Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini Singh (Psy/Changeling Series, Book 5)
Once I get past, say, the third book in a series, I tend to approach subsequent books with trepidation. Because there’s always the fear that maybe this will be the beginning of the end, the one that signals that the series is about to jump the shark. Thankfully, Hostage to Pleasure, the fifth book in Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling series, doesn’t disappoint.
Warning: Contains spoilers from previous books
Ashaya and Dorian: then and now
Ashaya Aleine is a genetic scientist coerced by the Psy Council to lead a top-secret project to create an implant that will turn the Psy population into a hive mind. Her story started in the previous book, Mine to Possess, although you don’t need to have known any of her backstory to start this book. Dorian Christensen is a sniper from the DarkRiver changeling pack, who, unlike the other changelings in his pack, can’t shift–he’s a leopard, but for some reason he can’t turn into his animal form. His sister was murdered by a serial killer whose psychosis was kept secret by the Psy Council.
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Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Dark-Hunter, Book 12)
Hallelujah, I can finally sleep!
So what did I think?
Part one
Well, I loved the first part. Despite feeling that the writing lacked a certain authenticity, I found the storytelling so compelling that the book was almost unputdownable. Acheron’s early life is gruesome, and Kenyon doesn’t pull any punches. She manages to find that fine balance between laying it all out for the reader without making the violence feel gratuitous. Probably because she leaves the most horrific parts unsaid or off-page, which is always much, much worse, I think, because it almost compels you to fill in the blanks and imagine the hundred different yet equally terrible things that may have happened.
About halfway through the first part of the book, I realised that Kenyon was playing me. And doing it beautifully. She intersperses scenes of beauty and simple joy with acts of barbarism, and she balances these so finely that I was shocked yet again by each act of betrayal that Ash suffers. I completely bought his back story.
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Acheron by Sherrilyn Kenyon (Dark-Hunter, Book 12)
Note: This post was originally published in installments in July 2008. I’ve collated the liveblog into one post for simplicity.
Childhood
So the first part of Acheron is all about Ash’s childhood. I haven’t read all the Dark-Hunter books, and of the ones I’ve read, I’ve forgotten the bits about Ash, so I don’t know what’s a spoiler and what’s not.
I have to tell you, I’m so into this book. I’m not really a fangirl of the Dark-Hunter series. (Not like I was of the BDB.) But I’m loving this book even though this first part is difficult to read. Difficult as in subject matter, not the writing itself. I might have cried if I hadn’t been reading in the middle of a crowded train and had to look like a human being when I arrived at work in the next half hour. The only real thing that’s bothered me is the language. It just doesn’t sound very ancient. But I gotta say, the story’s so absorbing that I barely give that a second thought.
And if there’s one thing that shines through in Acheron, it’s how much Kenyon loves Ash. It’s so clearly reflected in her writing.
Okay, I gotta get back to the book. Don’t hate me. :-P
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Caressed by Ice by Nalini Singh (Psy/Changeling Series, Book 3)
I’ve had this post in draft for ages, and I’ve decided to turn it into a quickie or it may never see the light of day. While Slave to Sensation is still my favourite book in this series, Caressed by Ice is a great read. The Psy hero/changeling heroine combination has a very different dynamic from the pairings in the previous books, and if you like your heroines to be dark, inscrutable and very alpha, you won’t be disappointed.
It took me a while to warm up to the characters in this book, and I had to read it twice to get a better understanding of what made them tick. Judd is a much colder hero, and while I can see how he’d appeal to other readers, I prefer the changeling heros of the previous books. I liked Brenna only after the second reading, because at times I found her irritatingly clingly (though she had good reason to be). I wasn’t certain how Singh was going to resolve the very huge problem of Judd’s need for the Silence protocol, and I found some of the explanations about how dissonance was affecting him confusing. But the book doesn’t take an easy way out, so I’m happy with the way it was resolved, although I would have liked to have understood Judd’s reprogramming of his brain better.
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Beat of Temptation by Nalini Singh (Psy/Changeling Series) in An Enchanted Season
Beat of Temptation is part of an anthology, An Enchanted Season, but I just had to post about it. I cried. I can’t remember the last time I cried while reading a romance novel or when I last read in the car, but I did both. It was that good.
Beat of Temptation is a stand alone novella set in the Psy-Changeling world, and while it isn’t essential to the series, it offers a glimpse into the changeling mating bond. There’s an external plot dealing with the relationship between Psy and changelings, but it’s peripheral to the story. Beat of Temptation is about Tamsyn and Nate (introduced in previous books in the series), who recognised the mating bond when Tamsyn was only fifteen and Nate much older (twenty-five?). Now, nineteen-year old Tamsyn wants to … well, get the party started, but Nate wants her to enjoy unmated singledom for a while because he’s scared she’ll end up like his mother, who married young and ended up committing suicide.
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Atlantis Rising by Alyssa Day (Warriors of Poseidon, Book 1)
The heroine
Riley Dawson is a social worker with a special gift. She’s an empath, able to link minds with warriors who seem to have appeared out of the water.
The hero
Conlan, high prince of Atlantis, has spent the last seven years under hideous torture by Anubisa, daughter of Chaos and goddess of the vampires. When he returns home, he discovers that the Trident of Poseidon, the instrument of his ascension to the throne, has been stolen.
The setup
Conlan surfaces from the depths of Atlantis in search of the stolen Trident when he rescues Riley from danger … and realises that she’s an empath. Their mental and emotional connection is overwhelming, but Conlan knows that, when he ascends, his duty requires him to submit to an arranged marriage.
And other stuff
Seven–count them: seven–warriors, an Atlantean priest who’s having trouble with his vow of celibacy, blood and guts
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Lover Unbound by J. R. Ward (The Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 5)
Because it takes me almost a day to write up any sort of response to J. R. Ward’s BDB series, I’ve liveblogged this one. Well, it’s technically not “live” because I’m posting my thoughts in one hit, but I wrote them up as I went along. I’ve tried to avoid spoilers in the liveblog, but after I read the book, I couldn’t resist and I’ve posted my overall reactions afterwards. Those contain spoilers.
Anyway. On to V’s book. Ready? Here we go…
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Demon Angel by Meljean Brook (The Guardians, Book 2)
I debated whether or not to write this up as a quickie or post in detail about this book. But I’m going with the quickie because if I try and write down everything I love about Meljean Brook’s Demon Angel, it would be a humungously long post and will probably sit in draft because I’ll never get around to finishing it.
In case I’m not being clear: go and read this book.
This book is the best cross-genre (paranormal romance) novel I’ve read bar none. The paranormal elements are well fleshed out and the world building is extensive but woven into the story without bludgeoning me with details. Other bloggers have complained that this is a weakness of the book, that it slows down the pace, but I disagree. And that’s from someone with a relatively short attention span for world building. The romance is given centre stage, and the paranormal conflicts are intrinsic to the romantic conflicts. In my opinion, this is how a paranormal romance should be. You can’t take the paranormal out, and you can’t take the romance out–they both have to be there for the story to work.
The romance in the story is heady. It’s exciting and it’s complex. The central characters are immersed in shades of grey. I was filled with dread as I neared the end because I couldn’t figure out how the Brook would pull it off. But she does, and it’s glorious, and I can’t stop raving about this book.
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Castle of the Wolf by Sandra Schwab
Sandra Schwab has a great voice, and she conveys a wonderful sense of atmosphere in Castle of the Wolf. However, the story underutilises the paranormal element. Or, another way to look at it is to say that the paranormal element is superfluous. Without it, the story would still stand on its own, and I’m baffled as to how this story became a paranormal in the first place. This was distracting because I kept expecting the hero to shapeshift (the heroine calls him her “wolf”) but no, the paranormal element is really quite … wussy.
Von Wolfenbach, the hero, is deliciously dark and broody, but veers into immaturity at times. The pranks he plays on Celia to try and scare her into leaving the castle are juvenile, and the way he keeps stomping off in a huff can get irritating. The villain’s motivations are underplayed, and he’s too much of a caricature for me. Likewise, some of the characterisation seems forced. The bedroom scenes are wonderfully sensual, however, particularly when the erotic playing cards are used. You can read an excerpt here.
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Dreams of Stardust by Lynn Kurland
The heroine
Amanda de Piaget is a poor little medieval rich girl. Sick of being paraded around prospective husbands who are only interested in her dowry, she won’t settle for anything less than a man she can love and respect, even if it means running away from home … or becoming a nun.
The hero
Jake Kilchurn, successful gem designer, starts the day as a reluctant errand boy for his father, ends up in northern England in a castle filled with ghosts, experiencing the most disorienting cases of deja vu. Nothing he can’t cope with … until he crashes his 1967 Jag.
The setup
Jake wakes up to find himself in thirteenth century England, where Amanda–in the process of running away from home with moderate success–finds him, and he is taken to Artane under much suspicion. Brought together by extraordinary circumstances, can Jake and Amanda conquer medieval prejudices, self-doubt, jealous suitors, and time itself to be together?
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