Source: Purchased.Hostage to Pleasure (Psy-Changeling #5) by Nalini Singh
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...
Reading this series is turning into a long-term thing for me. I read the first four books what feels like forever ago now. Like, I honestly can't remember how long ago it was that I read book 4. And it's not because the series isn't good -- heck no. It's because the series is so dang long, it's intimidating to me to think if binge reading it. So then I take way too long to pick up the next book. And then when I do, I wonder why I didn't do so sooner because the book, just like the series as a whole, is. so. good. Yes, that was the case with Hostage to Pleasure.
Nalini Singh is brilliant. This world she's created? Large and complex, but oh so easy to fall into. The PLOT? Dear goodness. So. Damn. SMART. There are countless threads, both throughout this one book but also throughout the series as a whole, and the way they seem to effortlessly build and work together is something that I am truly in awe of. Singh's writing is out of this world amazing.
Then there's the romance, which is top notch. Dorian and Ashaya have one of the most sensual slow burns I've ever read. Ashaya slowly growing on Dorian, despite Dorian wanting nothing to do with his attraction to her...wow. And Ashaya gradually opening up her emotions to him, feeling safe enough to do so...the growth of trust and affection and tenderness between the two... Nalini Singh is truly a master.
And how could I not mention the other relationships? In Hostage to Pleasure, in particular, there's Ashaya and Dorian's bonds with Keenan. The sweetest, I swear. Ashaya being his mommy. And Dorian being protective and kind and caring. It was beautiful. Then there's the pack dynamics -- the close friendships and die-hard trust. I loved spending time enfolded in their world.
There were only two little things holding the novel back from being perfect for me. One of those things was Amara. I just did not like her plot thread. I have no doubt she'll come into play somehow later, but in this installment her portion was just so over complicated when all I wanted was for her to go away. The other thing is the overall pacing -- it was slow for me. I suspect this is just a me thing (trying not to miss anything, catch all the important tidbits while also enjoying the parts I loved, which were many) but it felt like it took me forever to read this book. I'd read twenty pages but it'd feel like I read at least double that. Which in a way is good -- it meant the pages were jam packed -- but it made my overall reading experience feel like it was dragging.
All that said, Hostage to Pleasure was another amazingly written installment in the Psy-Changeling series. A masterful slow burn romance, brilliant plot and world building, and other lovely relationship dynamics make this a PNR I don't recommend passing on.
Nalini Singh is brilliant. This world she's created? Large and complex, but oh so easy to fall into. The PLOT? Dear goodness. So. Damn. SMART. There are countless threads, both throughout this one book but also throughout the series as a whole, and the way they seem to effortlessly build and work together is something that I am truly in awe of. Singh's writing is out of this world amazing.
Then there's the romance, which is top notch. Dorian and Ashaya have one of the most sensual slow burns I've ever read. Ashaya slowly growing on Dorian, despite Dorian wanting nothing to do with his attraction to her...wow. And Ashaya gradually opening up her emotions to him, feeling safe enough to do so...the growth of trust and affection and tenderness between the two... Nalini Singh is truly a master.
And how could I not mention the other relationships? In Hostage to Pleasure, in particular, there's Ashaya and Dorian's bonds with Keenan. The sweetest, I swear. Ashaya being his mommy. And Dorian being protective and kind and caring. It was beautiful. Then there's the pack dynamics -- the close friendships and die-hard trust. I loved spending time enfolded in their world.
There were only two little things holding the novel back from being perfect for me. One of those things was Amara. I just did not like her plot thread. I have no doubt she'll come into play somehow later, but in this installment her portion was just so over complicated when all I wanted was for her to go away. The other thing is the overall pacing -- it was slow for me. I suspect this is just a me thing (trying not to miss anything, catch all the important tidbits while also enjoying the parts I loved, which were many) but it felt like it took me forever to read this book. I'd read twenty pages but it'd feel like I read at least double that. Which in a way is good -- it meant the pages were jam packed -- but it made my overall reading experience feel like it was dragging.
All that said, Hostage to Pleasure was another amazingly written installment in the Psy-Changeling series. A masterful slow burn romance, brilliant plot and world building, and other lovely relationship dynamics make this a PNR I don't recommend passing on.
4 stars - A brilliant, passionate installment in a series that is not to be missed!
