Review of Raising the Dead by Mara Purnhagen

Book:  Raising the Dead (Past Midnight 1.5)
Author:  Mara Purnhagen
Published by:  Harlequin Teen
Pages:  84

From Goodreads:  Charlotte Silver's world is like no one else's...As the daughter of the famous Silver Spirits paranormal investigators, Charlotte Silver is used to all things weird. But when coffins start floating down her street during a flood, life turns extra strange. And wonderful, when her friend and crush Noah signs on to help Charlotte and her folks in the aftermath. Cemetery cleanup might not sound exciting, but as shocking discoveries and a lurking stranger come to light, Charlotte learns that sometimes, raising the dead can bring unexpected rewards.

I haven't read Past Midnight but when I saw the reviews for Raising the Dead I thought I'd give it a try since it was being offered for free on Harlequin’s website.

This was a really quick read, being a novella and all.  It was really well written with all the aspects of a great ghost story.  It starts out with a huge storm that floods the area and leaves several coffins uprooted from their graves.  Charlotte joins her family to identify the remains of the coffin owners and bring them back to their resting place, but not everything is as easy as it sounds. Especially when there's a weird man hanging around the cemetery where the coffins were from.

I really like Charlotte as a character.  She was a fun, happy girl who really cared about others.  She's a little disturbed though that she thought she saw a ghost.  Now she wants to figure out what it all means.  

The one problem I had with this book is that I don't feel like I got the whole story.  It felt a little rushed and the characters were not really well developed.  I wanted more out of it, but what can I expect with it being 84 pages and all.  

This was a good novella, fast to read and hard to put down.  

I'd give this book ★★★