Tag: Pandora Pine

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Featured New Release of the Week: Ghost Pain by Pandora Pine

This week we’re going back into a year long saga of a pair of ghost detectives. This week, we’re looking at Ghost Pain by Pandora Pine.

This entire spinoff series has been my entry point into Pine’s universe, and I’ve been very impressed so far. She manages to bring the paranormal and the normal together in ways rarely seen in other similar efforts, all while keeping the series focused on the people involved even as the individual books feature specific cases. (As the better long running series – in any medium – tend to do.)

This particular book is a typical entry in that vein – we open up dealing with the aftermath of the ending of Ghost of a Chance (Book 5), and because of that at minimum that book needs to be read before that one. But even that book deals with the events from the very first book in this spinoff series, Ghost of Himself. (And on and on and on :D) So read all six books – because by the end of this one Pine basically calls her shot with presumably the next book, and it is one that has been building since even before this spinoff series began.

This book in particular was Pine’s usual excellence in storytelling and execution, and I am very much looking forward to Book 7! 🙂

And with that… the Goodreads/ Amazon review:
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#BookReview: Hunting Blackbeard by Pandora Pine

To The Victors Go The Pizza Rolls! Ok, so that title is an in-joke from the prologue of this book. But it is also indicative of the fun of this book. More on the romance side than the adventure side (vs the first book in this series being a bit more equal between the two/ maybe slightly more on the adventure side), this book keeps the romance as the central piece while the adventure is more there to drive the romance plot along than anything. Some very interesting commentary about reviews included that while overtly are about a character’s business, almost seem as if the author is speaking to the reader directly about more real life situations – I’ve certainly seen *many* authors saying much the same thing in real life. Excellent work, with some interesting angles for the third book in this series – I will be intrigued to see if Pine goes that direction or just uses it as set up for the obvious third book main character’s overall arc in that tale. Very much recommended, though do read Book 1 (Finding Alexander, also a 5* read) first.

This review of Hunting Blackbeard by Pandora Pine was originally written on September 30, 2019.

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#BookReview: Ghost Of A Chance by Pandora Pine

Jude And Cope Face Their Toughest Case Yet. Particularly with this “spinoff” of Pine’s long running Cold Case Psychic series, she is doing a *great* job of making the cases and battles ever harder with every outing, and if they can get tougher than this particular one… well, Jude and Cope won’t like it one bit. 😉 Continuing her excellent work of showing the professional and personal dramas, this particular book isn’t a good place to start with even this spinoff series… but it could well be a good place to end it…

This review of Ghost Of A Chance by Pandora Pine was originally written on September 8, 2019

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#BookReview: Ship Happens by Pandora Pine

Light And Fun – Mostly. In this installment of the Valentine’s Inc Cruises MM romance series, we get paranormal author Pandora Pine’s effort, and it is indicative of her stylings while only tangentially being related to her overall world. If you’re like me and have been on many cruises, there’s a lot here that will bring back your best memories – including Stingray City in Grand Cayman and the Magic Chair at Mahogany Bay. If you’ve never been on a cruise before, this is a good introduction to what ship life can be. If you’ve been curious about Pine but are a bit leery of paranormal stories, this is an excellent way to see how she tells a story while only having the barest mention of her normal schtick. (And btw, her paranormal stories are awesome, so you should try them anyway.) This is a somewhat standard ish romantic comedy in that there is obviously the fight right before the happily ever after, but really that is the only time this book really veers away from being as light and airy as a cruise is supposed to be. Excellent work, and I’m looking forward to more from both this series and Pine.

This review of Ship Happens by Pandora Pine was originally written on August 9, 2019.

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#BookReview: Dead On His Feet by Pandora Pine

Ronan Faces His Toughest Challenges Yet. In this latest chapter of Pandora Pine’s long running police procedural MM romance series, we find one of her main characters facing some of his toughest battles to date. All because five kids get kidnapped and 2 adults decide to have a shootout with the FBI… in the first two chapters of the book. Pine yet again does a superb job of going with the overarcing story without putting too much emphasis on having the reader already know about things lest they be lost. Thus, virtually any book in this series – this among them – can work as entry points so long as the reader doesn’t mind going back and discovering how the various personal relationships got to the point they are here in this book. The one minor complaint I have with this particular one is that Pine could have potentially allowed some late revelations in this book to play out over several – perhaps dozens, if she wanted to be particularly creative – other books. But instead she plays into the episodic nature of the police procedural, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing – several best selling authors more well known than her have achieved their fame almost specifically *because* they play into that trope. Still, a very much recommended book, one long time fans of Pine are likely already reading but are certain to enjoy – and again, a good entry point for any potential new fans.

This review of Dead On His Feet by Pandora Pine was originally written on August 7, 2019.

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#BookReview: Ghost House by Pandora Pine

Another Excellent Entry! In this latest installment of the Copeland Forbes/ Jude Byrne centric Ghost Detective spinoff series from Pandora Pine’s long running (and continuing) Cold Case Psychic series, Cope and Jude have returned from their trip to Key West (from book 3) and are suddenly thrust into a mystery involving one of Salem’s iconic witch locations – The Witch House. Continuing the slow burn style of this particular series, Cope and Jude’s relationship continues to progress, though still not at the rate many romance readers might prefer but which works well in the context of these characters and stories. Once again, characters from the general world the spinoff series exists in continue to make appearances and while these appearances could be considered spoilers for their books, said appearances serve the story here and don’t cause undue confusion – a particularly strong skill of Pine’s. As usual, very much recommended and I’m very much looking forward to the next entry in this series.

This review of Ghost Story by Pandora Pine was originally written on July 4, 2019.

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#BookReview: Dead Wrong by Pandora Pine

Ronan Expects A Friend… And Gets A Father. This was my first book of Pine’s long running Cold Case Pychic books after having read both of the spinoff series Ghost Detective books so far. And despite being book 11, a reader truly can come into this series and not be lost – said reader will just know how several things turn out over the previous 10 books that will be spoilers to those tales, but with this being a romance series to begin with most of them are fairly obvious anyway.

In this particular tale, series original Ronan O’Mara answers the door as he heads back to his first day at work in several months expecting a friend… and finds his father there, asking for his help. The mystery here is fairly typical of Pine in my experience, with mostly detective based questioning people and finding evidence of things with a few tense moments of confrontation in semi-dangerous situations.

Great read, and a solid entry point into the series if you don’t mind the mild spoilers. Very much looking forward to more.

This review of Dead Wrong by Pandora Pine was originally published on April 10, 2019.

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#BookReview: Ghost Story by Pandora Pine

Beware Hitchhiking Ghosts! In this sequel to Ghost of Himself, we come back to Jude and Cope’s slow-burn romance as it continues to slowly burn, but with some pretty significant developments here for Jude in particular. All of this happens against the story of a mysterious Woman in White who is haunting and even outright harming a 15 yo boy. And yes, there are hitchhiking ghosts involved as well – including ghost HTML in my read through! Excellent story yet again, and I’m very much looking forward to coming back to Jude and Cope in their next adventure!

This review of Ghost Story by Pandora Pine was originally published on March 5, 2019.

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Featured New Release Of The Week: Ghost Of Himself by Pandora Pine

This week, we look at a book that introduces a new spinoff series from a well established world. This week, we look at Ghost of Himself by Pandora Pine.

This was an excellent entry point into an existing well-established world. You get enough of a sense of the larger world without being overwhelmed in the details and thus not being able to enjoy the particular story you are currently reading. Indeed, just the opposite is true: the current story is the laser focus at all times, and you get just enough background to understand where the various existing players are coming from while whetting your appetite to find out exactly how they arrived at their current locations. Case in point being one half of the focal couple of this very slow burn romance – private investigator Jude Byrne. He is one of many links to the previously existing world, finally getting his own story in this spinoff series, and apparently he has been quite… open… with the sheer volume of partners he has bedded. Apparent series newcomer pyschic witch Copeland Forbes has been a bit more selective with his lovers, but is certainly no prude himself.

MM romance enthusiasts will likely be dismayed to realize there is no penetrative sex in this particular tale – as I said, it is truly a slow burn romance – though it does have some sexual activity, as one would expect from most modern romances outside of certain particular subgenres. But that is the only minor quibble to be had here and that is mostly just the lack of a genre trope. Otherwise, this truly is a strong tale in its own right that serves as an excellent launching pad for its own series within this larger world, while also getting new readers interested in learning about that larger world. Outstanding on all points, and very much recommended.

As always, Amazon/ Goodreads:
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