Goldilox and the Three Weres: Really Short Reviews: Psy-Changeling #3-5

As you all know, I've have become hopelessly obsessed with Nalini Singh's books. I cannot begin to tell you how much I have come to love them but I can tell you that I have reread this series five times since I first marathoned it last June. See? I told you I've become obsessed.

The fifteenth book in the series is set to come out next month and in celebration of its release I'm going to review two or three books in the series each week until Allegiance of Honor is out. I was lucky enough to get a copy of it for review and I've already read it! It was SO good! Since I don't have enough to say about each book to warrant a full review, I'm going to do Really Short Reviews of the series so far! Today, I'm reviewing the next three books! If you haven't started this series yet, you still have time to do so before the next book is out!

Caressed by Ice

(Psy-Changeling #3)
Nalini Singh

Release: September 4, 2007

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Nalini Singh explores new heights of sensuality, returning 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 he is a defector, and 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...

Review by Rose Red:

Caressed by Ice is the first book in this series where the story is focused in the den of the Snowdancers instead of in Dark River territory. AND it's the first one where the heroine is a Changeling and the hero a Psy! For some reason, I was nervous going to this book when I first read it. I didn't think I'd be able to relate to Judd or Brenna. I was so wrong! I loved this book!

Judd's background story is finally revealed and his family members' back story is explored further. Judd Lauren is a former Psy assassin. He is cold and has no intention of breaking Silence to admit emotion to his life because he knows that it will turn him into an indiscriminate killer. Brenna has a lot of baggage because of what she went through in book one and Judd has a lot himself thanks to his occupation when he was still part of the PsyNet. Neither is looking for a relationship and yet Judd and Brenna and constantly drawn to one another.

I loved this book! Both Brenna and Judd are damaged people. While others insist that they cannot help one another, their mutual pain brings them together and gives them an understanding of what the other is dealing with. This is one of those books where the pain and emotions of the characters are put on display in such an intimate fashion that the reader goes through the same emotional roller coaster.

There is a darkness to this book that is counterbalanced exquisitely by the hope and relationship that is developing between these two. They're so different yet so similar. Brenna is incredibly strong and her ability to overcome what has happened to her is amazing. I love that she falls in love with Judd and helps him to see that he is so much more than his previous career. These two make an unlikely pair but they work so well together! They are one of my favorite couples in this series. I seriously love them so much!

5 / 5 Stars!

Mine to Possess
(Psy-Changeling #4)
Nalini Singh
Release: February 5, 2008
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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 heart and returns 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, a clawing need born of the leopard within. As they race to save the innocent, Clay and Talin must face the violent truths of their past...or lose everything that ever mattered.

Review by Rose Red:

I'm going to be honest, this book is not my favorite book in this series. In fact, it is my least favorite of them all. Don't get me wrong. This is a pretty good story and I still loved it by the end but I struggled with it. I've been curious about Clay from book one. I admit that I had problems with how both Clay and Talin acted but I had a harder time connecting to Talin than I did Clay. To be honest, the first part of the story had me a little confused about Talin’s feelings and motivations. She had a lot of past issues that colored how she looked at things and how she acted towards Clay and it drove me crazy especially since she has come to Clay for help with finding her lost kids.

I found this story to be pretty enjoyable. What I love most about it was the fact that it expands the world outside of the Psy and Changeling packs in the previous books. It definitely will have an impact on the future books. As I said, I liked both Talin and Clay and am happy things worked out for them. I had a little bit of trouble getting completely in to the relationship at first because of mixed up feelings of both Clay and Talin. But once they both worked through their own issues, it was easier to see them as a couple and as being good for each other. I found Jon, Noor, Santos, and the scientists at the lab way more interesting though. Overall, this was another good addition to the series.

1/2

4.5 / 5 Stars

Hostage to Pleasure

(Psy-Changeling #5)
Nalini Singh

Release: September 2, 2008

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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...

Review by Rose Red:

Oh, Dorian and Ashaya! How I adore both of you! The Boy Genius and The Psy-Scientist are one of my favorite couples in this series! I continue to be amazed at how much I am enjoying this series. Each book completes a couple story but expands the overarching story of this world. And while the last book added the humans and the Forgotten as featured characters, this one continues in a similar way to the first two books in the series with the Changeling hero and Psy heroine.

I loved this book so much! Ashaya was an awesome heroine! I've loved Dorian since book one so even though he drove me a little crazy in this book I love him even more now. I had never really though about how being latent would affect him since it didn't seem to bother him in the other books.

The development of the romance, as well as their individual arcs, was excellently done. It felt very true to character and was done just exactly right. Dorian and Ashaya had to face the realization that perceptions can be misconstrued and that to really get to know an individual, you have to look inside and maybe see beyond what is immediately apparent. And I just love watching them uncover each layer of each other’s personalities to find out who the other truly is. It absolutely doesn’t hurt that these two had incredible chemistry. :) They both have their own demons to face and they gather strength from each other to deal with those demons together.

As for the bigger series story arc, the plot does indeed thicken and proceeds to build the stakes as well as expand the characters. Everything is building up to something big and I can't begin to guess what it is. Nalini Singh has written a really addicting series. They're like potato chips where you can't stop with just one handful.

Random Side Note: Nalini Singh deserves a slow clap and my undying love for getting the science right in this book. It's not often that you see prions mentioned correctly in a paranormal romance novel. My inner scientist is super happy right now.