Sunday, January 2, 2011

Review: Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen


Past Midnight (Past Midnight, #1)
Synopsis:

Let me set the record straight. My name is Charlotte Silver and I'm not one of those paranormal-obsessed freaks you see on TV…no, those would be my parents, who have their own ghost-hunting reality show. And while I'm usually roped into the behind-the-scenes work, it turns out that I haven't gone unnoticed. Something happened on my parents' research trip in Charleston—and now I'm being stalked by some truly frightening other beings. Trying to fit into a new school and keeping my parents' creepy occupation a secret from my friends—and potential boyfriends—is hard enough without having angry spirits whispering in my ear. All I ever wanted was to be normal, but with ghosts of my past and present colliding, now I just want to make it out of high school alive….


Book Details:
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Pub. Date: September 2010
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224

My Review:
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.


5 Stars!

2 comments:

Jen (@ Jens Book Closet) said...

This book actually looks like one I'm really interested in. I like those books where everyone knows about paranormals and deals with it in some way or another. Like it's all normal stuff anyway. Great review.

Jen
In the Closet With a Bibliophile
For The L♥ve of Reading

Unknown said...

haha yeah I tried to stay calm when the guy was there but I was very very excited to receive Last Sacrifice finally so I was totally crazy when he left :p.

Oh I haven't heard of this book before but it seems really great ! I'll put it in my wish list. Great review !