Sunday, August 7, 2011

Review: Beyond the Grave (Past Midnight #3) by Mara Purnhagen

Release date: August 30, 2011
Synopsis (Goodreads):
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.
My Thoughts: It's been a while since I read book 2 but I had no problem falling back into Charlotte's world.  This book was a little slower than the previous books but I felt like it matched the wait-and-see mentality that the entire Silver family was forced to take after Charlotte's mother was injured and left in a coma.  You know, "slower" isn't quite right.  It was languid.  It unfurled in bits and pieces.  It gave me the feeling you get when something momentous happens and the world is rushing by you while you're standing still.  Which, once again, reflects Charlotte's experiences in this book.

A large portion of this book is Charlotte trying to juggle going to college while dealing with her guilt over her part in her mother's injury plus a lot of unexplained occurrences which might be related to the Watcher.  Her father's time is consumed with his wife's well-being and Charlotte doesn't want to put any more of a burden on him.  Naturally, she tries to deal with things in her own way.   She's having panic attacks and she's in a new environment and she's not sure who she can trust.  But she manages to do it.  She manages to pull herself together and figure things out.  She trusts her gut and her intuition and she gets people to help her when the chips are down.

I really like how Charlotte's family pulls together.  I like that Charlotte is expanding her circle of friends while holding on to her old ones.  I like that Noah and she are trying to make things work even though they've had a lot of obstacles thrown in their path.

All in all, while the story moves slowly it closes out the lingering questions and ends on a solid note.

Other reviews in this series:
Book 1: Past Midnight
Short story 1.5: Raising the Dead
Book 2: One Hundred Candles
Short story 2.5: Haunting the Night

More books by Mara Purnhagen

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Beyond the Grave was provided for review by Harlequin through NetGalley.

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