One Hundred Candles Mara Purnhagen ~ review

About the book:

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.

My take on this book:

Charlotte Silver and her family are spending Christmas investigating an insane asylum in Cleveland Ohio, I guess I need to back up a bit and explain who the Silver's are! They are a family of debunkers, who go around investigating haunted sites to prove that usually there is a normal explanation for whatever the reported hauntings are. They are investigating the insane asylum with demonologist Leonard Zelden and his assistant Marcus. When Marcus becomes posessed by an other worldly force called the Watcher, Charlotte finds herself accosted by the Watcher, and in addition to physically grabbing her arm so forcefully it results in wearing a sling for six weeks, he also tells her "that the curtain has been pushed back to far, and that their is a price to be paid!"

Charlotte is happy to be living as a normal teen, a senior in high school, even though her friends know what her parents do for a living they still accept her.She has a best friend, and also went to homecoming with Noah. She isn't sure what happened though after homecoming, because while she really liked Noah he seemed to distance himself after the date. 

When she goes to a New Year's Eve party where a game called One Hundred Candles is played, weird things start happening at school, Charlotte is able to debunk alot of the strange happenings but a few things can't be explained, causing her to wonder if perhaps it has something to do with her strange encounter with the Watcher!With all this going on, Charlotte's parents are at odds, fighting all of the time, which causes Charlotte to fear that it could be the end of her parents marriage.

This is a fantastic sequel to "Past Midnight", Charlotte is such a strong, yet like able character. She is finally living the life of a normal teen, which means dating, prom etc, but she is also a part of the Silver paranormal debunking team which throws in the paranormal drama, that I love!  I find it refreshing that the author is able to pull Charlotte's family into the story in such a major way. This story never had a down time, and the ending leaves me anxious to read the next book in the series!

I think this book could easily be read as a stand alone work because the author provides enough background information so that you don't feel lost, although I recommend picking up "Past Midnight" because it was such a fantastic story that you won't want to miss it!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing a copy of this book for review.