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Jaclyn's Ghost
Ghosts, Mystery, and Fashion. Can this diva solve her own murder, or will she be stuck in limbo forever?
After recovering from the shock of seeing her own dead body, (still dressed to kill from last night’s party) fashion model, Jaclyn Jade, discovers she’s a ghost with a choice. She can either immediately go back to Hell, do nothing and stay in limbo, or find the reason she fell short of grace and advance to Heaven.
Because she was murdered, Jaclyn hopes that finding her killer will unravel this mystery. With the help of a timid closet-psychic who can speak to the dead, and a handsome, yet arrogant, ghost of a man from the roaring 20s, her search for answers initiates a quirky journey of self-discovery. Personalities, eras, and worlds collide as this mismatched trio race against time to solve the mystery of Jaclyn’s Ghost.
Note: comparable to a 220 page paperback.
After recovering from the shock of seeing her own dead body, (still dressed to kill from last night’s party) fashion model, Jaclyn Jade, discovers she’s a ghost with a choice. She can either immediately go back to Hell, do nothing and stay in limbo, or find the reason she fell short of grace and advance to Heaven.
Because she was murdered, Jaclyn hopes that finding her killer will unravel this mystery. With the help of a timid closet-psychic who can speak to the dead, and a handsome, yet arrogant, ghost of a man from the roaring 20s, her search for answers initiates a quirky journey of self-discovery. Personalities, eras, and worlds collide as this mismatched trio race against time to solve the mystery of Jaclyn’s Ghost.
Note: comparable to a 220 page paperback.
319 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
8 people are currently reading
605 people want to read
About the author
Dorlana Vann
15 books297 followersDorlana Vann loves taking elements from fairy tales (characters, mood, moral, plot) and mixing them with a paranormal element and then dropping them in a contemporary setting.
She has several supernatural fairy tale inspired stories, including novels, a short story collection, and Kindle Vella series. Her latest adventure is Potion: A Witchy Fairy Tale a contemporary retelling (#witchesbebitches).
Besides writing, life is all about family, food, book-club, BBQ team, festivals, trivia (even though she's horrible at it), and drinking on patios – All of which she shares on Instagram 😊
Stop by her website/blog: www.dorlanavann.me for more info about her and her books.
She has several supernatural fairy tale inspired stories, including novels, a short story collection, and Kindle Vella series. Her latest adventure is Potion: A Witchy Fairy Tale a contemporary retelling (#witchesbebitches).
Besides writing, life is all about family, food, book-club, BBQ team, festivals, trivia (even though she's horrible at it), and drinking on patios – All of which she shares on Instagram 😊
Stop by her website/blog: www.dorlanavann.me for more info about her and her books.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
December 18, 2011
Jaclyn’s Ghost
By Dorlana Vann
Kindle ASIN B004LGTRPS, NOOKbook 2940012071361
Jaclyn’s dead, murdered in the prime of her life, at the height of her career, but Jaclyn doesn’t want to go to hell, which isn’t what you think it is, so Jaclyn has a set amount of time to figure out what she missed in her life that kept her from going straight to heaven.
Along comes Logan a fellow ghost who is dashing and helpful. He lives in Jaclyn’s apartment building and is willing to help Jaclyn figure out what went wrong. The best place to start? Find her killer.
Only nothing is as simple as it seems to be. Finding Jaclyn’s killer is a complex process that requires creativity on the part of Logan and Jaclyn and the help of a photographer who can hear Jaclyn, Logan and other ghosts.
I really enjoyed the way Ms. Vann approached her story. It was creative and new. Jaclyn’s Ghost held my attention from the start and had me rooting for Jaclyn and Logan as they tried to discover what had happened to Jaclyn. Ms. Vann throws several interesting complications into the story line that keep the tension going. The story was well-developed and resonated with me,
I would recommend Jaclyn’s Ghost to anyone looking for an interesting paranormal/mystery read.
By Dorlana Vann
Kindle ASIN B004LGTRPS, NOOKbook 2940012071361
Jaclyn’s dead, murdered in the prime of her life, at the height of her career, but Jaclyn doesn’t want to go to hell, which isn’t what you think it is, so Jaclyn has a set amount of time to figure out what she missed in her life that kept her from going straight to heaven.
Along comes Logan a fellow ghost who is dashing and helpful. He lives in Jaclyn’s apartment building and is willing to help Jaclyn figure out what went wrong. The best place to start? Find her killer.
Only nothing is as simple as it seems to be. Finding Jaclyn’s killer is a complex process that requires creativity on the part of Logan and Jaclyn and the help of a photographer who can hear Jaclyn, Logan and other ghosts.
I really enjoyed the way Ms. Vann approached her story. It was creative and new. Jaclyn’s Ghost held my attention from the start and had me rooting for Jaclyn and Logan as they tried to discover what had happened to Jaclyn. Ms. Vann throws several interesting complications into the story line that keep the tension going. The story was well-developed and resonated with me,
I would recommend Jaclyn’s Ghost to anyone looking for an interesting paranormal/mystery read.
April 27, 2008
Jaclyn's Ghost is a very well written love story about Jaclyn Jade and Logan Smith. At the beginning of the story Jaclyn realizes, with the help of Logan, that she is dead. More specifically, she's a ghost. Logan died in the 1920s when the site of Sunset Apartments was a hotel. Dorlana Vann lends a great twist to the question of "where do we go when we die". "Hell" is really Earth, were we repeat our past mistakes or learn from them with each subsequent life. I really liked this take on it, of course I already think that our souls live more than one life on this planet. I've given Jaclyn's Ghost 'only' 4 stars out of 5 because with the paranormal and mystery elements it's not for everyone.
April 14, 2008
I loved this book and am totally impressed with Dorlana's ability to immediately capture the reader's attention. This was a book that I didn't want to put down. Great read!
Want to read
October 1, 2009I won this book in the first reads giveaway!
August 10, 2019
This book started with what I thought was a very cool idea for a paranormal mystery. The life you are living on Earth is actually Hell. There's not really a firy underworld full of pain and punishment. Real life is punishment enough. Preach. Every time you die you are essentially reincarnated and live another life until you are worthy enough to go to Heaven.
In Jaclyn's case, she's murdered and because she was a horrible, uncaring, bitch of a human being she's going to Hell. That is unless, in the form of a ghost, she can figure out who murdered her and why. If she does she can go to heaven. There's alot of rules when you are a ghost though. Like, her ghost can't leave the building she died in, the living can't hear or see her, etc. Luckily, she gets help from other ghosts and a psychic that can hear and talk to them.
It was difficult for me to want Jaclyn to succeed because she was such an unlikable character and seemed to not have any redeeming qualities at all. Worse yet she was also a boring unlikeable. She wasn't a "villian" with a sad backstory, she was just your average snotty bitch for no reason. Almost to the very end she is mean and ungratful to those that help her along the way. It's hard to root for a character you can't connect with on some level. She was determined though, I'll give her that.
Her character also made it very confusing why Logan, the local ghost from teh 20s, was so willing to help her. This ghost literally haunted her when she was alive and knew what a terrible human she was and still wanted to help her go to heaven. His story was much more interesting, but I won't spoil that juicy bit.
The whole ghost world was what really entertained me. A few of them were pretty comical. Can you imagine what a ghost would have to say after haunting you for years?
Overall it was a quick read with an interesting idea about the afterlife, but the MC was terrible, and so was the ending.
5 Reasons to Read Jaclyn's Ghost
1. Posession
2. Ghosts
3. Charles Charles (fun name)
4. Life is Hell
5. Logan
In Jaclyn's case, she's murdered and because she was a horrible, uncaring, bitch of a human being she's going to Hell. That is unless, in the form of a ghost, she can figure out who murdered her and why. If she does she can go to heaven. There's alot of rules when you are a ghost though. Like, her ghost can't leave the building she died in, the living can't hear or see her, etc. Luckily, she gets help from other ghosts and a psychic that can hear and talk to them.
It was difficult for me to want Jaclyn to succeed because she was such an unlikable character and seemed to not have any redeeming qualities at all. Worse yet she was also a boring unlikeable. She wasn't a "villian" with a sad backstory, she was just your average snotty bitch for no reason. Almost to the very end she is mean and ungratful to those that help her along the way. It's hard to root for a character you can't connect with on some level. She was determined though, I'll give her that.
Her character also made it very confusing why Logan, the local ghost from teh 20s, was so willing to help her. This ghost literally haunted her when she was alive and knew what a terrible human she was and still wanted to help her go to heaven. His story was much more interesting, but I won't spoil that juicy bit.
The whole ghost world was what really entertained me. A few of them were pretty comical. Can you imagine what a ghost would have to say after haunting you for years?
Overall it was a quick read with an interesting idea about the afterlife, but the MC was terrible, and so was the ending.
5 Reasons to Read Jaclyn's Ghost
1. Posession
2. Ghosts
3. Charles Charles (fun name)
4. Life is Hell
5. Logan
March 30, 2018
The story took a lot of time to develop. Jaclyn is a kind of girl who can be easily disliked by anyone. She is arrogant, blunt, rude and everything else that a model is expected to be. But still Logan and Morgan put up with her and Logan should go to heaven just for that. For about 3/4th of the story goes with this feeling in mind while reading. It is only towards the end that a lot of things change and the book ends of a feel-good note.
The story is well written and the characters are given proper development and enough word-space. Even side characters like Jaclyn's boyfriend, Morgan's boyfriend and some other supporting ghosts are not only given page-space but also proper character development. It is very easy to imagine all the characters in vivid detail while reading the story.
The overall feel of the story is average. Because of the unnaturally slow start, there are parts in the book where the need to skip some pages get very tempting. Because of that and the story pace, it takes a lot of time to finish reading the book, although the story in itself is very short. The ending felt a like the allocated word count was getting over and so, all the loose ends are quickly tied up.
Instead of providing a lot of back story to everything in a lot of detail, the story could have been more evenly paced and distributed. 3.5 stars for the story
The story is well written and the characters are given proper development and enough word-space. Even side characters like Jaclyn's boyfriend, Morgan's boyfriend and some other supporting ghosts are not only given page-space but also proper character development. It is very easy to imagine all the characters in vivid detail while reading the story.
The overall feel of the story is average. Because of the unnaturally slow start, there are parts in the book where the need to skip some pages get very tempting. Because of that and the story pace, it takes a lot of time to finish reading the book, although the story in itself is very short. The ending felt a like the allocated word count was getting over and so, all the loose ends are quickly tied up.
Instead of providing a lot of back story to everything in a lot of detail, the story could have been more evenly paced and distributed. 3.5 stars for the story
October 19, 2021
Better than expected
The story was better than expected. I was reading the story hoping for something kind of scary. Nope. It turned out to be a great funny story about Jaclyn trying to find her murderer and why she didn't get into heaven. While trying to find answers she meets Logan. Those two made a great couple. Some of the adventures they went through were pretty funny. I especially liked when they did a possession. The conversations had me laughing. The ending made me a little teary eyed and it was kind of left up to the reader to decide if it was happy or sad.
The story was better than expected. I was reading the story hoping for something kind of scary. Nope. It turned out to be a great funny story about Jaclyn trying to find her murderer and why she didn't get into heaven. While trying to find answers she meets Logan. Those two made a great couple. Some of the adventures they went through were pretty funny. I especially liked when they did a possession. The conversations had me laughing. The ending made me a little teary eyed and it was kind of left up to the reader to decide if it was happy or sad.
March 27, 2008
"Fascinating madcap adventure of sleuthing!"
Jaclyn Jade, a model at the top of her career is murdered. Charles Charles, the messenger gives her three choices: return to Hell—Hell being life on earth, a continuous cycle until one gets it right; Two, she can remain a spirit, seeing Hell but only as a spectator; the third choice is to go back as an Open Spirit, figure out why she didn't make it into Heaven and if she does she will go straight to the pearly gates. But there's a catch—a time limit. If she fails she will remain a Spectre ghost forever, never entering Heaven or Hell. Jaclyn decides to take her chances and along the way she discovers a few things about herself, new friends (alive and dead) and what it means to fall in love.
Logan Smith is a Spectre ghost, one that should have went straight to Hell but was missed. Now he roams the apartment where Jaclyn was murdered. He vows to help Jaclyn no matter the costs.
Morgan Reed, a psychic and also the photographer with the police. The police deem Jaclyn's death a suicide, but when Morgan hears Jaclyn's ghost speaking to another ghost, she investigates further. Morgan will risk her career and her relationship to help Jaclyn discover the truth.
Ms. Vann's tale of Heaven and Hell and in-between is a fascinating madcap adventure of sleuthing. Not only will the killer be revealed along with the reasons for the unjust murder, but the tale also unfolds the lives and hopes of each of the characters. The journey is one of self-discovery, leading the characters down a road of forgiveness, acceptance and love. Well done!
Reviewed for Pnr Paranormal Romance www.paranormalromance.org: Karen Michelle Nutt, author
Jaclyn Jade, a model at the top of her career is murdered. Charles Charles, the messenger gives her three choices: return to Hell—Hell being life on earth, a continuous cycle until one gets it right; Two, she can remain a spirit, seeing Hell but only as a spectator; the third choice is to go back as an Open Spirit, figure out why she didn't make it into Heaven and if she does she will go straight to the pearly gates. But there's a catch—a time limit. If she fails she will remain a Spectre ghost forever, never entering Heaven or Hell. Jaclyn decides to take her chances and along the way she discovers a few things about herself, new friends (alive and dead) and what it means to fall in love.
Logan Smith is a Spectre ghost, one that should have went straight to Hell but was missed. Now he roams the apartment where Jaclyn was murdered. He vows to help Jaclyn no matter the costs.
Morgan Reed, a psychic and also the photographer with the police. The police deem Jaclyn's death a suicide, but when Morgan hears Jaclyn's ghost speaking to another ghost, she investigates further. Morgan will risk her career and her relationship to help Jaclyn discover the truth.
Ms. Vann's tale of Heaven and Hell and in-between is a fascinating madcap adventure of sleuthing. Not only will the killer be revealed along with the reasons for the unjust murder, but the tale also unfolds the lives and hopes of each of the characters. The journey is one of self-discovery, leading the characters down a road of forgiveness, acceptance and love. Well done!
Reviewed for Pnr Paranormal Romance www.paranormalromance.org: Karen Michelle Nutt, author
November 24, 2014
Interesting book. I liked how the author dived right into the story where the reader, and Jaclyn, discover together that she is dead (and now a ghost). Problem is her death is actually a murder but the police write it off as suicide/drug overdose.
She is given two choices:
A. go to Hell (which is not what you, or Jaclyn, thinks it is - but that Hell is Earth) where she could begin life, a much quieter life than the one she had been leading as a model, again with a young couple that are expecting a girl.
B. opt to have 24 hours to figure out the answer to the question on why she has had 200+ previous lives but not yet made to Heaven.
However, with the last option comes the risk that she remains in Limbo (earthbound ghost/specter) at her apartment building.
She choses B, and with Logan Smith - a ghost she meets at her demise - wishing to help her. At first the only person that can hear them is a crime photographer slash medium. Naturally the crime photographer winds up also trying to help Jaclyn and Logan on this quest as well.
Who and why was Jaclyn killed ... and will she go to Heaven.
Of course it isn't smooth sailing - which brings in humor and some twists to the story while Logan and Jaclyn race against time.
Although I liked the Heaven/Hell/Limbo and the ghost/spectre angles - as well as the ghosts/specter's 'fear' of 'well-meaning' ghost hunters ... some of it was cornishly convenient even in a paranormal sense. Overall, though, it was a very enjoyable story that I will likely pick up to read again in the future.
She is given two choices:
A. go to Hell (which is not what you, or Jaclyn, thinks it is - but that Hell is Earth) where she could begin life, a much quieter life than the one she had been leading as a model, again with a young couple that are expecting a girl.
B. opt to have 24 hours to figure out the answer to the question on why she has had 200+ previous lives but not yet made to Heaven.
However, with the last option comes the risk that she remains in Limbo (earthbound ghost/specter) at her apartment building.
She choses B, and with Logan Smith - a ghost she meets at her demise - wishing to help her. At first the only person that can hear them is a crime photographer slash medium. Naturally the crime photographer winds up also trying to help Jaclyn and Logan on this quest as well.
Who and why was Jaclyn killed ... and will she go to Heaven.
Of course it isn't smooth sailing - which brings in humor and some twists to the story while Logan and Jaclyn race against time.
Although I liked the Heaven/Hell/Limbo and the ghost/spectre angles - as well as the ghosts/specter's 'fear' of 'well-meaning' ghost hunters ... some of it was cornishly convenient even in a paranormal sense. Overall, though, it was a very enjoyable story that I will likely pick up to read again in the future.
May 3, 2011
Jaclyn's ghost is a well written and "fun" read.
Jaclyn wakes up to find a strange man in her room. She is confused and then finds out that she is dead and that the man is another ghost. His name is Logan and he lives in her apartment building.
Jaclyn was a fashion model and had a lucrative career. She finds out that she was murdered and decides not to continue on in "hell", living lifetime after lifetime to try to qualify for entry into heaven. She has a chance to redeem herself and figure out what she did wrong and enter into heaven.
Logan, the handsome and helpful ghost volunteers to help her. They find a medium named Morgan and the three of them investigate who and why Jaclyn was murdered.
Mystery, romance, redemption, and friendship run through the pages of this book. It is cute, clean, and will leave you with a smile on your face.
Jaclyn wakes up to find a strange man in her room. She is confused and then finds out that she is dead and that the man is another ghost. His name is Logan and he lives in her apartment building.
Jaclyn was a fashion model and had a lucrative career. She finds out that she was murdered and decides not to continue on in "hell", living lifetime after lifetime to try to qualify for entry into heaven. She has a chance to redeem herself and figure out what she did wrong and enter into heaven.
Logan, the handsome and helpful ghost volunteers to help her. They find a medium named Morgan and the three of them investigate who and why Jaclyn was murdered.
Mystery, romance, redemption, and friendship run through the pages of this book. It is cute, clean, and will leave you with a smile on your face.
March 18, 2012
This is a different type of ghost story compared to others I have read. Great cast of characters. All of the ghosts and non-ghosts alike were entertaining. There were quite a few funny moments. I am not quite satisfied with the way it ended however. Don't get me wrong, everything came together rather well but I felt that it was missing something. Still a good read and I will definitely be reading more from this author.
May 29, 2013
A mystery paranormal romance filled with humorous moments and surprise twists. It takes Jaclyn losing her own life to figure out what she really wants in life and who she wants to be. Solving her own murder Jaclyn finds true friendship, love, herself, and the shocker of them all, who actually had her killed.
June 5, 2015
This book starts off slow but does pick up the pace and becomes more interesting. Jaclyn wakes up to find that she is dead. As shocking as that is she also realizes that she is a ghost. The police rule her death a suicide and Jaclyn postpones her future to play detective with a little help. Pure fiction but interesting.
October 1, 2011
I am actually kind of disappointed with this book. I expected it to be creepier than it was and I thought it almost came off almost as a silly, with moments of a chick-lit(ish) type of book. I have been wanting to read this book for a while and it was one I actually could have passed on.
November 17, 2017
Hi! I'm the author of Jaclyn's Ghost, and I am excited about its make-over.
October 30, 2011
Fun and entertaining! Loved that it was my name :)
November 13, 2012
I really wish this book wasnt finished. It was an easy read but I loved the characters and the concept. Its too bad there wont be a second one.
kindle-i-own-to-read
November 8, 2012Amazon Freebie 11/8/2012
October 29, 2017
Did not like the ending!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews