I won a copy of this book on Goodreads First Reads!  I was so happy when I received it that I put aside my other books and began reading this pronto!  Imagine my surprise when I noticed that Mara Purnhagen even signed my book!  She wrote, “Dominate your demons!”  Ominous, but awesome!

From the dust jacket: “It’s taken a long time for me to feel like a normal teenager. But now that I’m settled in a new school, where people know me as more than Charlotte Silver of the infamous Silver family paranormal investigators, it feels like everything is falling into place. And what better way to be normal than to go on a date with a popular football star like Harris Abbott? After all, it’s not as if Noah is anything more than a friend…. But my new life takes a disturbing turn when Harris brings me to a party and we play a game called One Hundred Candles. It seems like harmless, ghostly fun. Until spirits unleashed by the game start showing up at school. Now my friends and family are in very real danger, and the door that I’ve opened into another realm may yield deadly consequences.”

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This was a real treat!  I extremely enjoyed this novel, and just like the prequel Past Midnight, the story was interesting and kept me captivated, the characters were real and fleshed out, and the writing was beautiful!  The novel is written in such a way that the prequel is not mandatory (though extremely helpful).  While Purnhagen alluded to some events from the first novel, she didn’t beat the reader over the head with a rehash, which was nice.  Some books go into lengthy explanations regarding previous novels, and that can get old very quickly.  I was especially happy Purnhagen chose not to do that!  I hate novels that spend so much time backtracking!      

In terms of the writing style, I really enjoyed the way Purnhagen began, and ended, her chapters.  I hope I can explain this right: events start to unfold, and then background information is given to enlighten the reader.  So, it’s like each chapter picks up in the middle of a story, and then goes back to explain what happened previously.  By the end of the chapter, usually something interesting is happening, or about to happen, and then it cuts off.  Of course, the next chapter picks up further along, and will go back and verify what happened between the end of the chapter, and the beginning of the chapter.  I hope that isn’t as confusing as I think it is… basically I think the format is similar to Greek tragedies:  the beginning of the chapter is the middle, the middle of the chapter is the beginning, and the end is the end.  You’ll just have to read it to see what I mean… I highly recommend this novel!!!  Four stars!