Author: Nalini Singh

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Stand Alone/ Series: Book 5 of Psy-Changeling series.

Summary: Separated from her son and forced to create a neural implant that will mean the effective enslavement of her psychically gifted race, Ashaya Aleine is the perfect Psy–cool, calm, emotionless…at least on the surface. Inside, she’s fighting a desperate battle to save her son and escape the vicious cold of the PsyNet. Yet when escape comes, it leads not to safety, but to the lethal danger of a sniper’s embrace.
DarkRiver sniper Dorian Christensen lost his sister to a Psy killer. Though he lacks the changeling ability to shift into animal form, his leopard lives within. And that leopard’s rage at the brutal loss is a clawing darkness that hungers for vengeance. Falling for a Psy has never been on Dorian’s agenda. But charged with protecting Ashaya and her son, he discovers that passion has a way of changing the rules…

Why did I read this Book: Hello, my name is Ana and I am a nalinisinghholic.

Review:

To be Psy is to be perfect – after all only an emotional being can be flawed. The greatest flaw of all is Love – an emotion that is lost to all Psy that chose to accept Silence when it was first implemented. The ones that made a different choice – to break away – could only but to hurt upon realising that their loved ones chose sanity over love – not an easy decision. Years later, that choice is no longer in question for any Psy. Or is it?
_________________

Hostage to Pleasure continues a story arc that began back in Caressed by Ice when we were first introduced to Ashaya Aleine, the M-Psy (M is for Medical, her Psy denomination) who was working for the Psy Council on the Protocol 1 project. In Mine to Possess we learn that Ashaya is working under duress – she is against the Protocol but the Council is holding her child hostage, which is the catalyst for her to put a plan in motion. It starts with her helping the leopard pack in rescuing Jonquil in the end of Mine to Possess, a help that comes with a price – she is to call to ask their help when her own child, Keenan, needs rescuing. That was the first time Dorian and Ashaya set eyes on each other, from afar – but still enough to get Dorian’s cat aroused and curious.

This fifth instalment in the Psy – Changeling series opens with Dorian, Clay and Judd responding to her IOU call and coordinating a rescue operation (Note: coolest team ever) They get Keenan, and the plan was to cut him from the PsyNet and connect him with the LaurenNet via Judd but there is an immediate link between Keenan and Dorian, and his mind is thereby connected with the DarkRiver’s Web of Stars instead, via Dorian. Dorian is more than ok with that since his major weakness is to protect the vulnerable and he develops a soft stop for the kid almost immediately.

With her child safe, part 2 of Ashaya’s plan starts. With some inside help from the rebellious forces she manages to fake her own death just for the right amount of time for her to be able to defect. She then join forces with the DarkRiver pack to bring Protocol 1 down but not before some significant clashes of force with Dorian.

Places to go, people to kill.

Long standing readers of the series have been waiting for Dorian’s story since book 1. Described as having the looks of a poster boy for a surf board advert, he is quite possibly the most lethal of the Sentinels of the leopard pack which says a lot about his personality because Dorian is a latent leopard. He was never able to shift, to become the very thing that he is and in order to overcome this “flaw” he fought to become the best at everything he did – he is the Pretty Boy, but also the Boy Genius and the most kick-ass sniper of the lot. Everything about him is cat expect the cat itself. The beast clawing from the inside trying to get out hurts, physically and emotionally but he has done the best he could.

Dorian is also a man consumed with rage, with hate against the Psy ever since his sister was butchered by the Psy serial killer Santano Enrique (Slave to Sensation) .His inability to shift did not keep him from tearing the man apart with his bare hands, and from that hatred comes the main source of conflict between Dorian and Ashaya, as his attraction to her is mingled with a sense of guilt for falling for one of the race that killed his beloved sister.

Especially because at first, everything pointed that she was just another perfectly cold Psy. The accepted view amongst that race is that each mind is an independent mind, an autonomous unit. Only Ashaya had always known different because there an unmistakable bond between her and her son and once he is cut out of the Pysnet and entered the Wed of Stars – she feels the impossible, she feels the bond that was not supposed to be there. A bond she also shares with her sister, Amara. As a Psy, she is not supposed to care for Keenan. She is not supposed to care for her sister. She is not supposed to be anything that she is.

Silence has been broken inside Ashaya a long time ago, which helps Dorian accepting her more easily. But she had to keep it not for her sake but for someone else’s. Not spoiling whom she is protecting but her choice means she has been protecting a sociopath just like Enrique for her entire life – and that drives Dorian insane backtracking his acceptance of her until he figures out why she is doing what she is doing and which speaks to the very core of him.

I wondered who his heroine could be – Dorian is one of those larger than life characters whose mere presence in the other books begged for the centre stage. When he finally got his book, it was everything I could hope for and Ashaya was just the perfect match for him. She is one of the smartest and strongest female characters in the whole series, one that can absolutely hold her ground against one of the most dominant of the males.

This book is all about choices: Ashaya for example, can break silence, her denomination is not one of those that need Silence to be kept in check. But she chooses not to until she has to make another choice in a moment of despair. In one very interesting conversation, she tries to convey to Dorian that Silence is not all evil and that some of her race do need it in order to be fully functional.

Both Dorian and Ashaya were surrounded in terrible circumstance that could have disabled them – his latency, her bond with a twin sister – but both got what life gave them and spat on its face. I loved that Ashaya made her choice on how to deal with her sister very early in life and how she stood by it to very end. It would have been easy to just relinquish her link with Amara and just let it go, to quit her sister but she didn’t – and the fact that now she has the whole support of Web of Stars is only a great gift life has bestowed her. Similarly, Dorian is a self made man, not accepting his fate and choosing to become much more than any one could ever hope. He hurts inside SO VERY MUCH for not being able to shift with his cat wanting, struggling, fighting to get out of his skin but never being able to. He has a lot of choices to make in this book and sometimes it’s painful to watch. But oh, so very rewarding.

Meanwhile at the Psy’s den of iniquity we see that Protocol 1 is to make the Psy minds into one huge hive mind with no room for renegades or dissention but since Ashaya, before defecting, was given the task to devise different types of implants –in different grades, we learn that the Council has plans to control the entire race. This seems to be a desperate attempt to control things because at this point it is more and more apparent that more Psy are breaking conditioning, becoming flawed, needing rehabilitation. And in that wave, of course there is a new movement of Psy on the move: The Pure Psy.

In the midst of the Psy – changeling war (any doubt that this is what happening here?) the humans are coming into the game as well, trying to show to the Psy they are not as powerless as they think. Whatever could come from it, it remains to be seen. Always and forever expanding her world, Nalini Singh is. And let’s not forget the power play amongst the councillors, Henry and his wife Shoshanna, Anthony Kyriakus and his connections with the rebellion and of course, Kaleb Krychek, whoever, whatever he is.
And, in this book we meet another member of the rebellious forces: a powerful Traveler Psy (another cool denomination, hooray) named Vasic and I can hear his siren call for his own book.

Having said that, something happened to me whilst reading this book and I am starting to pity the Psy, a race whose very own traits turn against them, making them afraid of themselves. The council may be evil (or are they – all of them?) but the majority of the Psy are just people who are afraid of what they can do. Turning themselves against the very own qualities that make them Psy. It is a tragedy, really.

Anyways, I loved this book. Caressed by Ice remains my favorite but Hostage to Pleasure comes in a close second and if Judd is my favorite hero, Dorian is my favorite changeling.

And the epilogue? A present from Nalini Singh to her long standing readers and ultimately a gift that only a writer that truly loves her characters could ever think of granting to a most beloved hero. It made me cry. I have said before that the world building and the Psy race make this series unique. But the changelings are the series’ heart and soul.

I am so emotionally committed to these characters, I feel like I am pack. So, don’t mind me. I will just be sitting here growling and waiting for the next one. (If only I could have skin privileges too…..)

Notable quote/ parts: There is an amazing conversation between Dorian and Ashaya. Dorian knows she is his mate, and whilst the leopard relishes the thought, the man is torn with guilt, because he knows that he wouldn’t trade her for anything , not even for his sister’s life. That is a very powerful feeling. That moment is when Ashaya makes her decision to give in and embrace Dorian and she goes to him and she is crying and he says “don’t cry” and she days “then don’t hurt” and then he talks about his love for his sister and it’s so sweet and it’s so tender and then, and then Dorian breaks down and CRY. I can not bear to see a man cry, people. I just can’t.

Additional Thoughts: I got an ARC and it came with an excerpt for Branded by Fire, next book in the series to be released next year. This is Mercy’s book and her hero is……Riley! Yes, you heard me right, Nalini Singh is pairing a cat and a wolf. The thought alone of the amount of teasing these two will probably endure by their fellow pack mates would be enough to make me want to read it ASAP. Couple that with the fact that they are both soldiers, both very dominant …..and by reading the excerpt which has a very heated sex scene and I am all…. Mama Mia! I think Nailini Singh should consider asking her publisher to put a warning on the cover: “Beware, danger of spontaneous combustion.”

The excerpt will be available on Nalini Singh’s website from early September so be sure to check it out!

Verdict: Nalini Singh takes her story a step further by adding new characters, new Psy denominations with a sense that everything has a purpose and a goal in mind. Above all, this book has a heart and it’s called Dorian.

Rating: 9 damn near perfection

Tomorrow: Nalini Singh Extravaganza Day 4 – an Exclusive interview with Nalini Singh and a chance to win a copy of Hostage to Pleasure!

Author: Nalini Singh

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Stand Alone/ Series: Book 5 of Psy-Changeling series.

Summary: Separated from her son and forced to create a neural implant that will mean the effective enslavement of her psychically gifted race, Ashaya Aleine is the perfect Psy–cool, calm, emotionless…at least on the surface. Inside, she’s fighting a desperate battle to save her son and escape the vicious cold of the PsyNet. Yet when escape comes, it leads not to safety, but to the lethal danger of a sniper’s embrace.
DarkRiver sniper Dorian Christensen lost his sister to a Psy killer. Though he lacks the changeling ability to shift into animal form, his leopard lives within. And that leopard’s rage at the brutal loss is a clawing darkness that hungers for vengeance. Falling for a Psy has never been on Dorian’s agenda. But charged with protecting Ashaya and her son, he discovers that passion has a way of changing the rules…

Why did I read this Book: Hello, my name is Ana and I am a nalinisinghholic.

Review:

To be Psy is to be perfect – after all only an emotional being can be flawed. The greatest flaw of all is Love – an emotion that is lost to all Psy that chose to accept Silence when it was first implemented. The ones that made a different choice – to break away – could only but to hurt upon realising that their loved ones chose sanity over love – not an easy decision. Years later, that choice is no longer in question for any Psy. Or is it?
_________________

Hostage to Pleasure continues a story arc that began back in Caressed by Ice when we were first introduced to Ashaya Aleine, the M-Psy (M is for Medical, her Psy denomination) who was working for the Psy Council on the Protocol 1 project. In Mine to Possess we learn that Ashaya is working under duress – she is against the Protocol but the Council is holding her child hostage, which is the catalyst for her to put a plan in motion. It starts with her helping the leopard pack in rescuing Jonquil in the end of Mine to Possess, a help that comes with a price – she is to call to ask their help when her own child, Keenan, needs rescuing. That was the first time Dorian and Ashaya set eyes on each other, from afar – but still enough to get Dorian’s cat aroused and curious.

This fifth instalment in the Psy – Changeling series opens with Dorian, Clay and Judd responding to her IOU call and coordinating a rescue operation (Note: coolest team ever) They get Keenan, and the plan was to cut him from the PsyNet and connect him with the LaurenNet via Judd but there is an immediate link between Keenan and Dorian, and his mind is thereby connected with the DarkRiver’s Web of Stars instead, via Dorian. Dorian is more than ok with that since his major weakness is to protect the vulnerable and he develops a soft stop for the kid almost immediately.

With her child safe, part 2 of Ashaya’s plan starts. With some inside help from the rebellious forces she manages to fake her own death just for the right amount of time for her to be able to defect. She then join forces with the DarkRiver pack to bring Protocol 1 down but not before some significant clashes of force with Dorian.

Places to go, people to kill.

Long standing readers of the series have been waiting for Dorian’s story since book 1. Described as having the looks of a poster boy for a surf board advert, he is quite possibly the most lethal of the Sentinels of the leopard pack which says a lot about his personality because Dorian is a latent leopard. He was never able to shift, to become the very thing that he is and in order to overcome this “flaw” he fought to become the best at everything he did – he is the Pretty Boy, but also the Boy Genius and the most kick-ass sniper of the lot. Everything about him is cat expect the cat itself. The beast clawing from the inside trying to get out hurts, physically and emotionally but he has done the best he could.

Dorian is also a man consumed with rage, with hate against the Psy ever since his sister was butchered by the Psy serial killer Santano Enrique (Slave to Sensation) .His inability to shift did not keep him from tearing the man apart with his bare hands, and from that hatred comes the main source of conflict between Dorian and Ashaya, as his attraction to her is mingled with a sense of guilt for falling for one of the race that killed his beloved sister.

Especially because at first, everything pointed that she was just another perfectly cold Psy. The accepted view amongst that race is that each mind is an independent mind, an autonomous unit. Only Ashaya had always known different because there an unmistakable bond between her and her son and once he is cut out of the Pysnet and entered the Wed of Stars – she feels the impossible, she feels the bond that was not supposed to be there. A bond she also shares with her sister, Amara. As a Psy, she is not supposed to care for Keenan. She is not supposed to care for her sister. She is not supposed to be anything that she is.

Silence has been broken inside Ashaya a long time ago, which helps Dorian accepting her more easily. But she had to keep it not for her sake but for someone else’s. Not spoiling whom she is protecting but her choice means she has been protecting a sociopath just like Enrique for her entire life – and that drives Dorian insane backtracking his acceptance of her until he figures out why she is doing what she is doing and which speaks to the very core of him.

I wondered who his heroine could be – Dorian is one of those larger than life characters whose mere presence in the other books begged for the centre stage. When he finally got his book, it was everything I could hope for and Ashaya was just the perfect match for him. She is one of the smartest and strongest female characters in the whole series, one that can absolutely hold her ground against one of the most dominant of the males.

This book is all about choices: Ashaya for example, can break silence, her denomination is not one of those that need Silence to be kept in check. But she chooses not to until she has to make another choice in a moment of despair. In one very interesting conversation, she tries to convey to Dorian that Silence is not all evil and that some of her race do need it in order to be fully functional.

Both Dorian and Ashaya were surrounded in terrible circumstance that could have disabled them – his latency, her bond with a twin sister – but both got what life gave them and spat on its face. I loved that Ashaya made her choice on how to deal with her sister very early in life and how she stood by it to very end. It would have been easy to just relinquish her link with Amara and just let it go, to quit her sister but she didn’t – and the fact that now she has the whole support of Web of Stars is only a great gift life has bestowed her. Similarly, Dorian is a self made man, not accepting his fate and choosing to become much more than any one could ever hope. He hurts inside SO VERY MUCH for not being able to shift with his cat wanting, struggling, fighting to get out of his skin but never being able to. He has a lot of choices to make in this book and sometimes it’s painful to watch. But oh, so very rewarding.

Meanwhile at the Psy’s den of iniquity we see that Protocol 1 is to make the Psy minds into one huge hive mind with no room for renegades or dissention but since Ashaya, before defecting, was given the task to devise different types of implants –in different grades, we learn that the Council has plans to control the entire race. This seems to be a desperate attempt to control things because at this point it is more and more apparent that more Psy are breaking conditioning, becoming flawed, needing rehabilitation. And in that wave, of course there is a new movement of Psy on the move: The Pure Psy.

In the midst of the Psy – changeling war (any doubt that this is what happening here?) the humans are coming into the game as well, trying to show to the Psy they are not as powerless as they think. Whatever could come from it, it remains to be seen. Always and forever expanding her world, Nalini Singh is. And let’s not forget the power play amongst the councillors, Henry and his wife Shoshanna, Anthony Kyriakus and his connections with the rebellion and of course, Kaleb Krychek, whoever, whatever he is.
And, in this book we meet another member of the rebellious forces: a powerful Traveler Psy (another cool denomination, hooray) named Vasic and I can hear his siren call for his own book.

Having said that, something happened to me whilst reading this book and I am starting to pity the Psy, a race whose very own traits turn against them, making them afraid of themselves. The council may be evil (or are they – all of them?) but the majority of the Psy are just people who are afraid of what they can do. Turning themselves against the very own qualities that make them Psy. It is a tragedy, really.

Anyways, I loved this book. Caressed by Ice remains my favorite but Hostage to Pleasure comes in a close second and if Judd is my favorite hero, Dorian is my favorite changeling.

And the epilogue? A present from Nalini Singh to her long standing readers and ultimately a gift that only a writer that truly loves her characters could ever think of granting to a most beloved hero. It made me cry. I have said before that the world building and the Psy race make this series unique. But the changelings are the series’ heart and soul.

I am so emotionally committed to these characters, I feel like I am pack. So, don’t mind me. I will just be sitting here growling and waiting for the next one. (If only I could have skin privileges too…..)

Notable quote/ parts: There is an amazing conversation between Dorian and Ashaya. Dorian knows she is his mate, and whilst the leopard relishes the thought, the man is torn with guilt, because he knows that he wouldn’t trade her for anything , not even for his sister’s life. That is a very powerful feeling. That moment is when Ashaya makes her decision to give in and embrace Dorian and she goes to him and she is crying and he says “don’t cry” and she days “then don’t hurt” and then he talks about his love for his sister and it’s so sweet and it’s so tender and then, and then Dorian breaks down and CRY. I can not bear to see a man cry, people. I just can’t.

Additional Thoughts: I got an ARC and it came with an excerpt for Branded by Fire, next book in the series to be released next year. This is Mercy’s book and her hero is……Riley! Yes, you heard me right, Nalini Singh is pairing a cat and a wolf. The thought alone of the amount of teasing these two will probably endure by their fellow pack mates would be enough to make me want to read it ASAP. Couple that with the fact that they are both soldiers, both very dominant …..and by reading the excerpt which has a very heated sex scene and I am all…. Mama Mia! I think Nailini Singh should consider asking her publisher to put a warning on the cover: “Beware, danger of spontaneous combustion.”

The excerpt will be available on Nalini Singh’s website from early September so be sure to check it out!

Verdict: Nalini Singh takes her story a step further by adding new characters, new Psy denominations with a sense that everything has a purpose and a goal in mind. Above all, this book has a heart and it’s called Dorian.

Rating: 9 damn near perfection

Tomorrow: Nalini Singh Extravaganza Day 4 – an Exclusive interview with Nalini Singh and a chance to win a copy of Hostage to Pleasure!

Author: Nalini Singh

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Stand Alone / Series: 4th Full length novel of the Psy-Changeling series

Summary: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 losing his best friend, Talin, in the bloody aftermath. Everything good in him died the day he was told that she, too, was dead.

Clay lost Talin once. He will not let her go again, his hunger to possess her, 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.

Why Did I Read the Book: I LOVE this series

Review:

The Forgotten: Once upon a time, before the Silence Protocol was implemented the Psy dreamed, cried and laughed. They also loved and sometimes they loved people form other races. It was not that unusual to have Psy mated with changelings, marrying humans and therefore mixing their blood. These mixed blood Psy were the ones that raged against the Silence Protocol, a program that would wipe their emotions forever. In some basic level, even those understood the necessity of the program in order to protect their race from madness but they also understood the cost. These two factions came to an impasse but the majority chose to remain in the PsyNet and to embrace Silence. No one knows what happened to the others. These days most Psy believe these rebels were neutralized .Forever. There could be no dissent. But that is just another lie, isn’t it?
_________________________

Clay is one of the DarkRiver leopard pack Sentinels. A powerful man with a hole in his life: he lost his best friend Talin, when they were children. A loss he has never been able to get pass. Living on the edge of his own darkness, if any one of the Sentinels was ever close to become a rogue – living outside pack, becoming more animal than human – Clay was the one. Clay is a man who indulges in the madness whenever he wishes, seeing ghosts, still searching for the one he misses most in the world. Until the day his belief that she was dead is shattered into one million pieces when Talin shows up – looking for him. For his help.

Talin is a social worker and there are kids disappearing from all over the country and their bodies are reappearing with their brains missing. When one of her kids, Jonquil, goes missing, she is so desperate she decides to ask for the help from the most dangerous person she knows: Clay. Her childhood friend. Her decision to go looking for him will put things in motion and get their lives back on the track that was always supposed to be.

Talin and Clay first met when Clay was living in the confined space of an apartment lot with his mother – unable to shift into leopard form because the mere sight of it hurt his mother who had lost her changeling mate. A trapped animal inside and out, until when he was 9, he meets this 3 year girl who soothes his beast and from that day onwards she becomes his – his best friend, his future, his to protect and to adore. They are two lost souls that find solace in each other. It is this sense of protection that kicks in and changes their lives when he finds out that her foster father was abusing Talin. Nothing will stop his leopard form protecting her. He kills the father in a savage attack in front of her eyes and is taken to prison where he spends the next four years. Talin is left behind to try to cope with such a violent act from the person she trusted the most to keep her safe, away from violence. Unable to forget she fakes her own death, nearly destroying both of them in the process of separation. In the years to come, Talin becomes exactly what Orrin, her father has told her what she was – a slut. Sleeping around with countless, nameless men, punishing herself for not being pure. Se is truly psychologically sick and it hurts so much to read about it, especially when it’s clear that she thinks Clay would never forgive her if he ever knew.

But now she needs him. Jonquil’s disappearance is killing her and in the end , this is only an excuse for her to go back to where she belongs: at Clay’s side. But things are not easy. She still fears him, she fears herself and what she has done. And she is also dying. Her brain is breaking down. She has dissociate states where se does not know what she is doing and most of them lead to sexual encounters with strangers – her mind acting up on those issues coming from her abusive foster father.

Clay is shaken to his core every time he is near her and smells her fear, it tears a piece of his heart. He feels she rejects what he is, just like his own mother did. But what Clay doesn’t understand is that Talin was but a child when she was faced with his most violent side. Clay up to that moment, had been the only person she always believed would never hurt her, and to see him losing control like that snapped something inside her, something that needed years to understand.

Now that she may be ready for him, they may not have time. But once Clay gets pass the hurtful truths of what she has done, the reality settles in and he change gears into hero mode, and it is easy to recognize the facts: She is the brat, he is the bully and they belong together. Simple as that.

This was the hardest installment in the Psy-Changeling series to read because the psychological problems Talin had felt so real and were very distressing for me as a reader. It hurt me to read about the things she went through and above all, it hurt me to read Clay’s inner thoughts, his struggle with learning how much she suffered and how he wasn’t there. One of the best thing in this series is how Nalini Singh develops this sense that these changeling males are all about protecting their mates, putting them above all and the fact that Clay could not protect her killed him inside and therefore made me hurt so, so much. It was painful but it was also rewarding when they were finally able to let the past go and start their lives together, as it was supposed to be from the start.

All of this intertwined with the investigating of the children’s disappearance and their desperate search for Jonquil until they find out that everything has to do with the Forgotten.

From the Psy perspective, we learn Councilor Kaleb Krychek, as a cardinal telekinetic, has a natural affinity with the NetMind (we learned about the NetMind in Visions of Heat) and its counterpart the DarkMind. If the Net Mind is light and goodness, the DarkMind held all the violence that Silence tried to suppress. That this one man has the power to communicate with it – just like Faith communicate with the NetMind does not bode well in my opinion, Kaleb is turning out to he a bigger player and lord only knows for which side. The DarkMind is pure evil and it spoke to him when he was 7 years of age. Plus he is planning to take over the council – but what for? Good or evil? Being the geek that I am I can not help but to wonder if there is a clue in his surname – as an X-File fan I am instantly reminded of another Krychek – one that we never truly knew if he was good or evil, having the potential to be either. I remain suspicious but with an open mind.

The action comes to a climax when Clay and Dorian rescue Jonquil – with the help from someone from the inside. As we know from Caressed by Ice , Ashaya is a powerful M-Psy working on a Protocol to unify the Psy in a hive mind. In Mine to Possess we learn she is working under duress and her helping Jonquil’s escape comes with a price – the leopard pack must rescue her own son who is being held hostage by the Psy as leverage for her compliance.

That sets things in motion for Hostage to Pleasure – Ashaya is Dorian’s heroine and the downfall of Protocol 1 is at the center of the action in that book.

This is a powerful story of love lost and found again, of redemption, of evil and good and of soul mates. It is heart wrenching but also very heart warming. It made me cry. But it also made me smile.

Notable quotes/ parts:

Notable quotes/ Parts: I think one of the most painful scenes I ever read in any book, not only romance novels was when Talin was telling Clay how she called for him during those nights when she was being abused. She called his name but he never came because she never really told him what was going on because he was only 8 then and she thought he would not cope or survive and she needed to protect him. She knew that it was her choice, but still deep inside she blames him for never coming to her and she opens up her heart by telling that to him and it hurts him so much. And he says:

“I am a leopard” he said “our women are everything to us. I would rather die than have you hurt. Don’t ever try to protect me again”

Additional Thoughts:

I could feel how much it pained Clay that she chose to stay away from him. Their relationship was always meant to be and it reminded me quite a lot of the deep connection Cathy and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights shared. But Cathy also left Heathcliff and he could never forgive her. This passage from Wuthering Heights reminds me of Clay’s feelings:

“You loved me–then what right had you to leave me? What right–answer me–for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery, and degradation and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart–you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine”

Verdict:This is yet another fantastic installment in a fantastic series and if you have not started reading it, you do not know what you are missing.
Rating: 8, Excellent.

Tomorrow: Nalini Singh Extravaganza Day 3 – Review of Hostage to Pleasure

Author: Nalini Singh

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Stand Alone / Series: 4th Full length novel of the Psy-Changeling series

Summary: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 losing his best friend, Talin, in the bloody aftermath. Everything good in him died the day he was told that she, too, was dead.

Clay lost Talin once. He will not let her go again, his hunger to possess her, 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.

Why Did I Read the Book: I LOVE this series

Review:

The Forgotten: Once upon a time, before the Silence Protocol was implemented the Psy dreamed, cried and laughed. They also loved and sometimes they loved people form other races. It was not that unusual to have Psy mated with changelings, marrying humans and therefore mixing their blood. These mixed blood Psy were the ones that raged against the Silence Protocol, a program that would wipe their emotions forever. In some basic level, even those understood the necessity of the program in order to protect their race from madness but they also understood the cost. These two factions came to an impasse but the majority chose to remain in the PsyNet and to embrace Silence. No one knows what happened to the others. These days most Psy believe these rebels were neutralized .Forever. There could be no dissent. But that is just another lie, isn’t it?
_________________________

Clay is one of the DarkRiver leopard pack Sentinels. A powerful man with a hole in his life: he lost his best friend Talin, when they were children. A loss he has never been able to get pass. Living on the edge of his own darkness, if any one of the Sentinels was ever close to become a rogue – living outside pack, becoming more animal than human – Clay was the one. Clay is a man who indulges in the madness whenever he wishes, seeing ghosts, still searching for the one he misses most in the world. Until the day his belief that she was dead is shattered into one million pieces when Talin shows up – looking for him. For his help.

Talin is a social worker and there are kids disappearing from all over the country and their bodies are reappearing with their brains missing. When one of her kids, Jonquil, goes missing, she is so desperate she decides to ask for the help from the most dangerous person she knows: Clay. Her childhood friend. Her decision to go looking for him will put things in motion and get their lives back on the track that was always supposed to be.

Talin and Clay first met when Clay was living in the confined space of an apartment lot with his mother – unable to shift into leopard form because the mere sight of it hurt his mother who had lost her changeling mate. A trapped animal inside and out, until when he was 9, he meets this 3 year girl who soothes his beast and from that day onwards she becomes his – his best friend, his future, his to protect and to adore. They are two lost souls that find solace in each other. It is this sense of protection that kicks in and changes their lives when he finds out that her foster father was abusing Talin. Nothing will stop his leopard form protecting her. He kills the father in a savage attack in front of her eyes and is taken to prison where he spends the next four years. Talin is left behind to try to cope with such a violent act from the person she trusted the most to keep her safe, away from violence. Unable to forget she fakes her own death, nearly destroying both of them in the process of separation. In the years to come, Talin becomes exactly what Orrin, her father has told her what she was – a slut. Sleeping around with countless, nameless men, punishing herself for not being pure. Se is truly psychologically sick and it hurts so much to read about it, especially when it’s clear that she thinks Clay would never forgive her if he ever knew.

But now she needs him. Jonquil’s disappearance is killing her and in the end , this is only an excuse for her to go back to where she belongs: at Clay’s side. But things are not easy. She still fears him, she fears herself and what she has done. And she is also dying. Her brain is breaking down. She has dissociate states where se does not know what she is doing and most of them lead to sexual encounters with strangers – her mind acting up on those issues coming from her abusive foster father.

Clay is shaken to his core every time he is near her and smells her fear, it tears a piece of his heart. He feels she rejects what he is, just like his own mother did. But what Clay doesn’t understand is that Talin was but a child when she was faced with his most violent side. Clay up to that moment, had been the only person she always believed would never hurt her, and to see him losing control like that snapped something inside her, something that needed years to understand.

Now that she may be ready for him, they may not have time. But once Clay gets pass the hurtful truths of what she has done, the reality settles in and he change gears into hero mode, and it is easy to recognize the facts: She is the brat, he is the bully and they belong together. Simple as that.

This was the hardest installment in the Psy-Changeling series to read because the psychological problems Talin had felt so real and were very distressing for me as a reader. It hurt me to read about the things she went through and above all, it hurt me to read Clay’s inner thoughts, his struggle with learning how much she suffered and how he wasn’t there. One of the best thing in this series is how Nalini Singh develops this sense that these changeling males are all about protecting their mates, putting them above all and the fact that Clay could not protect her killed him inside and therefore made me hurt so, so much. It was painful but it was also rewarding when they were finally able to let the past go and start their lives together, as it was supposed to be from the start.

All of this intertwined with the investigating of the children’s disappearance and their desperate search for Jonquil until they find out that everything has to do with the Forgotten.

From the Psy perspective, we learn Councilor Kaleb Krychek, as a cardinal telekinetic, has a natural affinity with the NetMind (we learned about the NetMind in Visions of Heat) and its counterpart the DarkMind. If the Net Mind is light and goodness, the DarkMind held all the violence that Silence tried to suppress. That this one man has the power to communicate with it – just like Faith communicate with the NetMind does not bode well in my opinion, Kaleb is turning out to he a bigger player and lord only knows for which side. The DarkMind is pure evil and it spoke to him when he was 7 years of age. Plus he is planning to take over the council – but what for? Good or evil? Being the geek that I am I can not help but to wonder if there is a clue in his surname – as an X-File fan I am instantly reminded of another Krychek – one that we never truly knew if he was good or evil, having the potential to be either. I remain suspicious but with an open mind.

The action comes to a climax when Clay and Dorian rescue Jonquil – with the help from someone from the inside. As we know from Caressed by Ice , Ashaya is a powerful M-Psy working on a Protocol to unify the Psy in a hive mind. In Mine to Possess we learn she is working under duress and her helping Jonquil’s escape comes with a price – the leopard pack must rescue her own son who is being held hostage by the Psy as leverage for her compliance.

That sets things in motion for Hostage to Pleasure – Ashaya is Dorian’s heroine and the downfall of Protocol 1 is at the center of the action in that book.

This is a powerful story of love lost and found again, of redemption, of evil and good and of soul mates. It is heart wrenching but also very heart warming. It made me cry. But it also made me smile.

Notable quotes/ parts:

Notable quotes/ Parts: I think one of the most painful scenes I ever read in any book, not only romance novels was when Talin was telling Clay how she called for him during those nights when she was being abused. She called his name but he never came because she never really told him what was going on because he was only 8 then and she thought he would not cope or survive and she needed to protect him. She knew that it was her choice, but still deep inside she blames him for never coming to her and she opens up her heart by telling that to him and it hurts him so much. And he says:

“I am a leopard” he said “our women are everything to us. I would rather die than have you hurt. Don’t ever try to protect me again”

Additional Thoughts:

I could feel how much it pained Clay that she chose to stay away from him. Their relationship was always meant to be and it reminded me quite a lot of the deep connection Cathy and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights shared. But Cathy also left Heathcliff and he could never forgive her. This passage from Wuthering Heights reminds me of Clay’s feelings:

“You loved me–then what right had you to leave me? What right–answer me–for the poor fancy you felt for Linton? Because misery, and degradation and death, and nothing that God or Satan could inflict would have parted us, you, of your own will, did it. I have not broken your heart–you have broken it; and in breaking it, you have broken mine”

Verdict:This is yet another fantastic installment in a fantastic series and if you have not started reading it, you do not know what you are missing.
Rating: 8, Excellent.

Tomorrow: Nalini Singh Extravaganza Day 3 – Review of Hostage to Pleasure

Author: Nalini Singh

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Stand Alone/ Series: Book 3 of the Psy/Changeling series.
Book 1 – Slave to Sensation
Book 2 – Visions of Heat

Summary: As an Arrow, an elite soldier in the Psy Council ranks, Judd Lauren was forced to do terrible things in the name of his people. Now a defector, his dark abilities have made him the most deadly of assassins—cold, pitiless, unfeeling. Until he meets Brenna… Brenna Shane Kincaid was an innocent before she was abducted—and had her mind violated—by a serial killer. Her sense of evil runs so deep, she fears she could become a killer herself. Then the first dead body is found, victim of a familiar madness. Judd is her only hope, yet her sensual changeling side rebels against the inhuman chill of his personality, even as desire explodes between them. Shocking and raw, their passion is a danger that threatens not only their hearts, but their very lives…

Why Did I Read the Book: even though book 1, Slave to Sensation did not rock my world, book 2, Visions of Heat, did. Reading book 3 (and 4 and 5) was only but a natural progression.

Review:

In the perfect silent world of the Psy there is no room for unwanted emotion, in their minds or in their souls. The Silence Protocol was implemented in an attempt to thwart the madness typical to their race and a secretive squad, the Arrow Squad, was created to control the backlash. Almost a myth for most Psy, except for the ones that come into contact with them. An Arrow is a warrior with spectacular mental combat abilities used to wipe out any Psy that may be breaking the Silence Protocol. Arrows are loyal only to the Silence Protocol. Or at least, they should be.

_________________________________

This is the first book in the Psy-Changeling series where the action takes place in the SnowDance wolf pack rather than in the DarkRiver leopard pack. A welcomed change of scenario – not because one gets tired of the DarkRiver pack ( far from it, how could one possibly get tired of such an amazing group of people?) but because learning about another pack adds another perspective to the world Nalini Singh has created.

Brenna is the wolf changeling that was at the centre of the mystery in Slave to Sensation – she was the wolf taken by the crazy Psy serial killer, the event that precipitated the action in that book. Rescued from a fate worse than death, in a combined effort of DarkRiver and SnowDance packs with the help of the Judd Lauren, a Psy who defected from the PsyNet joining the SnowDance pack.

Brenna is broken. The torture she endured has done things to her down to the very core of what she is – she was raped in every possible way and her mind was taken and ripped and controlled. Brenna is in the slow process of recovering; of bringing herself back together and to everyone’s consternation, the person that has helped her most is the cold, unfeeling Judd Lauren.

Judd was one of the first Psy to have ever defected from the PsyNet, ahem, that we know of, along with his family. They have been living in hiding with the SnowDance pack, having created their own net to support their minds – the LaurenNet.

Judd and Brenna have already a relationship as the book opens: they are sort of friends with Judd being the only person that does not overprotect her, unlike her brothers Andrew and Riley. He just lets her be. His pitiless, coldness, typically Psy, is exactly what she needs to be able to recover. But there is more to them because Brenna starts to realise that she wants to be near the man that helps her control her mind but also speaks to very heart of the wolf inside of her. Judd on the other hand, as cold as any Psy can be, also starts to develop feelings for Brenna but he just can’t allow this, whatever this is, to develop.

Because for Judd, touch and feelings foster the possibility of loss of control. Unlike the other two Psy protagonists in the two previous books Sascha and Faith, Judd’s problem is not getting away and surviving outside the PsyNet because he has done that already. Judd’s problem is that he used to be an Arrow and the Silence Protocol is whatever has been holding together his capacity to do violence. He believes he was recruited to the Arrow Squad because of what he can do, because of his mind abilities, he didn’t become a threat because he was an arrow, it was the other way around. He believes himself to be a prime example of the very thing the Silence was created for. And the most tragic element in their love story is that even though Judd is Psy to his core, he KNOWS that the Silence is an arbitrary condition – he would be fully prepared to accept feelings but he just can’t. He also believes that his own conditioning is what keeps his immense power in check and breaking it could bring death to the people around him , specially Brenna. His struggle to fight the feelings, to fight her closeness is a thing to behold as is the moment he realises he can not fight it, will not fight it anymore and gives in to feelings. They will eventually bring about is own death and every times he is near Brenna and feels, he gets pain triggers, and he bleeds, but the alternative now has become unthinkable.

The romantic plot in this book is absolutely extraordinary because both Judd and Brenna must go at great lengths to be with each other. Changelings crave touch because it centres them but it has the opposite effect to Judd. Brenna needs to learn to cope with a mate that won’t fit the mold she would like whilst Judd will learn valuable lessons from Hawke, the alpha male of the wolf pack (Changeling 101 lesson #1 always stand by your female in public). And they are both overcoming immense obstacles even though they believe there is no mating bond between them – their wanting to be together is all the more powerful for it. What the Psy has caused them: the torture that changed Brenna and the protocol that has Judd holding back is so cruel and heart wrenching. Their HEA was the most difficulty to achieve and the one that has melted my heart.

But the romantic element is by not by any means all that is amazing about this book. It is but one of the treads that are interconnected – there is the not so small detail that someone is trying to kill Brenna and that mystery is not revealed until the last chapters and the villain is not easy to guess. Their concept of good and evil is to be challenged when the mystery is finally solved. It does no detract from the overall story, quite the contrary. The mystery further develops all the conflict and it serves as a powerful wake up call to every one involved: evil is everywhere.

Furthermore, we get glimpses of our DarkRiver favorites and get to know a lot more about Hawke (Hawke! His book could not come soon enough) and the usual chapters from the Psy point of view, which starts a story arc that will expand throughout the next two books:

Kaleb Krychek, a cardinal Psy and the newest member of the Psy council has been doing something out of his own accord. He has a hidden agenda that has something to do with the implement of Protocol 1- a program to implement Silent at an organic level. The last desperate attempt to avoid more breakdowns and desertions. A creation of a hive mind, where freedom is impossible. Their head scientist is Ashaya Aleine (mark this name , because she is important!) a Gradient 9.9 M-Psy and there is a rumour going around that she is not entirely supportive of the Protocol which could only help the insurgents. Plus there is the ever present Ghost, someone very close to the Council that with help from Judd has been attacking and destroying laboratories connected with the project.

I open and close the review with the Psy world because that is one of the greatest creations in the series. We all have read about changelings in other series but the Psy is unique to Nalini Singh. And its uniqueness come from that everything that they are, everything that they believe in is a concocted lie. And they are coming down.

This is where I feel, Nalini Singh has come into full control of her writing, bringing it to perfection point. There isn’t a single thing I can think of that isn’t perfect about this book. It is honed to a point where everything meets, all is interconnected, it expands the world she has created, adding new information. Nothing is lost and everything has a point and a reason.

Hello Lord this is me Ana, please send my love to Nalini Singh for having created such an amazing story.

I love all the books in the series but Caressed by Ice is by far, my favorite.

Notable quotes/ Parts: I love every single thing about this book. But I particularly loved to see Judd, The Man of Ice to start accepting the things that were inherent to a changeling personality but not to his – like for example his reaction to Brenna calling him baby. Or how she would just tell him what to do “you need to hold me now”. He did have some instincts though and in the end he learns how to laugh and how to play, but only with Brenna. *sighs*

Additional Thoughts: I love all of the DarkRiver heroes, their Alpha and their Sentinels: Lucas, Vaughn , Nate, Clay, Dorian and I love how they are a perfect balance of human and animal and how they are at ease with every aspect of their personality embracing every single thing that makes them alive, be it good, be it bad. They just are the perfect Alpha heroes in any romance novel. And just as they are the epitome of the Alpha Male , it is easy for them within the reality of the world created by Nalini Singh, to be heroic and the dream man of any romance reader.

And this is why, amongst all of that goodness , Judd stands out as my favourite Nalini Singh hero to date. Because out of all of them he is the one that needs to embrace things he has never thought he would be able to. He is the one to have a long way to go, the most arduous path, and one that he believed would cause his own destruction but one he resolutely followed anyway because the option of not being with Brenna was just not an option at all.

Plus he has the coolest Psy powers of them all. Who cares about empathy and future predicting? Pffft. His telekinesis is so powerful he can TELEPORT, babies. And don’t even get me started on TK Sex. It is, quite possibly, the hottest sex I have ever read in a romance.

Verdict: This is one of the best paranormal romance series out there. There is an overall arc of Psy x Changelings that expands throughout all the instalments and every detail in the world building remains consistent. Romance wise? Dream worthy.

Rating: Caressed by Ice gets a 10 from me. It is perfect. I have read and re-read it more times than I can count.

Tomorrow: Nalini Singh Extravaganza day 2: Review of Mine to Possess.

Kate
Aymless

Please ladies, email us your address to thebooksmugglersAThotmailDOTcom.

Congratulations, hope you enjoy the book as much as we did!

Author: Nalini Singh

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Stand Alone/ Series: Book 3 of the Psy/Changeling series.
Book 1 – Slave to Sensation
Book 2 – Visions of Heat

Summary: As an Arrow, an elite soldier in the Psy Council ranks, Judd Lauren was forced to do terrible things in the name of his people. Now a defector, his dark abilities have made him the most deadly of assassins—cold, pitiless, unfeeling. Until he meets Brenna… Brenna Shane Kincaid was an innocent before she was abducted—and had her mind violated—by a serial killer. Her sense of evil runs so deep, she fears she could become a killer herself. Then the first dead body is found, victim of a familiar madness. Judd is her only hope, yet her sensual changeling side rebels against the inhuman chill of his personality, even as desire explodes between them. Shocking and raw, their passion is a danger that threatens not only their hearts, but their very lives…

Why Did I Read the Book: even though book 1, Slave to Sensation did not rock my world, book 2, Visions of Heat, did. Reading book 3 (and 4 and 5) was only but a natural progression.

Review:

In the perfect silent world of the Psy there is no room for unwanted emotion, in their minds or in their souls. The Silence Protocol was implemented in an attempt to thwart the madness typical to their race and a secretive squad, the Arrow Squad, was created to control the backlash. Almost a myth for most Psy, except for the ones that come into contact with them. An Arrow is a warrior with spectacular mental combat abilities used to wipe out any Psy that may be breaking the Silence Protocol. Arrows are loyal only to the Silence Protocol. Or at least, they should be.

_________________________________

This is the first book in the Psy-Changeling series where the action takes place in the SnowDance wolf pack rather than in the DarkRiver leopard pack. A welcomed change of scenario – not because one gets tired of the DarkRiver pack ( far from it, how could one possibly get tired of such an amazing group of people?) but because learning about another pack adds another perspective to the world Nalini Singh has created.

Brenna is the wolf changeling that was at the centre of the mystery in Slave to Sensation – she was the wolf taken by the crazy Psy serial killer, the event that precipitated the action in that book. Rescued from a fate worse than death, in a combined effort of DarkRiver and SnowDance packs with the help of the Judd Lauren, a Psy who defected from the PsyNet joining the SnowDance pack.

Brenna is broken. The torture she endured has done things to her down to the very core of what she is – she was raped in every possible way and her mind was taken and ripped and controlled. Brenna is in the slow process of recovering; of bringing herself back together and to everyone’s consternation, the person that has helped her most is the cold, unfeeling Judd Lauren.

Judd was one of the first Psy to have ever defected from the PsyNet, ahem, that we know of, along with his family. They have been living in hiding with the SnowDance pack, having created their own net to support their minds – the LaurenNet.

Judd and Brenna have already a relationship as the book opens: they are sort of friends with Judd being the only person that does not overprotect her, unlike her brothers Andrew and Riley. He just lets her be. His pitiless, coldness, typically Psy, is exactly what she needs to be able to recover. But there is more to them because Brenna starts to realise that she wants to be near the man that helps her control her mind but also speaks to very heart of the wolf inside of her. Judd on the other hand, as cold as any Psy can be, also starts to develop feelings for Brenna but he just can’t allow this, whatever this is, to develop.

Because for Judd, touch and feelings foster the possibility of loss of control. Unlike the other two Psy protagonists in the two previous books Sascha and Faith, Judd’s problem is not getting away and surviving outside the PsyNet because he has done that already. Judd’s problem is that he used to be an Arrow and the Silence Protocol is whatever has been holding together his capacity to do violence. He believes he was recruited to the Arrow Squad because of what he can do, because of his mind abilities, he didn’t become a threat because he was an arrow, it was the other way around. He believes himself to be a prime example of the very thing the Silence was created for. And the most tragic element in their love story is that even though Judd is Psy to his core, he KNOWS that the Silence is an arbitrary condition – he would be fully prepared to accept feelings but he just can’t. He also believes that his own conditioning is what keeps his immense power in check and breaking it could bring death to the people around him , specially Brenna. His struggle to fight the feelings, to fight her closeness is a thing to behold as is the moment he realises he can not fight it, will not fight it anymore and gives in to feelings. They will eventually bring about is own death and every times he is near Brenna and feels, he gets pain triggers, and he bleeds, but the alternative now has become unthinkable.

The romantic plot in this book is absolutely extraordinary because both Judd and Brenna must go at great lengths to be with each other. Changelings crave touch because it centres them but it has the opposite effect to Judd. Brenna needs to learn to cope with a mate that won’t fit the mold she would like whilst Judd will learn valuable lessons from Hawke, the alpha male of the wolf pack (Changeling 101 lesson #1 always stand by your female in public). And they are both overcoming immense obstacles even though they believe there is no mating bond between them – their wanting to be together is all the more powerful for it. What the Psy has caused them: the torture that changed Brenna and the protocol that has Judd holding back is so cruel and heart wrenching. Their HEA was the most difficulty to achieve and the one that has melted my heart.

But the romantic element is by not by any means all that is amazing about this book. It is but one of the treads that are interconnected – there is the not so small detail that someone is trying to kill Brenna and that mystery is not revealed until the last chapters and the villain is not easy to guess. Their concept of good and evil is to be challenged when the mystery is finally solved. It does no detract from the overall story, quite the contrary. The mystery further develops all the conflict and it serves as a powerful wake up call to every one involved: evil is everywhere.

Furthermore, we get glimpses of our DarkRiver favorites and get to know a lot more about Hawke (Hawke! His book could not come soon enough) and the usual chapters from the Psy point of view, which starts a story arc that will expand throughout the next two books:

Kaleb Krychek, a cardinal Psy and the newest member of the Psy council has been doing something out of his own accord. He has a hidden agenda that has something to do with the implement of Protocol 1- a program to implement Silent at an organic level. The last desperate attempt to avoid more breakdowns and desertions. A creation of a hive mind, where freedom is impossible. Their head scientist is Ashaya Aleine (mark this name , because she is important!) a Gradient 9.9 M-Psy and there is a rumour going around that she is not entirely supportive of the Protocol which could only help the insurgents. Plus there is the ever present Ghost, someone very close to the Council that with help from Judd has been attacking and destroying laboratories connected with the project.

I open and close the review with the Psy world because that is one of the greatest creations in the series. We all have read about changelings in other series but the Psy is unique to Nalini Singh. And its uniqueness come from that everything that they are, everything that they believe in is a concocted lie. And they are coming down.

This is where I feel, Nalini Singh has come into full control of her writing, bringing it to perfection point. There isn’t a single thing I can think of that isn’t perfect about this book. It is honed to a point where everything meets, all is interconnected, it expands the world she has created, adding new information. Nothing is lost and everything has a point and a reason.

Hello Lord this is me Ana, please send my love to Nalini Singh for having created such an amazing story.

I love all the books in the series but Caressed by Ice is by far, my favorite.

Notable quotes/ Parts: I love every single thing about this book. But I particularly loved to see Judd, The Man of Ice to start accepting the things that were inherent to a changeling personality but not to his – like for example his reaction to Brenna calling him baby. Or how she would just tell him what to do “you need to hold me now”. He did have some instincts though and in the end he learns how to laugh and how to play, but only with Brenna. *sighs*

Additional Thoughts: I love all of the DarkRiver heroes, their Alpha and their Sentinels: Lucas, Vaughn , Nate, Clay, Dorian and I love how they are a perfect balance of human and animal and how they are at ease with every aspect of their personality embracing every single thing that makes them alive, be it good, be it bad. They just are the perfect Alpha heroes in any romance novel. And just as they are the epitome of the Alpha Male , it is easy for them within the reality of the world created by Nalini Singh, to be heroic and the dream man of any romance reader.

And this is why, amongst all of that goodness , Judd stands out as my favourite Nalini Singh hero to date. Because out of all of them he is the one that needs to embrace things he has never thought he would be able to. He is the one to have a long way to go, the most arduous path, and one that he believed would cause his own destruction but one he resolutely followed anyway because the option of not being with Brenna was just not an option at all.

Plus he has the coolest Psy powers of them all. Who cares about empathy and future predicting? Pffft. His telekinesis is so powerful he can TELEPORT, babies. And don’t even get me started on TK Sex. It is, quite possibly, the hottest sex I have ever read in a romance.

Verdict: This is one of the best paranormal romance series out there. There is an overall arc of Psy x Changelings that expands throughout all the instalments and every detail in the world building remains consistent. Romance wise? Dream worthy.

Rating: Caressed by Ice gets a 10 from me. It is perfect. I have read and re-read it more times than I can count.

Tomorrow: Nalini Singh Extravaganza day 2: Review of Mine to Possess.

Kate
Aymless

Please ladies, email us your address to thebooksmugglersAThotmailDOTcom.

Congratulations, hope you enjoy the book as much as we did!

Author: Marianne Mancusi

Genre: Shomi – Sci fi Romance

Stand Alone / Series: Stand Alone

Summary: Molly Anderson is not your average twenty-one-year-old. It’s been six years since she and her family escaped into a bunker, led by her conspiracy theorist father and his foreknowledge of a plot to bring about the apocalypse. But her father’s precautions didn’t stop there. Molly is now built to survive. Yes, Ian Anderson’s favorite book gave him ideas on how to “improve” his daughter. Molly is faster, stronger, and her ocular implants and razor-tipped nails set her apart. Apart, when—venturing alone out of the bunker and into a plague ravaged, monster-ridden wilderness—what Molly needs most is togetherness. Chase Griffin, a friend from her past, is her best bet. But while he and others have miraculously survived, the kind boy has become a tormented man. Together, these remnants of humanity must struggle toward trusting each other and journey to the one place Molly’s father believed all civilization would be reborn: the Magic Kingdom, where everyone knows it’s a small world after all.

Why did I read the book: I got the ARC from the publishers. I was going to read it anyway, but The Book Binge’s Shomi Spotlight (Holly has a review of Razor Girl, here) made me want to read it pronto. Then of course, my Powerpuff buddy, Katie, got it too then…here I am .

Review:

It’s the year 2036, six years after most of the world’s population has succumbed to the Super Flu. Few have survived, mostly children and the adults who were immune to the virus. And The Others, adults infested with a mutating string of the virus which turned them into zombies, mindless, slow, flesh eating creatures, out to eat the healthy survivors.

21 year old Molly Anderson has lived the past six years in an old bomb shelter adapted to the latest technology by her crazy cum scientist cum conspiracy theorist father to hold against invasions and against the virus, to protect Molly and her mother for the six years necessary for the virus to subside in the air while he and his friends set up a new society at Disney World.

As the doors open,Molly has one mission: to go meet her father and help the rebuilding of the world. As she leaves the bunker, the first person she sees is her old sweetheart Chris Griffin, the geek boy who has loved her since they were children andwith whom she fell in love just before going into the shelter. Chase – as he is known now – lives with his brother Trey, and a few other survivors ( mostly children) at a Wal-Mart. They are happy to see each other alive and well,but there is still some underlying angst about the fact that Molly has stood him up the night they were set to leave town together without so much as a goodbye. Molly agrees to spend the night at their shelter and go on her way the next morning: she has no time to lose for Molly is a Razor Girl.

Based on her father’s favorite character out of the Book Neuromancer, Molly Millions, he has changed Molly as soon as the “apocalypse” started to enhance her chances of survival: her eyes have been replaced with ocular implants which allow her to see in the dark and which contains GPS instructions and other techie implements and under her fingernails there are retractable razors. Her tears ducts rerouted to her mouth – she can’t cry, she spits. She also has nano implants that make her stronger, faster but which have a short life span and her time is running, baby and she must go meet her father before she starts to break down.

But that night, one of the guys who had been bitten by an Other and was quarantined, escapes and now turned into a zombie, attacks the adults, killing Chase’s brother and only the children, Molly and Chase survive. Now they all must go to Disney World together – it is a dangerous mission in a dangerous post-apocalyptic world, populated with not only zombies but other crazed surviving humans. Not to mention the not so small fact that Chase has a drug addiction that will put them in danger sooner rather than later.

I am completely torn about this book. At one hand we have the interesting premise which although not extremely original, was still interesting to keep reading about. The thing that I loved the most and thought was really well done were the alternating chapters between the now – the post- apocalyptic world , the struggle for survival and the reunion of the two lovers – and the past with them falling in love for the first time and the virus starting to spread and how Molly became a Molly Millions. I loved their interaction; Chris was a rather sweet geek who truly loved Molly. And I thought the fact that Molly was a Molly Millions was very cool.

But somewhere towards the second half of the book, a few things started to bother me. It was hard to believe in the timeline of the story , to believe that only after six years mankind would decay to the point where some of the survivors would behave like animals and have gladiator-like festivals and the such. Call me naïve, I would like to believe it would take a bit longer than that.

A few things were off, like for example how her mother kills herself right in the first pages of the book and there is little to none reaction from Molly. And the language. Dear Lord, the language! Although it was fully appropriate for the age the characters had – first 15 and then 21- it felt dated and at some points it was cringe worthy. One good example, was when they were having sex and Chase was worrying that he would not last long (which is fair enough, they were basically teenagers who had never had sex before) and then he thinks “Pathetic much?”. Granted they are very young but I can’t allow myself to use that excuse, after I have read other fantastic YA novels, with very young protagonists, who sounded like their age without sounding like two escapees from “Dude Where is my Car”.

I think it would have been more effective if more time had passed – not only that would explain the complete decay of society’s laws but also would make the pair of protagonists a lit but older and therefore a lit bit more palatable for my tastes. Still, the fact itself these two are barely out of teenage years and are all that is left in the world is rather striking and quite possibly the whole point. That these two as kids, were thrown in the midst of so many responsibilities and had to make do without guidance from parents – it is a coming of age tale.

I could have lived with the all that though, but the plot went places I did not like after 2/3 of the book and all of the gloominess and the apocalyptical feel started to go away to be replaced with way too much cookie cutter happiness up to a very tidy ending and a couple of cop-outs that had me screaming at the book. ( a Molly Millions that can cry?? So why all the spitting references then? )

The book begins really well, with a dark edge and a sweet love story. Of course, I wanted a happy ending specially for Chris and Molly and with the hope of a cure in the distance for mankind . I did not expect a Welcome to Disney World Where Everything is Possible kind of ending though, with everything being so resolved it smelled of back tracking. Since the back cover compares the book with I am Legend I will go there and say it: it was just like the movie. Good premise, fantastic start, amazing realisation then from 2/3 onwards, chaos and mayhem in the plot and a cop-out ending. I am pretty sure others would like the book though; it was just not for me.

Notable quotes/ Parts: I can’t really quote anything as I had an ARC copy. But for me the best of the book, was the fact that the chapters alternated between past and present showing what was then and what is now. Very well done.

Additional Thoughts: Fellow Powerpuff girl, Katie(babs) has her own take on the book and I am sure she enjoyed it more than I did. Go check her review later today for a different opinion.

Verdict: it feels more like a YA novel than anything else. An interesting premise (the Disney Wold thing was genius) with a sweet love story, that others may find more appealing that I did. One thing is certain though, I will sure be reading more of the Shomi line.

Rating: 5. meh. Not for me.

Reading next: Caressed by Ice by Nalini Singh, which kicks off our Nalini Stravaganza from tomorrow!

Author: Marianne Mancusi

Genre: Shomi – Sci fi Romance

Stand Alone / Series: Stand Alone

Summary: Molly Anderson is not your average twenty-one-year-old. It’s been six years since she and her family escaped into a bunker, led by her conspiracy theorist father and his foreknowledge of a plot to bring about the apocalypse. But her father’s precautions didn’t stop there. Molly is now built to survive. Yes, Ian Anderson’s favorite book gave him ideas on how to “improve” his daughter. Molly is faster, stronger, and her ocular implants and razor-tipped nails set her apart. Apart, when—venturing alone out of the bunker and into a plague ravaged, monster-ridden wilderness—what Molly needs most is togetherness. Chase Griffin, a friend from her past, is her best bet. But while he and others have miraculously survived, the kind boy has become a tormented man. Together, these remnants of humanity must struggle toward trusting each other and journey to the one place Molly’s father believed all civilization would be reborn: the Magic Kingdom, where everyone knows it’s a small world after all.

Why did I read the book: I got the ARC from the publishers. I was going to read it anyway, but The Book Binge’s Shomi Spotlight (Holly has a review of Razor Girl, here) made me want to read it pronto. Then of course, my Powerpuff buddy, Katie, got it too then…here I am .

Review:

It’s the year 2036, six years after most of the world’s population has succumbed to the Super Flu. Few have survived, mostly children and the adults who were immune to the virus. And The Others, adults infested with a mutating string of the virus which turned them into zombies, mindless, slow, flesh eating creatures, out to eat the healthy survivors.

21 year old Molly Anderson has lived the past six years in an old bomb shelter adapted to the latest technology by her crazy cum scientist cum conspiracy theorist father to hold against invasions and against the virus, to protect Molly and her mother for the six years necessary for the virus to subside in the air while he and his friends set up a new society at Disney World.

As the doors open,Molly has one mission: to go meet her father and help the rebuilding of the world. As she leaves the bunker, the first person she sees is her old sweetheart Chris Griffin, the geek boy who has loved her since they were children andwith whom she fell in love just before going into the shelter. Chase – as he is known now – lives with his brother Trey, and a few other survivors ( mostly children) at a Wal-Mart. They are happy to see each other alive and well,but there is still some underlying angst about the fact that Molly has stood him up the night they were set to leave town together without so much as a goodbye. Molly agrees to spend the night at their shelter and go on her way the next morning: she has no time to lose for Molly is a Razor Girl.

Based on her father’s favorite character out of the Book Neuromancer, Molly Millions, he has changed Molly as soon as the “apocalypse” started to enhance her chances of survival: her eyes have been replaced with ocular implants which allow her to see in the dark and which contains GPS instructions and other techie implements and under her fingernails there are retractable razors. Her tears ducts rerouted to her mouth – she can’t cry, she spits. She also has nano implants that make her stronger, faster but which have a short life span and her time is running, baby and she must go meet her father before she starts to break down.

But that night, one of the guys who had been bitten by an Other and was quarantined, escapes and now turned into a zombie, attacks the adults, killing Chase’s brother and only the children, Molly and Chase survive. Now they all must go to Disney World together – it is a dangerous mission in a dangerous post-apocalyptic world, populated with not only zombies but other crazed surviving humans. Not to mention the not so small fact that Chase has a drug addiction that will put them in danger sooner rather than later.

I am completely torn about this book. At one hand we have the interesting premise which although not extremely original, was still interesting to keep reading about. The thing that I loved the most and thought was really well done were the alternating chapters between the now – the post- apocalyptic world , the struggle for survival and the reunion of the two lovers – and the past with them falling in love for the first time and the virus starting to spread and how Molly became a Molly Millions. I loved their interaction; Chris was a rather sweet geek who truly loved Molly. And I thought the fact that Molly was a Molly Millions was very cool.

But somewhere towards the second half of the book, a few things started to bother me. It was hard to believe in the timeline of the story , to believe that only after six years mankind would decay to the point where some of the survivors would behave like animals and have gladiator-like festivals and the such. Call me naïve, I would like to believe it would take a bit longer than that.

A few things were off, like for example how her mother kills herself right in the first pages of the book and there is little to none reaction from Molly. And the language. Dear Lord, the language! Although it was fully appropriate for the age the characters had – first 15 and then 21- it felt dated and at some points it was cringe worthy. One good example, was when they were having sex and Chase was worrying that he would not last long (which is fair enough, they were basically teenagers who had never had sex before) and then he thinks “Pathetic much?”. Granted they are very young but I can’t allow myself to use that excuse, after I have read other fantastic YA novels, with very young protagonists, who sounded like their age without sounding like two escapees from “Dude Where is my Car”.

I think it would have been more effective if more time had passed – not only that would explain the complete decay of society’s laws but also would make the pair of protagonists a lit but older and therefore a lit bit more palatable for my tastes. Still, the fact itself these two are barely out of teenage years and are all that is left in the world is rather striking and quite possibly the whole point. That these two as kids, were thrown in the midst of so many responsibilities and had to make do without guidance from parents – it is a coming of age tale.

I could have lived with the all that though, but the plot went places I did not like after 2/3 of the book and all of the gloominess and the apocalyptical feel started to go away to be replaced with way too much cookie cutter happiness up to a very tidy ending and a couple of cop-outs that had me screaming at the book. ( a Molly Millions that can cry?? So why all the spitting references then? )

The book begins really well, with a dark edge and a sweet love story. Of course, I wanted a happy ending specially for Chris and Molly and with the hope of a cure in the distance for mankind . I did not expect a Welcome to Disney World Where Everything is Possible kind of ending though, with everything being so resolved it smelled of back tracking. Since the back cover compares the book with I am Legend I will go there and say it: it was just like the movie. Good premise, fantastic start, amazing realisation then from 2/3 onwards, chaos and mayhem in the plot and a cop-out ending. I am pretty sure others would like the book though; it was just not for me.

Notable quotes/ Parts: I can’t really quote anything as I had an ARC copy. But for me the best of the book, was the fact that the chapters alternated between past and present showing what was then and what is now. Very well done.

Additional Thoughts: Fellow Powerpuff girl, Katie(babs) has her own take on the book and I am sure she enjoyed it more than I did. Go check her review later today for a different opinion.

Verdict: it feels more like a YA novel than anything else. An interesting premise (the Disney Wold thing was genius) with a sweet love story, that others may find more appealing that I did. One thing is certain though, I will sure be reading more of the Shomi line.

Rating: 5. meh. Not for me.

Reading next: Caressed by Ice by Nalini Singh, which kicks off our Nalini Stravaganza from tomorrow!