Review--Tangled Souls by Jana Oliver

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 sceptical 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?

Jana Oliver's Tangled Souls is her foray into the adult paranormal world and it was quite interesting. This was one she self-published and I decided to give it a go since I adored her Demon Trappers series.  Tangled Souls is definitely one of a different variety than her previous work, but still pretty interesting.

Gavenia is a witch who can see ghosts and generally helps them move on. When one of her customers asks that she help the ghost of a child move on, she is moved, for she's never really had to help a child ghost before. The child who was murdered by a botched kidnapping attempt gone wrong. He wants to see his dog who's gone missing ever since he was killed. Gavenia has a lot of investigating to do to find the missing dog, because there's not much to work on. Standing in her way Douglas O'Fallon.

Douglas is a PI who was hired by the grandmother of the killed child. She thinks Gavenia is having an affair with the father of the boy/her son-in-law (the parents of the child are divorced or nearing divorced) and basically just up to no good. Douglas soon learns that that is not the case. The two definitely are quite the pair, as they are both quick witted and have a fire to them. They were definitely made for one another.

Even after the dog is found, the book is not over. There's still a murderer to find and Gavenia finds herself still immersed in the case even though her part is done. There's a lot more to the case then I can reveal, but basically who Gavenia is and who Douglas is are connected as are the people they know and whatnot get connected to this case. Confused yet? Sorry about that!

It basically turns into a nice little murder mystery to be solved. And there are ghosts and Guardians--spirits that Gavenia sees. Everyone seems to have a Guardian and are basically like guardian angels. But not everyone can see them. So there's some paranormal flavor for you.

The romance between Gavenia and Douglas was pretty good. It was very enjoyable as it was one that took some time to grow. And when it did, wow! 

Some things that nagged at me were the pacing. At times I felt like the book started to drag a bit in some areas, but it would quickly pick back up again. It was with trying to solve the case, there would be a lapse in action and it would be a few more pages til it picked back up, but it did happen pretty quickly each time. The other thing that bugged me, is a pet peeve of mine. Douglas is referred to as O'Fallon, as a few other characters get referred to by their last name and then when the first name pops back up again, I get confused, because I'm like, who is this? Then further reading tells me again. As I said, it's just a pet peeve of mine to refer to characters by their last names. I know lots of authors do this and I still enjoy their work, but I've always been one who likes to use first names first! :)

Overall it was a pretty good read. Something different and intriguing! The characters were pretty awesome. I feel like there were a few things left unsaid. Gavenia has a past to her that does eventually get explained somewhat towards the end, but I felt like these two big events--one that happened as a teen and one that happened six months ago--weren't explained in enough detail. Especially since they both had such an impact on her life. But oh well. I am pretty sure this is just a standalone, so the answers probably aren't really necessary as they were past events. The ending itself was very nice and left everything settled and happy, so I am a happy reader as well!


Overall Rating 3.5/5 stars