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kathydavie's review against another edition
4.0
Four short stories in the Psy-Changeling paranormal romance series and revolving around the emotionless Psy and the passionate changelings.
The Series
"Echo of Silence", 2.5
"Dorian", 5.5
"Partners in Persuasion", 11.5
"Flirtation of Fate", 12.5
The Stories
"Echo of Silence"
A sadly sweet tale that takes place beneath the sea involving a shy woman who has been cut off by her family and gets to know her station commander when he invites her to aid him in a search-and-rescue effort. It's an interesting take on a Psy, as I'm finally getting around to reading "Echo of Silence", and I'm surprised that Stefan was accepted with his flaws. Must be that Tk ability of his. It's definitely not the experience other Psy have had. Singh's Psy world has been pretty vicious about weeding out defectives.
The really sad part is Tazia's father. He's so supportive of her studies, but he's still stuck in thinking she should be happy with a smaller life.
The Characters
Alaris is...
...the deep-sea station where Stefan Berg is the telekinetic Psy station commander and an unofficial Arrow. Stefan's mother had been a respected M-Psy, a medic. Andres is the junior geological oceanographer. Dr Night is a water changeling, and he heads the research team. Allie Livingstone is the station's chief counselor. Courtney, Dr Avril Lee, and Trev (who snores loudly) are fellow crew.
Tazia Nerif is a human engineer who leaves no stone unturned. Teta Aya is Tazia's grandmother. Jefim and Kaya Nerif are her parents. Mina is a friend in her village. Kabir, the son of her father's friend, was meant to be Tazia's husband. Tazia has a brother who is married and has a son.
The Silence Protocol was implemented 100 years ago to save the Psy. It isn't working.
"Dorian"
Both past and present are here, as Dorian reflects back on how hard his childhood was as a latent leopard, and how it influenced him to achieve. In today, he plays as both leopard and human, now that he can change — and Lucas finds out! I love how Dorian "discovers" his leopard is accepted by his packmates.
The Characters
Childhood and the Teen Years in DarkRiver
Dorian "Blondie" is a leopard changeling who can't change. Kylie is his little sister. His playmates and friends include Emmett, Mercy as his best friend, Barker, Lucas, and Vaughan. Lachlan is the alpha. Shayla is the pack healer and Lucas' mother. Zeph is a human and good enough to be Lachlan's sentinel. Clay is accepted into DarkRiver.
Today in DarkRiver...
...after Ashaya "Shaya" Aleine, Dorian's mate (Hostage to Pleasure, 5), repairs his genes. Dorian has become a DarkRiver sentinel. Keenan is Shaya's son. Noor is Keenan's best friend. Tamsyn is the healer, trained by Shayla. Nate is Tamsyn's mate. Lucas is now the alpha. Hawke is the wolf pack alpha.
"Partners in Persuasion"
Sweet and a bit annoying. Overtly, it focuses on the replanting of a part of the forest that was destroyed in a battle with the Psy when Sienna revealed her power. The underlying theme explores the truth of submissives — I do love how Felix demonstrates both his submissiveness AND his dominant side. Yeah, who knew?! And who knew how many different scenarios Singh could come up with to promote Felix! And I love, love, love that Singh focuses on each person's character. Sure, both of the primary characters are gorgeous, but it's not what they each focus on.
So the annoying part is how obsessed Felix is about his past experience with a dominant. One. Just one, and he's nutso. There is an interesting tidbit about SnowDancer's self-sufficiency in fruit, vegetables, and flowers.
The Characters
SnowDancer is…
…a pack of wolf changelings, with Hawke as alpha. Sienna is his mate. Indigo is a lieutenant. Drew, the pack's tracker, is one of Felix's friends and Indigo's mate. Ben is still a sweetheart of a cub. I love Ben's idea of what's not a bath...! Ava is Ben's mom. Lara made cake. Spence has baby duty. Is he Ben's dad? Nell is one of the maternal females. Cooper (Wild Invitation: "Declaration of Courtship", 9.5).
Felix Grady is a submissive wolf (and former high fashion model) and the horticultural expert who is in charge of the reforestation. Madison is his sixteen-year-old sister.
...a pack of leopard changelings, with Lucas Hunter as alpha. Ria is mated to Emmett (Burning Up: "Whisper of Sin", 0.6). Annie. Barker. Tamsyn is their healer, mated to Nate. Mercy is mated to a wolf, Riley, Drew's older brother. Jamie is a fellow soldier.
Desiree "Dezi" is a young dominant soldier. Her father, Harry, is a ranger in charge of the flora in the territory. Meenakshi is Desiree's mother, a petite classical dancer. Sonal "Sonu" is Desiree's younger sister, who is currently roaming the world, bungee jumping.
Wild is a popular dance club. Amore is a restaurant where one can dance; it's owned by a human woman with SnowDancer. Carisma is the woman who "crippled" Felix. Hawke and Lucas have agreed that cross-mating pairs can choose their allegiance, and neither has to change packs if they don't want to.
"Flirtation of Fate"
It is simply meant to be. In spite of the two main characters involved, lol. Time-wise it starts with the wolves celebrating Hawke mating Sienna.
Singh is having too much fun rubbing it in that men are from Mars and women are from Venus what with the "enlightened" Kenji making such bad decisions. Poor Garnet. Poor us...Singh drove me wild with all the hints and teasing about Garnet's anger and Kenji's hot-cold approach to loving her.
It's a fascinating little story with Singh providing little details to show Kenji and Garnet have known each other all their lives. It'll take a locked-door mystery for Garnet to realize the truth about Kenji and break down his wall.
The Characters
SnowDancer is...
…a pack of wolf changelings, with Hawke as alpha. Riaz and Indigo are in overall command of security over their territory. Cooper runs the den at the other end of the San Gabriel range.
Garnet Sheridan is a lieutenant who runs the Los Angeles den from her base in the Santa Ana Mountains; she also specializes in finance, working with Cooper to keep SnowDancer investments strong. Ruby is Garnet's very pregnant older sister; Tex is her mate. Steele is Ruby's twin and Kenji's best friend. Their parents had a total of four sets of twins and Garnet. Jasper is one of those twins and is in Alexei's sector; Jasper's mate is carrying twins. Grandma Maisey is a friend of the Sheridan's maternal grandmother.
Revel is Garnet's right-hand man, an engineer...and her current love interest. Pia is Rev's twin and good with scheduling. Grace is Revel and Pia's younger, very submissive sister. Lara is their head medic with Lorenzo as her deputy. Gavin is another medic. Eloise is a young soldier. Felicia is supposed to teach a combat class. Yejun is in charge of the junior soldiers; Sabrina is his mate. Mitchell, Cameron, Josephine, and Roan are more soldiers.
Russ Carmichael is a loner math professor who has to be in control. He was also Eloise's senior advisor. Chase is Eloise's love interest. Athena, a talented artist, had been his long-term love who recently broke it off. Julie is Athena's friend. Shane loves to collect knives. Sam, Kerian, Ju, and Tanya are human packmates, adopted into the pack.
Lieutenant Kenji "Casanova" Tanaka specializes in international law with a brilliant facility for languages and runs the San Fernando Valley. He once played the violin so beautifully that it made adults weep and children dance. He's also the point man with BlackSea. Louisa is a hairdresser and colorist who loves playing with Kenji's hair. Emi Lucenko is Kenji's second-in-command. Kenji's parents, Satoshi (ever flitting between women and hobbies) and Miko (an amazing artist whose words command high price tags), split up due to their inability to not do battle with each other. Seems Kenji's paternal grandfather is another one for the ladies. Kenji's maternal grandfather had been human, a sailor who loved the water. His grandmother, Sobo, called him "Seawolf" and had been a SnowDancer.
Alexei is the youngest lieutenant and is in charge of the smallest den. One packmate has a wickedly funny nighttime radio show, Deja's Delici-News. Tomás also has a region. BlackSea is a school of water changelings. In high school, Britney Matthews was a mean girl with a body. "No Brains Bacon" Barton did not impress Kenji.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a study in blues. A ripped chest leading to jeans-clad upper thighs is tinged in blue on the left. On the right is a close-up of a disembodied wolf's face. Merging with the wolf is a pale night sky with the silhouettes of trees at the top. Below the man's chin is a white info blurb with the author's name in a thick white script below that. Spanning the center of the cover and his lower chest and waist is the title in a pale orange outlined in black. In a much smaller font below that is the series information also in a pale orange. At the very bottom in white is a note that there are four novellas.
The title is a Wild Embrace all right, as each story involves changelings and love.
The Series
"Echo of Silence", 2.5
"Dorian", 5.5
"Partners in Persuasion", 11.5
"Flirtation of Fate", 12.5
The Stories
"Echo of Silence"
A sadly sweet tale that takes place beneath the sea involving a shy woman who has been cut off by her family and gets to know her station commander when he invites her to aid him in a search-and-rescue effort. It's an interesting take on a Psy, as I'm finally getting around to reading "Echo of Silence", and I'm surprised that Stefan was accepted with his flaws. Must be that Tk ability of his. It's definitely not the experience other Psy have had. Singh's Psy world has been pretty vicious about weeding out defectives.
The really sad part is Tazia's father. He's so supportive of her studies, but he's still stuck in thinking she should be happy with a smaller life.
The Characters
Alaris is...
...the deep-sea station where Stefan Berg is the telekinetic Psy station commander and an unofficial Arrow. Stefan's mother had been a respected M-Psy, a medic. Andres is the junior geological oceanographer. Dr Night is a water changeling, and he heads the research team. Allie Livingstone is the station's chief counselor. Courtney, Dr Avril Lee, and Trev (who snores loudly) are fellow crew.
Tazia Nerif is a human engineer who leaves no stone unturned. Teta Aya is Tazia's grandmother. Jefim and Kaya Nerif are her parents. Mina is a friend in her village. Kabir, the son of her father's friend, was meant to be Tazia's husband. Tazia has a brother who is married and has a son.
The Silence Protocol was implemented 100 years ago to save the Psy. It isn't working.
"Dorian"
Both past and present are here, as Dorian reflects back on how hard his childhood was as a latent leopard, and how it influenced him to achieve. In today, he plays as both leopard and human, now that he can change — and Lucas finds out! I love how Dorian "discovers" his leopard is accepted by his packmates.
The Characters
Childhood and the Teen Years in DarkRiver
Dorian "Blondie" is a leopard changeling who can't change. Kylie is his little sister. His playmates and friends include Emmett, Mercy as his best friend, Barker, Lucas, and Vaughan. Lachlan is the alpha. Shayla is the pack healer and Lucas' mother. Zeph is a human and good enough to be Lachlan's sentinel. Clay is accepted into DarkRiver.
Today in DarkRiver...
...after Ashaya "Shaya" Aleine, Dorian's mate (Hostage to Pleasure, 5), repairs his genes. Dorian has become a DarkRiver sentinel. Keenan is Shaya's son. Noor is Keenan's best friend. Tamsyn is the healer, trained by Shayla. Nate is Tamsyn's mate. Lucas is now the alpha. Hawke is the wolf pack alpha.
"Partners in Persuasion"
Sweet and a bit annoying. Overtly, it focuses on the replanting of a part of the forest that was destroyed in a battle with the Psy when Sienna revealed her power. The underlying theme explores the truth of submissives — I do love how Felix demonstrates both his submissiveness AND his dominant side. Yeah, who knew?! And who knew how many different scenarios Singh could come up with to promote Felix! And I love, love, love that Singh focuses on each person's character. Sure, both of the primary characters are gorgeous, but it's not what they each focus on.
So the annoying part is how obsessed Felix is about his past experience with a dominant. One. Just one, and he's nutso. There is an interesting tidbit about SnowDancer's self-sufficiency in fruit, vegetables, and flowers.
The Characters
SnowDancer is…
…a pack of wolf changelings, with Hawke as alpha. Sienna is his mate. Indigo is a lieutenant. Drew, the pack's tracker, is one of Felix's friends and Indigo's mate. Ben is still a sweetheart of a cub. I love Ben's idea of what's not a bath...! Ava is Ben's mom. Lara made cake. Spence has baby duty. Is he Ben's dad? Nell is one of the maternal females. Cooper (Wild Invitation: "Declaration of Courtship", 9.5).
Felix Grady is a submissive wolf (and former high fashion model) and the horticultural expert who is in charge of the reforestation. Madison is his sixteen-year-old sister.
"Every member of SnowDancer had value. That was why it was such a strong, stable pack."DarkRiver is...
...a pack of leopard changelings, with Lucas Hunter as alpha. Ria is mated to Emmett (Burning Up: "Whisper of Sin", 0.6). Annie. Barker. Tamsyn is their healer, mated to Nate. Mercy is mated to a wolf, Riley, Drew's older brother. Jamie is a fellow soldier.
Desiree "Dezi" is a young dominant soldier. Her father, Harry, is a ranger in charge of the flora in the territory. Meenakshi is Desiree's mother, a petite classical dancer. Sonal "Sonu" is Desiree's younger sister, who is currently roaming the world, bungee jumping.
Wild is a popular dance club. Amore is a restaurant where one can dance; it's owned by a human woman with SnowDancer. Carisma is the woman who "crippled" Felix. Hawke and Lucas have agreed that cross-mating pairs can choose their allegiance, and neither has to change packs if they don't want to.
"Flirtation of Fate"
It is simply meant to be. In spite of the two main characters involved, lol. Time-wise it starts with the wolves celebrating Hawke mating Sienna.
Singh is having too much fun rubbing it in that men are from Mars and women are from Venus what with the "enlightened" Kenji making such bad decisions. Poor Garnet. Poor us...Singh drove me wild with all the hints and teasing about Garnet's anger and Kenji's hot-cold approach to loving her.
It's a fascinating little story with Singh providing little details to show Kenji and Garnet have known each other all their lives. It'll take a locked-door mystery for Garnet to realize the truth about Kenji and break down his wall.
The Characters
SnowDancer is...
…a pack of wolf changelings, with Hawke as alpha. Riaz and Indigo are in overall command of security over their territory. Cooper runs the den at the other end of the San Gabriel range.
Garnet Sheridan is a lieutenant who runs the Los Angeles den from her base in the Santa Ana Mountains; she also specializes in finance, working with Cooper to keep SnowDancer investments strong. Ruby is Garnet's very pregnant older sister; Tex is her mate. Steele is Ruby's twin and Kenji's best friend. Their parents had a total of four sets of twins and Garnet. Jasper is one of those twins and is in Alexei's sector; Jasper's mate is carrying twins. Grandma Maisey is a friend of the Sheridan's maternal grandmother.
Revel is Garnet's right-hand man, an engineer...and her current love interest. Pia is Rev's twin and good with scheduling. Grace is Revel and Pia's younger, very submissive sister. Lara is their head medic with Lorenzo as her deputy. Gavin is another medic. Eloise is a young soldier. Felicia is supposed to teach a combat class. Yejun is in charge of the junior soldiers; Sabrina is his mate. Mitchell, Cameron, Josephine, and Roan are more soldiers.
Russ Carmichael is a loner math professor who has to be in control. He was also Eloise's senior advisor. Chase is Eloise's love interest. Athena, a talented artist, had been his long-term love who recently broke it off. Julie is Athena's friend. Shane loves to collect knives. Sam, Kerian, Ju, and Tanya are human packmates, adopted into the pack.
Lieutenant Kenji "Casanova" Tanaka specializes in international law with a brilliant facility for languages and runs the San Fernando Valley. He once played the violin so beautifully that it made adults weep and children dance. He's also the point man with BlackSea. Louisa is a hairdresser and colorist who loves playing with Kenji's hair. Emi Lucenko is Kenji's second-in-command. Kenji's parents, Satoshi (ever flitting between women and hobbies) and Miko (an amazing artist whose words command high price tags), split up due to their inability to not do battle with each other. Seems Kenji's paternal grandfather is another one for the ladies. Kenji's maternal grandfather had been human, a sailor who loved the water. His grandmother, Sobo, called him "Seawolf" and had been a SnowDancer.
Alexei is the youngest lieutenant and is in charge of the smallest den. One packmate has a wickedly funny nighttime radio show, Deja's Delici-News. Tomás also has a region. BlackSea is a school of water changelings. In high school, Britney Matthews was a mean girl with a body. "No Brains Bacon" Barton did not impress Kenji.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a study in blues. A ripped chest leading to jeans-clad upper thighs is tinged in blue on the left. On the right is a close-up of a disembodied wolf's face. Merging with the wolf is a pale night sky with the silhouettes of trees at the top. Below the man's chin is a white info blurb with the author's name in a thick white script below that. Spanning the center of the cover and his lower chest and waist is the title in a pale orange outlined in black. In a much smaller font below that is the series information also in a pale orange. At the very bottom in white is a note that there are four novellas.
The title is a Wild Embrace all right, as each story involves changelings and love.
ymalima's review against another edition
It was getting too hard to figure out which chapters went between which books via audiobook. Couldn’t easily find a contents and book number.
indecisivesailorscout's review against another edition
4.0
I'm never going to get tired of these characters or this meticulously built universe. As with Wild Invitation, I'm going to have to go back and review each story separately, but as a whole it's another kick butt read. Nalini is easily becoming one of my favorite authors.
tiadreamer's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Dorian? Makes me cry.
Tazia? Icon.
Kenji? I bawl. (Also murder! Garnet is ✨✨✨ when investigating I agree)
Felix & Desiree? I Love u i Love u i Love u i love you.
(Tfw you’ve been following a series for 10+ years and all the characters are so familiar to you that even after two years you know the names of them their siblings who get mentions 3 times in 16+ books)
Tazia? Icon.
Kenji? I bawl. (Also murder! Garnet is ✨✨✨ when investigating I agree)
Felix & Desiree? I Love u i Love u i Love u i love you.
(Tfw you’ve been following a series for 10+ years and all the characters are so familiar to you that even after two years you know the names of them their siblings who get mentions 3 times in 16+ books)
enchantedtomeetcute's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
kate_and_books's review against another edition
5.0
Nalini Singh is one of my favorite authors even though I started her books way after they had all been released. What can I say? I’m fashionably late.
There have always been a lot of side characters or characters that were mentioned that have always intrigued me. With Wild Embrace some of been crossed off my list.
Echoes of Silence ★★★★★
Stefan Berg runs the underwater station Alaris with BlackSea. He is Psy and a former Arrow although there is no such thing as a former Arrow. He’s conditioning has always been weak at the best of times but then an engineer comes on board who makes it go all haywire. Stefan is adorable.
Tazia grew up in a small village in the desert. But wanted to fulfill her dreams and as the smart spark that she is she achieved them but she lost her family along the way. She feels lonely.
Stefan tries to get to know her and after they take their leave to the surface. Stefan invites Tazia along to help with a search and rescue. They move from friends to being in love to eventually getting their happily ever after.
Dorian ★★★★★
I love Dorian, the latent cat. He is one of my favorite characters in this series. The overachiever a sentinel. We see him as a small kid and the pack dynamics he has with Lucas, Clay, Vaughn, Mercy when they are younger. What Dorian has to have been through because he is latent. We see him change and what it means for him. I had such a goofy smile on my face to see what they were like when they were younger. What is struggles were like, and we get a brief glimpse of Kylie. And that he became the best but now that he could shift he had to learn to let his cat take over.
In Partners Persuasion ★★★★★
I didn’t think a book with a dominant female and a submissive male would have worked but it did. Desiree a senior soldier in the DarkRiver pack is enamored with Felix the horticulturist from the SnowDancer pack. Felix has been burnt before when he let himself get involved with a dominant. All he wants to do is look after his seedlings, find a mate, settle down and have pups. Desi is always the strong one and without realizing it she needs some soft, caring person in her life. She gets that with Felix. Felix courted Desi in a sneaky way.I loved how Desi took time to try to get to know him. And even though they had a rocky start they got their happily ever after. And although they were all epic of the novellas this is by far my favorite.
Flirtation of Fate ★★★★★
I wasn’t feeling this at the beginning but I was coming off my Deslix high. On top of that although there was chemistry between them. There was also a big rift and I didn’t see how that could be bridged. My curiosity got the better of me though because I really wanted to know what the deal was with Garnet and Kenji. Kenji & Garnet work in different dens for SnowDancer and they have history but they have always meant to be together. Garnet starts to see the caring boy that she once knew and realizes that there is something that Kenji hasn’t been telling her. Kenji can’t keep it a secret anymore how matter how hard he tries. There is also a mystery/murder that needs to be solved. Loved it!
I can’t wait to see what Nalini Singh comes up with next.
Review can also be found @ http://jerisbookattic-reviewblog.blogspot.de/2016/08/wild-embrace-psy-changeling-collection.html
Dear Berkley,
I feel honoured that for the third time I have been approved for a book. I'm tickled pink. Please do keep it up. I know I'm being a cheeky monkey. Thank you!
Yours truly
Kate Phoenix
There have always been a lot of side characters or characters that were mentioned that have always intrigued me. With Wild Embrace some of been crossed off my list.
Echoes of Silence ★★★★★
Stefan Berg runs the underwater station Alaris with BlackSea. He is Psy and a former Arrow although there is no such thing as a former Arrow. He’s conditioning has always been weak at the best of times but then an engineer comes on board who makes it go all haywire. Stefan is adorable.
Tazia grew up in a small village in the desert. But wanted to fulfill her dreams and as the smart spark that she is she achieved them but she lost her family along the way. She feels lonely.
Stefan tries to get to know her and after they take their leave to the surface. Stefan invites Tazia along to help with a search and rescue. They move from friends to being in love to eventually getting their happily ever after.
Dorian ★★★★★
I love Dorian, the latent cat. He is one of my favorite characters in this series. The overachiever a sentinel. We see him as a small kid and the pack dynamics he has with Lucas, Clay, Vaughn, Mercy when they are younger. What Dorian has to have been through because he is latent. We see him change and what it means for him. I had such a goofy smile on my face to see what they were like when they were younger. What is struggles were like, and we get a brief glimpse of Kylie. And that he became the best but now that he could shift he had to learn to let his cat take over.
In Partners Persuasion ★★★★★
I didn’t think a book with a dominant female and a submissive male would have worked but it did. Desiree a senior soldier in the DarkRiver pack is enamored with Felix the horticulturist from the SnowDancer pack. Felix has been burnt before when he let himself get involved with a dominant. All he wants to do is look after his seedlings, find a mate, settle down and have pups. Desi is always the strong one and without realizing it she needs some soft, caring person in her life. She gets that with Felix. Felix courted Desi in a sneaky way.I loved how Desi took time to try to get to know him. And even though they had a rocky start they got their happily ever after. And although they were all epic of the novellas this is by far my favorite.
Flirtation of Fate ★★★★★
I wasn’t feeling this at the beginning but I was coming off my Deslix high. On top of that although there was chemistry between them. There was also a big rift and I didn’t see how that could be bridged. My curiosity got the better of me though because I really wanted to know what the deal was with Garnet and Kenji. Kenji & Garnet work in different dens for SnowDancer and they have history but they have always meant to be together. Garnet starts to see the caring boy that she once knew and realizes that there is something that Kenji hasn’t been telling her. Kenji can’t keep it a secret anymore how matter how hard he tries. There is also a mystery/murder that needs to be solved. Loved it!
I can’t wait to see what Nalini Singh comes up with next.
Review can also be found @ http://jerisbookattic-reviewblog.blogspot.de/2016/08/wild-embrace-psy-changeling-collection.html
Dear Berkley,
I feel honoured that for the third time I have been approved for a book. I'm tickled pink. Please do keep it up. I know I'm being a cheeky monkey. Thank you!
Yours truly
Kate Phoenix
faunasam2018's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
fishgirl182's review against another edition
3.0
Echo of Silence
3 stars
Ever since Singh first mentioned the Alaris deep-sea station (I can’t remember when this was), I hoped that she would write a story that gave us a closer look at this unusual setting and its unique occupants. She finally does so in this sweet novella about Stefan, a Psy/TK, and Tazia, a human working on the station. Though Tazia is human, she is a lot like Stefan. Estranged from her family, Tazia lives a very lonely life aboard Alaris. As a Psy and former Arrow, Stefan has learned to keep a tight leash on his emotions. However, when the two end up working together to help rebuild a village, their attraction reaches a breaking point which neither can ignore. I loved seeing Tazia break through Stefan’s cool exterior and bring out the heat in him. It was kind of a bummer that they had to hide their relationship on the ship but I still really enjoyed this sweet story.
Dorian – 4 stars
Dorian is one of my most favorite characters in the Psy-Changeling series. I loved his book and I am always happy to get a glimpse of what he and Ashaya have been up to. This story starts back when Dorian is a juvenile and follows him as he deals with his latency. I loved seeing how Dorian turns something that could cripple him into the motivation to excel. It was really fun seeing the rest of the pack as youngsters, too, as they learn and train together. The last part of the story takes shows us what happens when Dorian learns that he can finally shift. He has to learn how to move and think in his cat body after years of being unable to shift. My favorite part of this novella was seeing Lucas’s and the other sentinels’ reaction to Dorian’s cat. It’s just really sweet and reinforces how much of a family all of the packs are.
Partners in Persuasion – 3 stars
I am pretty sure that this is the first non-dominant male/dominant female relationship in the Psy-Changeling series. Overall I enjoyed this one. Dezi and Felix are both really fun characters and I liked seeing how the relationship worked once the roles were reversed. Giving it a slightly lower score because, while it was fun, it’s not super memorable.
Flirtation of Fate – 4 stars
I was really excited to finally get Kenji and Garnet’s story. They’ve been popped in and out of the series for years now and Singh even teased us a bit with a short excerpt from their story, which made me want to read it even more. Kenji broke Garnet’s heart and her 18th birthday but the two have remained friends. Kenji has tried to keep Garnet at arm’s length but it’s proving harder and harder as time goes on and Kenji has to decide if he’s willing to risk telling Garnet the truth of why he broke her heart all those years ago.
I always enjoy stories about lovers coming back together and there’s so much history between Garnet and Kenji. I was a little frustrated with Kenji because, while I understood his reason for breaking it off with Garnet, I think he should have told her the truth a long time ago. Keeping it from her caused them both needless pain and heartache. Of course I don’t think they story would have been quite as compelling had they made up right after their first fight but he could have done it a little sooner. It was very satisfying to see these two finally get their HEA.
Partners in Persuasion – 3 stars
I am pretty sure that this is the first non-dominant male/dominant female relationship in the Psy-Changeling series. Overall I enjoyed this one. Dezi and Felix are both really fun characters and I liked seeing how the relationship worked once the roles were reversed. Giving it a slightly lower score because, while it was fun, it’s not super memorable.
Flirtation of Fate – 4 stars
I was really excited to finally get Kenji and Garnet’s story. They’ve been popped in and out of the series for years now and Singh even teased us a bit with a short excerpt from their story, which made me want to read it even more. Kenji broke Garnet’s heart and her 18th birthday but the two have remained friends. Kenji has tried to keep Garnet at arm’s length but it’s proving harder and harder as time goes on and Kenji has to decide if he’s willing to risk telling Garnet the truth of why he broke her heart all those years ago.
I always enjoy stories about lovers coming back together and there’s so much history between Garnet and Kenji. I was a little frustrated with Kenji because, while I understood his reason for breaking it off with Garnet, I think he should have told her the truth a long time ago. Keeping it from her caused them both needless pain and heartache. Of course I don’t think they story would have been quite as compelling had they made up right after their first fight but he could have done it a little sooner. It was very satisfying to see these two finally get their HEA.
Final thoughts:
Short stories can often be hit or miss for me. In general, I tend to like Singh’s shorts because I am already so familiar with the world and the characters. While you don’t get quite the punch you do with a full length Nalini Singh novel, these novellas a nice, quick read that will hold over die hard Psy-Changeling fans until the next book. Singh’s writing is great, as always, if a bit abbreviated. I probably would not recommend this if you haven’t already read at least a few books in the series. They’ll still be fun if you do but I don’t think you will get as much out of them.
For me, my favorite stories were Dorian’s and then Kenji and Garnet’s. Now comes the long wait until the next Psy-Changeling book…
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my review or opinion of the book.
3 stars
Ever since Singh first mentioned the Alaris deep-sea station (I can’t remember when this was), I hoped that she would write a story that gave us a closer look at this unusual setting and its unique occupants. She finally does so in this sweet novella about Stefan, a Psy/TK, and Tazia, a human working on the station. Though Tazia is human, she is a lot like Stefan. Estranged from her family, Tazia lives a very lonely life aboard Alaris. As a Psy and former Arrow, Stefan has learned to keep a tight leash on his emotions. However, when the two end up working together to help rebuild a village, their attraction reaches a breaking point which neither can ignore. I loved seeing Tazia break through Stefan’s cool exterior and bring out the heat in him. It was kind of a bummer that they had to hide their relationship on the ship but I still really enjoyed this sweet story.
Dorian – 4 stars
Dorian is one of my most favorite characters in the Psy-Changeling series. I loved his book and I am always happy to get a glimpse of what he and Ashaya have been up to. This story starts back when Dorian is a juvenile and follows him as he deals with his latency. I loved seeing how Dorian turns something that could cripple him into the motivation to excel. It was really fun seeing the rest of the pack as youngsters, too, as they learn and train together. The last part of the story takes shows us what happens when Dorian learns that he can finally shift. He has to learn how to move and think in his cat body after years of being unable to shift. My favorite part of this novella was seeing Lucas’s and the other sentinels’ reaction to Dorian’s cat. It’s just really sweet and reinforces how much of a family all of the packs are.
Partners in Persuasion – 3 stars
I am pretty sure that this is the first non-dominant male/dominant female relationship in the Psy-Changeling series. Overall I enjoyed this one. Dezi and Felix are both really fun characters and I liked seeing how the relationship worked once the roles were reversed. Giving it a slightly lower score because, while it was fun, it’s not super memorable.
Flirtation of Fate – 4 stars
I was really excited to finally get Kenji and Garnet’s story. They’ve been popped in and out of the series for years now and Singh even teased us a bit with a short excerpt from their story, which made me want to read it even more. Kenji broke Garnet’s heart and her 18th birthday but the two have remained friends. Kenji has tried to keep Garnet at arm’s length but it’s proving harder and harder as time goes on and Kenji has to decide if he’s willing to risk telling Garnet the truth of why he broke her heart all those years ago.
I always enjoy stories about lovers coming back together and there’s so much history between Garnet and Kenji. I was a little frustrated with Kenji because, while I understood his reason for breaking it off with Garnet, I think he should have told her the truth a long time ago. Keeping it from her caused them both needless pain and heartache. Of course I don’t think they story would have been quite as compelling had they made up right after their first fight but he could have done it a little sooner. It was very satisfying to see these two finally get their HEA.
Partners in Persuasion – 3 stars
I am pretty sure that this is the first non-dominant male/dominant female relationship in the Psy-Changeling series. Overall I enjoyed this one. Dezi and Felix are both really fun characters and I liked seeing how the relationship worked once the roles were reversed. Giving it a slightly lower score because, while it was fun, it’s not super memorable.
Flirtation of Fate – 4 stars
I was really excited to finally get Kenji and Garnet’s story. They’ve been popped in and out of the series for years now and Singh even teased us a bit with a short excerpt from their story, which made me want to read it even more. Kenji broke Garnet’s heart and her 18th birthday but the two have remained friends. Kenji has tried to keep Garnet at arm’s length but it’s proving harder and harder as time goes on and Kenji has to decide if he’s willing to risk telling Garnet the truth of why he broke her heart all those years ago.
I always enjoy stories about lovers coming back together and there’s so much history between Garnet and Kenji. I was a little frustrated with Kenji because, while I understood his reason for breaking it off with Garnet, I think he should have told her the truth a long time ago. Keeping it from her caused them both needless pain and heartache. Of course I don’t think they story would have been quite as compelling had they made up right after their first fight but he could have done it a little sooner. It was very satisfying to see these two finally get their HEA.
Final thoughts:
Short stories can often be hit or miss for me. In general, I tend to like Singh’s shorts because I am already so familiar with the world and the characters. While you don’t get quite the punch you do with a full length Nalini Singh novel, these novellas a nice, quick read that will hold over die hard Psy-Changeling fans until the next book. Singh’s writing is great, as always, if a bit abbreviated. I probably would not recommend this if you haven’t already read at least a few books in the series. They’ll still be fun if you do but I don’t think you will get as much out of them.
For me, my favorite stories were Dorian’s and then Kenji and Garnet’s. Now comes the long wait until the next Psy-Changeling book…
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my review or opinion of the book.