeni014/status/211649717082406912
Ohhh, I’m so excited to read this book! Thank you so much for hosting this amazing giveaway, and for the wonderful review too — I’m glad you enjoyed it despite Amelia’s angst! ;) <3
Tweet of the day : https://twitter.com/fourheadjen/status/212012411601960960
https://twitter.com/caseydhensley/status/212243842945138689
I am very excited to read this book. Thank you so much for the giveaway.
Tweeted the giveaway:
https://twitter.com/W8ing4Wentworth/status/212272906108018688
Tweet of the day: https://twitter.com/fourheadjen/status/212286309446860800
Tweet of the day: https://twitter.com/fourheadjen/status/212708678325895170