Review: Past Midnight by Mara Purnhagen

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publishing Date: September 1rst, 2010
ISBN: 9780373210206
Pages: 216 pgs

My Rating: 4.5 stars

Summary from GoodReads:
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…

My Review:
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.