Review: Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen

Title: Past Midnight

Author: Mara Purnhagen

Series: Past Midnight

Book #: 1

Pages: 216

Reading Level: Young Adult

Book Rating: .3

Published: Sept. 01, 2010

by Harlequin Teen

Mara Purnhagen Official Website

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…

Taschima's POV:

Charlotte's family is unusual. Her parents are modern day ghost busters. They don't believe in the paranormal, instead they go to haunted houses and disprove the paranormal. They have written books, made documentaries, and they even have their own TV. show. One time while they were at Charleston doing research for a new documentary something overly strange happens. Ever since then Charlotte has been having weird dreams about a girl who lived hundreds of years back, and she is being haunted by two ghosts. She is trying to keep all of this under wraps, including her parents weird job, from her new friends at her new school, but how long can she really keep it under wraps? And what do this very active ghosts want from her exactly?

When I first started reading this novel I found it slow and slightly boring to be completely honest. I thought Charlotte thought of herself as a victim way too much, her parents were cooler than her, her sister could have been the protagonist, and well I wasn't invested enough in any of them enough to care. But I gotta tell you, that little Charlotte found her way into a corner of my heart. As the story progressed she started growing and developing and finding herself, more than that really she started to accept herself and her family and started to be proud and even believe in what they do. That's some character development right there. By the end I took to her liking and we became friends. There's also side characters that make the story that much more enjoyable like her best friend who is coping with a loss, Avery, Jared the guy with the deep dark secret, and Nick the nice guy who is always there to help, not to mention her parents who are really cool and so helpful, plus her sister who is a head strong girl. To be honest, I wish I got to know Nick a little better... second book?

There is something that makes this book stand out from the other paranormal books, and that is that the parents actually get involved in their daughter's life. *Le gasp* what the hell!

That's breaking protocol! I know! And it works! I really liked Charlotte's parents and couldn't help but respect them. I only hope that if I ever do bring a ghost home my mother will be as kick ass as her parent's were.

The way they handled ghosts here was nothing out of the ordinary. Charlotte's parents have a lot of different theories when it comes to the paranormal (were speaking strictly ghosts here), they say that "ghosts" are but left over energy from years past, very strong left over energy. It works in some cases, in others not so much. Specially when two very strong ghosts are creeping on Charlotte. So the ideas may not be out of this world, but the book has enough creepiness to make up for it. It's only about 210 pages too and I think Mara Purnhagen made this 200 or so pages be well balanced, even though the first 100 or so didn't hook me that much. Charlotte is an okay girl, I started liking her at the end there, but we are strictly new friends, not besties or anything. Well see how she grows up in the next few novels.

So yes, in some parts it could have been better, but it makes for a quick light ghostly read. I enjoyed it, and yes I plan to pick up the second book. I am not in love, but I think this could be the start of a very good friendship.