Nothing But Reading Challenges discussion

This topic is open for discussion of. Hereafter by Tara Hudson. Be prepared for Spoilers.

Goodreads Description:
Can there truly be love after death?

Drifting in the dark waters of a mysterious river, the only thing Amelia knows for sure is that she's dead. With no recollection of her past life—or her actual death—she's trapped alone in a nightmarish existence. All of this changes when she tries to rescue a boy, Joshua, from drowning in her river. As a ghost, she can do nothing but will him to live. Yet in an unforgettable moment of connection, she helps him survive.

Amelia and Joshua grow ever closer as they begin to uncover the strange circumstances of her death and the secrets of the dark river that held her captive for so long. But even while they struggle to keep their bond hidden from the living world, a frightening spirit named Eli is doing everything in his power to destroy their newfound happiness and drag Amelia back into the ghost world . . . forever.

Thrilling and evocative, with moments of pure pleasure, Hereafter is a sensation you won't want to miss.

Question

Chapters 1- 5
1) Does this book remind you of any other book? The beginning with Amelia describing herself as wandering and then ending up in her grave sort of reminded me of another book, I believe it was A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb.
2) Why do you think Joshua's heart started beating again?
3) Do you think Amelia should have told Joshua she was dead?
4) Do you think Amelia killed herself?
5) What did you think of Eli? Do you think she should trust him?
6) Do you like the writing style so far?
7) First thoughts of the book after reading the first 5 chapters? Do you like it? Is it keeping your interest?

Chapters 6-9
8) Why do you think Amelia is so afraid of Eli from the start? Doesn't she want to know more about her kind?
9) We find out that Amelia did indeed commit suicide. Does that affect your view of her as a character?
10) I find it interesting that Amelia picked out such a flashy dress for a suicide jump. Thoughts?
11) Why do you think Amelia hasn't seen any other ghosts? Was it only because she was still "lost"?
12) Do you think that Joshua's school is the same school Amelia used to go to?

Chapters 10-12
13) I found the description about Josh's home to mean that he's rich, instead of the feeling that it was homey as the author wanted me to feel. What do you think?
14) So why do you think she looks she's glowing to Joshua? May his feelings for her play a part?
15) Josh seems to take everything in stride-she's dead: okay! she glows: creepy but okay. It bugs me. And you?
16) Did you guys anticipate Ruth also being able to see Amelia? I had a feeling she might.
17) Found the description of Netherworld lacking. You guys?
18) The souls help Eli in "big missions". What could those be?
19) My favorite part:
“My parents’ names are Rebecca and Jeremiah, by the way,” he whispered as I approached him.
I laughed, jittery. “Got it. So even though they’ll be too busy screaming at you, and they can’t hear me anyway, I’ll at least be able to address them
properly?”
Yours?

Chapters 13 - 15
20) Sounds like Jillian has the gift. So why doesn't Jillian's and Joshua's father? Is it he hasn't been awakened? If so why is is that Jillian is already showing signs of seeing?
21) Do you think it's wise of Joshua and Amelia to get romantically involved? I mean how is that going to work?
22) They now know Amelia is definitely dead. I was hoping she was in a coma or something. I guess waking up in a grave was proof enough she wasn't alive any more. Did anyone else hope there was a way out of her being dead?
23) When they went into Amelia's mom's house did anyone think they'd get caught?
24) Anyone else wondering what happened to her father? Could he have died when she did?
25) What do you think Joshua will think of Amelia disappearing on him?
26) Anyone else having a hard time not reading ahead? I'm really enjoying the book. Anyone else?
27) I must admit the Eli angle still has me wondering. I think that could make or break the book. Thoughts?

Researved

Can you believe my library system only has two copies of this? I'm number 7. Not looking to promising. :(

My library doesn't have any copies :(

Geez. And to think I was disappointed! Lol.

Lol.

Two questions. I noticed that YA is young adult and BOM is book of month but what is PNR/UF? Paranormal? Also, when is this one starting?

It's Paranormal/Urban Fantasy. Sorry, usually we spell it out, but the name gets a little long for the post heading. :)

Thanks! Do you happen to know a tentative start date for this one? I noticed there are 2 other BOM in October and they work so you can do both at seperate times, will this one be towards the end of the month then or do they all just go at the same times? Thanks again.

I'm guessing it will be, but haven't put a date to it yet. None of us mods have the book yet, but if I can't get it from the library I'll attempt to buy it. Plus, I just posted the time frame for Juliet. So I have to look to see when I posted that one to end and I'll add a tentative start date to this one.

Okay sounds great. I wasn't sure how the group did these books if they were separate or all at once. I can't wait for October to start to start these reads.

This is our first attempt at reading them in a staggered fashioned so if anyone likes the way we're doing the books this next month let us know.

I personally think that way would probably be best this way if we want to do a challenge along with it, it is much more doable.

I've got this at home, hoping to join next week!

Great!

Me,too! I'm reading all of them till you guys get rid of me! :-)

I got my book in the mail. I'll try to divide up the chapters.

Got my book, finished Juliet, I'm ready to go! :-)

We have roughly 30 chapters if you include the epilogue as such. I'm thinking 50 pages a day?

 


Date Chapters Pages Questions 
____________ _________ _________ __________
October 20th 1 - 5 1 - 51 Lisarenee
October 21st 6 - 9 52 - 107 Jex 
October 22nd 10 - 12 108 - 150 Anomander 
October 23rd 13 - 15 151 - 198 Lisarenee 
October 24th 16 - 19 199 - 253 Jex 
October 25th 20 - 22 254 - 301 
October 26th 23 - 26 302 - 354
October 27th 27 - Epilogue 355 - 404

I didn't realize that this book had 400 pages.

Right? It didn't look that big when I got it.

I believe it uses large print type.

Sign me up for questions!

Same here. I'm going away this weekend, so if I could do Friday's, that'd be great.

Sans, how is the other book..sugar daddy?

Draining. I'm PMSing right now, so it's hitting me especially hard. I can't honestly say I'm enjoying it. It's more like picking at a scab.

I could see that.. your answers made me laugh bad! Knew the book wasn't for me.

LOL! Yeah, I try to use humor to counterbalance the heavy. I'm glad it made you laugh!

Sans, join us on the soulless buddy read? Its a good book.

I just picked up Hereafter from the library. Is this a buddy read where we discuss as we go or just a read the whole book and talk about it then thing?

It'll be a read and discuss type most probably.

Sandra wrote: "I just picked up Hereafter from the library. Is this a buddy read where we discuss as we go or just a read the whole book and talk about it then thing?"

Read and discuss, Sandra. Out first set of questions should be posted today.

Anomander wrote: "Sans, join us on the soulless buddy read? Its a good book."

Thank you for the invite! It's been a while since i read Soulless. I'll see if i can dig up my copy and drop in on the discussion!

Oh, you read it already? All of em?

Only the first one. Are you guys reading the whole series?

Depends..if Liad can stomach me for longer. :-p

LOL!

Questions for Chapters 1- 5

1) Does this book remind you of any other book? The beginning with Amelia describing herself as wandering and then ending up in her grave sort of reminded me of another book, I believe it was A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb.

2) Why do you think Joshua's heart started beating again?

3) Do you think Amelia should have told Joshua she was dead?

4) Do you think Amelia killed herself?

5) What did you think of Eli? Do you think she should trust him?

6) Do you like the writing style so far?

7) First thoughts of the book after reading the first 5 chapters? Do you like it? Is it keeping your interest?

Hey Lisarenee. You better now?

Yes. They switched my medications so I'm only taking a pain reliever twice a day instead of every 4 hours so I'm guessing it's stronger. Plus, I now have anti nausea medicine. I think some of the nausea was from the medicine I was taking. The other came from the intense pain which occurred when I didn't take my next dose exactly at 4 hours. I don't think the previous pain killer was kind to my stomach. They also changed the antibiotic medicine to one that tastes much better. I'm on a total of 5 different prescriptions and am now able to function, well with the exception of early morning when the muscle relaxer makes me not want to get up but sleep for 12 hours straight. My husband kept trying to get me up this morning and seconds later I'd be sleeping again.

What do they say? How long do you need to take the meds?

Well since Tuesday I was still getting intense pain I'll start trying on Friday to reduce the amount of pain killer I take and see if it is gone. A little afraid to do so. It takes a good while for the pain medication to kick in to get rid of it. They still think it was a muscle related problem. I went in about 3 weeks ago after 2 weeks of having a headache that just wouldn't go away. It'd be bearable, but just wouldn't quit or go away completely. They think this is somehow related.

Lemme know how it goes.

Have you gotten x-rays or an MRI of your neck and spine or seen a chiropractor? I know when I'm out of alignment, it's really difficult to function. I've started getting deep tissue therapeutic massage at my chiropractor's office and it's like a miracle. If it's a problem like that, at least you could get treated and not rely on meds to get through the day.

Lisarenee wrote: "Well since Tuesday I was still getting intense pain I'll start trying on Friday to reduce the amount of pain killer I take and see if it is gone. A little afraid to do so. It takes a good while for..."

I have chronic back pain and the headache seems odd. They did check for leaking spinal fluid right? Or at least are certain that the injury wasn't of the type to cause that? The only time I've gotten headaches from back pain was when I had spinal fluid that was leaking.

I get headaches caused by my neck being out of alignment and muscle tension.

Sans wrote: "I get headaches caused by my neck being out of alignment and muscle tension."

That explains it. I only really get lower back pain. Not really the neck area ever.

LOL! Yeah, if you were getting headaches from your lower back, there's definitely a problem. ^o^