"The truth is that the paranormal is normal. It's just a normal we don't understand yet."

This one was actually pretty good. I wasn't so sure. Paranormal investigators as parents can be an interesting story (or, if not done well, not a good story). This one was the good kind. I felt bad for Charlotte and her sister for how they grew up. Moving around and never staying anywhere long had to be tough. Add that they had to help their parents with jobs and technical equipment and it's suddenly a childhood I couldn't even imagine.

I liked how there were multiple stories going at once - and Charlotte was the middle crossing point that pulled it all together. I found most things interesting and realistic. ( )

Got an ARC of this book straight from Harlequin YA Paranormal, and I must say I was very pleasantly surprised by its quality and readability.

Charlotte Silver is the oft-overlooked younger sister in a family of ghost hunters. This is less weird than it sounds. Charlotte's parents do not actually believe in ghosts, they're more interested in disproving claims of hauntings while being unable to explain away a couple of strange "energy patterns" they've come across in their career.

Anyway, Charlotte happens to trigger some actual, somewhat malevolent sleeping ghosties during a filming session with her parents and older sister. The haunting begins in earnest as Charlotte begins to have cryptic dreams about a girl from the past century, and sinister thuds and thumps and thrown furniture begin to hammer in the ghostly message: find the dead girl, and somehow reunite her with her even deader parents.

And meanwhile Charlotte copes with starting her senior year at a new high school where a mysterious tragedy occurred last year, a new friend with big secrets, a fight with her older and much more glamorous sister, the bitchy rival in the AV club and the cute boy also in the AV club... Standard fare for your typical YA novel, very deftly handled.

The book's weakness lies in its very-vanilla themes and storyline: nothing big is at stake, nobody is evil, no one's life is risked and very little happens in the climax. YA books these days tend to push the envelope when it comes to dark themes and high stakes - for example, Sarah Rees Brennan's "The Demon's Lexicon" is in a completely different league compared to this. Perhaps it's not always necessary to go dark and dangerous to be a good book, but the low conflict level in this one did detract from my ability to care what happens to Charlotte. I always knew she would be fine.

The book's strength is definitely in its solid narrative skills and likeable cast of characters. I can see why there will be two more books about Charlotte Silver. Recommended for younger teens. ( )

I love it when I find a book that makes me sit down and not wish to get back up. A book that I totally forget that I’m reading and turning pages. Those are rare and far between. Well this is one of those books. The author Mara Purnhagen has that special something in her writing style that captured me, it’s nice and easy without any fluffy fancy words added. I enjoy a book that tells me a story and I don’t have to break out the dictionary because the writer just discovered the thesaurus.
Past Midnight is about paranormal activity, a genre that I think is lacking in YA books. Charlotte is the daughter of paranormal investigators that have a TV show. They have just moved to a new town and Charlotte is trying to fit in, hide the fact that her parents are odd and settle some ghostly activity as well.

( )

Charlotte just wants to be a normal teenager, but her ghost hunting parents make it hard. Pretty soon Charlotte is knee-deep in ghosts who are following her, friends who need to reach a dead friend, and what to where to prom.

It's a fun story with a coming-of-age theme: finding and keeping friends, dealing with parents, and a little mystery thrown in! ( )

Review for books 1 and 2 of the Past Midnight series

I've always been a fan of ghost stories, even when they terrified me to the point of huddling under the covers with only a tiny air hole open at top, so not even a ghostly breeze could touch me.*

Thing is, I've loved good spooky stories without being overly horrifying or gory, but sadly I haven't seen many good ones crop up in middle grade or young adult fiction over the past few years.

Enter Mara Purnhagen, who has written creepy ghost stories that make me want to burn the candles late into the night as I read, even with the possibility that I won't be able to sleep in a creaking house later. The premise struck me immediately—the daughter of ghost debunkers is followed home by the spooks that apparently don't exist—the writing and characterization are solid enough to provide a captivating story.

While her books will probably be classified as paranormal romance, I prefer to think of them as magical realism. These ghosts are the goosebumpily realistic kind that could potentially happen to anyone—if you believe in ghosts. Maybe even if you didn't.

Both books are good, solid stories, though I was more captivated by the first, Past Midnight. There is also a short story, Raising the Dead, touted book 1.5, that I've downloaded to my Kindle but still waits to be read.

Overall, I enjoy this series and look forward to Purnhagen's forthcoming titles.


*I haven't done that since I was a kid. Well, not really.

Thanks to Harlequin Teen for review copies of both books ( )

RATING: 3 stars.

Even I am astonished for giving three stars to this book. Why? Because it was short and it lacked some serious character and story development.

But... I really liked the idea behind the story. Charlotte, the main character is completely human. That's right! No weird powers and no supernatural blood flowing through her veins. She's just a normal girl, who just happens to be the daughter of two ghost-story debunkers. They even have their own show. But then, after a filming in a supposedly haunted location weird things start happening to Charlotte. Ghost-related things.

So I thought the author could have developed some parts of the story better. Everything felt rushed (especially the ending) and most of the characters had little to no personality whatsoever. That was the main problem with this book, it was just too short.

The author had this great, fresh idea for a new YA paranormal series (without insta-romance, too!) but I felt like the story was missing scenes and everything was, as I said above, rushed. The end of the book seemed a bit unrealistic and confusing too. Still, overall I liked to read about Charlotte and her scientist parents and I loved how the author treated the supernatural elements of the plot. Maybe we'll get more character development in future books. ( )

I was interested in reading this book because of the ghost hunting parents. I mean, that's pretty awesome. And the fact that her parents try to prove that ghosts aren't real is even better, especially when their daughter now has ghosts following her and basically tormenting her until she figures something out for them, but what they want her to find out is beyond everybody.

I really liked this book. It was something fun and different to read. I didn't find it very scary or anything, though sometimes it did get a little spooky, but that could have been because I was reading at work once, when I was by myself after everyone left, and we just got finished talking about how the place was haunted. So. That may have been the case.

I really enjoyed all the characters, though sometimes the main character, Charlotte, annoyed me a little, just a little though. And I really liked the sub plot with Charlotte's best friend.

I found this book to be a very refreshing read. ( )

To see my review: http://bookvacations.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/past-midnight-by-mara-purnhagen-pa... ( )

This was a very quick and fun read. Charlotte's character is very likable - she is a young girl just trying to fit in. Because she has been a little ostracized all her life, she is very accepting of other people.

Her older sister Annalise has roped her parents into settling down for Charlotte's senior year of high school. This is both good and bad for Charlotte. It is good because she is finally able to live in a "new" house and not a gothic or victorian haunted house. She is also able to start to fit in and make friends at school. However, when her parents appear on the cover of the local tv schedule publication, she will have to face what she feels is their "weird" celebrity status.

Charlotte has some good friends in Avery - her next door neighbor and Noah, a boy from her AV class. I liked the way that secrets were revealed throughout the book among them.

You also get to learn about how paranormal activity is recorded with heat sensing monitors and EMF (electro magnetic field) readers and microphones to catch electronic voice phenomena or EVP's.

I have already read the next book - or novella in the series - Raising the Dead. ( )

Charlotte’s parents have devoted their lives to debunking famous hauntings—they even have their own TV show dedicated to scientifically explaining “ghosts”. Charlotte has grown used to moving from place to place for her parents’ jobs, but deep down, she just wants to be normal. But Charlotte soon discover that she’s anything but normal—and her parents might not be entirely right about ghosts not being real.

Don’t let the synopsis fool you--Past Midnight may sound unimpressive, but it’s actually got quite a bit going for it. Mara Purnhagen creates an entirely new science for her novel—the science of ghosts. The way in which Charlotte’s parents explain “ghosts” is so well developed that it sounds legitimate. Purhagen expertly blends science (via Charlotte’s parents) and the supernatural to make the reader question whether or not ghosts really exist in Charlotte’s world. The story, too, is anything but tired: Purnhagen crafts a complex, suspenseful mystery that keeps you on your toes throughout the whole novel.

Charlotte, the protagonist, is a bit unmemorable, but she does have wit and intellect working in her favor. Thanks to her quick thinking, the reader doesn’t have to wait for pages and pages while she tries to puzzle together clues to the mystery. Charlotte figures things out fairly easily. One nitpicky thing about Charlotte, though, is that she didn’t quite seem to act her age. Her mentality and dialogue felt more suited to a 15-year-old than a senior in high school. Still, her immaturity doesn’t take away from the reading experience at all.

Past Midnight will definitely be enjoyed by fans of paranormal YA. It doesn’t have much of a romance (something extremely common in this genre), but it instead focuses on the relationships between family and friends. Those who tire of romance-centric paranormals will find Past Midnight refreshing, and mystery-loving readers will love piecing together the puzzle with Charlotte. ( )

When I came upon “Past Midnight”, I wasn’t sure if it was something I would like. But I’m glad I gave it a shot. “Past Midnight” is an incredibly easy and fun read.

Charlotte Silver has never had a ‘real home’. Her parents, who work on ‘Doubt’, are always traveling, trying to dispute paranormal claims. Charlotte wants to be normal, but there isn’t anything normal about Charlotte.

Charlotte’s parents decide to settle down for her upcoming senior year of high school after speaking with her older sister, Annaliese. She quickly becomes friends with Avery, her neighbor, and she tries to hide who she is, and what her parents do. But eventually the truth will find its way out.

But Charlotte isn’t the only one hiding a secret, Avery and Jared both have their own secrets that need to be told.

What “Past Midnight” has going for it is that it isn’t your typical young adult novel in that the main character isn’t driven by a teenage romance. Sure, Charlotte has a crush on one of her male friends, but that isn’t the story. The story focuses on Charlotte, her family, her friends, and the paranormal world she’s just beginning to truly experience.

I easily plowed through this book. I needed to know what was going on. I needed to know who *they* were and what they wanted from Charlotte. It’s a very interesting story and I’m ready to start the next book.

If you haven’t yet read “Past Midnight”, get to it! You’re going to want to read this series, especially with “Beyond the Grave” coming out in August (the third book in the series)! ( )

Kearsten says: This was so unexpectedly good! Having read a lot of Harlequin novels as a teen (and not a few as an adult), I expected a quick, light romance, but while this was a quick read, that was simply because I didn't want to put it down!

Charlotte's parents are famous for debunking ghosts and hauntings, so when she finds herself haunted by very scary spirits, she's more than a little reluctant to let her parents know. And while there is no romance, there is a boy who could, someday, maybe, turn into a love interest - and it doesn't get in the way of the stroy at all. :)

This was so unexpectedly good! Having read a lot of Harlequin novels as a teen (and not a few as an adult), I expected a quick, light romance, but while this was a quick read, that was simply because I didn't want to put it down! ( )

Charlotte Silver, Princess of the Paranormal (as she was dubbed by her dad) wants a normal life. Her parents are dubunkers of the paranormal and her and her sister Annalise have been raised in this lifestyle. After an investigation near where Annalise attends college scares her she lays down a few rules if they want her to continue to help with what any future investigations. One of them is that they must stay in one place long enough so that Charlotte can finish her senior year at one high school. This is a dream come true for Charlotte and she only hopes that no one finds out who she really is.

Charlotte has lived in her sister's shadow her entire life and now she has a chance to be on her own. She wants people to see her as just a regular everyday kind of girl. She meets Avery (the popular cheerleader who has a secret of her own), Jared (the mysterious boy) and Noah (cute geeky boy). Unfortunately something has followed her home from the last investigation and she must solve the mystery before the spirits take their revenge (and hopefully before anyone finds out about her). Charlotte evolves from a shy-behind-the-scenes-kind-of-girl to a take-charge-this-is-how-we-are-going-to-solve-the-problem woman. She even starts to have her first crush on a boy...:)

This is a fantastic book for the teen reader! It mixes the paranormal (without being cheesy) with normal teen angst. This is a good clean read...:) I was really caught up in this story and didn't want it to end! I had to start the second book, One Hundred Candles, right away! Check out my review tomorrow...:) ( )

I have to say that I really enjoyed this book. I originally purchased this book for my Kindle because I received the second novel in this series from NetGalley for review and I am so glad that I did. I wasn`t sure what to expect as the last couple of YA books I have read had been a bit disappointing. I started reading this book on my last day in Barbados and it didn`t take me very long to be drawn into Charlotte`s world. I have always preferred a good ghost story to vampires, zombies, werewolves or angels and this story didn`t disappoint. I could completely relate to Charlotte as I moved cities and high schools halfway through grade 12 (at the time here in Ontario we went up to grade 13 so that meant I only had a year and half left to graduate). I moved for completely different reasons than Charlotte. I can`t say that it was because my parents were doing something cool like hunting for ghosts but I have to say that it is quite intimidating coming into a new school when people have already established and kept friendships for many years. I had also been a bit of a nerd or geek (not sure which one I would qualify as) and I had definitely been made of in the past. I was quite thankful to find an amazing group of friends; friends who I am still to this day close with. I have digressed a bit from the review but all that is to say that I can relate to Charlotte and I think that made me enjoy the book even more. While the story centers on ghosts, both emotional ghosts from the past and also the spooky kind that haunt houses, I never felt that anything was forced. The ghosts just sort of flowed into the narrative of the story and it didn`t seem out of the ordinary or over the top. Overall I give this book 4.5 stars out of 5 and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun read. ( )

This was a fast and fun read. Charlotte's parents are in the ghost-hunting business, but they aren't trying to prove ghosts are real, they're trying to prove that they're not. They believe that a person can imprint their energy on a place and that all sightings can be explained away by either a human glitch, or energy. When strange things start happening to Charlotte, things that can't be explained away, her parents have to come up with all new explanations.

I really enjoyed this book. It didn't revolve completely around the paranormal element. It was just as much about Charlotte, and her normal teenage life. She is tired of being dragged around from place to place, never getting to really make friends. Her struggle as she starts a new school, makes a new friend, and tries to understand what is going on at this school. There's obviously a secret that everyone else knows, but no one will talk about, and it's affecting her friend Avery. It was great to see her struggle with the same thing a lot of teens deal with when starting new schools and trying to fit in.

I really enjoyed the characters in this book. Charlotte was smart and fun, but also afraid to be who she really is. Avery, Charlotte's new best friend, is strong and loyal and the type of friend we all need. I loved Charlotte's parents, they were both unusual (obviously considering their profession) but they were also loving and caring parents who really wanted to do what they could to help their daughters.

Overall, I liked this book, but didn't love it. There were times when it was a little slow for me. The paranormal element wasn't really anything original. I have hopes that the next book will be better, and I enjoyed this one enough that I will be picking up the next one for sure. ( )

Ghosts. I love ghost stories and anything paranormal. But this book, not only held me at every page, but captured my every being. Charlotte is the Princess of Paranormal. Her parents are famous for the ghost documentaries. After moving to a new town, she meets a new friend with a big secret. After being there for a while, she begins to investigate and learned what really happen that night. She also learns that she is being haunted by ghosts who want her to find there long lost daughter.

Sometimes when I read a book I don't like the fact that there are two story lines going on. Sometimes it fits well with the plot and other times no. Ms. Purnhagen did a wonderful job writing both story lines. Not only did they fit well with each other, but they also had great endings. Both lines were closed with all questions answered. You weren't left hanging and confused.

I loved Charlotte. She was fearless and strong when it came to ghost. One thing that did get me was she was quick to judge. Whatever her friends told her she believe, yet she doubted in her mind. I was glad to see that she gave him a chance to explain and set things right. There are always two sides to a story. I am happy that both were heard. The ghost part I loved. All the researching and finding out clues is one adventure I liked being on. Charlotte willingness to help I adored. She wanted to help everyone. She was selfless when it came to setting things straight. She put herself on the line no matter what.

If you are looking for a great ghost story, with researching, creepy raise the hair on your arm moment but also great life drama read this book. It will not only make you look over your shoulder but it will entice you till the very end. ( )

First off how many of you are tired of constantly reading books that are 300-600 pages long and bulky? Really its hard to find a book that is under 300 pages anymore. I’m pleased to say that Mara Purnhagen’s Past Midnight is a wonderful paranormal novel that is under 250 pages!

Past Midnight took me a few days to read and I enjoyed every second of it. Charlotte’s family moves around a lot because of her parent’s career as ghost hunters with their own T.V. show. One day something goes wrong at a place in Charleston, SC where Charlotte’s parents are filming. Afterwards Charlotte starts seeing strange things in her sleep and bedroom.

Charlotte makes new friends in her new hometown. The first friend we meet is a girl how lives across the street from Charlotte. That girl would be Avery who has a secret that everyone in town seems to know about but will not tell Charlotte when she asks about what happened. Then there are two guys introduced to us. Theres Jared who is somehow connected to Avery’s secret. Then there is Noah who, if I remember correctly, is a good guy that cares about Charlotte and they seem to be on the path towards a relationship. Really though the only boy that stuck with me months later after reading Past Midnight is Jared. I really don’t remember anything about Noah. Sorry Noah! Jared just seemed more flirtatious and a better match for Charlotte. They had natural chemistry or something! Whenever Charlotte needed someone to talk to who would understand she’d call her sister Annalise. They are so nice to each other. Annalise was like a fairy godmother to Charlotte in certain ways.

Along with Charlotte’s friends keeping secrets, Charlotte keeps that fact that her parents are ghost hunters a secret from her friends in hope that she can actually live a normal teenage life. Don’t worry though every mystery gets revealed at the end; which includes what happened with Avery and Jared and why are ghosts following Charlotte? Will Charlotte’s family secret stay hidden forever or will the town find out?

My only suggestion would be to rush out to your local bookstore and see if they have a copy of Past Midnight available and buy it! I can hardly wait for Feb. 15, 2011 to get here so I can go out and buy the second book in the series One Hundred Candles. ( )

Charlotte Silver is a high school girl who just wants to live a normal life. Her parents happen to be celebrity paranormal debunkers who travel the world chasing ghosts for their reality series. Charlotte and her older sister Annalise have been bounced around from school to school following their parents’ work. Charlotte tries to hide her parents’ paranormal work from her peers, and is always mortified when the secret gets out. Annalise decides she has had enough and asks her parents to stay in one place long enough for Charlotte to finish high school or else she won’t be a part of their paranormal show anymore. Charlotte’s parents reluctantly agree, and purchase a new un-haunted house and settle down to a normal routine. However, to their surprise there is a pair of tag-along ghosts from their summer paranormal gig along for the ride.

In her new home, Charlotte finds she must face the ghosts that seek her help, and help her new friends heal from their own tragedy that haunts them. There are some interesting characters introduced including her neighbor cheerleader friend, and a couple of students in her AV class including a girl who wants all the spotlight for herself, and a younger man who may have romantic intentions.

There are many spooky instances and encounters throughout the book to interest fans of the paranormal. There is an overall air of mystery and an eerie vibe to the book. There is not a romantic storyline in the book, but there seems to be at least one potential love interest for Charlotte being set up for the sequel.

In addition to the ghost story, Past Midnight includes other compelling stories including parental and sister relationships, friendships, and managing school challenges. Past Midnight is a satisfying ghost story that is well written and fast paced, with interesting stories and characters. Past Midnight is the first book in a three part series and sets the stage intriguingly for the sequels. Recommended for fans of paranormal books and younger teens. I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series: One Hundred Candles is due out in March 2011. ( )

picked up this book because it was set (at least in the beginning) in one of my favorite cities in the U.S.--Charleston. This area is the perfect setting for this novel with just the right amount of creepiness and charm. Plus, when you walk down the streets of Charleston, you come away with the feeling of being steeped in history and culture.

But Charlotte doesn't appreciate all that. She's had more than enough history and creepiness to satisfy her for the rest of her life. In fact, she wants to stay in one place for more than a couple of months and to live in a brand-new house that no one has ever lived in before. Luckily for her, she has a sister who completely understands and who convinces their parents that's exactly what they need to do.

Except, during their trip to Charleston, Charlotte picks up a ghostly visitor who follows them to their new house and grows increasingly aggressive. The ghost needs for Charlotte to do something and it's up to Charlotte to find out what or she might have a poltergeist on her hands.

Charlotte was a great character--I totally felt for her, being dragged around from historical place to historical place, never her parents' primary focus, afraid the people she meets will think she's a freak because of her parents' job.

The main story, the one involving Charlotte and the ghost, was the story that captured and kept my attention. However, there were multiple story lines running through this novel that, to me, were just distractions. I had a hard time with Charlotte's new high school life, her making friends with the popular kids, her attraction to the loner/bad boy because I wanted to know more about the ghosts. The main plot was unique and interesting, and I really wish that had been explored more, instead of the more cliched high school plot lines that popped up after Charlotte and her parents settled down.

Despite that quibble, I really enjoyed this paranormal, so different from the vampires, werewolves and zombies that have been roaming the YA shelves these past couple years. ( )

"Past Midnight" is yet another entry in the young adult paranormal genre. This one is about Charlotte Silver who travels the world and never stays in one place for long because her parents do a reality tv show where the investigate ghosts. Charlotte is kinda embarrassed by this and doesn't like when the kids at school know about it. Recently her sister moved to college and the Silver family is visiting her when the book begins.

After pleading to stay for one year in one place(mostly with help from her sister), Charlotte's family agrees to stay for one year in a town a couple hours away from her sister's college. Charlotte does her best to keep her parents job a secret and quickly befriends several popular kids. She is especially excited to have a brand new house that no one has ever lived in before. Ghost free, or so she thinks.

Soon she learns her new best friend is keeping secrets about another boy in school, the only other girl in her A/V class doesn't like her, and it seems like her house may in fact be haunted...by the most energetic spirits her family has ever come across.

Ok, so the book was short and sweet. It didn't do much to stand out from the crowd and I didn't care for it as much as I have other books in YA literature. There were several pluses though. Charlotte is a nice character who wants to help others. The ghost angle was far too easy to figure out, but Charlotte's parents actually work from the angle of DIS-proving there are ghosts, which I thought was pretty neat. The book also portrayed some friction between the two parents as the strain of the paranormal activities became harder to disprove. The book also didn't have a romance aspect which is also unique. There were two boys who played a fairly large role. Neither stood out as boyfriend material, at least in this book.

One sentence summary: There are a lot of books with more to offer than "Past Midnight" but its clean and has a good moral. ( )

Past Midnight is, without a doubt, one of the creepiest books that I’ve ever read. With Charlotte‘s ghost-hunting family and the weird spirits that suddenly haunt her, it‘s like an awesome mix of Casper (without the friendly ghost, of course) and Paranormal Activity.

It’s obvious that this is an introductory book into the rest of the series; it’s kind of anticlimactic and slow until the end. But the ghostly scenes that pop up along the way were so completely terrifying and enthralling that I was never bored. I actually kept myself awake an hour later than usual just to get the book out of my head, I was that freaked out, and I always appreciate a book that can scare me because it’s very rare.

I like how the high school/teenage aspect of the novel was switched up. Charlotte’s rival wasn’t a cheerleader, she actually befriended a group of them. I was a little put off with the relationships between Charlotte/Jared and Charlotte/Noah. There’s no romance in this novel, and although I loved that Charlotte wasn’t obsessing over boys, there was that a of romantic feelings from her. The interaction with Jared and Noah wasn’t developed enough; I think I would’ve preferred if there were absolutely no romantic feelings from Charlotte at all.

Overall, Past Midnight is a scary paranormal that will keep you on the edge of your seat. It’s an awesome introduction to a series that will hopefully be just as spooky and awesome as the first book is! I definitely recommend! ( )

Charlotte has never stayed at a town long enough to complete more than a semester at school yet her sister, Annalise, is determined for Charlotte to graduate and finish her senior. That’s why after their last hunt at disproving ghost their parents and Charlotte are finally staying a full year in a town, in a school! But this brand new house Charlotte has always dreamed of has a few hidden ghosts that came with her and they are angry.

I am easily scared. Like I get scared watching Scary Movie, which is meant more as a comedy than a scary movie, which is really pathetic in my eyes, but what can I do. So when I read Past Midnight pretty darn close at midnight with my brother popping in at random moments in my room I jumped. I freaked, okay. Quite honestly, readers won’t be too terrified but Past Midnight is still suspenseful and tension-filled even for those not scared of their own shadows.

Mara Purnhagen does her research and writes about thermal machinery and EMF readers like she’s been at the scene directly hunting ghosts. Purnhagen debunks her own theories and creates new opposition to give multiple and various viewpoints of ghosts/lingering energies.

The characters are dainty yet filled with a strong presence. The parents, thankfully, act like parents; friends act dotingly; sisters act like sister, and Charlotte acts like a heroine instead of a weak side-character. There is plenty of space left for development in the sequels to come, but there is enough depth that readers will not be too frustrated.

The hint of romance is tasteful and the ending of Past Midnight was that happily ever after I was looking for without that eye-twitching, gagging sweetness. There are still questions needed to be answered and characters that need to be clarified, but overall a good beginning to an interesting series (a sequel that I am definitely waiting for). ( )

To kick off my Halloween challenge, I thought I would start with Past Midnight. It sounded interesting and slightly creepy and since I can't handle horror thought this would be perfect. And, it was!

Charlotte is a simple girl who wants simple things but doesn't really have the courage to put her foot down and tell her parents no. That's where her older sister Annalise steps in. I liked Annalise, she was spunky and she obviously cared a lot about her sister. Their parents however, annoyed me. I think they pushed Annalise too far to get ahead of their career's and to me, that was just wrong. As a parent, they should have noted Annalise's freak out and left it at that.

As creepy as it was, I enjoyed the scenes where Charlotte was having dreams about the ghosts. I didn't understand really why she was seeing the girl and not her parents but I did enjoy those scenes and their to piece them together as I read. I wish there was more to the dreams than what we were given. It kind of made the ending sudden, even though everything started to make sense.

I liked Charlotte's friend Avery but the secret she was keeping got on my nerves. It's like the whole school knew and constantly mentioned it but no one bothered to tell Charlotte and it explained nothing as to why she should avoid Jared.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and it reminded me how much I miss reading ghost stories (but I scare extremely easily now that I'm older, weird huh?)! I look forward to reading the second book in the series! ( )

Ever since reading Mara Purhagen's fantastic first novel Tagged, I've been eager to read more by her, so when Past Midnight (her newest novel and a paranormal mystery at that!) showed up in my mailbox I was beyond ecstatic. And as it turned out that was just the right emotion to be feeling, because Past Midnight is an unputdownable ghostly paranormal read that I can't suggest highly enough for all you paranormal lovers out there!

From the first page the reader is thrown into the world of Charlotte Silver, a girl who has never been exactly normal thanks to her famous paranormal investigator parents. But this year, Charlotte's senior year, is going to be different; she's going to be normal. Because not only have her parents agreed to stay in one place for the year but she's already making friends at her new school. But as it turns out everything is soon to unravel. Because not only is she being stalked by scary paranormal beings, but her friends are getting closer and closer to finding out about Charlotte's parents occupation and she just can't have that now, can she? So now she's on the path to find out who (or perhaps what) is stalking her and how she can get rid of them once for all, but when her friends find out about everything, will they stick by her side? More importantly: will she make it out of high school alive? And most important of all: Will she EVER be normal? Only time can tell in this rich paranormal mystery by Ms. Purhagen.

Charlotte was a character I loved reading about, because, quite frankly, she was a pretty interesting girl. I especially loved the way she would go out of her to help her new friends, and the way she grew to understand that no one is normal or perfect for the matter, that you should just roll with the punches and live your life. My favorite secondary character out of the mix would have to be a tie between Avery and Noah, because both were characters that were not only fun to read about but ones I respected as well.

The plot of this was nothing short of fun, though why wouldn't it be? I loved the way Mara intertwined facts about paranormal investigating right along with the ghostly sub-plot, because paranormal investigating is a topic I always love to read more about. Making Past Midnight even better in my eyes was Mara's writing, which moved in a fun, fast paced sort of way, just like in Tagged.

In all, Past Midnight is a ghostly paranormal mystery and a fantastic start to a new series that I highly suggest you pick up the next time you see it in stores or online.

Grade: A- ( )