The Ghost Hunter's Daughter by Caroline Flarity (Spotlight, excerpt, review, and GIVEAWAY) GFT

The Ghost Hunter's Daughter

by
 Caroline Flarity

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GENRE:   YA Supernatural/Paranormal

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BLURB:

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.

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.

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EXCERPT

It was possible to zoom in on one of the girl’s closed eyelids until her eyelashes resembled a network of massive black bridges that curved over a far horizon. But why stop there? Tunneling further down to a cavernous follicle at the base of a single lash, there was a cluster of microscopic mites. They had long, sectioned, eight-legged bodies covered with blue scales. One mite was half submerged inside the follicle, feeding, while the others huddled in the shadow of the giant eyelash, avoiding the moonlight. The mites had a hissing focus on mating and territory. Although their language was alien, their joys, rivalries and fierce protectiveness of their young were palpable. Was it possible to zoom in further onto their armored skin and discover even more layers of life? Where would it end? Was there an end? Ha! It was like the what-if game.

Wait. The what-if game? In a great swoosh of images and sensations, the memories came of her and Freddy as kids, lying on the slant of roof outside her bedroom window. That’s right! She had an identity. She was Anna Fagan, also known as Goblin Girl. What was she doing staring at a bunch of microscopic mites on someone’s eyelash? Her awareness expanded outward in great swaths of rushing space, further and further from the mites to the cluster of giant bridge-like eyelashes, until she once again hovered above the body of the girl. A realization rippled through Anna—the girl on the floor was her.

Amazon link

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Caroline Flarity is a web content producer living in NYC. Her fascination with fringe topics and love of scary movies led her to begin her writing journey penning creepy screenplays. Her debut novel THE GHOST HUNTER'S DAUGHTER started life as a feature script, placing in the finals of the StoryPros Awards and as a semifinalist in Slamdance Film Festival's writing competition. She enjoys pitting her characters against both supernatural and cultural evils.

Twitter

Author website

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GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The tour dates can be found here 

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My review:

4 out of 5stars

The Ghost Hunter’s Daughter by Caroline Flarity centers around sixteen-year-old Anna Fagan, who has to deal with multiple levels of bullying at her high school, but fortunately has her buddies Doreen and Freddie to help keep her grounded. The tragedy of her mother’s death, the unusual profession her father has adopted, and the negativity that constantly bombards her all combine to make her life even more complicated than ever, then things get worse.

This mature young adult paranormal story provides an enthralling and often creepy glimpse of a world that contains many evils, some otherworldly and others mundane. Unfortunately, Anna seems to have very few positive adult role models, and she has been forced to mature and cope with things that most of us would run screaming from.

I really liked the beginning and hoped there would be more examples of the supernatural interactions that she deals with so nonchalantly, but I felt weighted down by all of the negativity that continues to escalate. I’m not quite clear about what the newcomer and her invention were meant to accomplish but there are some delightfully creepy events that kept me on the edge of my seat and wincing as the evils of the humans also were increasing. There are multiple very serious issues. including bullying, mild sexting, suicide, and molestation, that are touched upon, so those with triggers should use caution. I also think some things are resolved a bit too nonchalantly after the major fight scene, especially since some folks definitely need counseling!

This is a vivid and thought-provoking story that artfully blends real-life problems with supernatural ones in an exciting combination. I can’t wait to see what comes next from this author’s vivid imagination.

A copy of this title was provided for review