One Hundred Candles (Past Midnight, #2)

by Mara Purnhagen

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.

• ISBN10: 037321023X
• ISBN13: 9780373210237
• Publish Date: 22 February 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 8 February 2021
• Imprint: Harlequin Teen
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 240
• Language: English

Reviews

[Kim Deister]

Until recently, Charlotte Silver has been the youngest in a globe-trotting, nomadic family of ghost debunkers. Stability is something she has never known but has always wanted. Finally, her family has decided it is time to form a home base, and Charlotte is thrilled. She has a new best friend, cute boys, and a social life. She is starting to feel as if she belongs, has a home.

This is the second full-length book in the series, following the first, Past Midnight, and a bridging novella, Raising the Dead (only available online). I think it is my favorite of the series thus far. It has all the thrills and chills necessary for a great ghost story, but this book is so much more than that. Purnhagan has created a story in which the paranormal themes ride right alongside the mundane. The blend is perfect, allowing the everyday drama of Charlotte's life to be just as important. Charlotte is a wonderful lead character, entirely believable and relatable. The emotional pull between the characters drew me into the story just as much as the paranormal aspect.

One of things that I truly love about this series, beyond the blend of the paranormal and the mundane, is the character creation. All of the characters, both main and supporting, are equally well-developed. That, in my opinion, creates a better, fuller backdrop for the main characters and the plot.

Next up is Haunting the Night, also available only online.

[Amber]

One Hundred Candles is a really great read, just as the first novel in this series (trilogy?) was. I loved Past Midnight, and was really excited to finally be able to read One Hundred Candles, and this definitely lived up to my expectations.

Since reading these two books, I have discovered that I love books about ghosts and now I can't get enough of them. I do think that the first book was creepier than this one, whereas One Hundred Candles was more thrilling than Past Midnight. I still got the same shivers down my spine during some scenes, though.

Charlotte definitely grew on me in this book. In Past Midnight, I wasn't too attracted to her personality, but in this one she was a lot more relatable and more interesting.

I still haven't read the third book, but I will have to get to it soon because I want to rediscover these characters and the creepy ghost stories! This series should, in my opinion, be a lot more popular than it is because it's a great, thrilling read that is wonderfully written!