Join Dana and Jana as they investigate—and battle—angry jinns, malevolent shadows, ancient travelers, and soul-sucking shapeshifters. With two tough, resourceful women on the case, the specters from “the other side” won’t know what hit them! Synopsis from Goodreads PERSONAL REVIEW Thank you to Smith Publicity for sending me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! As someone who doesn’t really read (or like) horror fiction, I was interested in this compilation of short stories because I love that it was written by a father-daughter team. After reading Dana and Jana’s stories, I was pleasantly surprised by this book. My favourite stories were “Blind Love” and “The Lighthouse Shambler” (there are 7 short stories in total) because I liked seeing how Dana handled herself and the mysteries she was facing. The book begins with “The Lighthouse Shambler” and I thought it was great that we were introduced right away to Dana, the “debunking” detective. Right away, that made it more interesting to me; the fact that her job is to debunk the problem, not simply to investigate it, was appealing because it’s a reminder to me that all of these horror stories have a more clear resolution (I need to know that there’s an answer to these freaky situations!). Also, can we take a moment to appreciate that this story is set in a LIGHTHOUSE! That has to be one of the topic perfect picks for a horror story to take place because of how isolated lighthouses are. Overall, I ended up liking Jana better than Dana. From my understanding of previous Dana Roberts books, Jana is a new addition to her story, and I think it’s a really good one. Jana definitely gives more life and humanity to these stories, as Dana tends to fall into the clichéd “brilliant but cold” troupe that is often found in detective fiction (hello, Sherlock). As a reader, I was less engaged with Dana, but found that Jana did a better job getting me to connect with the story. Did I hate that their names rhymed? Absolutely. Did I still think that Jana added a lot to the story? Definitely. Being as it October and Halloween is fast approaching, this was a great read for the time of the year. I’m ashamed to say that I’m very late in reviewing this book (better not to discuss the shipping adventure this book went on to get to me), but the timing actually worked out great! There’s nothing like some creepy, scary stories to read during the Halloween season. This book came out in May, but if you haven’t read it yet, this could be a great time to pick it up. I’d recommend this collection of horror short stories to anyone interested in a taste of horror fiction, but is not ready to commit to a full novel of being scared. The stories have elements of the scary without being too much for me to handle. Happy October everyone! FINAL RATING: 3.5/5 
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About MeHi, I'm Alexandra! I love reading (largely YA fiction, but sometimes I'll read "adult" books), playing board games, Nutella, and binge-watching TV shows on Netflix with my husband. Follow Me on Instagram@AllCharactersWanted
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