i was thrilled to finally jump into my first lisa taddeo book after hearing nothing but good things about her writings. i thought that ghost lover could be a good introduction to her writing for me as it is a collection of nine short stories. i had done the same with lily king’s writing by jumping into her short stories first and so i had hope that this one could potentially impact me the same way that THAT did. but unfortunately—to preface this—it wasn’t as thrilling as i thought it would be.

lisa taddeo has definitely made a name for herself when it comes to unhinged women stories and having read this collection of short stories, i can definitely say that she does have the talent in writing about the dark side of femininity. however, i don’t think that it’s done well enough for me to fully like it. i love a few short stories like “ghost lover” and “forty-two” for example but aside from that i really do not feel any connection or interest in the other stories as much. the stories seems quite repetitive as well. it was as if this whole collection could easily be a full novel instead of a short story collection.

though the plot in some of the short stories were disappointing and draggy, the writing definitely gave me the "wow" factor. i love some of the passages she has written in this book and it definitely gave me that tiny spark to continue giving her other books a try. i definitely will, especially her famous one, animal. short stories are often a hit or miss for me but i have a feeling that if you have devoured taddeo’s other books before, you might enjoy ghost lover much more than me.

thank you to definitely books by pansing for sending a copy to me in exchange for an honest review!