The Ghost Hunter's Daughter

I received a free copy of THE GHOST HUNTER’S DAUGHTER by Caroline Flarity, through NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review. Anna Fagan is a social outcast with only two close friends. Anna, who witnessed her mother’s murder, has more problems than her high school classmates calling her “Goblin Girl.” Though Anna’s dad is a famous ghost hunter celebrated for his innovations in the field, he’s a wreck in private; his hoarding’s spilling out of the house and onto the lawn. However, when the high school hijinks turn even crueler than usual, Anna begins to suspect there’s a larger problem than teenagers being teenagers. Can Anna figure out what’s going on before she loses her two friends, what’s left of her family, and her self-respect, or will Anna become a victim of her own dark impulses?

This was an interesting book. It was pretty dark. Anna is damaged from her past and lives in a pretty grim environment with no support from her remaining parent. Moreover, Anna has to face the derision and abuse of her classmates on daily basis. Anna’s entire world is already so dark, she’s the only one to notice when the little remaining light begins to disappear. In trying to save her town, she manages to save herself.

3.75 dark stars, willingly given

The blurb to #theghosthuntersdaugher sounded intriguing but I wasn't really sure what to expect. It's good, then, that #NetGalley and the publisher East Side Press gave me the opportunity to have a look at this short book. Even the amazing cover already suggest that goosebumps-inducing hours lay ahead for me, but - heck - this is one dark story and not just because of the supernatural elements. Who would have thought? Do not let the main character's age and circumstances (high school) fool you. I would go as far and say this book needs a trigger warning, as cases of sexual pedophilic(ish) assault and self-harm are treated in this book. I must say I loved the sinister atmosphere of the book. The author made the world come alive vividly and it helped me to get sucked into this book. Usually, mystery and thriller are not on top of my genre-list but this obviously needs to change! So, let's dive into this book.

To most people, teenager Anna is known as Goblin Girl. Her Dad Jack, supernaturalist expert on everything that could even remotely be creepy, hunts ghosts, shadow people and demons for a living and is undeniably one weird character. Ever since his wife Helen's death - inflicted on her by a demon that possessed her - his hoarding has gone out of control and self-care doesn't seem to be a top priority on his agenda either. He also appears to be a bit out of date, as Anna frequently reminds him of: "There is a thing, Dad, a research tool you may not have heard of. It's called the internet." As someone whose dad still asks about "this google", I can relate 100%. Although I am pretty confident my dad's awkwardness would never result in "social death", something, Anna swears frequently, her Dad would be easily capable of by expanding his "business".

Anyhow, the weariness of the townspeople and her peers and the burden to be the one to keep Jack's sense for reality in check lie heavy on Anna's shoulders. This only adds to the hard life of a high schooler that gets taunted day in day out by her peers. Things with her friends aren't ideal at the moment either, and they keep getting worse. Just like everything else in this god-forsaken town seems to spindle down the moral scale about 50 m/h. This can't be normal, can it? Sure, teenagers are among the cruellest beings on earth, but the reader can't help noticing that things are getting increasingly hostile around town. Anna herself can't keep from snapping at her friends and forsaking them for the school musician and douche Craig and having hostile urges that are just a tad too violent to be regular emotional outlets. Supported by her dad's new assistant Genevieve, a hippie but hot PhD that has invented a special EMF detector that is supposed to seriously up their game, Anna starts digging and doing some research. And sure enough, there are bigger powers at work. And they are, for sure, not good.

Before closing this review, I would like to get back to the beginning of my review and draw special attention to a couple of quotes. Now, sit down, because I almost screamed out loud when reading this. There is this instant when "...Pickens pulled Sydney on his lap [and] she smiled at him, conditioned as she was to be a good girl and not hurt anyone's feelings." Serious groping on his part was involved shortly after, accompanied by panicked looks from Sidney. Sidney, Anna and Dor do what they can and group up against Pickens and tell Sidney's dad about, and "He looked at her with hard eyes. "Boys will be boys.", he said." Nooo, he didn't, you might think. It's his own daughter, you argue. Well, Duh, but MEN WILL BE MEN, won't they? It is clearly intended to add to the eerie feeling of the story and even though this is not discussed explicitly further, the author clearly criticizes this and other flaws of today's sexist, victim-blaming patriarchic society. To close this sexist rant with a couple of encouraging words for anyone who is tortured by average gobeshytes or even their S.O. who is SO NOT worth it by the Goblin Girl Anna herself: "Let's leave that jerk in the trash where he belongs."

Just about over 200 pages, this author did a very good job developing the story and speeding it up just in time to not make me wonder when the actual action would start. I had a bit of trouble getting in touch with Anna sometimes, but this is definitely owed to the fact that I am about a decade older than her and could probably still relate a little too much to the annoying stupidity of teenagers. "Over the summer, she and Craig shared music and chatted online, and since junior year started a few weeks ago, they'd flirted in the hallways, exchanging a few heat-inducing glances." I am pretty sure anybody my age knows exactly, that by "heat-inducing glances" between teenagers pretty much translate to smug but awkward staring. Also, Anna's character traits are badly influenced by the forces at work, so that excuses the action that made me want to squeeze her neck just a little too tight *insert creepy smiley here*.
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Writing Quality + ease of reading = 4*

pace = 3* (At about 25% I was getting worried the highly expected thrills would not kick in)

plot development = 3,5*

characters = 4* (yes, I'm sorry, teenager are exhausting and yeeees I knew from the beginning what I was getting into...)

enjoyability = 4* (This book was so deliciously sinister, know I want MORE)

insightfulness = 4* (there were some very serious issues tackled here and I actually liked that the flaws of today's sexist society were put on display so many times, because PEOPLE NEED TO HEAR THIS)
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This eArc was provided by the publisher East Side Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

For a teen\YA novel this story dives into dark subject matter that might not be for teens. The book will suck readers in with it twisted tail of mystery and understanding of one self.

The Ghost Hunters Daughter is length, speed, and darkness for the subject matter ad audience who are looking to read this book.

As a debut novels Caroline Flarity will have readers needing more as soon as they put down her book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher East Side Press for the advance copy of Caroline Flarity The Ghost Hunter's Daughter.

I want to thank Netgalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

This book was so amazingly good.
I was not expecting it to be so creepy and suspenseful!
I quickly got sucked into this book the plot is fast paced and the writing style is amazing!
The descriptions of everything in the book were so clear and vivid I felt like a movie was playing in my mind!
If you love mystery thriller books then you need to pick this one up as soon as possible!
4 stars.

I am so grateful to NetGalley and the Publishers, East Side Press, for giving me a copy of The Ghost Hunter's Daughter by Caroline Flarity.

Firstly, I would like to put a Trigger Warning because there are some scenes that could be upsetting to some viewers including: Minor self-harm, extreme thoughts of suicide, sexual assault (groped) on a minor - this last one isn't overly graphic and is a memory that a character has from years prior.

I was really exited to read this book, I love the cover - it is creepy and intriguing at the same time and also ties in slightly to the plot line itself. This book follows Anna whilst she tries to live a mundane teenage life, something that is made extremely difficult by her father who has his own paranormal business. She is called Goblin Girl by her peers at school, but thankfully she has two close friends, Dor and Freddy.

I did have a small love-hate relationship with Anna and her personality, on one side I can see that she acts exactly how she should for her age - but on the other side, I wanted to shake some sense into her. However, this part got smaller and smaller as I got closer to the end as the plot unfolds completely and you realize that not everything is as it seemed!

The plot was amazing and kept me engaged and wanting to know what happened next, the plot is intriguing and the background characters were 'fleshed out' so it felt like they actually added something to the plot rather than just there. I loved the plot arc towards the end which some people may have seen coming, but I personally didn't see the major plot twist coming.

However, one of my favourite character arcs was Anna's, I suppose it's not a character arc as such and more of a 'cleasning'. But some of the sexist behaviour that she is subjected to had me shouting at my kindle, especially from the more senior members of society. But, she definitely redeemed her self from some of her more silly decisions at the end, with a strong AF approach to being your best self.

As someone who grew up with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural I was quite excited for this read. Needless to say it lived up to my expectations and was quite the rollercoaster!
Our main character is Anna, who's life has been turned upside down because of the supernatural. Her mom who was possessed by a demon, in a moment of clarity killed herself to save Anna and her Dad. Anna's Dad has not been the same since, his grief has become out of control and manifests through hoarding. As the story intensifies her Dad issues get worse, and it's not only her Dad who is having problems it seems like the whole town is under a negative spell.
Anna is dealing with other things too, she's constantly bullied because of her father's job as well as other petty teenage reasons.
Things quickly start going badly and there's a nice surprise twist that wraps up the book quite nicely!
I really liked the supernatural elements and lore within the story.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with a copy of this for an honest review! :)

Great YA novel about a girl saving her father, friends, and town from evil! I liked the premise of the book. Parts of it (suicide ideation, cutting, thoughts of unworthiness due to evil spirit) were a little heavy of a read and if you are not in a good place mentally, you might need a warning for.

(will review on goodreads and Amazon once released)

A very good novel, well written and entertaining.
It's a good mix of YA, fantasy and horror with some very creepy moments.
I liked the characters, the plot and the setting.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Sixteen-year-old Anna is having a tough time at school, often known as ‘Zombie Girl’, because she has a prominent scar on her face and a father with a really odd job. He is a type of ghost hunter (or exorcist) and specialises more in ‘cleaning’ haunted objects, rather than ghosts. They struggle to pay the bills and Anna still reflects on the death of her mother eight years earlier and the fact that her soul may be stuck in spiritual limbo and might still be possessed by a demon. I thought this novel cleverly balanced its supernatural story with the normal trials and tribulations of a teenage girl who comes from a weird family. Anna has two good friends she can count on (Freddy and Dor) but has a major crush on a boy from school which plays an important part in the story.

As well as covering stuff like social media shaming, bullying and peer pressure the supernatural angle builds nicely as the plot develops. As Anna is her dad’s assistant she is bullied at school, but at the same time strange stuff does seem to be happening which many people believe is because of a rare solar storm which will light up the night sky. Anna is an engaging character, she is not perfect, makes a lot of wrong decisions, but nobody is perfect and is an engaging lead character who shines when the chips are down. A great combination of school life, teenage angst and a few demons. An excellent read for teenagers aged 13+

The publisher gave me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book rocked my socks off! I love the supernatural and love a strong-willed girl who is fearless. It is wonderfully paced and keeps you pulled in. You need this book!

I am a big fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural - growing up I was obsessed with demons and vampires and ghosts. In fact, I wrote my dissertation on family relationships in vampire literature (before Twilight became a huge deal...) and so reading the synopsis of this book made me super excited and I requested it straight away. Netgalley was kind enough to supply m,e with a copy and I got stuck in.

This book starts by introducing us to Anna, who is stuck in a messy life and a messy house. her mother killed herself because a demon possessed her and her dad was never the same after this. Anna has her own problems, however. She is bullied at school for being the daughter of a Ghost Hunter. The kids are mostly scared of her... although some find it a turn on. Anna finds herself plagued by nightmares and scary violent thoughts and she begins to uncover the secrets of her Hell-Mouth style town.

I just loved this book so much. It reminded me of everything I loved as a teenager and i especially loved the supernatural beings and lore which played a huge part of the story. Great book, I totally recommend this being picked up and checked out.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was a fun and interesting read that is more of a coming of age story within a world that contains the supernatural. While the story has supernatural elements, I really felt this book was all about Anna and her growth/self-discovery. There are triggers: self-harm, suicide and the memory of a minor being groped.

This story is about the life of Anna, a teenage girl trying to live her life with the extra issues that come with being a ghost hunter and dealing with the supernatural. Anna had to grow up fast and that is seen in her character development. She acts both her age and a bit younger as she is still trying to balance her two worlds. I loved the secondary characters as much as I did Anna and it was great to get a glimpse into her life. Friendships and family are present in this story and help Anna with her adventure.

The plot of this story was very addicting and I was constantly on edge as to see what would happen next and what the outcome would be. This is a YA story so there is not much graphic detail or over detailed accounts of specific issues and the ending was slightly predictable (thought that did not ruin the story in any way). I liked that the major life issues did have a realistic feel towards them and I enjoyed Anna’s reaction, made her seem very real.

I think that (as I said before) this story is a must read for those wanting a different version of a coming of age story. I think that it proves how people are stronger then they think they are, how having a few solid friends really helps in life and that not everything is as it seems. I may have read more into this story then the author intended but I kept going back to the deeper feelings and thoughts that this story brought out in me. I received an ARC via NetGalley and I am leaving an honest review.

#NetGalley #EastSidePress #TheGhostHuntersDaughter

I discovered this book by accident on Netgalley and I’m so happy I did. I liked how they used the negative portals to show the issues everyone was having with each other. I feel sad for Anna having lost her mom and having her dad kinda lose himself also. I wish we had more ghosts hunting instead of the bullying at school, I kind felt like that took away from the story a little bit. I did like how it was kinda like her normal life of ghosts and evil spirits and it caught me off guard on who else was being possessed, but it was very entertaining. I love watching paranormal shows and movies and I do believe in ghosts and spirits so when I can find a good book involving all of these I’m happy. Also I love YA and think this was done well and a great novel.

This book was an amazing read for me I enjoyed every moment of it, the concept behind this book was a new one for me.
The characters were so well written as was the book it's self, it was easy to follow and keep up with I didn't find my self wondering how this happened or who this person is as the book was well laid out and the author gave you all needed to no as the book went on.
overall this book is amazing definitely one I would recommend to all.

A fantastic YA supernatural tale! A realistic depiction of teenagers who are struggling to forge a path through their own emotions while dealing with the every day struggles life throws at them. And that doesn't even mention the spooky stuff.

The Ghost Hunter's Daughter is a fun supernatural adventure meets almost coming of age novel that explores how people deal with grief, resentment, anger, and ultimately how they figure out who they are.

Anna, Freddy, and Doreen are a great trio and their interactions are fun and genuine. I wished we had more time to spend with just the three of them before the main plot gets underway, but any moment with the three of them together really shines.

Bloomtown feels like that nice neighborhood where your aunt and uncle moved so your cousins could go to a better school. It models the suburban lifestyle without seeming too picture perfect and flawlessly demonstrates the small town struggle: conform or be a target. It's the perfect backdrop for Jack's less than normal supernatural career and highlights Anna's difficulty fitting in, which is something nearly every teenager can relate to.

One of the biggest factors that separates the good from the great when it comes to YA is how the teenaged characters interact with each other, with their parents, with authority figures they come into contact with. Anna, Doreen, and Freddy feel like real life teenagers with real life teenager goals, desires and problems, with a little dollop of shadow people and tricksters on the side of course.

I personally love sci-fi and supernatural topics, but can concede that a huge barrier to those topics can be exposition. Meaning that a lot of sci-fi or supernatural novels can be exposition heavy to introduce you to their particular brand of lore, specific to their tailored story. Flarity, however, does an excellent job of naturally inserting tidbits of information just precisely where they're needed. It creates a natural flow of information that doesn't feel overdone or forced and keeps the readers right on the same page as Anna, who's been doing this 'Goblin Girl' stuff for years.

I will say though that certain aspects felt slightly incomplete. The novel is a medium length read and could potentially have been more fleshed out when it comes to threads that support the main plot. For example, the quasi-romance between Freddy and Anna seemed lack luster at best and rushed at worst. The same could be said about the Jack and Geneva relationship, which is honestly probably too strong a word to describe it. Though I can say in the grand scheme of things these are fairly mild complaints.

Overall, I'd have to recommend The Ghost Hunter's Daughter to anyone looking for a fun tale of supernatural proportions!

Anna Fagan's father is a ghost hunter, and Anna is over it. Their house is a mess, she's tired of dealing with the supernatural, and she's a subject of mockery at school, which doesn't help her chances with the boy she likes. While this seems like typical teenage angst with a touch of paranormal, things rapidly take a dark turn: all the usual high school and small town unpleasantness suddenly seems to ramp up to eleven, and Anna's sure the causes are supernatural (with a side-helping of solar flares), so she needs to do something. But there's the small matter of getting revenge against the kid who killed her dog, her father's hoarding problems, and compulsively checking her crush's Instagram account.

Most fascinating to me was the way so many of the awful events became so credible when it was just a matter of taking things a little further. We've all had horrible thoughts, imagined terrible things happening to people who made us mad - but usually we try to stop short of following through on them. This story featured believably flawed characters, with mental 'voices' that echo the sort of impulses we don't like to admit to, and this was part of what sucked me in: the possible horror to be found in everyday negativity if it's left to take over.

The Ghost Hunter’s Daughter by Caroline Flarity is the kind of gritty YA urban fantasy I enjoy. Anna’s relationship with her hoarding paranormal investigator father is complicated and nuanced by love but also resentment and grief. She and her friends aren’t the coolest kids in the school but they love each other and have each other’s backs despite Anna’s crush on the school bad-boy musician. But all heck breaks loose and Anna will need everyone’s help getting to the bottom of the weird stuff going on in her town.
I liked that this wasn’t some kind of cutesy teen romp. If it involves demons and malevolent spirits then to me it should be dark and mean spirited at times. All the characters have lots of layers and they don’t always make the right choices. I think this is a great addition to anyone’s library that likes teenagers, paranormal craziness and holding on to the people you love even when life gets really dark.

What can to say about the Ghosthunter's Daughter which was my first ever netgalley arc is bloody amazing. There is so much jammed pack into this book. First off we have Anna who lost her mum to a demon and is now known as the goblin girl. Yet Anna has a strong friendship since she was a child with freddy and doreen which can never be challenged which we see later in the book. I've not read many fantasty books but this has now given me a thirst to read some more. I loved Caroline's writing and the way she introduced such topics as hoarding and suicidal thoughts and bullying but were used so well and were not out of context. Through these topics and others we learned something was wrong in bloomtown. I'm not going to give any spoilers but I will say I do hope that we get to see these characters again in a followup. I'm giving this book 5 stars

When I read the synopsis for The Ghost Hunter's Daughter, I immediately got excited and had to check it out. This is the story of Anna, whose father is well known for being the town well, ghost hunter, and because of this she is known as Goblin Girl at school. Things start happening in her town during a number of solar flares, things of a paranormal nature, and it's up to Anna to figure it out.

Before I go any further I would caution that there are trigger warnings for bullying, self harm and suicidal thoughts. Though these aren't central themes in the book, there are situations that arise that could be triggering to people.

Ok, now that that's out of the way - this story was so much fun! Yes, it got pretty dark at some points with some of the things discussed (um hello demons and ghosties). If you're looking for something with Poltergeist/Ghostbusters vibes, this will fit the bill.

Anna's struggles are very relatable regardless of the supernatural aspects and influences in the story. It delves a lot into her internal dialogue and talks about how the bullying she endures affects her, as well as other characters and their struggles. While these situations are influenced by the supernatural aspects, they are still very real experiences that teens have and humanized the story a bit more.

Paranormal, horror, and young adult fans unite because this book is for all three! Anna faces tough decisions with her newfound evil power and must fight her own darkness in order to save her town, high school, friends, and family. Definitely a great read for anyone a fan of horror, the paranormal, whether or not you regularly read young adult novels.

The Ghost Hunter's Daughter by Caroline Flarity is a book I requested from NetGalley and the review is voluntary. Wow, this book had me right away and held my interest to the end! I had to read it in one sitting! The story is just what the title says, but more! The girl has had an abnormal life growing up with cursed objects, "tricksters", and demons. One of those demons changed her life. Lots of great paranormal activity and creepy stuff, teen problems, suspense, and friendship. I hope there will be a series out of this! This is going in my favorite folder! So much great supernatural stuff in one book! Yes!

Thank you to the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book!

For a YA novel, this book sure gave off all the creepy vibes!!! I got to the point where I couldn't read it home alone at night and instead waited until the safe hours of daylight to brave this story of demons and ghosts and tricksters!!! Just thinking of a Trickster tugging the covers off me while I sleep and playing with my hair gave me the heebie jeebies!!!

All in all this wasn't one of the greats, but it sure was fun and kept me entertained throughout the whole story. There were so many emotions, from fear, to sadness, to flirtation that it never really lulled at any point. I felt like it was really easy to follow as well, making it a fun and light read. I wasn't expecting it to be so freaky though! Which in turn was actually a really fun aspect of the book. I liked that it wasn't just a little boo here and there but lived up to the name of the Ghost Hunter's Daughter and all that comes with that title. Although it would have been fun with a little more ghost hunting, I think that the story had a satisfying arc that took you from beginning to end of Anna's journey to discover who she is and where she belongs in this big scary world.

Thankfully there is a happily ever after to look forward to that leaves you with a good happy feeling in the end. I feel like most scary stories always leave you a little unsettled, but that's not the case here and I was grateful for that. I was also grateful that there was some resolution to poor Anna losing her dog. That's one of the saddest things in books with animals is when one of them dies or gets hurt, I can't handle it, but this book deals with the entire situation well and you don't feel that unyielding grief that comes with animals being harmed.

I think that this book definitely will have a certain niche of readers, I know a few of my reading buddies who would not be interested for the mere fact that there is so much about demons, but if that's not something that bothers you, then this is a fun read, especially around Halloween when the ghosts and ghools are out to play!

Really like the way the author takes you thru a cluster of different emotions with a very interesting plot.
Perfect for YA readers.

This is a great tale for fans of the paranormal. It follows Anna a young teenage girl struggling to cope with the reality of being the towns version of The Addams family. She battles with beings from other realms as well as having the typical teenage dilemmas. The story has great twists and turns and is a real page turner!

Fun little young adult book involving the spiritual world I really enjoyed. At times I felt frustrated with the protagonist, but I'm also past the age of the follies of youth. Very satisfying ending and the author did a great job on the suspense.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I really enjoyed "The Ghost Hunter's Daughter". I've always been partial to books about ghosts and spooks and such. This book is about about Anna a sixteen year old girl. Her father is the town's freak, a ghostbuster of sorts who can get rid of the spook's who are haunting objects. Anna's mother died when she was younger after being possessed by a demon. This makes Anna a bit of an outcast at school and the kids there call her "Goblin Girl". I thought the book was really interesting and had a good mix of pace, action and character development. The book also goes a little deeper than many similar YA books. The town seems like it is going crazy. Everyone is acting strangely or even more strangely than usual. People are violent. Some are suicidal or turning to self harm. What is happening? Anna, her two best friends, and her dad and his new business assistant Geneva find themselves in the thick of things. Geneva has a new invention that shows evil or ghostly beings or items. Together they begin to unravel the mysteries of the town. The book deals with some topics such as self harm, thoughts of suicide, death, murder, teen bullies and teen exploitation. There are some teachers doing some pervy things. None of these items get involved or too deep. The book does show the good in people and the ability to overcome the negative forces at play in the town. Although this appears to be a stand alone there is enough material here for the author to choose to make more books about Anna and company.

Sixteen-year-old Anna sees things from another world, the spiritual world, a skill that isn’t exactly useful in high school. It’s bad enough that her mother, possessed by a demon, took her own life when Anna was a child, a loss she remains tortured by. Now her father makes his living “clearing” haunted objects, and Anna’s job as his assistant makes her a social misfit. Most kids in her suburban New Jersey town refer to her just as “Goblin Girl.” Only Freddy and Dor remain loyal friends. But Anna’s so focused on her own problems, she’s missed that her connection with Freddy is moving beyond the friend zone and that Dor is in crisis. As junior year approaches, a rare solar storm lights up the night skies and the citizens of Bloomtown begin to act strangely: Anna’s teachers lash out, her best friends withdraw, and the school bullies go from mean to murderous. When Anna realizes she can harness this evil power, she sets out to save Bloomtown and the only family she has left.
But to do so, she must keep her own increasingly dark urges at bay.
Trigger warnings - suicide (while possessed), suicide ideation, mental illness (hoarding) and self-harm, pet death, a ghost that was assaulted as a child "bride" during her life, predatory and/or abusive adults in positions of power.

I loved this book!,. This was a fun YA paranormal book and as a fan of the paranormal and everything ghostly, this book really appealed to me when I read the blurb and I was over the moon when I got approved for a E-ARC. The book did not disappoint, the book does get darker throughout and it was a shock at first with it being a YA book but I loved the darker side of it and made the book more interesting for me and I read this book in one day I loved it that much.
This book is definitely one to read if you don’t get triggered by the thing stated and you have a love for ghosts and the paranormal. This is one to definitely read in October and one I will be rereading at Halloween.
I gave this book 4.5 stars

This book wasn’t what I was expecting – from the cover (and what a cover! That was enough to draw my attention to the book all on its own) I was expecting a gentle teen horror novel with a chain rattling ghost or two. I was delighted instead to be reading about some horrendously nasty hauntings and horrors of human behaviour, the fact that the main characters were teenagers didn’t mean the author pulled any punches.

Anna’s dad is a ghost hunter and the local oddball, and not shy about the fact so things are understandably difficult for her at home and at school. He’s been getting increasingly withdrawn since the death of her mother and she’s trying her best to survive her high school experience with the help her two best friends.

Things in town start getting weird, with some genuinely unsettling hauntings and behaviours and Anna steps up to deal with the paranormal problems all her loved ones now face.

I loved the author’s writing style, this is a coming of age story with a twist and I easily connected with each and every one of the characters.

The Ghost Hunter’s Daughter by Caroline Flarity

East Side Press, 2019

ISBN-13: 978-0996845007

Available: Paperback, Kindle edition



Anna Fagan lives in a haunted house, but that’s the least of her problems. Her father, Jack, is well-known for his ability to “clear” spirits from the objects they haunt, but since the traumatic death of her mother, his ability is fading and he’s picked up the habit of hoarding, aggressively. He stores holy water in the refrigerator, and “cleared” objects in the basement, where Anna is forbidden to go (the results of Jacks’s hoarding exposed when Anna breaks into the basement later in the story is one of the most appalling things in the book: previously haunted objects are the least of the problems). Now the lack of space has led Jack to rent an office to reinvigorate his business. He has hired a new investigator, Geneva Sanders, a scientist who has invented a new way to see the electrical activity that indicates that ghosts and supernatural forces are at work.

Anna is also suffering from grief and guilt over her mother’s death, but at school, she has other problems. With the exception of her friends Doreen and Freddy, Anna is mocked by other students with the nickname “Goblin Girl”. Izzy, the school sleazebucket, has decided she’d make a perfect target for his meanness and slut-shaming, while also throwing disgusting homophobic slurs at Freddy. Anna, focused on getting her crush, Craig, to notice her, while trying to manage her family problems and an uptick in paranormal activity, misses out on the serious problems Doreen and Freddy are dealing with. As levels of hostility and violence rise in town, Geneva theorizes that unusual solar flares are being harnessed by a malevolent spirit who is using them to feed on people’s anger and pain.

Flarity’s choice to make Anna the point-of-view character works beautifully here. There is so much going on in this book, especially in the larger picture of things, and yet we see that world through the self-centered tunnel vision of a teenager– which is perfect for a teenager in a YA novel. Our view widens with hers, and we see the story pull together as she does. Getting the story from Anna’s point of view means we are up close to her character growth.

This book reminds me a lot of Lois Duncan’s YA books, except that her books didn’t have the broader supernatural conspiracy behind this story. I’m not sure how many boys would choose to read this, but I hope they will, because there are parts that should really make them think. How many people say and do things without thinking, especially when they are angry or feeling hopeless, that regret it later?

Recommended.



Contains: suicide, suicidal ideation, mental illness (hoarding), self-harm, animal cruelty, bullying, abusive adults, violence, cyberbullying. rape culture, distribution of provocative images of a minor.

Anna's not-so-friendly nickname of Goblin Girl, stings. However, as her town falls into deeper and darker madness, her skills learned from her ghost hunter father become crucial to saving everyone. Filled with interesting characters, this is a gripping tale of paranormal mystery.

I received this book from Netgally for review. I have to say I really rather enjoyed this book. Even for being a YA, I found it to have a weird, eerie, dread inspiring vibe. It is refreshing to read a book that does not rely on gore and extravagant kill scenes to be scary. I think they did an excellent job with the paranormal/supernatural aspects. This is a book I would recommend, I would buy for myself and family. Definitely worth a read.