Primal Mirror, by Nalini Singh - Review

Title: Primal Mirror

Series: Psy-Changeling Trinity, #8

Author: Nalini Singh 

Publisher: Berkley

Release Date: July 23, 2024

Reviewing: eARC via Netgalley

Reason for reading: As always, author love, series love

The Short Answer

This installment of the series resolves the Spider arc, as well as the recent arc of crisis in the PsyNet, although it's likely that future books will deal with political fallout and some world-rebuilding.  Character-wise, we get a new feline pack, with ties to DarkRiver and a few attendant cameos. I enjoyed the romance but I think the freaky plot stole the show, which is unusual for me. Still, four stars.

The Blurb

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us into a family dark with shadowy secrets, as the world of the Psy teeters on the edge of a final catastrophic collapse. . .

Daughter of two ruthless high-Gradient telepaths, Auden Scott is not the child her Psy parents wanted or expected, even before her brain injury. Her thoughts are scattered, her memories fuzzy—or just terrifyingly blank. The only thing she knows for certain is that she must protect her unborn baby . . . a baby she has no recollection of conceiving and who draws an unnerving depth of interest from her dead mother’s closest associates.

Leopard alpha Remi Denier is a man driven by the primal instinct to protect. Protect his pack, protect his allies . . . and protect the mysterious woman who has become a most unlikely neighbor. With eerie eyes that see too much and a scent that alters in ways disturbing and impossible, Auden Scott is the enemy . . . but nothing about this strange Psy is what it seems, and Remi’s feline heart is as fascinated by her as his human half.

Then Auden asks Remi to help her shatter the wall of secrets that is the Scott bloodline. What they unearth will reveal a nightmare beyond imagination. This time, the battle is to the death. . .

A Personal Aside 

In some ways, perhaps it's fitting that my return to the blogosphere is inspired by Nalini Singh.  Many years ago, I won an ARC of Hostage to Pleasure. Nearly a year into blogging - well past the average lifespan of a blog in those days; and not my first exposure to the Psy-Changelings, it WAS my first ARC, and also the beginning of so many things for this blog.  So hopefully this will also be a new beginning of sorts.  I've been reading like a madwoman lately and it's possible that I have some Things To Say.  More on that in future posts.

The Plot- Some Good, Some Meh

My first priority in any paranormal romance, is, well, the romance.  The characters. But just by the nature of the plot here, Auden's character was a little hard to pin down.  The Psy in the Psy-Changeling series have always had a certain alignment to some of the ways that autism spectrum disorder can commonly manifest, and over the years, Singh's bravery in making these challenges more explicit and inclusive has grown, perhaps starting with Last Guard, where Canto is confined to a wheelchair and Payal has a brain tumor disorder which requires both medication and (admittedly fictional) behavioral management.

The plot of this book is a little difficult to discuss without spoilering. There are a few pieces that come together, some from very early in the series, and some from the last 10 percent of Storm Echo.  Still, the realization of the horror that is being inflicted on Auden unfolds slowly, at least it did for me.  Given the readers' knowledge of prior books, we figure out what is happening before Auden and Remi do, but the plot device of her dual scent gives them a critical clue. 

Ever since the fall of Silence, at the intersection of the original series and the Trinity "chapter two" books, there has been an instability in the PsyNet which threatens the survival of all the Psy.  In Last Guard, the Anchor designation is introduced and their unification with each other and with the Ruling Coalition provide some new defenses against the ongoing failures, but even so, the destabilization accelerates.  Readers who have been finding this arc to be dragging on a bit will find a resolution in this book, as the original PsyNet finally fails.

Without spoilering, I think it's safe to say this is not the end of the series.  Therefore, fans can reasonably expect to learn more about how the Psy will survive their next evolution in future books... and that a significant portion of the population survives.  

I will say that I did not love how this problem was solved.  Given all the buildup and the hopelessness that was created over multiple books, I found that the way the salvation hinged on something that to me seemed very very small. I think I would have preferred to see the "new way" built up for a bit of time before the primary PsyNet failed utterly.  On the other hand, my history teacher used to paraphrase the Constitution thus: "While evils are sufferable, men will suffer," meaning that well, change is hard. The devil you know, etc.  So perhaps its believable that the failsafe could not be activated until the primary net had...failed.

The Characters

When I turned the last page of this book, I had that happy glow that I always get from this series.  This is a couple that fights hard for their Happily Ever After, that overcomes an exceptionally creepy and horrifying villain - this is a very personal and amped up villainy compared to say, Payal's horrible family in Last Guard. Ming Le Bon aspired to this level of evil. 

Have to say I absolutely loved Remi's character progression, as he takes on more and more of the business of building his pack and becoming a good alpha. Absolutely loved it. I especially enjoyed the mentorship he was getting from Lucas; and factors like the delicacy of pack members moving from one pack to another. At the beginning of the story, Remi is a rising star, coming into his power, but still something of a junior player.

Auden on the other hand, enters the story on the verge of collapse. Pregnant, suffering from memory loss, blackouts, what might be conventionally described as psychotic breaks or possibly even schizophrenia, she doesn't trust herself. Remi's protective instincts are triggered, and as he strives to protect the woman and unravel the mystery of her illness, they catch feelings despite the timing being the worst ever.  

I would say this isn't my most favorite couple in the P-C universe.  Maybe I was just reading extra fast to get to the bottom of the villainous fuckery. Maybe Auden's struggle made their connection a little less believable for me (possibly a mental illness bias on my part that could stand some examination?).  I felt like the emotional connection was less intense than what I usually get from the series, but I'm calling that a 4-star rather my usual 5-star rating*. This is not a disappointment of a book. I think it's incredible that we are 23 books into this series, not counting novellas, and I for one am still loving it.  That is one hell of an accomplishment.  Don't stop, Nalini! 

Connections
Possible spoiler alert: If you enjoyed the speculative sci-fi elements of this story, I would recommend The Echo Wife, by Sarah Gailey. If you look up even the plot description, it will be a bit of a spoiler for Primal Mirror, but AFTER you've read Primal Mirror, if you liked it, go read this title, then tell me what you think.

*Most of the time I don't do star ratings. Too much pressure. But if I did, this series would be a whole long string of 5-stars.

Allegiance of Honor, by Nalini Singh - Review

Information
Title: Allegiance of Honor
Series: Psy-Changeling
Author: Nalini Singh
Publisher: Berkley
Release Date: June 14, 2016 
Reviewing: eARC for Kindle 
Reason for reading: Author love, series love

The Short Answer
This is the book for the die-hard fans who love epilogues (especially "baby-logues"), who love to catch up with old friends, and who have a list of loose ends from the previous 14 books and NEED CLOSURE. If you love the montage episode at the end of the TV series, you'll love this book. I absolutely loved this book. But just so you know, if you're looking for a traditionally-structured PNR with a single focal couple, this isn't quite built on those lines.

The Blurb

The Psy-Changeling world has undergone a staggering transformation and now stands at a crossroads. The Trinity Accord promises a new era of cooperation between disparate races and groups. It is a beacon of hope held together by many hands: Old enemies. New allies. Wary loners.

But a century of distrust and suspicion can’t be so easily forgotten and threatens to shatter Trinity from within at any moment. As rival members vie for dominance, chaos and evil gather in the shadows and a kidnapped woman’s cry for help washes up in San Francisco, while the Consortium turns its murderous gaze toward a child who is the embodiment of change, of love, of piercing hope: A child who is both Psy…and changeling.

To find the lost, protect the vulnerable—and save Trinity—no one can stand alone. This is a time of loyalty across divisions, of bonds woven into the heart and the soul, of heroes known and unknown standing back to back and holding the line. But is an allegiance of honor even possible with traitors lurking in their midst?

On Optimism
One of the reasons I love romance is for its optimism. One of my friends uses a quote from Conan O'Brien as her tagline, and I love it:

"I hate cynicism, for the record, it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen."

And possibly the best part of this book is its optimism for the the future of the Psy-Changeling world. It's been a dark ride at times, with man's inhumanity to man spotlighted in a way that doesn't require paranormal trappings to recognize from our own world. In the past fourteen books, Singh has built an amazing complex, textured world-- and then she tore it all down. Shards of Hope and Allegiance of Honor are the beginnings of its rebirth. The notion of a new world order built on honor is a powerful one. I wish that just a few more politicians of this day and age ever seemed to demonstrate a passing acquaintance with the concept.

A Little More
I will say that this book meanders a little bit, sort of like when you've moved away from a close-knit family and then go home to visit. You spend a little time here, a little time there, talk about bits and pieces. It's less about the overall narrative and more about getting caught up. The revisiting is interspersed with an action arc related to events in Shards of Hope, as well as an epistolary thread about a beloved secondary character, who -- spoiler alert -- indeed, gets his Happily Ever After.  It's for sure not the place for a new fan or to start the series. For the die hard fans (like me), there's a distinct risk that it will push you into a re-read of the whole series... which sounds like kind of an awesome way to spend the summer, to be honest!

I've been lucky enough to see Nalini in person a few times, and sometime in the last couple years, when it became apparent that the series was leading up to a finale, she answered a question about a spinoff or future series. At the time, she wasn't making any commitments, but she mentioned that she thought it would probably be about the next generation -- all those pups, cubs, and various psy/changeling/human variations. Based on Singh's intro, and all the focus on the babies in this book, I'd say that is where she's going. And if cute cuddly babies make you melty, you are going to be a puddle by the end of this one. There are teenagers, little kids, teeny babies, and killer scene detailing what a shifter baby's first shift looks like. (And I thought parenting a regular toddler was a challenge...) 

See?! You can believe me!

Thanks to the awesome publicity team at Berkley, you get an excerpt! YAY! And it is a REALLY adorable one:

Lucas had had to chase Naya around the aerie at bedtime last night—her walk might still be a little shaky, but she was a rocket when it came to crawling. Dressed only in a diaper, she’d laughed uproariously and said a loud, firm “No” each time Lucas caught her and put her in her crib.

After which she’d clamber out—she’d figured out how to escape a month earlier—and the game would begin again. Of course, since Lucas was a cat, he’d been having just as much fun as their daughter. Sascha, meanwhile, had sat in the living room with a cup of hot chocolate and just indulged in the sight of her mate playing with their cub.

She’d had to pretend to be stern when Naya ran over and pleaded her case with loud sounds and wild gesticulations of her hands. “No, Naya,” she’d said, biting her tongue in an effort not to laugh. “It’s time for bed. Go with Papa.”

At which point, Naya had growled at her, eyes sparkling with mischief.

And Sascha had cracked, laughing so hard she’d had to put down her hot chocolate before she spilled it. Lucas had shaken his head as Naya plopped down on her diaper-covered butt and joined in, clapping her hands at having made her mommy laugh. “No discipline.” Lucas had mock-growled at her before picking up their misbehaving baby. “And you”—a growly nuzzle that made Naya laugh harder and pat his stubbled cheek—“time for bed.”

He’d finally got her to sleep—by walking around with her pressed up against his bare chest.

Today, their cub was playing in the living area just outside the kitchen nook. Sascha had locked the aerie door to ensure Naya wouldn’t undo the latch and go out onto the balcony, and Lucas had childproofed the entire main area of the aerie, so Naya was free to roam as she liked. A lot of the time she practiced her walking skills. And no matter how often she fell down, she started back up again after a little break. Stubborn, determined baby. Peeking out from the kitchen, Sascha found her concentrating on stacking the colored alphabet blocks Faith and Vaughn had given her as a gift. Beside her sat a more than slightly ragged wolf plush toy, aka “The Toy That Shall Not Be Named.” Hawke had given that to Naya when she was a newborn, and it remained her favorite snuggle toy, much to her father’s despair.

Though Lucas did enjoy it when Naya went leopard on the toy, growling and “fighting” with the wolf. Then he’d smile and say, “That’s my girl.”

Find Nalini online:
Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Posted by arrangement with Berkley Books, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © Nalini Singh, 2016.

Bottom Line
I couldn't love this book more. 100% adoration from me.  But if you haven't been reading this series, first of all, YOU HAVEN'T BEEN LISTENING TO ME AT ALL, HAVE YOU??! and, uh, ahem. Secondly,  just go start at the beginning and get back to me.

Oh, and fair warning, this happened:

Around the Blogosphere --what others are saying

RT - 4-1/2 stars Top Pick!
Big love from The Book Eaters (what a great blog name!)
More love from The Book Swarm
Nice detailed review from Harlequin Junkies
There are a few folks who found it a bit slow in places or wanted a stronger focal couple. But most of the reviews I've seen are overwhelmingly positive.

Sunday Soup - Happy Spring!

In The Soup This Week... Nalini Singh, Lynsay Sands, Jayne Ann Krentz -- some big hitters this week.

Soup Dish:
Hey guys, sorry about the silence there.  Shortly after my last post I came down with a cruddy cough that I'm still trying to kick. I've been doing the bare-minimum function thing to keep my job and maintain some level of civilization in my house just slightly above "feral". On the plus side, I did a bunch of reading, and a fair amount of wardrobe-planning for RT, which takes up a rather ridiculous amount of brain space for me. Related, I started this post last week and am just now finishing.
  
✽A nice write-up on the new Romance documentary, Love Between the Covers. I missed the Seattle screening a couple weeks ago because I was so sick. I'm hoping to get another chance to see it, maybe at RT.

✽Last week there was some buzz about RWA's stance with Pocket Books regarding diversity in their romance line.  RWA published an update on the issue, and Pocket responded. The interesting thing is that Pocket did not seem to respond meaningfully until RWA basically said, "Do you want to sever ties with RWA? because that could happen." I wish I had caught more of the discussion online, if anyone has good links or a Storyfy on it, I'd be interested.

✽#RT16 is less than 3 weeks away! Eeee! I have no plan this year. I have a few things picked out on the agenda but right now I'm just showing up and que sera, sera.

What I'm reading


✽Jayne Ann Krentz's Trust No One was really good. Creepy and believable, and no, I did not think that the hero was the bad guy at any point, which is implied a little bit by the blurb, I think. It's classic Krentz romantic suspense, and by now you probably know if you like her style or not. I do, and this was a great read.

✽Avon was kind enough to send me a copy of the recently-released Runaway Vampire by Lynsay Sands. I've read and enjoyed a few books from this series, but it's not one of my "must-read" series, if you know what I mean. Even so, this was a fun, satisfying vampire romance. There's a larger series arc going on, some bad guys that the hero was escaping from in the first scene, but this book is perhaps a bit of a detour on that arc. I thought the book stood alone just fine, relying on some basic, familiar vampire tropes which the reader is easily caught up on. The only thing that I thought was weird, that my my fellow Avon readers assured me is just normal for the series, is that the erotic scenes included the vampires sucking blood out of plastic bags. I don't know if this is supposed to be tongue in cheek or funny but it was written pretty straight, as though the characters were getting a sexual charge out of consuming blood from the bag, and it definitely threw me out of the erotic moment more than a little bit. Otherwise, a solid read.

✽I also got an email entitled "DROP EVERYTHING..." and I TOTALLY DID because it was an ARC for Nalini Singh's most recent Psy-Changeling book, Allegiance of Honor. I will be doing a full-length review for it closer to release date, but here's a spoiler: IT WAS AMAZING. So good. So incredibly good. Go ahead and pre-order right now, you won't be sorry.

✽Just before I came down with the coughing crud, I attended the Microsoft Women's conference, which was a pretty big deal. One of the best talks I went to was on "GenderSpeak" by Tammy Hughes. I got a copy of her book and zoomed through about 90% of it while I was hopped up on cough medicine. Much of the material was covered in her talk, perhaps more charismatically, but I'm glad to have the book on my shelf -- it has some really good insights. Hardball for Women: Winning at Business.

✽Otherwise, in reading,  I've started a few things that haven't really caught fire for me, but that could be the fact that I'm not feeling 100%.  I haven't declared anything a DNF, I just keep starting things and moving on to other things.  Meh.

Sunday Soup - Valentines' Day!

In The Soup This Week... More from old favorites, some predictions, plus SCIENCE.

Soup Dish:  on my mind
✽I thought this was a great article about the evolution of publishing following the trajectory of television -- a few networks who catered to the broadest possible audience fragmenting into hundreds or even thousands (think YouTube) of niche channels, and all that goes along with that, particularly the monetization model.  Good stuff.

✽There have been lots and lots of articles about e-reading versus "p" (physical book)-reading, but it continues to fascinate me. We all have our opinions and theories-- it's always good to get a re-set on what has been supported by science: The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens. Plus, I think that the baseline is going to change as time goes on and e-readers evolve.

✽Think you know what's going on and what's coming up for the romance world? I can't think of anyone better-positioned to opine on this than Angela James.  Love this post.

✽Since it's all over the news today in the US, and I'm sure rippling outward, I will say that as a woman, a supporter of gay rights and legalized abortion, I am very pleased that President Obama will have a chance to name the next member of the Supreme Court. I have no doubt that the political drama around the remainder of his presidency will escalate to new heights of hysteria. I will not enjoy that. This is one of the reasons I read fiction.

What I'm reading
✽Okay, okay, I broke my stash resolution. I bought two new books in the last couple weeks AND I'M NOT SORRY.  One of them is the third in Lilith Saintcrow's Dante Valentine series, The Devil's Right Hand, which is in progress and getting quite good.

✽I finally got around to reading Penny Watson's A Taste of Heaven. It's on sale right now for 99 cents, if you haven't picked it up yet, you should. This is a quick read with unexpected substance. Watson has charmed me before with evocative writing about food and dedicated foodie characters-- the bakers in her Christmas series comes to mind-- and it's unleashed fully in this book. You can almost taste the food she describes. But as always, it's the characters that do it for me.  A little quote that made me fall hard for Sophia - one of those pivotal character moments:

He took one step...

One step.

And suddenly, she wanted to win.

She wanted to beat the giant. She wanted to beat everyone.

She wanted to sneak into the game like a quiet little mouse and crush them all.

She was tired of being someone's wife. Good little wife, with the sweet little garden and charming parties and so self-sacrificing."

Yeah, Sophia! You go! and she does. I love how she holds up against the blustery, bullyish demeanor of the hero. Romance fans are well-accustomed to the arrogant, egotistical hero, which is not necessarily my favorite flavor of alpha, but I love the way the trope is executed here. I love the way the heroine sees through it, not just to puncture the hot air, but to leverage the strength underneath it while bolstering the vulnerabilities it hides. This is one of the important elements of a great romance, IMO.

✽I was in sort of a reading slump so I decided I need a sure thing. I looked at a handful of my favorite PNR/UF authors whose series I'm behind on and chose Nalini Singh's Shards of Hope. I know all the Nalini fans out there read it long ago; it's been out for a year or so, but I got stubborn about paying hardback prices for an e-book, and it finally came down to $7.99.  I have to say though, it was worth far more. I am completely stunned by how much I loved this book, and that's comparing it to other Nalini Singh work. It's pretty staggering for the 14th book in a series to deliver such a powerful story. It was so, so, good. 6 stars out of 5. It goes to 11. It's amazing.

February Stash Reads: 0
February Bought Reads: 1.5
February Non-Fiction Reads: 0.5
February Other Reads:  2

Tuesday Soup - May 12

In the Soup Today:  #RT15 envy; old favorites and a new rave. 
Soup on a Tuesday? Whaaaaaa??? Sorry, it was a busy weekend!

Soup Dish:  on my mind
✽So, I'm on the "every other year" plan for RT, for a number of reasons, but I'm totally allowed to wallow in envy on my off years and stalk the Twitter feeds of those who are there this year.  Those key cards are to die for, and I heard there are JR Ward ARCs!!  Oh, the humanity!  If you attended the scrapbook session today, I'd love to see some of your pages!

On a related note, I really want everyone to stop posting to Instagram and just put the pics directly into their tweets.  Is that so wrong?  #ClickingThroughIsHARRRD #whine. 

✽Nalini Singh's latest installment in the Psy-Changeling series is due out on June 2, and you can read the first chapter here... the first paragraph blew me away plot-wise.  GAHHH.  I have no words.  Luckily the release is only a couple weeks away. 

If you haven't started this series, it's absolutely one you should glom onto, and hey, better late than never.  Singh holds a special place in my bloggy heart, because I received my very first ARC, Hostage To Pleasure, that I ever reviewed from a contest on her website.

But my Singh story started even before that.  I wrote a somewhat silly blog post about my "discovery" process, and it still makes me smile a little bit:

This is a love story.

This is a story of how a reader finds a writer to love. There are obstacles. There are questions and uncertainties. But as in all good romances, love triumphs, and the ending is a happily-ever-after. So, reader, settle in with a soft light, a scented candle, and whatever else gets you in the mood.

Once upon a time, there was a romance reader named… oh, let’s call her Nicola (nobody ever said I was subtle). Now, as the heroine of this love story, Nicola doesn’t quite fit the current mores and publisher’s preferences of innocence and youth. No, Nicola has been around. The dew is off the bloom, and she has multitudes of reading partners, not just a few. Frankly, Nicola is a bit of a jaded slut, reading multiple authors and books within days of each other—sometimes even the same day! Thank goodness there are no nasty LTDs (Literarily Transmitted Diseases).

A few months ago, Nicola started blogging about her conquests, dishing with other reading sluts about who gives good dialog and character, and who suffers the occasional (or chronic) plot flaccidity. Now, some people might find this unseemly, but Nicola and her readers consider it a public service.

If you'd like to read more, here you go.

✽I've also gotten word from the publisher that Joss Ware's post-apocalyptic romance series, The Envy Chronicles, has been re-packaged, and the final book is due out in July (I've been waiting ever so long!)  I did a series review on this one a while ago.  A little taste, in my own words, of these heroes:

Five men, restless, bored, frustratingly purposeless in our times; they're wealthy, athletic, handsome -- but rudderless and reduced to thrill-seeking. Frozen in time for 50 years, their awakening coincides with a culmination of events that lead to some shocking revelations on the depth of human greed and corruption.  The destruction of their world, and the gifts they are given, turn these dilettantes into warriors -- and that's pretty damn hot.

✽It's easy to lose track of new authors when there are so many old favorites to keep up with, which must be how I missed Erin Satie's first two historical romances.  I believe I have the Smart Bitch's bargain feature to thank for picking up The Orphan Pearl, and it's So. Damn. Good.  The last historical I read that I loved this much was Joanna Bourne's The Spymaster's Lady.  In fact, there are some similarities, I think, in very very good ways, but the characters are just completely different than Bourne's.  (Hmmmm. It might be fun to do a compare and contrast.)  I will hopefully get a review up on this one (how often do I say that?) but if you trust my reading recs at all, don't wait, go read it now.  Meanwhile I'll be glomming the first two by this brilliant author.


I think I'll forgo catching you up on my current reading in favor of not exceeding legal word-count limits.  If you're at RT, I'm super jealous, and hope to see you in Vegas next year....

Rock Addiction, by Nalini Singh - Review

Information
Title: Rock Addiction 
Series: Rock Kiss, Book 1
Author: Nalini Singh
Publisher:  TKA Distribution/Amazon Digital
Release Date: September 9, 2014
Reviewing: eARC from Netgalley
Reason for reading: Nalini Singh is a huge favorite of mine

The Short Answer 
To be honest, I was a little disappointed.

The Blurb (from Singh's website)

A bad boy wrapped in a sexy, muscled, grown-up package might be worth a little risk…
Molly Webster has always followed the rules. After an ugly scandal tore apart her childhood and made her the focus of the media's harsh spotlight, she vowed to live an ordinary life. No fame. No impropriety. No pain. Then she meets Zachary Fox, a tattooed bad boy rocker with a voice like whiskey and sin, and a touch that could become an addiction.

A one-night stand with the hottest rock star on the planet, that's all it was meant to be…
Fox promises scorching heat and dangerous pleasure, coaxing Molly to extend their one-night stand into a one-month fling. After that, he'll be gone forever, his life never again intersecting with her own. Sex and sin and sensual indulgence, all with an expiration date. No ties, no regrets. Too late, Molly realizes it isn't only her body that's become addicted to Fox, but her heart…

The Whole Scoop 
Just this morning, my Twitter feed included a quote attributed to Henry James: "The only classification of the novel that I can understand is into that which has life and that which has it not."

I checked the quote attribution, because that's how I roll, and it turns out that the actual quote is "the only classification of the novel that I can understand is into the interesting and the uninteresting." (based on two different archives of the full text of "The Art of Fiction").  There are numerous documents that attribute it the other way, but they are not the primary text. Just so you know.

However, the apparently incorrect version of the quote intrigues me more as a reviewer and a reader. And I think it sums up a bit of the difficulty I had with this book. It just didn't have the life, the crackle, that I associate with Singh's paranormal romances.

The characters were on the cardboard side to me; the heroine a meek everyday librarian with a tendency to run when scared, and the hero a blustery, occasionally over-stepping alpha male.  While the characters are technically beyond New Adult age, it had that feel to me because the heroine was quite young and inexperienced, and there was also a surprising amount of sex -- bordering on erotica-level heat and frequency.

The book falls naturally into two sections, the division of which is a bit spoilery, but I I liked the second half better.  The pacing picks up, the action picks up, and I liked the scenes with the other band members.  On the downside, there isn't a compelling plotline here to keep things moving -- it's a very internal, overcoming-our-issues story, which works great when you love the characters, but doesn't help if the characterization isn't working 100%.

The Bottom Line
Lots of people are loving this title so maybe I just had an off day, and I suspect there is no way the average Singh fan is going to bypass it no matter what I say. And honestly, I will most likely pick up the next book in this series, but I have to hope that it works a little better for me.

Around the Blogosphere
Romance Reader At Heart
Book Swoon
Feeding My Addiction

Sunday Soup - March 30 edition

Sunday Soup is... a little of this, a little of that, not too much work, and hopefully a tasty result.

Soup Dish:  book people are talking about...
✽The most interesting discussion I've been involved in recently, I came to late by way of Pamela's excellent post, which includes all the good links leading up to it by Sunita and Janet and Laura and others.. I often feel kind of at sea in these discussions, as a non-academic and a non-publishing-pro.  Perhaps I just lack the power of conviction, but watching so many people make declarative statements about How Things Are, and what Can and Can't happen These Days is always a bit bemusing.  To me, there are a thousand different ways to be a blogger, and a thousand different ways to be an author, and a thousand different other ways to be involved with the romance genre. Do what works. If it stops working, you can stop doing it.  The beautiful thing about people doing stuff on the internet that you don't like, is that you don't have to be a consumer of it.  Vote with your feet.  Or your clicks, if you will.

Though one result of this rich discussion is that it is making me want to get out of my feedreader more and participate in the discussions.  Like in the Old Days. 

What I'm reading
It's been a busy couple of weeks around here; either I haven't been reading very much or I can't remember what I've read... I don't know which is worse!

✽Vixen in Velvet, by Loretta Chase. (eARC provided by HarperCollins Avon.) All I'm going to say right now is, if you are a person who preorders-- go ahead and do that.

✽Between the Devil and Ian Eversea, by Julie Ann Long. The latest in the Pennyroyal Green series, and an absolute winner. Sharp and sweet. Also, one of my favorite titles ever-- doesn't it just make you smile?

✽Beyond Jealousy, by Kit Rocha. I completely love this post-apocalyptic world. As always, the erotica is hot hot hot, but the world-building is deepening too. I like how the series arc is building up.

✽Too Hot to Handle, by Victoria Dahl. One of my favorite contemporary authors. I'm not very far along, but it's fun so far.

✽Here's one of those exceptions to my new "no review copy" policy: I have Nalini Singh's Shield of Winter in my hands right now and brrrrrrr, IT IS SO GOOD. Soooooooooo good.

Outlander Watch... Och. I canna wait for Jamie and Claire onscreen.

✽I'm a long ways from being the most obsessed fan of Outlander out there, but I've subscribed to the Starz newsletter, and follow a number of folks on Twitter who are involved with the project, and keep up in several ways. Out on the internet, there are a fair number of shirtless Jamie photos, beautiful images of the Scottish countryside and the castles involved in shooting, but somehow this is the most haunting image I've seen lately.  Outlander is about modern sensibilities crashing into historical ones, and while this is a different modernity than the book and neither Jamie nor Clare is in it, it is wholly in the spirit of the book on several levels:

Courtesy of writer/producer Matt Roberts' Twitter feed.

Short Story Saturday: Meow

If I were a character in a novel, I would be the cold-hearted sociopath. You would know this instantly because -- come closer, I'm only going to say this once -- I don't like animals.

I am not enticed by purrs or soft fur or charming wagging tails or mournful eyes. I look at a four-legged creature and think: crap on my carpets... funky smell in the house... ridiculous vet bills... pain in the ass when we travel...

Cutesy stuff also does not really appeal to me. Hummel figurines, Thomas Kincaid Painter Of Light, Precious Moments, wooden ducks wearing dusty blue neckerchiefs... these are not a few of my favorite things. These are things Most Likely to Make Me Hurl.

Given that I don't love anthologies, I don't love cats in general, I don't especially love stories about cats, and hoo boy, how much do I NOT love that cover--all of this considered, I think it's understandable that I didn't run right out and buy The Magical Christmas Cat last year when it came out. Plus: FIFTEEN BUCKS. Too much for a book that I probably will only like half of, at most.

But you know, it's NALINI. I can't just ignore that. And I happened upon a copy this past weekend at my favorite used book store and got it for under $6. That I could justify.

Put a little meow in their stocking this year with these tales of Christmas and felines-from beloved bestselling authors!

New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh and top-selling authors Nalini Singh, Erin McCarthy, and Linda Winstead Jones have a special gift for readers this year: heartwarming holiday stories featuring passionate romance, paranormal adventure, and a distinctly alluring feline touch. With four new stories-including one featuring Lora Leigh's genetically altered Feline Breeds-this is a collection packed with more surprises than Christmas morning, and more chills than the snowiest winter night...

Stroke of Enticement lived up to its title. Strong, appealing characters and a nice dollop of Singh's signature steam make this a great story to curl up with on a winter evening. However, it's not long on conflict or plot, and readers unfamiliar with the Psy/Changeling series might wonder at the world-building. I don't think it would get in your way of enjoying it, but it's hard to say from my fan-tage point.

Conversely, if you're a fan who decides to skip this one, you're not going to miss anything important. There's not even a hint (that I could tell) of the overarching series plot and if Zach or Annie showed up in the last two full length books, I don't remember and didn't miss anything by not having their backstory.

Best thing about this story was Annie for me. She's such a contradiction: you think she's going to be the mousy-librarian type, but she is so totally not. I loved her. Zach is lovely and sexy and protective and all, but he's a bit of a cookie-cutter Singh hero.

If you're new to Nalini Singh, here's what I think you can extrapolate from this story about whether you'd like to read more: did you like the characters? Did you like the dialog and interplay with the pack and family members? Do you find the shape-shifting man/cat appealing? if so, check out more of her work. If you found it a little dull, I think I can reassure you that that is more of a function of the format than her style.

Do you have a short story you'd like to share? Link up!

"Dogs and Cats Living Together! Mass Hysteria!"

Or, my review of Nalini Singh's Branded by Fire

This is one of my all-time favorite 1980s movie scenes:


The line that I've used to title this post is a bit I sometimes use to make a point when I feel like people have gone off the deep end into hyperbole or skies-are-falling worst case scenarios. Entertainingly enough, it's a propos on a couple of levels for Singh's latest installment in her Psy/Changeling series, Branded by Fire-- although I'm sure that if there were any real-life members of the SnowDancer pack of wolf changelings lurking about, I could expect some unpleasant retribution for referring to them as dogs. Heh.

The Romance
Though "mass hysteria" is a bit of an overstatement, the notion of leopards and wolves mating is in fact the source of much of the characters' internal conflict. Mercy and Riley both have to figure out how to fit this unexpected mate into their highly structured lives. The two of them are both highly--and equally-- ranked, extremely loyal and deeply attached to their respective packs. Riley at least, has always assumed that his mate would be a domestic female who'd fit into his pack. Mercy is not sure what kind of male-- if any-- she'd find for a mate, but rest assured that a wolf? wasn't in the plan.

Here's something that I wrote in one of my very first posts:

Some analyses of the appeal of fairy tales for children, especially the most gruesome, theorize that, by experiencing their own worst fears (lost in the woods, death of parents, etc) in a safe way-- ie, fictionally, through the characters' experience-- kids get a chance to process their fears on a subconscious level and be reassured that there is always Hope for a happily-ever-after.

I'm returning to that thought because I think Singh has taken a very common modern relationship affliction-- fear of commitment-- and built a fairy tale around it that lets us look at that fear and think about it on a level that's not quite as threatening as a straight contemp might be.

Does that make sense or am I veering too far into psychobabble? What I think is that Singh has given Mercy a different context for her fear of commitment: a hardwired, paranormal, "unreal" character trait of being a pack dominant. This is something that, within Singh's universe, Mercy can't help, can't change, and is in fact a big part of who she is and why she occupies the position she does. The difference between Mercy and a typical contemp romance heroine (or... reader?) is that she is never conflicted about this piece of herself. She never apologizes and never feels guilty that she is a dominant rather than a submissive or a maternal type. God, I love that!

She does worry about how to fit a mate into her life, both before and after she finds a specific one to worry about. While she cannot imagine a submissive male as attractive, she's equally unable to imagine herself submitting to someone more dominant. She worries about losing status in her pack, losing part of who she is. She's anguished at the notion of having to leave the pack -- or of asking Riley to leave his.

Maybe it's a bit of personal baggage, but I can relate to that. The way these characters resolve this conflict between their individuality and their couplehood is an exquisite treatise on compromise: on yielding without submitting; on examining and rethinking boundaries. A modern partnership of equals is hard, in the way that a win/win negotiation is harder than a win/lose. Love isn't always enough; it takes a willingness to examine what you think you know about yourself and what you are and are not willing to flex on; whether a yielding for the sake of the relationship is a fair trade or one you'll regret later. And whether your partner's willingness to yield is a measure of his love for you or something that diminishes who he is.

Mercy and Riley struggle with these things in a profound and real way. As characters in a romance must, they find their way through the labyrinth to their own Happily Ever After, and it's one that I enjoyed thoroughly as a reader. However, as someone for whom the term "alpha bitch" wouldn't necessarily be completely wrong, I'd also love to see this couple a few years down the road-- and see how the solutions have worked for them and what adjustments they've made.

The World
I have to admit, after the set up at the end of the last book, I rather expected a bigger bang to happen in this one. Instead, there are more teasers, another narrowly-averted disaster or two, and a looming sense of Something Really Big about to happen. Which is pretty much how the end of the last book felt, too, just with different players this time. If I had to find some fault with the book, I'd say that the series arc at the end felt a little rushed; a handful of loose ends hastily explained away a bit too easily, and not enough actually happening-- and it's becoming a pattern.

On the other hand, I'm verrrrrrrry intrigued by these falcon shifters. Adam sounds SRSLY yummy.

On the topic of the series' future, we also get several more layers on the Hawke-and-Sierra cake. Lots of readers are waiting breathlessly for this one, but I'll have to admit that this is the first book where it registered on me at all, probably because of Sierra's age. She's just turned 18, which is kind of the bare minimum for a contemp heroine to not completely squick me out. I really like how they are setting up Sierra's Psy powers to potentially take her in a radically different direction from previous characters in the series -- between this specific character setup and the rising ambition of the Human Alliance, Singh is layering all kinds of shades of gray into her world which is always more interesting than black-and-white, good-vs-evil. Although I will say that the tease we get about Sascha's research is one of the things that felt prematurely cut off at the end of the book-- I wanted more!

Hawke (does anyone else think it's weird to have a wolf named after a bird?) gets some good airtime here too. We get a little more insight into his character - I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that there are hints that he was mated at one time, but has somehow lost that bond. At least he didn't go off to die alone in a cave. (As far as we know, anyway.)


The Hott
Yeah. *fans self* Let's just say you should probably read this book in a well-ventilated area to prevent spontaneous combustion. I don't know about you, but that opening scene melted me into a little puddle. Hottest book yet, but classic Nalini -- if you haven't liked her previous Alphas, you'll probably really dislike these two... although if your objection in the past has been around a power mis-match, I think that's not a problem here-- the near-exact match of power and status is one of the most interesting features of this book.

Final Thought
Lastly, I'm going to leave you with this quote on the subject of individuality and partnership-- partly because I love the quote (my husband and I used part of it in our wedding) and partly because it amuses me no end to reference Bill Murray and Khalil Gibran in the same post:

Kahlil Gibran on Marriage
From Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet

Then Almitra spoke again and said, And what of Marriage, Master?
And he answered saying:
You were born together, and together you shall be forevermore.
You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days.
Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping.
For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts.
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

Other Reviews Around the Web:
VampFanGirl
Heather's Books
Book Thingo
The Book Smugglers (Ana)
KatieBabs
Dear Author (Janine)
Lurv A La Mode (Kmont)
Errant Dreams Reviews

Angels and Demons

Ciara thinks the next big thing in romance is steampunk.

I'm a little less cutting edge than that. My predictive powers are weak at best--witness my manufacturing degree, ca 1988 (should've minored in Chinese), and my MBA, ca 1993 -- talk about trend busters! But I think I may have identified a mini-trend already in progress. I'm clearly way better at that.

So while vampires and shifters have been the big story for the last few years, I'm thinking that demons and angels are the next--OK, current-- big wave in paranormal fiction, whether romance, UF, or horror.

Kim Harrison's Hollows series kicked off in April 2004 with some scary-ass demons. I'm only on book 2 so I can't say if they end up being a love interest/hero but at the moment? not. But it could go that way.

While I was a little lukewarm on Jenna Black's vampire world, I really like her Morgan Kingsley series, kicking off with Devil Inside back in November of 2007. Her demon is both sexy and seriously scary. I think she will somehow end up with him romantically (maybe she already has; I'm not caught up yet even though the latest is waiting in my TBR pile!) So, he's kind of a hero, but like Facebook says, It's Complicated.

So romances, with demons as the hero, I didn't start noticing until more recently. The first one I saw was Christine Warren's The Demon You Know, from May of 2007, and Rule is seriously yummy. But demons are only one of a whole pantheon of paranormals in Warren's world, and not the most prevalent.

Then I found Meljean Brook, whose Guardian series features angels most prominently, and a demon as the series' first heroine. Though Brook is kicking off a new steampunk series shortly, the Guardians are continuing-- hot off the presses is the cover for Demon Forged, tentatively due out in October of this year. We haven't gotten a demon hero yet; they're almost by definition bad/evil, but I have to admit I'm intrigued by the demon who plagues Charlie Newcomb and her sister in Demon Night. Since Charlie's sister opts to keep Sammael around, I have to wonder why... coughcoughnovella!cough maybe?

About the same time, I was burning through Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark, and let me just say that Cade Woede can eat crackers in my bed any ol' time.

Larissa Ione debuted her popular "Demonica" series last June with demon heroes. She has a big following but I have to admit I'm not that into them, so no telling if angels will make an appearance. If they do, you won't hear it here first, but you can keep an eye on Literary Escapism -- Jackie always has the scoop.

But wait, there's more.

Nalini Singh, author of the Psy/Changeling series, launches her new Guild Hunter series on March 3 with Angels' Blood. For a sneak peek, an e-novella called "Angels' Pawn" set in the same world will be available tomorrow (check Nalini's site for the right link). Isn't that a gorgeous cover? I love the platinum-blond hair.

And finally (that I know of), last Halloween, J.R. Ward somewhat unofficially announced (read down in the comments) her new series starting off this October, which she describes thusly:

COVET: A Novel of the Fallen Angels is the first of the books and let’s just say it’s all about angels and Harleys and evil and redemption. The tag line’s Destiny’s a witch and then you die… but love always brings you back.

She goes on: So far as I’m aware, the hero of the whole series is a guy named Jim Crane who’s a carpenter and it’s all about him going up against the devil (who’s a very hot brunette, btw) with the help of his two partners, a scruffy dog and his bad attitude. There are other heros who come in along the way and there is a love story in every book. Things may change as I get into the writing, but the bare bones are set and I can’t wait to get started!

Now, I confess, this description kind of gives me bad flashbacks to studying The Red Badge of Courage in sophomore English class with Mrs. Harris in her fluorescent blue eyeshadow, bludgeoning us all about the heads and shoulders with the allegory: "Notice his initials are Jayyyyyy.... Ceeeeeeee...and he sacrifices himself.... What other important historical figure do we know with the initials Jayyyyyy.... Ceeeeeee... ?"

Later on her forum, Ward says that the name Crane was an error and the name is actually Jim Heron. I don't know if she changed her mind or if "Crane" came out instead of Heron because Stephen Crane's analogies got beaten into her by an English teacher with fluorescent blue eyeshadow too or what... but in any event, "Heron" just strikes me as a little weird. Is it an homage to Stephen Crane? It probably wouldn't bug me if I hadn't seen Crane first, but now it's just going to be "Jim Long-Legged-Bird; Heron/Crane/Flamingo etc" in my mind and will probably distract me every time I see it.

Not that I overthink things or anything.

But Ward has me by the short little fan-girl hairs so I will certainly read the first one, and assuming it's better than Phury's book, probably the second one as well. As always, you can keep an eye on my sidebar for the countdown to the next JR Ward book.

Did I miss any good angel/devil series? Chime in!
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angel/devil image used with permission, courtesy of Mark Stivers.

Thursday Thirteen, Edition 2

Thirteen reasons to read an anthology this month: 1. Novella is the perfect length to read after the turkey is put away and before you pass out from the tryptophane. 2. Lots of cute holiday-themed books to get you in the spirit. 3. Too busy shopping, decorating, cooking and wrapping to read a full-length book 4. Need to sample some new authors to prep for Jackie’s 50 New Authors challenge in 2009. 5. Can’t miss any of the events in Nalini’s and Meljean’s worlds. 6. Keep one stashed in the car for when you’re waiting to pick the kids or in line at Starbucks for a gingerbread latte. 7. This is a test to see if anyone noticed that I could only think of twelve. 8. Where else can you get demons and werewolves, vampires and time-travelers, minotaurs and sirens, all in one book? (Umm, a Kresley Cole novel? Hmmm, you might be – no, wait, she doesn’t do time travelers. So far.) 9. Obsessed with JR Ward. 10. You *need* more Lady Whistledown. 11. Too tired from NaNoWriMo to read a full-length book. 12. Even if you don’t like some of the stories in the anthology, you still might like others. Therefore, an anthology represents a diversification of risk on your investment of $7.99*. In today’s economy, every bit helps. (“Look Ma, no hands-- I’m usin’ my MBA!”) 13. Be one of the kewl kids playing along for Antholopalooza! ____________ *… or in the case of The Magical Christmas Cat, $14.99. I’m still bitter about that.

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!
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Hostage to Pleasureby Nalini Singh - Review

First, before you read this, if you haven’t read the first four books, go get your wallet, head to the nearest bookstore, buy them, and read them. This review will still be here when you get back and have them finished.

This review contains a plot spoiler for the first book.

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Ready now? OK. So I’m assuming here that if you are continuing to read, there’s about a 99% probability that you’re already a Nalini Singh fan and are dying to know more about Dorian’s story. And well you should, because it’s the best one yet.

If you plug in “two kinds of people” to Google, you get 1,330,000 hits (today, anyway). There are two kinds of people: those who like to divide people into categories, and those who don’t.

Or, something like that. I know some people who are devoted followers of the Myer-Brigg personality inventory thingy, and can frame any interpersonal differences in MB terms. Then there’s the right-brain/left-brain theory; introvert/extrovert; hi-tech/hi-touch… it’s a very popular thing to define a dichotomous spectrum and attempt to solve all the world’s problems by understanding where you fit on the scale relative to everyone else. (Unless you’re like me and end up in the very middle of the scale on every quiz you take, but that’s a whole ‘nother post, if not a different blog…)

The reason I bring this up is because Singh’s universe, to me, seems predicated on extremes – the Psy are cerebral to the extreme, classifying emotional and bodily functions (ie, eating, sex, etc) as more primitive and therefore undesireable. The changelings represent the other extreme, relying on their inner animal for all their species’ advantages. It’s a little unbalanced though, because the changelings don’t sacrifice their intellect in the process. Which of course is why we readers are all swoony for the cats & wolves. Dorian and Ashaya are even further out on these extremes than their predecessors.

The first books were a case of opposites attracting – of the changelings helping the emotionally frozen Psy main characters, and the pack benefiting from the Psy talents. ** SPOILER IF YOU HAVEN’T READ ANY OF THE BOOKS:** Most of the Psy mistakenly believe that they cannot survive outside the main Psy network, the Net, but as it turns out, the changelings have a sort of pack-oriented net too that can support the Psy members’ needs.

What’s different and interesting about HtP is that Dorian and Ashaya are more alike than different. They both know what they are supposed to be but have been alienated from that self, for different reasons. Dorian’s leopard is latent – he cannot change physical form. Singh’s imagination in sharing with the reader what kind of pain this causes her character awes me; I mean, making us imagine the joy and freedom that a changeling feels in his alternate form is one thing, but making us feel the agony of the lack of a fictional trait? I think that’s pretty amazing. Dorian controls and hides this pain with a will of iron. His sniper abilities are a direct compensation for not having the strength and speed of his cat at his disposal. His pain over his sister's death puts him in an emotional turmoil at the far range of the rest of the pack.

Meanwhile, Ashaya is very different from the Psy we know. Unlike Sascha and Faith, whose journeys were about overcoming their conditioning to live within the Silence of the PsyNet, Ashaya already knows that the Net is flawed, and that she doesn’t belong there. Ironically, in order to live within its strictures, she becomes, on the surface, everything that she knows she really isn’t. (Hope that makes sense— if not, it will when you read the book-- Ms. Singh does it way better than I do, trust me!). Ashaya outwardly becomes the Psy ideal, using her formidable intellect to live a dual life. Also different from Sascha, Faith, and Judd, she has compelling reasons to remain in the Net even when she knows – and longs for—the alternative.

My point is that Ashaya and Dorian both have inner selves that they are aware of but cannot access. Blocking that self off causes each of them incredible pain, and molds their characters into another kind of extreme. As in all romance, the story of how they overcome those obstacles, both internal and external, drives the plot. When it’s badly done, the character bumps into a door, drops through a time gate, or gets slapped by a secondary character and they snap out of it.

But when it’s done right—as in this case—the external problems are solved by believable action scenes and plotting, and the internal problems are unfolded inch by painful inch. When Dorian and Ashaya finally take that last step, make that last connection, you know they’ve earned it and fought for it and I promise, it will make you sigh happily.

A lot of series start getting a little stale after three or four books. The world-building gets outlandish or starts building up to an Ultimate Final Confrontation that no author could possibly deliver on. Singh however, brings it in #5 with no letup in sight. Her characters get better and better, and the world is evolving in layers that feel realistic, if ominous (all too familiar, in fact, although that too is a post for a different blog). While we sense that there an eminent shift in global power, one that will have repercussions for all of the societies, it isn’t some looming monolithic Evil that Must Be Stopped.

One last point – I love the way this book is an inter-racial romance without being an Inter-Racial Romance, if you know what I mean. By polarizing three different societies in her universe, Singh can treat traditional racial lines in a lot of different ways. The only real hints as to Ashaya’s ethnicity are her name, the description of her hair texture and her skin color. Given that her eye color is blue, and her son is half Chinese, we are given the sense that race as we understand it is irrelevant in this universe. But the stories are fundamentally about overcoming assumptions about the Other, and finding commonality.

And if that isn't the perfect theme for a romance, I don't know what is.

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A Story For You (Nalini Singh)

This is a love story.

This is a story of how a reader finds a writer to love. There are obstacles. There are questions and uncertainties. But as in all good romances, love triumphs, and the ending is a happily-ever-after. So, reader, settle in with a soft light, a scented candle, and whatever else gets you in the mood.

Once upon a time, there was a romance reader named… oh, let’s call her Nicola (nobody ever said I was subtle). Now, as the heroine of this love story, Nicola doesn’t quite fit the current mores and publisher’s preferences of innocence and youth. No, Nicola has been around. The dew is off the bloom, and she has multitudes of reading partners, not just a few. Frankly, Nicola is a bit of a jaded slut, reading multiple authors and books within days of each other—sometimes even the same day! Thank goodness there are no nasty LTDs (Literarily Transmitted Diseases).

A few months ago, Nicola started blogging about her conquests, dishing with other reading sluts about who gives good dialog and character, and who suffers the occasional (or chronic) plot flaccidity. Now, some people might find this unseemly, but Nicola and her readers consider it a public service.

One day, while walking through the Internet on the way to Grandma’s house…. OK, no wait, that’s too much of a stretch….

One day, while checking blogger referral stats, Nicola discovered that a google search on “alpha heroes” had led some hapless reader to her own blog, but more interestingly, there were tons of great-looking other links listed, one of which was this one.

While there was an initial spark of attraction, it couldn’t really be called love at first sight. Nicola was cautious. Those paranormal types… you just never know what kind of stuff they’ll be into. Nicola filed “Nalini Singh” under “Hmmmm. Maybe.” and continued her hedonist readership.

Then one day, a similar meander through the blogosphere led her to Jackie’s blog, Literary Escapism. Jackie focuses more on paranormal romance and fantasy, and she likes Singh, as well as enough of Nicola’s favorites to make her opinion valuable. Nicola liked Jackie’s blog enough to stay subscribed, and eventually sees several more approving mentions of Singh.

Nicola added Singh to her mental UBS checklist. This is sort of the equivalent of a one night stand, a reading experience with no strings, no commitment. Remember, Nicola is a bookslut. But apparently, Nalini Singh is just not that kind of girl, and her books are not to be found in Nicola’s favorite cheap pickup joints.

Finally, Nicola took that chance, that step across the rubicon, and asked Andrea. “Have you read any Nalini Singh?” she asked. When Andrea gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up, there was no going back. But of course, it wasn’t to be that simple… “You must read them in order!” called Andrea like the fairy godmother tolling the midnight warning, as Nicola retreated to the S’s. And did Borders’ have the first book? That would be NO.

However, Nicola is not easily dissed once she gets a taste for a new author. Before she leaves the store that day, the second book is secured and the first one is on order – to be delivered to her door. Mmmmm, service.

Finally, the day came when Slave to Sensation arrived in the mail. Nicola isn’t one to dally with the good stuff. Diving in, she read it cover to cover in one or two evenings. (Sadly, her day job sometimes interferes with the more entertaining-but-doesn’t-pay-the-mortgage pastime of reading). Verdict: Pretty good. She starts forming a mental list of nitpicks but forgets to finish it because she’s too busy rummaging in the TBR pile for Visions of Heat, which she starts immediately and likewise finishes quite quickly.

Now this time, the questions and nitpicks are a bit more formed. Aren’t these two stories awfully similar? Both have the high-level Psy woman dropping out because she needs emotion and touch, while the changeling hero is the one craving commitment and emotional attachment. Cute gender reversal. Wonder how she’d do a male Psy and a female changeling, huh? Bet that wouldn’t be so easy. Bet that would be… well that would be book 3, Caressed by Ice. Since that required a new trip to Borders, Nicola couldn’t continue wallow in the new affair for the moment, and went for a sure thing in the form of a couple of Judith McNaughts, and a new nibble from Jenna Black.

Before long though, Caressed By Ice has succumbed to Nicola’s voracious appetite, satifying the curiousity about a male Psy/female changeling combo. But now there are new questions. Considering the abandon with which Singh throws around words like humane, humanity, human, etc, isn’t it awfully curious that there are no human characters? How do humans fit into this universe, anyway? What’s their special specialness? Are they just going to be ignored, a second-class species?

Cue Mine to Possess. Singh has an uncanny talent for answering just the questions that Nicola most wants to know about… in the next book. Not only does the reader’s interest stay piqued, the author sells more books—a perfect symbiosis.

By the end of Mine to Possess, Nicola’s fate is sealed. She will ever after be a loyal reader of Ms. Singh. The Psy/Changeling universe has succeeded in capturing Nicola’s imagination. The very satisfying resolution to MTP nevertheless opens up infinite new plotting possibilities without running into the irritating tendency of some sci-fi fantasy to keep asking more intriguing questions without ever answering any, or to work up to an impossible good-vs.-evil clash.



P.S. On a note that is only tangentially related to Nalini Singh, but fits nicely into the double-entendre metaphor we have going here, it must be admitted that Nicola tends to be a bit of a size queen (can I say that if I’m not a gay man?). Assuming a certain minimum of talent, nothing makes Nicola salivate more than a nice, long thick one. Generally, Nicola is not attracted to the likes of Singh and Viehl, but makes concessions for series because over time, the effect is similar in that the universe and at least some of the characters get the opportunity for ongoing development.