Mine to Possess by Nalini Singh

Series: Psy-Changeling, Book 4

Genre: Paranormal

Copyright: 2008

Pages: 352

Rating: 3.5  / 5

Synopsis
A ghost returns from a leopard changeling's past, making him question everything-even his base animal instincts...
Clay Bennett is a powerful DarkRiver sentinel, but he grew up in the slums with his human mother, never knowing his changeling father. As a young boy without the bonds of Pack, he tried to stifle his animal nature. He failed...and committed the most extreme act of violence, killing a man, and lost his best friend, Talin, in the bloody aftermath. Everything good in him died the day he was told that she, too, was dead.
Talin McKade barely survived a childhood drenched in bloodshed and terror. Now a new nightmare stalks her—-the street children she works to protect are disappearing and turning up dead. Determined to keep them safe, she unlocks the darkest secret in her heart and returns to ask the help of the strongest man she knows...
Clay lost Talin once. He will not let her go again and hungers to possess her with a clawing need born of the leopard within. As they race to save the innocent Clay and Talin must face the violent truths of their past... or lose everything that ever mattered

Review:
Book 5 in the ever interesting Psy Changeling series, Mine to Possess is the story of Clay and Talin . Clay and Tally grew up together, and when Clay killed Tally's foster father, the effect seeing her best friends' beastly nature scarred Tally and she ran. (no typo there, I don’t think Tally was scared - scarred is what I meant)

Clay is now a sentinel in the Dark-River leopard pack and Tally is back in his life needing his help to rescue street children being kidnapped and killed. But Clay wont be content with only helping her and letting her leave. His mate is back in his life, and he intends to keep her with him.

I loved the storyline. These two obviously loved each other, but there's been so much pain and misery in Talin's life, it hard for her to open up to Clay again. Singh hasn’t had this much sadness in her books before - but thankfully there's Clay. The man and the animal know they need Talin, and will do anything it takes to break through her defenses so that she accepts they will be together.

The other couples and characters from the previous books make their appearance in this book. As always, Singh's writing brings out the love and feeling of family among these Changelings, and you feel a part of it.

The other smaller plots about the Psy councilors, and general progress in everyone else's life makes interesting reading too, and I'm curious to know where this plot is leading to. We got more about the ghost in the net - I think part of why I'm reading is only to find out who it is. There's also a sneak peak into the next couple (or so I hope) and if I've guessed right a certain Mr. Dorian (yum) may be getting his own book after all.

As always the story begins with a lil bit from the past when the Psy were just embracing Silence, and for me that what really gets me involved in this series.

All in all, a great book. Different from the rest in that Tally was a love from the past and yet somehow connected to the psy changeling battle. This break from a psy-changeling pair came at a good time. I would have been a case of same formula - different couple names otherwise.

Read more...

Caressed by Ice - Nalini Singh

361 pages
Series: Psy-Changeling, Book #3

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

Caressed by Ice is the story of Brenna and Judd.
Brenna was the SnowDancer wolf who had been taken by the killer psy from the first book and brutalised before being rescued. She's still healing, and the remnants the killer Psy left behind in her head along with the protective cocoon her brothers have wrapped her in isn't helping her. Her only hope at sanity comes in the form of Judd, a psy living with the wolves, and the only one she thinks understands her.

Judd is one of the Arrows - the elite assassins of the Psy. Judd has seen into Brenna's mind while healing her and is intrigued with the woman. However, being Psy, he is still governed by Silence and believes his Psy designation and chosen profession don’t give him the option of ever giving reign to his emotions.

But someone wants Brenna dead. And Brenna needs his help to keep her alive as well as find out what was done to her. And there’s growing attraction between these two. What’s a couple to do? (hehe, sorry got carried away a bit)

I liked this book a lot. These were both very strong characters, and so far my favourite couple. Brenna got annoying at bits sometimes, but overall she was a strong - willed character who just needed the right words and i guess the right man to get her out of the fear induced and broken state she was in after the attack.

Judd was the voice of reason. He also plays a crucial role in what I think will be the direction of the coming books – there’s a Ghost in the Psy-Net who’s working against the Psy and Judd is helping him.

Singh is still adding to her world-building but she makes it interesting to read rather than a heap of boring knowledge. There are brief insights into the beginning of the Psy race and also lil tidbits about the Arrows. This is one of the few series that also has bits and pieces about the couples from the previous books. I didn’t know who the killer was till the end, and that made me like this book all the more. I’m definitely hooked on this series
See my reviews of the previous books here

Read more...

Visions of Heat (Psy-Changeling, #2) - Nalini Singh

Used to cold silence, Faith NightStar is suddenly being tormented by dark visions of blood and murder. A bad sign for anyone, but worse for Faith, an F-Psy with the highly sought after ability to predict the future. Then the visions show her something even more dangerous - aching need... exquisite pleasure. But so powerful is her sight, so fragile the state of her mind, that the very emotions she yearns to embrace could be the end of her.

Changeling Vaughn D'Angelo can take either man or jaguar form, but it is his animal side that is overwhelmingly drawn to Faith. The jaguar's instinct is to claim this woman it finds so utterly fascinating, and the man has no argument. But while Vaughn craves sensation and hungers to pleasure Faith in every way, desire is a danger that could snap the last threads of her sanity. And there are Psy who need Faith's sight for their own purposes. They must keep her silenced - and keep her from Vaughn...
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Book 2 in the Psy Changeling series features Vaughn - who is a jaguar living with the DarkRiver leopards.
Like Lucas from book 1, Vaughn also has demons in his past and the cat in him is more on the surface than the others.

Lucas finds Faiths house near the forest and then finds out the red headed Psy is looking for Sascha for answers to her own problems. Despite his attraction to Faith he still has trust issues with her and pushes her to her limit.

Faith is a F-Psy - a foreseer and she's now seeing strange dark violent visions instead of the business forecasts she usually makes. Thinking she is losing her mind, she turns to Sascha, the only Psy who wont report her to the Council. On the way she meets Vaughn, who her Psy mind finds intriguing and who is constantly touching her- a Psy who is not used to physical contact. I liked the character development of these two. Faith takes her own life in her own hands - Vaughn learns to share his life with someone else. I also liked Faiths predictions for the other changelings.

Well written book this. Although there wasn't the same connection between these two that Lucas and Sascha shared, it still made good reading. The interesting twists Faith brings to the book with her connection to the Psy-Net means the coming books are going to be interesting to read.

Read more...

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.

Read more...