Tag: Nalini Singh

Categories
Fantasy Romance

Read Storm Echo

Read Storm Echo (Psy-Changeling Trinity, #6; Psy-Changeling,…

Silence has fallen. The Psy are free to feel emotion. Free to love. But Silence was never a prison for Ivan Mercant. The biggest threat to his future lies dormant in his brain—a psychic monster that wants only to feed. And now, the brutal leash he’s kept on that monster is slipping. He prepared for this day, for the end of Ivan Mercant . . . but that was before he met Lei.

As primal as she is human, this wild changeling brings color into his life, laughter to his soul. Then the dream shatters in a rain of blood, in silent bodies in the snow. Lei is gone. Vanished without a trace . . . until he meets strangely familiar eyes across a busy San Francisco street.

Soleil Bijoux Garcia is a healer who has lost everything. She exists in a world of desolate aloneness . . . till the day she finds herself face-to-face with a lethal stranger. The animal who is her other half knows this man, but her memories are tattered fragments. Sorrow and a need for vengeance are all that drive her. Her mission? To kill the alpha of the DarkRiver leopard pack.

But fate has other plans. Soon, a deadly soldier who believes himself a monster and a broken healer might be all that stand between life and death for the entire Psy race.

Enjoyed this. Ivan is very stubborn. His murder hobby is uhhh something, at first I got a Dexter vibe but he’s not a serial killer so that is good I guess. Still could have done without that. Some weird time jumps that might have been clearer in chronological order? Appreciated the Arwen cameos.

Categories
Fantasy Romance

Re-read Visions of Heat

Read Visions of Heat (Psy-Changeling, #2) by 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 the form of either man or jaguar, 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.

This wasn’t a favorite the first time I read it and I don’t think I’ve reread it before. Don’t think I’ll reread it again – thought I’d give it another shot since I was in the mood for a Nalini Singh and this was one of the few currently available at the library. This feels a little outdated in the way the hero interacts with the heroine – she tells him to stop touching her because she can’t handle it and he’s like yeah you can 😒 That’s portrayed as helping her break through her barriers… but doesn’t exactly read as enthusiastic consent :/

I forgot that the first couple books were centered on murder mysteries, it’s not my preference to have serial killers in my romance books. Also not huge on foresight, which is integral to this story. I was impressed to see how many story elements, future characters, and worldbuilding elements she sets up.

The ending of this felt like it peaked too early, the last fifteen percent dragged. I also didn’t like the reveal of the mating bond which is so prominent and important in other books, but here is unremarked until another character asks about it.

Categories
Romance Science Fiction

Re-read Ocean Light

Read Ocean Light (Psy-Changeling Trinity, #2; Psy-Changeling, #17) by Nalini Singh

Security specialist Bowen Knight has come back from the dead. But there’s a ticking time bomb in his head: a chip implanted to block telepathic interference that could fail at any moment—taking his brain along with it. With no time to waste, he should be back on land helping the Human Alliance. Instead, he’s at the bottom of the ocean, consumed with an enigmatic changeling.

Kaia Luna may have traded in science for being a chef, but she won’t hide the facts of Bo’s condition from him or herself. She’s suffered too much loss in her life to fall prey to the dangerous charm of a human who is a dead man walking. And she carries a devastating secret Bo could never imagine . . .

But when Kaia is taken by those who mean her deadly harm, all bets are off. Bo will do anything to get her back—even if it means striking a devil’s bargain and giving up his mind to the enemy.

A lot of this book is about how people respond to trauma. The heroine retreats to safety. The hero launches a movement to empower and protect others like him. The villain seeks to hurt those who didn’t protect him.

The hurt and the fear make this a more fraught read than others in the series. The heroine’s fear is so entrenched and strong it seems hard at times to imagine her finding a way to overcome it.

Categories
Fantasy Romance

Read Declaration of Courtship

Read Declaration of Courtship (Psy-Changeling, #9.5)

A dominant changeling wolf, SnowDancer lieutenant Cooper is not known for his patience. But when it comes to courting the shy, sexy woman he wants in his life and in his bed, he’ll have to use every ounce of control in his body to keep both man and wolf in check . . . at least until he convinces Grace he only bites a little.

One of the most submissive wolves in the SnowDancer pack, Grace knows nothing can come of her sensual fascination with big, bad, beautiful Cooper. He might possess her over and over in erotic dreams that leave her aching for the rough heat of his touch, but she knows that in reality, he is far too dangerous for her to handle. Then Cooper decides to change all the rules . . .

Was in the mood for a comfort read.

Categories
Romance Science Fiction

Read Last Guard

Read Last Guard (Psy-Changeling Trinity, #5; Psy-Changeling, #20) by Nalini Singh

Termed merciless by some, and a robotic sociopath by others, Payal Rao is the perfect Psy: cardinal telekinetic, CEO of a major conglomerate, beautiful—and emotionless.

For Canto Mercant, family and loyalty are everything. A cardinal telepath deemed “imperfect” by his race due to a spinal injury, Canto cares for the opinions of very few—and ruthlessly protects those he claims as his own. Head of intel of the influential Mercant family, he prefers to remain a shadow in the Net, unknown and unseen. But Canto is also an Anchor, part of a secretive designation whose task it is to stabilize the PsyNet. Now that critical psychic network is dying, threatening to collapse and kill the entire Psy race with it.

To save those he loves, Canto needs the help of a woman bound to him by a dark past neither has been able to forget. A woman who is the most powerful Anchor of them all: Payal Rao. Neither is ready for the violent inferno about to ignite in the PsyNet . . . or the passionate madness that threatens to destroy them both.

Thought the story was well-told even if it echoed many other storylines in the world. There were chapters from both their POVs in the present and as children, as well as viewpoints from several other returning characters, plus Pavel (courting Arwen!!!) I thought that approach worked reasonably well although took away some time from seeing the main couple’s perspective.

This is the first book that I feel like she really included all types of diversity — not just a disabled and neurodiverse main couple, which alone would be awesome, but also gay relationships and non-binary folks. I think that the multi-viewpoint perspective helped her incorporate more diversity, even if we’ll never get a novel with a gay or lesbian couple. It felt like she wrote thoughtfully about disabled life and there was no “cure” shenanigans for the hero (like with Dorian…).

I have to roll my eyes a bit at “wow another super important thing that everyone forgot about but now will save everyone”! I feel like there should be enough pieces in the works to pull together a story using existing elements rather than creating something new to have an Exciting New Thing! to move the bigger plot along. It was interesting enough but felt a little “crisis of the week.”

Also how did Psy society survive for so long if they were killing all their disabled, sick and neurodiverse kids, and hurting the two types of people in their midst who were keeping them all alive and sane?

Categories
Romance

Re-read Silver Silence

Read Silver Silence (Psy-Changeling Trinity, #1; Psy-Changeling, #16)

Control. Precision. Family. These are the principles that drive Silver Mercant. At a time when the fledgling Trinity Accord seeks to unit…

Fifth time reading this apparently 😂 I skip over the interlude chapters though, I’m here for the main story line.

Part of what I enjoy about this world is the communal style living and culture of the changeling groups.

Silver Mercant is a great character. Love the way she reacts and commits to things.

Categories
Romance

Re-read Declaration of Courtship

Read Declaration of Courtship (Psy-Changeling, #9.5) by Nalini Singh

One of the most submissive wolves in the SnowDancer pack, Grace knows nothing can come of her sensual fascination with big, bad, beautiful Cooper. He might possess her over and over in erotic dreams that leave her aching for the rough heat of his touch, but she knows that in reality, he is far too dangerous for her to handle. Then Cooper decides to change all the rules…

I like their dance of building trust – that both of them are interested and want more but are going at the speed she can handle it and adapt. She realizes trusting him is not enough, she also needs to trust herself to give him what he needs, and see her own value.

Categories
Romance

Re-read Secrets at Midnight

Read Secrets at Midnight (Psy-Changeling #12.5) by Nalini Singh

A changeling will do anything to find and keep his mate in this smoldering story from New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh.  B…

I’ve been in a reading rut for the past couple weeks, quit probably ten books, so I pulled up this novella. I didn’t like it that well the first time I read it in 2017 but it’s grown on me. The heart of the story is strong, though the overprotective attitude of the hero rubs me a little the wrong way.