One Hundred Candles Review

One Hundred Candles by Mara Purnhagen

Website: http://www.marapurnhagen.com/

Paperback, 240 pages (I received a digital version from the publisher.)

ISBN: 978-0373210237

Summary:

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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Review:

One Hundred Candles was an excellent second installment of the Past Midnight series by Mara Purnhagen. The first title, Past Midnight, was refreshing take on ghosts in the realm of paranormal novels, and One Hundred Candles only builds upon the first, satisfying one’s thirst for more of the Silver family. Charlotte, the protagonist, is a selfless character who’s compassionate and is effortless to love. The way she manages the situation with her family and friends after the hundred candles game fiasco is written in an authentic and rational way. Authors these days seem to have a difficult time writing teenage characters in today’s time, but luckily Purnhagen pulls it off with grace, her character building refined to an art. Not only does Charlotte have to handle her home life (that’s currently falling apart), but also her peers and the supernatural. And the unsupernatural as well.

The school undergoes several pranks to generate the feel of the place being haunted, while Charlotte tries to disprove the disturbances. She also begins to date an oh-so-hot boy at school who ends up using her for her parents’ services to remove a ghost from his girlfriend’s (GASP!) house. It was in this moment I realized how well the character Charlotte was written. She is just enough of a teenager to be believable but also enough of an adult for her not to be annoying. Finally an author who can portray a young adult character that acts like a teenager growing into an adult. Bravo!

This book was provided by the publisher, and I’m grateful for the opportunity. Though I had seen Punhagen’s books, it was the offer to read and review this one that made me buy the first. For my paranormal lovers, I would recommend this series. Not only is it original, it’s also written with elegance. I have to say thank you to whoever the editor was for finally understanding the rules of grammar!

Now, quit reading my review and go buy this series. It’s available as an ebook for a reasonable price!

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