Title: Branded by Fire
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Psy-Changeling #6, Psy-Changeling Season One #6
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Paranormal romance, Shapeshifters
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Gollancz
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: “I think you’re fine, now.”

Hailed by Christine Feehan as a major new talent, New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh brings two fierce changelings together in her most explosive story yet.

Though DarkRiver sentinel Mercy is feeling the pressure to mate, she savagely resists when Riley Kincaid, a lieutenant from the SnowDancer pack, tries to possess her. The problem is not simply that he pushes her buttons; the problem is that he’s a wolf, she’s a cat, and they’re both used to being on top.

But when a brilliant changeling researcher is kidnapped from DarkRiver territory, Mercy and Riley must work together to track the young man – before his shadowy captors decide he’s no longer useful. Along the way, the two dominants may find that submitting to one another uncovers not just a deadly conspiracy, but a passion so raw that it could leave them both branded by fire…

I’ve always been a stronger believer in the idea that opposites attract, so it was a pleasure to read a story about two characters that were oil and water, cat and dog (literally). Mercy and Riley are the perfect example of how opposites are able to work together to become better versions of themselves, and help their other half become what is needed. Riley’s rigid, unyielding, ruled nature is offset by Mercy’s firey, free and spirited attitude. Yet, it is their ability to work together that is the most admirable and enviable.

Although there is heat and passion from the beginning of Branded by Fire, there is a lot more resistance to the idea of Riley and Mercy tying their lives together. Partly it is due to their reluctance to pursue someone so contrary to their expectations, in spite of the physical attraction. But it is also partly due to their inability to completely submit to one another. Where the past Psy-Changeling stories have focused on female characters with a spine of steel, they have also been softer, and more submissive than their counterparts – a good balance to the pushy dominance of a male who is used to being in charge. However, Mercy is herself a soldier and incredibly pushy, and unwilling to give up her identity for the sake of a man. Which is why she is by far one of my favourite leads in the Psy-Changeling stories.

Image source: Open Book Society

Title: Hostage to Pleasure
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Psy-Changeling #5, Psy-Changeling Season One #5
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Paranormal romance, Shapeshifters
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Gollancz
Year: 2008
5th sentence, 74th page: “Do it,” he whispered.

With her darkly seductive Psy-Changeling world, Nalini Singh has created a sensual, dangerous adventure that’s not to be missed. Now, as the deadly Psy Council tightens its grip, a rebel Psy scientist finds herself at the mercy of a changeling who has sworn vengeance against her kind…

Separated from her son and tasked to create a neural implant that will mean the effective enslavement of her psychically gifted race, Ashaya Aleine is the perfect Psy – calm, cool, 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 Chistensen 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…

Dorian’s stoic, supportive outlook and terrifyingly cold rage pulled me in from the first Psy-Changeling book. His loyalty to his Pack, and the outrageous pain that he felt at his sister’s loss create a stunning character, even when he is simply lurking at the periphery of other characters’ tales of love and loss. Which means that finally reading a story about the latent leopard and his mate was very rewarding, and I found the tale of Ashaya and Dorian impossible to put down.

Ashaya was one of the most intricately intense and confusing Psy characters which Singh has managed to create thus far. She is obviously driven by love for her son, hinted at in Mine to Possess, but she is hidden by layer upon layer of Silence and fear. Resulting in not an unemotional robot, as many of the Psy are shown to be, but in a woman who is steely and terrified, completely unsure of how to survive her new reality away from her people.

The potent mix of Ashaya’s fear and Dorian’s fury lead to a tale of twists and turns. Partnered with a sociopath and the slow revealing of more of the Psy Councils’ insidious plans and this is a story which has the power to draw you in and leave you in awe. After all, don’t we all want to be hostages to pleasure?

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Title: Mine to Possess
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Psy-Changeling #4, Psy-Changeling Season One #4
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Paranormal romance, Shapeshifters
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Gollancz
Year: 2007
5th sentence, 74th page: Now she gathered up Talin’s self-hatred, revulsion, and anger – such incredible anger – in her psychic arms and absorbed it inside of herself.

Nalini Singh pulls away another dark layer of sheer desire, revealing passions unknown, in her latest novel about the world of the Psy. 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 losing 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 is stalking her life – 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 heat, and steels herself to ask the help of the strongest man she knows…

Clay lost Talin once. He will not let her go again, his hunger to possess her is 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 risk losing everything that ever mattered.

This by far is my favourite Psy-Changeling book so far. The idea of loving someone since you were a child and never wanting to let them go is the epitome of soul mates and childhood sweethearts. Not something that I could ever truly conceive, but in the pages of a book, it is very sweet. Not to mention the sense of loyalty that jumps off the pages, and for me, loyalty and faith in one another are huge cornerstones in any good relationship.

Not to say that this love story was an easy journey – it was anything but. Singh likes to have her characters run the gauntlet in their pursuit of their mates, and it was no different for Clay and Tally. Forced to face their complex pasts while racing to save lost children, they are forced to come to terms with both who they are, and what they have done.

This is the first book in the Psy-Changeling series that ends on a bit more of a cliff-hanger, introducing characters that we will get to know much more intimately within the next novel, Hostage to Pleasure. As the series continues, the tantalising simplicity of the love stories becomes more heavily embroiled in a far greater battle between emotions and calculation, one that I, personally can’t wait to keep immersing myself within.

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Title: Caressed by Ice
Author: Nalini Singh
Series: Psy-Changeling #3, Psy-Changeling Season One #3
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Dark fantasy, Paranormal romance, Shapeshifters
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Gollancz
Year: 2007
5th sentence, 74th page: Most changelings hate the Psy.

Explore new heights of sensuality in this return to the world of the Psy – where two people who know evil intimately must unlock the good within their icy hearts…

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…

Breen 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.

I’m really enjoying how every book in this series follows a different couple – they are all interrelated and have been mentioned in passing in the previous books, but it is a totally new love story, with all of its own challenges and difficulties. Singh manages to weave these seemingly unrelated tales together into a glorious whole that not only makes you fall in love with the world of the Psy-Changeling again and again and again, but also continuously furthers their battles and tale in a completely natural way.

There’s something about seriously damaged beings finding health and solace in one another that has always appealed to me – and Brenna and Judd’s story is the perfect example of this. Although Brenna’s plight is introduced within Slave to Sensation, it is so satisfying to revisit her in Caressed by Ice. The very real consequences of abuse and victimisation are investigated, and her strength, but also vulnerability are beautifully unpacked. She isn’t perfect, and there are lasting damages from what was done to her. Singh doesn’t sugar coat the serious consequences of her violation, and it just endears her work to me all the more.

The overarching plot and consistently intensifying friction between the Psy and Changeling also begins to gain traction. There are more sections which investigate the Psy Council’s reactions to the goings on in the world of the Changelings, and a sense of trepidation and suspense is slowly being built. Not only does it make me itch to pick up the next book in the series, Mine to Possess, but it also ties the storylines into one another. Instead of feeling like a series of books that are simply based in the same world, Singh pulls together the stories so that one tale can’t exist without the other.

Image source: Open Book Society