Sophie actually slept for two full hours on Tuesday. TWO. I'm not exaggerating when I say I almost cried. I had just started Mind Game the day before during school drop-off, and suddenly I had this glorious uninterrupted window to actually sink into it properly. I made tea. I sat on the couch like a person. And Dahlia Le Blanc proceeded to set things on fire with her brain while I sat there in complete, blissful silence.
Okay. Let's talk about this book.
Pyrokinesis, Paranormal Ops, and a Woman Who Could Probably Handle My Kids
So here's the setup: Dahlia is a GhostWalker - a government-enhanced psychic who has been living in isolation because her telekinetic abilities literally cause objects to spontaneously combust when she's emotionally overwhelmed. Which, honestly? Relatable. Then Nicolas Trevane shows up - skilled military operative, very intense, very into Dahlia - and assassins start showing up too, and suddenly it's action-paranormal-romance at full throttle.
This is Book 2 in the GhostWalker series, and I'll be upfront: I hadn't read Book 1. Jumped in cold. And you know what? Feehan gives you just enough context that I wasn't completely lost, though I did spend the first hour going 'wait, who's a GhostWalker exactly?' before it clicked. If you're a series completionist, start with Book 1. If you're a chaotic mom who grabs whatever's available on Libby at 11 PM, you'll survive. That same chaotic-grab energy led me to One Plus One a few months back, and honestly it scratched a completely different itch — warmer, funnier, no assassins — but equally worth the blind leap.
The romance itself is - look, it's intense. Nicolas decides he's in love with Dahlia at a speed that would make a rom-com blush. But here's the thing: Feehan commits to it so fully, and Dahlia is so genuinely interesting as a character - isolated, powerful, terrified of her own abilities - that I bought it anyway. The scene where Nicolas essentially talks her through controlling her telekinesis during an emotionally charged moment is actually doing a lot of narrative heavy lifting. It's not just a romantic beat; it's the core of their dynamic. Her power is tied to her emotions, which means intimacy is literally dangerous for her. That's a paranormal romance premise I hadn't seen before, and I appreciated that it wasn't just window dressing.
The action sequences are punchy and frequent. Assassins, government conspiracies, swamp settings (there's a Louisiana bayou element that adds genuine atmosphere). Pacing is mostly fast - though there's a mid-section around the 7-8 hour mark where things slow down considerably while Nicolas and Dahlia circle each other emotionally. I didn't hate it, but I noticed it.
Tom Stechschulte: The Good, The Slightly Awkward, and the Name Situation
Here's where it gets interesting. Tom Stechschulte has a genuinely good voice for this kind of book - deep, steady, authoritative. Nicolas sounds exactly right. Commanding without being cartoonish. For the action sequences and the male characters generally, he's solid.
Dahlia is... a work in progress. His female voice register sits in this slightly stiff zone that doesn't quite capture her emotional volatility. Given that Dahlia's whole arc is about learning to feel things without burning down the furniture, you want those emotional swings to land. They land okay. Not great. Okay. I found myself doing more imaginative heavy lifting than I usually do to feel her panic or her longing.
Also - and this drove me mildly insane during nap time - he mispronounces at least one character name in a way that made me stop and rewind twice to make sure I hadn't misheard. I hadn't. It's a small thing, but when you're pausing and restarting 47 times across three days, inconsistencies like that stick out.
At 1.25x (my standard survival speed), his delivery actually tightens up nicely. I'd recommend it.
Should You Spend a Credit on This?
Honest answer: it depends on what you're after. If you're already a GhostWalker fan, this is exactly what you signed up for and you'll love it. If you're a paranormal romance reader who wants something with genuine action stakes alongside the romance - not just 'danger as backdrop' but actual military ops and psychic abilities that matter to the plot - this delivers.
If you need a narrator who completely disappears into female characters, Stechschulte might frustrate you. And at 14 hours, this is not a nap-time book. This is a week-long project. I spread it across drop-offs, one full nap miracle, and three car-in-the-garage sessions.
Survived 47 pauses and still made sense - the plot holds up fine across interruptions, which matters enormously to me. The ending is satisfying without being saccharine. I did not cry at school pickup. I call that a win.
Not groundbreaking, but sometimes you don't need groundbreaking. Sometimes you need a woman who can set things on fire with her mind and a man who thinks that's the most attractive thing he's ever seen. Car time approved.
