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 is my first ever NetGalley review! I read The Ghost Hunter's Daughter in a little less than three days - it was a nice easy read to dip in and out of and I can imagine young people enjoying the supernatural elements, the sci-fi parts and the high school sections. Some of the themes were dark in places, such as self-harm, severe mental health issues, revenge porn, peer pressure and loss, but as I work with young people in an educational environment, I understand that these issues are very important. Perhaps it was a little unrealistic to include all of them in this one book, though.

I did find myself wandering and a little bored in some parts, and I found that some of the structural choices were a little sporadic. For example, jumping from the main narrator to someone else within the text did not add anything to the story - I found it a little bit too obvious. I think the structure could work in this style, if they were separated into smaller chapters narrated by different characters.

Otherwise, I think the story was an okay read, and I could see this perhaps working as a tv series, in the future.

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

The blurb for this book caught my attention and I was delighted to receive a copy for NetGalley. Unfortunately, it just wasn't for me. I got 30% into it and I hadn't connected with the characters and I found it a little too slow. I'm sure it's probably just an age thing and I can imagine teenagers will absolutely love this book and its fun quirkiness. The writing was good, there was nothing to fault at all, it just wasn't for me.

I really liked how this book wasn't afraid to get real. It's nice to see the main character that doesn't have this perfect life. Anna doesn't live in a perfect home, her father isn't the greatest dad, and she and her friends have fights. There's also a need for a trigger warning as Anna goes through some dark thought which resulted in self-harm. Another thing that I liked is how the plot unfolds. It does so in a way that doesn't give it away but when you do realize it;s like BOOM it all makes sense.

I think that the major thing that I didn't like about this book was that it needed a little more planning. The romance portion of this book was underdeveloped for me. There are also some things that are just left there and not touched on like characters

I honestly fell for the synopsis to be completely honest. I really thought that being possessed by a demon is going to be a really neat idea, I thought I was going to love it. Though I wasn't entirely loving it, I actually liked it. I really did enjoy reading it.

I had a tiny little problem with the characters, which seemed kind of flat. I think there could be a better approach to it in the future.

The narratives, however, were quite good and I often found myself lost in the plot for a few pages, which is actually great. Although sometimes I was a bit lost and confused.

Per total, I really enjoyed the book, it was kind of humoristic too, which, in my opinion, it is great.

Also, thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the reading copy!

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.

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!

Really a 3.5 star. The first half started out strong and kept me reading. It started to fizzle out when Anna lost Freddy and Dor to their issues. Too much was put on Anna's development rather the evil part of the story. The momentum of the book was lost for me. It was such a great story line that just got a little lost in the execution.

I adored this book. It was something a little bit different and did make me giggle on occasion too. The perfect YA read for when you're looking for something a little unusual.

I have very mixed feelings about this novel.
I wanted to like it a lot more than I actually did. The premise was great, and the cover and blurb really sucked in my attention. I love supernatural YA fantasy, and this really seemed like it would hit the spot. Unfortunately, I felt let down.

I really enjoyed the mixture of science and the supernatural, and the lore found within the book. I liked reading about the Tricksters, Shadow People, Demons and Spirits. This book had so many fantastic ideas, and I was looking forward to them being explored. The Source was an interesting take on an old concept and I was really excited by the prospect of something new that I hadn’t quite read before. There is an absolute tonne of unexplored potential in “The Ghost Hunter’s Daughter”, and I would love to read more about it, but I didn’t get it in this book. I would really love to read more of it in the future, and I think there is a really solid groundwork of ideas to build upon here. The highlights for me, were Anna and Jack’s dealings with some of the smaller entities in the book. There were some really fantastic moments, and they were what kept me going when I wasn’t sure if I wanted to finish it or not, and I wish there had been more of them.

I was hoping for some Buffy style school supernatural drama. Instead what I got was rather different. Anna is a character I felt no connection with. She was going through a lot of stuff, and I tried to feel for her in that, but she wasn’t likable or relatable. She was often mean to her friends, who were supposedly the centre of her world. It felt like they were supposed to be this book’s version of Buffy, Willow and Xander, but they didn’t seem to have anywhere near as strong a friendship or connection. Freddy and Dor seemed like good people, but Anna had no empathy or care for those around her if they weren’t her ‘love interest’. I know there was a lot of outside influence on the town’s emotions, but even in flashbacks she didn’t seem the kind of person I would want to be friends with. But Anna was just one of many unbelievable characters. Her bullies and fellow schoolmates were such caricatures that I had trouble with taking some events seriously. I get that school contains a lot of stereotypes but this felt overblown, like it was perhaps trying to point out how awful school is, but I feel it, along with the awkward slang, tried a little too hard. I did however really like Geneva, and thought that her character was a really fun take on the geeky assistant trope. I enjoyed the bonding moments between her and Anna, and how she helped progress Anna’s character arc. There were a few redeeming moments between several of the characters found in the book, but not as many as I had hoped.


Another issue I had with “The Ghost Hunter’s Daughter” was that on NetGalley, there was just one trigger warning. “Trigger warning - includes a scene where main character (Anna) remembers when another character was groped by an older teen when they were both young girls. It is not graphic, but the scene could be upsetting for some readers.”
I was happy to see that there was a TW as I assumed from this that there were no other triggers beyond the usual associations with supernatural material. I was wrong. There were references to self harm, suicide and a whole range of mental health issues. I feel that these are also something which should have been mentioned and forewarned. Though this trigger warning of course has nothing to do with the book itself, my issue is mainly with how these issues were portrayed. The inclusion of these elements was uncomfortable. They seem to have been done, in some cases, for shock factor, and I don’t think they really added anything to the story. Jack’s hoarding issues were of no relevance, and though he was clearly coping with a lot of trauma, his hoarding added nothing but a lot of angst via Anna, and I feel they could have been skipped entirely. As could the self harm scene, which, though an indication of further issues in the novel, felt out of place. There was no need for this scene, and the self-harming character’s reaction to it, in my opinion, was inappropriate. I feel personally that mental health was not researched as appropriately as it perhaps should have been in order to add accurate representation, and it left me feeling uneasy. This in turn, made continuing with the novel a bit more of a struggle than it otherwise should have been.

I love a good ghost story and the writing style for this book was fascinating from start to finish. Also that cover is so intriguing

#TheGhostHunter'sDaughter is a fun and wild fantasy! A must read if you love dark, young adult fantasy. It's action-packed from beginning to end with a suspenseful twisted plot.

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+

YA is not a genre I normally read - mainly because I'm not the target audience anymore, but I like to make exceptions every once in a while when something catches my eyes. I've come across The Ghost Hunter's Daughter on Netgalley and as I had a bit of free time on my hands, I requested it - of course I've got a load of books later on... but that's my form. Anyway, I more or less knew what I was getting into with this one, but decided that some lighter read wouldn't hurt after some epic fantasy tomes. All that said, while I enjoyed reading The Ghost Hunter's Daughter, it didn't make me crave to read more YA in the near future.

Our MC is 16 years old Anna, who lives with his father, the paranormal investigator Jack. Who, ever since losing his wife 8 years ago had become a hoarder. One of the things I really appreciated in The Ghost Hunter's Daughter is that it dealt with topics like grief and mental illness - to a point. Anna has no idea how to handle the situation, but then that's not something a 16 year old necessarily has to know anyway. Then again, fighting demons and evil spirits aren't in the average 16 year old's daily routine either.

I have ambivalent feelings toward Anna. On one hand, she has to act like an adult - no wonder, having a parent like Jack - and on the other, she acts like a typical annoying teenager. She has a crush on the most popular guy in school - of course. She also has two friends - surprise, surprise - Freddy and Dor. To make the usual trope complete, they have or don't have crushes on each other, which of course creates tension between the characters. Personally I would have been OK not having this plotline as it didn't really give anything to the story overall. It was cute - or annoying depending on your POV, but nothing more. Her friends being pissed at her for being distant and selfish was much more believable than the teen love drama. As Freddy and Dor had their own very real problems with life and their parents. More focus on that rather than the school perverts would have been benefitial for this story in my opinion.

Thankfully this is was only a sideplot, and not the main focus. Which is, to say, a demon wreaking havoc in the boring town of rural Bloomtown. Jack not being the most reliable figure, it's up to Anna to deal with the chaos and figure out who is behind things. Her only real help is Geneva, her dad's new assistant, inventor, hippie. She kind of reminded me of Phoebe from Friends by her description. With her tool and presence Anna finally can get to the bottom of things.

Now, not many people knows this about me, but I like to watch paranormal investigation shows on TV when I catch them. I can't say I believe in ghosts, spirits, entities or whatever you want to call them, but I'm fascinated by these shows nonetheless. Just because I never had experiences like that, it doesn't mean others' aren't valid. In all honesty, I think this was what really attracted me in The Ghost Hunter's Daughter. I hoped for some cool investigation with spooky events and experiences. Sure, I knew there was teen drama to get with YA, but I hoped it won't be too much.

I probably would have liked more to have a villain with a more interesting motivation/background. Take for example the box Anna uses to get revenge on the school bully - now, that was a nasty piece, and actually I found that spirit or whatever it was more interesting than the actual evil antagonist. Even if it the revelation of who it pretended to be was a nice twist. I expected someone else to be the culprit. And it had some tricks himself as it turned out in the final confrontation.

Okay, I went a bit overly critical here. In all fairness, The Ghost Hunter's Daughter is a solid and entertaining read. Being the debut of Caroline Flarity, I think it has good potential. All in all, it mostly delivered what I expected: a fast paced, sometimes spooky read with a bit of teen drama. If you like ghost hunter stories, evil spirits wreaking havoc in a little town playing mindgames on people, with teen angst and love drama on the side, then I'm sure you will enjoy The Ghost Hunter's Daughter.

That was big!
I'm speechless actually, this book really brought out strong emotions!
Highly recommend!

Thank you Netgalley for allowing me to read this title. This was a ok read for me; it was more about bullying then ghost hunting. There were some scary scenes but not too scary for a YA.

DNF--there was nothing wrong with it, exactly, but there was no tension. A lot of descriptions and a lot of stereotypical high school characters. Not worth the time it would take to finish reading it.

DNF. This just felt strange and immature and not what I was expecting. It felt more like a teenager's first draft than an almost-published book by an adult. I think the target audience needs to be aged down to middle grade

Unfortunately, I did not finish this book. As a person with mental illness, I struggled to appreciate the depiction of the MC's father as a hoarder. It felt harsh and it did not seem to me as though the author had appropriate insight into the subject matter. This is not a book that I would recommend to others, particularly since the shop I work for is specifically social justice oriented.