Elegy by Tara Hudson

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: HarperTeen

Pages: 400pgs

The Story

A stalker ghost, misguided Seers, and spellbinding wraiths—Amelia Ashley has faced them all. Now her greatest hope is to spend the rest of her afterlife with her living boyfriend, Joshua. But the demonic forces return to give her an ultimatum: turn herself over to the darkness or watch them murder one living person per week until she does.

Amelia fears she might really be doomed, until the forces of light give her another option. She can join them in their quest to gather souls, with a catch: Once she joins them, she can never see Joshua again.

Faced with impossible choices, Amelia decides to take her afterlife into her own hands—and fight back.

The Review

ELEGY is the final book in the Hereafter trilogy and it concerns itself with Amelia, the ghost we all know and love who now has to face the consequences of many evil beings who want her to join them in Hell. However, if she does not, her current and very human boyfriend, Joshua, the one person she counts on more than anyone else and whom she would do anything for, will be the one next in danger.

Now like with anyone who has already read this series, I've always loved this one and how well it was written. It's just one of those rare book series where you get so invested in the storyline and with its characters and with everything else, and you don't even have to try  to like it . . . it's just awesome anyway and truly heart-felt to the core. But I have to admit, much like with what happened in Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed in Blood series, which this book reminds me so much of only with less gore and so on,  I knew from the very beginning that with the coupling between the ghost, Amelia, and the human boy, Joshua, that their relationship would be tested in several ways, not to mention it wouldn't be all sunshine and rainbows between them both in this particular book and I was right even though it displeases me so. 

Ultimately, this book was definitely not all sunshine and rainbows and I can guarantee you that. But in saying that, while I already knew how this book would end and why it took me a few moments or two to embrace my prediction that actually happened, in the end of it all, I thought it was all well-done for the final book and that all sacrifices that were made had this bittersweet kick to it . . . so even though I didn't totally love it . . . but it was the kind of ending that needed to happen one way or another, so yeah . . . it was an all-round good book. The same goes for the characters and in particular with Amelia and Joshua's characters. They might have made a few decisions that I didn't necessarily agree with even though they were the right things to do at the time, but in the end the choices needed to be made, so it was a real pleasure to meet with these colourful and sometimes dark characters. I'm definitely going to be missing them heaps!

Overall, ELEGY was a pleasant read and while it may have had its ups and downs, particularly with the conclusion it left for us readers, but ultimately and while you start to think about why the ending ended the way it did, you will soon embrace it in no time and understand that things happen for a reason even though it comes with a severe consequence.

The Rating

3/5 stars

Elegy by Amanda Hocking

Release Date: Out now!

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Pages: 542pgs

The Story

Gemma's life is slowly being destroyed. Cursed as a siren, she is struggling to escape a destiny of savagery and darkness. She's desperate to break the spell that has turned her into a monster and torn her away from the family- and the boy- she loves. But the alluring yet lethal sirens, Penn, Thea and the newly initiated Liv, have no intention of letting her go.

The Review

A big thanks to Pan Macmillan Australia for sending me a review copy of this book!

ELEGY is the fourth and final installment of the Watersong series. The book picks up soon after the previous book's events, Tidal, had left off at, with our main character, Gemma, who is still searching for a way to escape the fate of her becoming a siren and joining the ranks of her other siren 'sisters'.

While I wished the series was written as a trilogy instead of four books (mostly because I found some events in the books were dragged out a little more than they needed to be), but surprisingly I still quite enjoyed this fourth book and that's probably because the book had a much faster pace going for it, especially when I compared it to the other three installments in the series, so I'm quite glad it worked faster this time for me, even though the book is much longer than the others.

In terms of the storyline, while this series is not my favourite coming from Hocking, but again I still enjoyed it because it was a means to an end with the series and it was also because we finally get the right conclusion we needed for all of the characters - the good and the bad, so along those lines I was quite happy with how everything ended. But in terms of the characters however . . . I don't know . . . but for some reason I just found some characters lacked a certain oomph coming from them this time, but Gemma, surprisingly, had really stepped up her game in this final installment so I'm glad she finally did that and showed those siren sisters (who tried to make her one of them) who's boss, so well done to Gemma for that! I was really cheering for her! And as for the other characters . . . I didn't really care for them all that much to be honest with you, especially Gemma's sister and Gemma's own love interest because I cared more about what happens to Gemma, but yeah . . . Gemma and even her siren sisters were more than enough entertainment that I needed so the supporting characters didn't particularly matter to me personally.

Overall, ELEGY was a decent conclusion to the Watersong series and I think most readers of Hocking's will be quite pleased with the ending.

The Rating

3/5 stars