Another Recent Read

I'm just churning them out aren't I?

Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini Singh

Why this one: I’ve read and really enjoyed to one degree or another her previous Pys/Changeling series

Steam Level: Woah – better be careful – this one can burn you

Author Web site Blurb: 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...

My Thoughts: As I said up above, I’ve enjoyed all the books in this series – some more than others. I gotta say that so far this one is my favourite. It is REALLY good!

So – what makes it so good you ask?

Well first off the hero Dorian is great. Although a sentinel in the Cat Clan, he has never been able to ‘change’. Although this is hard for him to accept, he has and in doing so, has made himself better in all other areas. He is still reeling from the loss of his beloved sister and is horrified that he is strongly attracted to a Psy – and not only a Psy – but one who has been a member of the hated Council. At first he is almost cruel to Ashaya after he saves her and is made her guardian, but Ms. Singh writes his character so well, that we don’t really blame him for his treatment of her. He still manages to be charming with her at times. He makes for a wonderful wounded hero who is really thrown for a loop. But once he accepts his feeling for her, he is all alpha protective of both her and her son.

Secondly Ashaya is a great heroine. She never really fell victim to The Silence – something that all Psy’s are forced to partake of in their youth. She is a very complicated character and Ms. Singh unveils all her fascinating layers slowly until we see the vulnerable, strong rebel underneath – the woman who has had to hide her basic nature all her life. She is very loyal to those she loves including her psychotic and truly frightening twin sister.

The suspense with it’s twists and turns in this book build upon themselves and it got to the point where I could hardly bare to put it down as Ashaya is torn between her growing and passionate love for Dorian and her loyalty to her sister, twisted and broken as her sister is. As we progress in this series, we see that there is so much going on in this fascinating world that Nalini Singh has created.

If you haven't tried this series or this book, you really must. While I'm still a bit confused about the Psy Net, as long as I don't struggle too hard to understand it, this is a wonderful series. It gets a hearty Thumbs Up from this reader!!

Grade: 4.5 out of 5