Slave to Sensation - Nalini Singh

334 pages
In a world that denies emotions, where the ruling Psy punish any sign of desire, Sascha Duncan must conceal the feelings that brand her as flawed. To reveal them would be to sentence herself to the horror of "rehabil' ' n"—the complete psychic erasure of everything she ever was...
Both human and animal, Lucas Hunter is a changeling hungry for the very sensations the Psy disdain. After centuries of uneasy coexistence, these two races are now on the verge of war over the brutal murders of several changeling women. Lucas is determined to find the Psy killer who butchered his packmate, and Sascha is his ticket into their closely guarded society. But he soon discovers that this ice- cold Psy is very capable of passion—and that the animal in him is fascinated by her. Caught between their conflicting worlds, Lucas and Sascha must remain bound to their identities—or sacrifice everything for a taste of darkest temptation...

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I heard so many good things about this book, I was a bit wary starting it as I really did not want to be disappointed. And thankfully I wasn’t.
This is a good first novel to the series and I'll definitely be reading more

Sascha Duncan is a Psy - a future race bred from humans but different in that they're not supposed to feel emotion. But she does. And it makes her feel flawed. These feelings intensify when she's near Lucas Hunter. Lucas is the alpha of his leopard pack - a changeling. Changelings are part human part animal.
In the future earth, the world is controlled by the Psy with their calculating logic and efficiency and co-inhabited by Humans and the Changelings.
Lucas gets into a business arrangement with the Duncan family in the hopes of learning something from the Psy in charge of the project - changeling women have been brutally tortured and killed by a Psy. With no one doing anything about it, Sascha is his only chance to finding answers before a bloody war breaks out among the two races - but what both don’t anticipate is the intense attraction between them.

This was a great novel - I liked Sascha's character - she's strong and has been hiding her 'flaw' since she was a child. Despite being put in situations that are overwhelming she's maintains control of her mind & body. She stubborn and despite being brought up in a world of no feeling, knows when sacrifices need to be made and is not afraid to make them.
I liked Lucas' tormented character too - although his past was mentioned many times he grew from his experiences and Singh didn’t make him one of those brooding characters so tormented that he stunts his present and future. He was a strong alpha who ruled by his instincts and invoked loyalty among the pack with his actions.
I usually find i like only one of the main characters and the other isn't given the same amount of depth. But Singh does a good job building both Lucas and Sascha into strong individuals who don't overwhelm the other's person but compliment it.

The author did a very good job with the world building for future books - innovating idea. A complex world but created in such a simple manner it wasn’t hard to understand and get immersed in. Although I guessed who the villain was, it was a good read till the end, if a little lacking in a explosive ending
I'll be waiting to read books on some of my other fav characters - Dorian, Hawke and Vaughn.
Happily jumping on the bandwagon to say - GO READ THIS BOOK.