REVIEW: This Is Your Afterlife by Vanessa Barneveld

Title: This Is Your Afterlife
Author: Vanessa Barneveld
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance.
Publication Date: October 21st 2014
Publisher: Bloomsbury Spark
Format: E-book
Pages: 194
Rating: 4/5

When the one boy you crushed on in life can't seem to stay away in death, it's hard to be a normal teen when you're a teen paranormal.

Sixteen-year-old Keira Nolan has finally got what she wanted—the captain of the football team in her bedroom. Problem is he’s not in the flesh. He’s a ghost and she’s the only one who can see him.

Keira's determined to do anything to find Jimmy's killer. Even it if means teaming up with his prickly-yet-dangerously-attractive brother, Dan, also Keira's ex-best-friend. Keira finds that her childish crush is fading, but her feelings for Dan are just starting to heat up, and as the story of Jimmy’s murder unfolds, anyone could be a suspect.

This thrilling debut from Vanessa Barneveld crosses over from our world to the next, and brings a whole delightful new meaning to "teen spirit".

This book was sent to me for review by the publisher but this in no way alters my opinions of the book.

This Is Your Afterlife is a really fun, quick YA paranormal read. It’s one of those books that is just so easy to read that it seems like you’ve only just started the book and then suddenly it’s over.

Keira Nolan is the main character and she’s just an easy character to read about. She was incredibly relatable as she’s dealing with the grief of losing her grandmother. This couldn’t have come at a better time in my life as it really helped me come to terms with a similar situation, so I liked that part of the book. However, the main part of this book actually focuses on Jimmy- the star of the football team who’s just turned up as a ghost in Keira’s bedroom. I loved Jimmy – he was incredibly funny so he really lightened up the whole book, but I was also really desperate to know how he became a ghost. Of course, there’s also Dan – Jimmy’s super hot younger brother that Keira has some unresolved history with. Not only was he super hot, he was just a really nice addition to the story.

I think parts of the book were a little bit predictable, but as a whole, the story was just a great light, fun read. I would definitely suggest it if you’re looking for something nice and quick, especially if you’re looking to bump up those Goodreads Reading Challenges.

Thank you to the lovely people at Bloomsbury for providing me with a copy of this book. Don't forget to check out this wonderful guest post that Vanessa did for us last week.

GUEST POST: Vanessa Barneveld

Today we have the very lovely Vanessa Barneveld visiting us. Vanessa is the author of a brand new paranormal YA called This Is Your Afterlife which is released October 21st from Bloomsbury Spark (you can check back next week for our review). Thanks to the lovely people at Bloomsbury for organising this and to Vanessa for stopping by!

How to Write by Vanessa Barneveld

Ely and Chami, thank you so much for inviting me to your fabulous blog. Ely, I was really impressed by your recent bookshelf rearrangement, and I was wondering if you do house calls. I need help! 

My debut paranormal YA, This Is Your Afterlife (Bloomsbury Spark), is out just in time for Halloween. Here’s the book trailer:

This Is Your Afterlife book trailer from Vanessa Barneveld on Vimeo.

One thing people always ask me about writing is, “How do you do it?” It’s a jumbo-sized question. Here are my top three answers.

1. I always, always, have chocolate within easy reach. I am particularly inspired by anything that’s filled with caramel, blended with peanut butter, or easy to shovel into my mouth while typing. Other snack varieties are helpful too. I have a writer friend who eats Cheetos (Twistie-like chips in the U.S.) with chopsticks so she doesn’t get her fingers and keyboard dirty. It goes without saying that you must exercise at least half an hour a day and eat more real food than junk food. I actually love snacking on celery, but don’t tell anyone I said that. I’ve a reputation as a chocolate connoisseur to uphold.

2. Coming up with a plot isn’t easy, so that’s why I’m a lifetime member of totallyoriginalplots.com, a top-secret site for authors. For just $19.99, you will get a unique plot that no-one has ever thought of before, a catchy book title, a heroine and a hero. Additional characters and subplots can be purchased for $5 each. Okay, I made all of that up. Wouldn’t it be great if there were such a site? Truth is novel ideas can be found everywhere in plain sight. Another part of writing is not actual writing. It’s observing what’s around you, listening strangers on a train (but trying not to be creepy about it!), tuning in to current events, even movies and music. Take threads from any of these things and ask, “What if...?” then let your imagination weave those threads into the fabric of a book. 

3. Stay unconnected. From the internet. While you’re writing anyway. I need to be physically restrained from emailing, googling and pinning when #Iamwriting. This can only be achieved with the help of an internet-blocking app called Freedom. It allows me to write with absolutely no possibility of connecting for up to eight hours. Scary, but it works. I don’t know how to block everything but abooksofathomless.blogspot.com.au, though. When I find out, I’ll share it with you.

So those are my jumbo-sized answers to that question of how I write. Once again, thanks very much for having me here today, Chami and Ely! It’s been a real pleasure. 

http://www.vanessabarneveld.com
http://www.twitter.com/vanessab73 
http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/this-is-your-afterlife-9781619637771/