Title: Tangled Souls
Author: Jana Oliver
Format: ebook
Published: 2013
Genre: paranormal romance, mystery
Publisher: Nevermore Press
Landed in my hands: purchased myself
Summary (from the author’s website):
Wiccan Gavenia Kingsgrave’s psychic gift, the ability to talk to the dead, comes with strings attached. As a Shepherd, she escorts them into the hereafter, but not all the souls want to cross over, and some can be downright vicious. When her latest case involves a heart-breaking hit-and-run victim, Gavenia is stressed to the max. The last thing she needs is a no-nonsense private detective on her tail, even if he is a handsome Irishman.
Former homicide detective Douglas O’Fallon possesses his own psychic gift, one he’s denied for years. Hired by a wealthy client to prove that Gavenia’s a con artist, he is skeptical of the witch’s claims she can speak to the dead. If he finds her gift as genuine, then he will be forced to accept his own. When their two cases intersect, opposites attract. But will they be able to set their differences aside long enough to outwit their foes – both the living and the dead?
Review:
I find I gravitate to a lot of young adult titles. Admittedly, it was one of the reasons I picked up Ms Oliver’s The Demon Trapper’s Daughter (and because I was familiar with her name from JordanCons past). It was refreshing to read a story where the main characters were more established, where their personal histories were more cluttered with baggage.
It was a nice change of pace to have characters second guessing the actions of others, but also having enough self-awareness to recognize and debate whether they might be unwilling to trust someone based on their own demons, not the actions of the other character in question. It was a tidy muddle that served to increase narrative tension. As an over-analyser, I could definitely relate.
Tangled Souls was a great book to pick up for a change of pace between epic fantasy reads, letting me reset my brain as it were. And it excites me because I’ve enjoyed Ms Oliver’s Demon Trappers series so much that I was holding my breath, hoping I’d fall in love with her other characters, too. Sure enough, Gavenia and O’Fallon are an idiosyncratic pair that feel genuine—exactly what I was hoping for.
And I’m not going to lie: I got teary at moments. Oliver has managed to tug at the heartstrings again. And because that’s the case, I’ll be picking up more of her work—she’s solidified herself as a good read in my books.
She has another series I have yet to check out called The Time Rovers, and I'm looking forward to reading her take on time travel.
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