Ashes to Ashes by Melissa Walker

Series: Ashes Duology(bk. 1)

Genera(s): Paranormal Romance

Subjects: supernatural, death, ghosts, afterlife, hauntings, love

Setting: Charleston, South Carolina, and also the Prism

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense, Callie

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 325 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen: Katherine Teagan

Summary/ product description: “If I Stay meets the movie Ghost in this first book in a teen duology about a teenage-girl-turned-ghost who must cling to the echoes of her former life to save the people she left behind.

Ashes to Ashes is author Melissa Walker's sweeping, romantic, and emotionally rich story about the things that torment and tempt us, even from the Great Beyond. This book is perfect for fans of Die for Me and Imaginary Girls, and its breathtaking ending will leave readers anxiously awaiting the series conclusion, Dust to Dust.

When Callie's life is cut short by a tragic accident, she expects to find nothingness, or maybe some version of heaven.

Instead, her spirit travels to the Prism, an ethereal plane populated by the ghosts she thought were fictional. Here she meets a striking and mysterious ghost named Thatcher, who is meant to guide her as she learns to haunt and bring peace to the loved ones she left behind.

However, Callie uncovers a dark secret about the spirit world: The angry souls who always populate ghost stories are real, dangerous, and willing to do whatever it takes to stay on Earth, threatening the existence of everyone she ever cared about.

As she fights to save them, Callie will learn that while it may no longer beat, her heart can still love-and break.”

My Review:  This book was actually pretty awesome. It’s not just another book about a girl who ends up in the afterlife. It has a different kind of take on being a ghost and haunting. It’s a quick, easy read and has some great characters and an interesting plot.

It starts out with Callie getting a new car from her dad, her taking it out for a spin, then going to a party with her friends, and then getting into a car accident on her way to her boyfriend Nick’s house. Then Callie wakes up in the afterlife or limbo dimension know as Prism. Thatcher becomes her guide and tells her that she must haunt her friends and father to help them move on. After she finishes her haunting she can move on to Solace, which is supposedly heaven.

The story is heart-wrenching a makes you think about life after death and love after death. Would you move on or stay on Earth? Callie doesn’t feel ready to move on. She’s unlike any new ghost Thatcher has dealt with. She has all her memories and emotions, whereas new ghosts usually have amnesia and are tranquil and numb. Callie is full of energy and life, and that attracts other ghosts. Some ghosts choose to stay on Earth and borrow energy from other ghost and mess around with the living as poltergeists.

There’s a bit of romance along the way. Callie’s living boyfriend Nick is going though a hard time since the accident. Thatcher and Callie start to develop a soul-deep relationship, a connection different than anything she experienced while alive. I really like Thatcher. He’s so serious at the beginning, but he seems like a nice, caring guy. A true southern gentleman. He’s doesn’t joke around like Nick liked to. Carson, Callie BFF, likes to do fake voodoo stuff and she tries to do a séance to get Callie back. That was one of the best parts. I kind of liked Reena as a character for a while. She’s not very trustworthy, though.

I also liked the setting. It’s set in Charleston, South Carolina. My cousin lives near there, but I’ve never been to the south. I read a few series set in South Carolina, like Beautiful Creatures.  This book was full of exciting event and revelations. The book ended with a big twist. To some people it was a twist at least. To me it was obvious since I found out she was unlike other ghosts. I saw a movie with a similar twist. I tend to guess the twist at the end within the first fifty page of a book. I’m right about 70% of the time.

I recommend this book if you enjoyed books like: Level 2/The Memory of After by Lenore Appelhans, Hereafter by Tara Hudson, The Catastrophe of You and Me, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, The Soul Screamers series, TV shows like Supernatural, or movies like Just Like Heaven and Ghost. If you like ghost stories or paranormal romance in general, you can give this book a try.

Cover Art Review: Really simple but beautiful photo. Looks like the Hereafter by Tara Hudson cover.