Review – Caressed by Ice

Title: Caressed by Ice
Author: Nalini Singh
Publishing Date: September 2007
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: B
Sensuality: Hot

Caressed by Ice is the third book in Singh’s Psy-Changeling series. It features Judd Lauren, an arrow Psy who has defected with his family from the PsyNet and is currently living with the SnowDancer wolf pack. Brenna Shane Kincaid was the victim of the serial killer from the first book in the series Slave to Sensation. She has been trying to recover herself and heal from the incident, but she has been having trouble readjusting to her old life. She is drawn to Judd for reasons she is unsure of, after all, with Judd being a Psy, unable to feel emotion himself, he cannot comfort her. On top of all that, one of Brenna’s packmates is murdered and now it appears her life may still be in danger.

I had mixed feelings about this story. On the one hand, I really like the fact that each book in the series builds off of the one before it, keeping the series moving rather than becoming stagnant. I enjoy that the plot is new and fresh and very well developed. What I had trouble with in this story was that the pacing was uneven at certain times, usually when military tactics or Psy-silence was being explained. It seemed like this happened frequently.

In the beginning of the story, it was hard to understand Brenna’s attraction to Judd. Well, to be honest, I don’t think she understood it herself. Their relationship was difficult because Judd was in physical pain whenever he was physically touching Brenna. It was hard to get past Judd having a nosebleed every time he touched Brenna. Finally they do get past it and wow, let’s just say the wait was worth it. Judd wastes no time making up for what was lost. I also enjoyed the dynamics between the secondary characters. One in particular I am interested in is Judd’s niece Sienna. It seems she is always causing some trouble for Hawke. I wonder if they will eventually be paired up and get their own story. At any rate, this series is progressing nicely.

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Review – Visions of Heat

Title: Visions of Heat
Author: Nalini Singh
Publication Date: 2007
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: C-
Sensuality: Hot

Don’t hate me, but I did not like this book. I had an incredibly hard time finishing it. I don’t know if it was me or the book. Seeing how this series has been very popular amongst romance readers, it’s probably just me then.

Visions of Heat is the second book in Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series. It features Vaughn D’Angelo, who is a sentinel in the DarkRiver leopard pack. Vaughn himself is a jaguar changeling who was accepted into the pack when he found himself orphaned. He meets Faith NightStar and is immediately attracted to her against his will. Faith is an F-Psy, which means she has the gift of Foresight. She has made a very lucrative living for the Psy, predicting financial success of certain business endeavors. Recently Faith has been having strange experiences and she wants answers. The only problem is she knows she can’t trust anyone. She seeks out Sasha Duncan, the DarkRiver Alpha’s mate for answers. Sasha is a Psy who has gone rogue, so-to-speak. Her story was told in the first book Slave to Sensation.

For me, the biggest problem was that I could not get into the characters. It wasn’t that they weren’t likable, because they were. It is more like they were flat and boring. I just wasn’t riveted by them. I think the main reason for this is because over and over we are told of how much an animal Vaughn is, how close the cat is to having control and yet I didn’t really see that acted out. Basically it was all talk. Come on Vaughn, walk the walk buddy.

I have to admit I am totally confused as to what exactly is the NetMind. If anybody who has read this book gets “it”, please fill me in. I am clueless. The suspense part of the story was forgettable and seemed not quite fully developed.

The one aspect I did like about the book was Faith’s relationship with her father at the end of the story. I like how he turns the table on Faith and shakes her view of him up a bit. That was a nice twist I didn’t see coming. I will be reading the third book in this series Caressed by Ice because I just received it. Let’s hope I like it better than this one.

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Review - Slave to Sensation

Title: Slave to Sensation
Author: Nalini Singh
Publishing Date: September 2006
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: B
Sensuality: Hot

Slave to Sensation is the first book in Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling Series. It features Lucas Hunter, the alpha leader of the DarkRiver leopard pack. In his world there are three types of people, the changelings – people who can shift shape to animal forms, the Psy - people who have special mind powers, who have been trained to suppress all feelings or emotions and then last but not least, regular humans.

Lucas has recently lost a member of his pack to a serial killer. He suspects that the killer is Psy because of a scent at the scene of the crime and how the murders are being covered up. He arranges a deal with the Duncan Psy family to build a multi million dollar housing complex. He is paired up with Sascha Duncan as a consultant to the deal. His goal is to get close enough to her in order to do some investigating of his own.

Sascha Duncan has been chosen to consult with Lucas for the project. Sascha has been hiding the fact that she has been able to feel emotions for a long time now. She knows that if she were found out by the Psy Council she would be rehabilitated. This means she would become, basically, a vegetable. She would rather kill herself than let that happen. When these two pair up with they can’t seem to fight their attraction to each other and Sascha is afraid of the consequences.

Slave to Sensation has well thought out, very in depth world building. It is a unique twist to the shape shifter romance with the addition of the Psy population. I liked that Sascha was very cerebral and Lucas very physical. It made for a unique pairing. Both characters were very likable and I was sympathetic to both the changelings and the Psy groups. I enjoyed Sascha’s interaction with the other members of Lucas’s pack. I enjoyed her surprise when someone would show her affection through touch. This was something that was lacking in her life growing up. One drawback for the romance though, was that Sascha kept denying Lucas’s love for her. She doesn’t exactly accept it until the very end of the story. I felt like it added unnecessary angst to an already problematic relationship.

There was a very large cast of characters, but I was not overwhelmed and somehow I was able to keep it all straight – all due to Singh’s talent as a storyteller. It did seem to me there was more of a focus on the Psy culture than the changeling culture and I wonder if that will change in future books in this series. All in all, this was a good start to a series and I am looking forward to more adventures in Singh’s world.

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