Haunted

Haunted? #1

by Pandora Pine

When ghost hunter and skeptic Marlowe Bond agrees to investigate the haunting of Trip Cahill’s dream home, he comes face to face with the ghost of Civil War widow Temperance Bradstreet, who is determined to keep her century-old secrets by any means necessary. Complicating matters is the undeniable attraction simmering between Marlowe and Trip. As the two men draw closer, the angry spirit seems bent on keeping them apart. Can the new lovers solve the mystery of Temperance Bradstreet or will she leave both men haunted?

Genres: Paranormal, M M Romance, Romance, Ghosts, Fantasy, Mystery, Contemporary

118 pages, ebook

First published January 1, 2022

About the author

Sick of the slogging rat-race of her 9-5 job, Pandora Pine put pen to paper (literally!) to make her ambition of becoming a romance novelist a reality. She cut her teeth in the dog-eat-dog world of fanfiction, still dreaming of the day when she would be a published author. She lives in Massachusetts with her blabbermouth muse who’ s a fan of middle of the night plot twists.

In her spare time, Pandora fancies herself an amateur nature photographer. She enjoys mucking around in swamps, hiking through the woods and crawling around on her hands and knees in her backyard seeking out the perfect shot. Pandora is a fan of roadside seafood shacks and always thinks Mexican food is a good idea at the time.

Some of Pandora’s favorite things are chocolate, writing longhand with purple pens and handsome men falling in love with each other.

Don't miss Pandora’s seductive new novel coming soon to an e-reader near you.

Reviews

[the kevin (vaguely alive) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 19%

This was a whole pile of no. where even to start?

I don’t usually ascribe opinions to the author based on what they write, but …the opinions about manliness whatshisface had and also the “not like the other gays” thing trip had going on? The way they were written in was sus, especially to the degree they were added in. It didn’t read like just character so much as some weird image the author has of men and gay dudes.

He wanted to dance around the room. He just might have if Trip didn’t think Gen would label him a super-gay.

mhm. What the fuck. Gen is just his real estate lawyer anyway.

Marlowe shook the offered hand, noticing how delicate the bones were. He remembered Trip saying something about being a painter, so he didn’t grip him as hard as he usually would have to show his power.

Is he aware that squashing peoples hands is a sign of fragile masculinity and weakness? I don’t think so. He’s obsessed with being “manly”. He’s also obsessed with his dumb car, which for a car dude why isn’t it a manual, what a loser. There’s also this weird little scene where he lets Trip…not drive his car, but shift it into drive. Not even kidding. Shift it into drive. How pathetic is that. Anyway.

This starts off with a POV of the fucking ghost, in her human time. This is the weirdest. Usually ghost hunter books need to research ghost history but here, it’s all just kinda dumped on us. An interesting tactic, but ultimately boring.

There’s a weird scene with the real estate lawyers in the beginning…what was the point of the sexist dude and the weird, stilted spat the two lawyers had? It contributed nothing. Just confusion.

I hate when characters are distracted by sex mid-not-sex conversation. Trip zones out thinking about getting fucked in the middle of this house buying process. Why? What the hell.

Finally, since I only have 20% of this book to complain about, what the hell was that whale watching story for? It added nothing. I don’t want to read about puke.

Overall, this had so much weird going on, and weak suspicious characters. I will not be searching out more by this author.

[Susan]

DNF at 18%

I'm not feeling it. 😕

[Wayne Blood · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely fantastic start to a new spinoff series in the Cold Case Psychic universe. Ghost Hunter (and professional debunker) Marlowe Bond is hired to help local artist Trip Cahill deal with the ghost of Temperance Bradstreet, a Civ1l War Widow who is haunting in his newly acquired dream home. Fireworks fly when the two meet and Marlowe’s world is shaken when he interacts with with Temperance. There is a bit of a mystery that unfolds, and a startlingly gruesome discovery is made. The two men (who are quickly becoming an adorable couple) take a meeting with Ten and Ronan and learn that there may be more to the events. The case is not completely solved by the end of this intro novella, and will be wrapped up in the next CCP novel; Dead & Buried. Marlowe and Trip are a welcome breath of fresh air to the universe, and I look forward to spending more time with them.

[Kendra T · Rating 4 out of 5]

So this wasn’t my favorite, but it was a great segue and preview to build us up to Ronan and Ten’s next book. I’m looking forward to seeing how the story works out. As far as characters go, I liked Trip, Marlowe annoyed me, and it seemed like a very quick Insta-love. That’s ok because it brings us back to the CCP boys.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was to much insta-love. Marlowe only met Trip 2 days ago and the 'l' word is already been mentioned.
I thought I had already read this book as it was Temperence again but I found out I hadn't.
A quick easy read.

[Laura DeSimone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't get enough of this author's work. Haunted was a great start to a new series. I am impatiently waiting for the next story to finish this story. Marlowe and Trip are great together and this story caught me from the beginning. Recommend reading.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The suspense in this was really good. I am already anxious to see what really happened to the 13 people and if any of them are Jonathan or Ben. Really cool story.

[Lisa White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yet another 5star read from Pandora pine, trip and Marlow are brilliantly funny there’s some amazing one liners and stupidly funny conversations going on and of course a perfect haunting what more do you want? A definite must read

[Teresa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read

While I read the story in a day, the pacing of the book was a little off. It felt both fast and slow. It is definitely indicative of this authors writing style and fits into this world well. I’ll check out the next book as I want to find out the ending to the mystery, as this ends unfinished

[Cj · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was a slog and a half, but I came back and got to the end to find that it’s half a book, ffs, so I go to book two of the series and nooooooooo it’s book f*n 18 in another series - seriously 😐

[Tiff]

I don’t think this author is going to be for me. It seems to be a common theme of hers to write one MC as a huge jerk who literally gets so angry that they scare the other MC in some way (also happened in the first Cold Case Psychic). And then those instances of anger/aggression are forgotten because “(insert character name) would never hurt me”. Fam, that’s how abusive relationships start and those are red flags that should send you running.

[AshPenny37 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good old fashioned ghost story and great teaser for a new series. I'm looking forward to some spooky adventures with Marlowe and Trip...and maybe more crossovers with or cameos of our Salem family?? 4.5*

[Pati · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was almost a two star however the cliffhanger was the final straw for me. I forced myself to read this because I wanted to know the answers. I refuse to be forced to buy another book, in another series just to get those answers.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

**********Contains Spoilers**********

I thought this was a good start to another series in the West Side Magick Universe. I really liked Trip and Marlowe and thought they’ll be great together. This book was very insta-love but that’s part of the course with novellas. Trip has recently purchased his dream home, that belonged to the Civil War widow Temperance Bradstreet. When Trip was signing the sale & purchase documents for the house, his real estate agent tried to talk him about whether or not he was serious about wanting to buy the house, as there’s been multiple counts of the house being haunted. Trip didn’t really believe that the house was haunted. After living in the house for two weeks he’s constantly being woken up scenting lavender and hearing a women crying.

The final straw is when he actually sees Temperance’s ghost. Trip decides to contact Marlowe, a ghost hunter who has his own YouTube channel, where he tries to debunk hauntings to look at his house. Marlowe has been trying to disprove that ghosts are real, as when he was a child he saw a ghost of his recently past loved one, that scared him so much. If he hasn’t been able to see any ghosts in his adult life, maybe he didn’t see the ghost as a child. I’m looking forward to getting more of Trip and Marlowe, and finding out more about Temperance Bradstreet, why there’s thirteen skeletal remains buried in Trip’s backyard, and if any of them are Jonathan (Temperance’s husband) and his lover Ben when Ronan and Ten investigate during the next Cold Case Psychic book, Dead and Buried. I’d recommend this novella, series, universe and author to everyone.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this novella and the questions it raises and characters it introduces. Bonus? It appears it is starting a new series as well as leading into the next Cold Case Psychics series.

Skip buys a house he considers his dream house despite being warned that it’s haunted. After two weeks of interrupted sleep thanks to a weeping Civil War widow, he decides he needs help and contacts Marlowe, a skeptic with a well known YouTube show debunking ghost stories. This part of the story didn’t make sense to me. Skip knows the ghost is real so I’m not sure why he thinks a man who doesn’t believe in ghosts and is looking to prove they don’t exist can help him. But ignoring that fly in the ointment I enjoyed the book.

Skip and Marlowe are interesting characters and while instalove isn’t normally one of my favored tropes it works for this novella. The instalove plays into the ready acceptance of the woo woo when Marlowe is exposed to it.

It was fun getting the tourist highlights of Salem. I even planned my next trip there while reading! I just wish I could dine at Lobster Charlie’s and visit West Side Magick!

I enjoyed the cameo by Riordan as it’s been a while since we saw him. And the meeting at the end with Tennyson and Ronan sets up the next book where this story continues. I just wish it were available now as I’m anxious to see where Temperance’s story goes.

As usual, Pine has painted a vivid picture and I can easily visualize the story and the people. I’m certain all these people really exist and I’m going to meet them on my trip to Salem!!

[Leanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this short story to have a well developed world, considering the length. We have a pinch of instalove, but there are no shenanigans by anyone other than the spirit. It kept me riveted from the first page to the last. My only complaint is that the formatting is odd. That doesn’t affect the readability though.

Marlowe and Trip are surprisingly well rounded characters that I simply adore. Both seem to have issues with foot-in-mouth syndrome and both are rather dramatic at times, but it adds a bit of authenticity to the story that made me happy.

I look forward to reading the continuation of this story in the Cold Case Psychic series book Dead and Buried.

I also look forward to the next adventure that Marlowe and Trip take together. I’m eager to see these two as their relationship grows and they face more possible hauntings.

[TassjaAnn · Rating 2 out of 5]

The ending is a push to read other series to get the ending

The book was great but to find out what happens to the ghost you need to read Ronan and Tens series book number 18. So I've read Tens and Ros series up to two and was taking a break to read a series I thought was unrelated as there are only three books, unlike Tens and Ros 21 book series. So I'm not going to jump ahead simply to rind out what happened. I also can't read further in this series since I'd be missing key things. Why do authors do that? Basically this book has no ending and until you read book 18 in Tens series which at that point I'd forget and need to reread this book. Why wasn't there a clue on the blurb that it connects? And to get the ending you need another book in another story. For shame Author.... I really liked the author and story but now I'm frustrated.

[Amy (I'd Rather Be Sleeping)]

DNF - PG 5-ish

Why?

So incredibly cringe.

Trip is buying a house, his lawyer is there, along with the seller and the seller's lawyer. Trip is more interested in fantasizing about sex.

He was imagining being tied to the bed and taken from behind by a hairy beast of a man who only had eyes for him.

Uhhm...

????

But, it's okay, don't worry, because Trip isn't one of those girls gays. He doesn't care about his clothes, isn't good at interior decorating and will go a couple of days without washing his face or even looking into a mirror. So, you see, Trip is just not like other girls gays.

[SFBookReviewer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Haunted is the first book in a new spin-off series of Cold Case Psychics. This book follows the story of Marlowe and Trip. The book features ghosts, physics and has a healthy dose of romance and mystery. Since this book is a spin-off, there are some gaps in terms of back story to other characters making an appearance. Also it was annoying that the book ended in a cliffhanger and you have to read the conclusion in Dead and Buried (Book 18) from the Cold Case Psychics. If this was a complete standalone book and the conclusion was in this book or even this series, I would have rated it higher as it does have a good story and good writing.

[Tj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute read. Close to insta-love but the author isn't making this a done relationship. I like that other of her series were brought in, though I haven't read them. I do think if I had it would have added to the read more but wasn't necessary. The couple are interesting. I think it was neat that the author made one of the MC's earn his living in a way that has just recently become a career option.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this little story until the end… Then it’s like the author just sneezed the ending all over the page and walked away. The dialogue a trait, the action was rushed, and the plot just disappeared. I understand that it’s setting the series up for the second book, but the last bit need some serious development.

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I know we read about Temperance in another book, but I am just too dang lazy to go back and see what happened! ;p

Looking forward to seeing where Ms. Pine goes with THIS series... I am so glad that I have managed to stay on top of all of these interacting books and series! *grin*

Thank You, Ms. Pine, for this FREE read!

[Robert Fontenot · Rating 2 out of 5]

No. Just no. The writing is terrible, the characters are bizarre, and it feels like the author learned about gays, and men in general, from old sitcoms. Also nothing about either MC’s chosen profession felt remotely real. Painters rarely refer to curators as their boss.

This was my first book by this author, probably also my last.

[Zondra.Hallyahoo.Com · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book!!! Pandora Pine never ceases to amaze me with the great story lines she comes up with. She is brilliant!!! Can't wait for more.

[Shirley · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 - 5 I really need to jump on the "Cold Case Psychic" train...

[Elayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

An introduction to Temperance. Full on, just as I’d expect from the Cold Case world.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

good start to a new series

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5⭐️