Bam,

I can’t believe summer is officially over. Of course, I didn’t bother reading the entirety of an email sent out by our HR department, so I’m in business casual today and everyone else is in suits. I’m glad I set such a delightful example for all of the people that work for me. Of course, with summer over, I suppose I owe you a few reviews. Let’s start with the fabulous: Hostage to Pleasure.

Yes, yes, I’m a Nalini Singh fangurl. In the middle of this book, I actually had a serious fangirl moment and nearly embarrassed myself. I came thisclose to writing Nalini an email detailing why I loved the book and how happy I was that she has continued to develop fascinating characters in a series that has a choke hold on my attention. I think I might have been on hormone overload, but the Psy/Changeling series continues to fascinate and delight with complex characters, twisting plots, and strong continuation of story lines. As I’ve noted in every review, it is important that you read the prior books in this series. If you don’t you will be missing out on fantastic writing, characters, and important plot points.

I am going to keep this review brief. It’s not a cop-out, I swear. I just don’t want to give up some of the great plot that makes this series so damn tight. HtP is the story of Dorian Christensen, a DarkRiver sentinel and latent. Dorian is surfer good-looking and as deadly as he is hot. He’s also driven by a hatred of the Psy since his sister Kylie was brutally murdered by one of them. Dorian got his revenge by tearing Santano Enrique limb from limb. However, Dorian wasn’t satisfied with Enrique’s death, and has been unable to find an outlet for the anger and hatred building inside of him. Nailini beautifully illustrates a man driven to the edge by an ugly mix of guilt and rage. Dorian allows himself to be pulled back by the rescue of, and immediate mental bond to Keenan, the son of Ashaya Aleine.

Ashaya made her initial appearance in Mine to Possess when she aided Clay, Tally and DarkRiver by saving children the Psy had taken. Yep, gotta love those Psy. Experimenting on children…just call ‘em Mengele. Back to Ashaya: she knows that her days among the living are numbered; too many things have not gone as planned in her underground lab, and Ming LeBon is placing her under tremendous pressure (read: going to turn her into a vegetable) to deliver results. Rather than cave, Ashaya takes deadly measures to escape and find Keenan, placing her directly in Dorian’s care.

Dorian is a delicious morass of conflicting emotions, needs and desires. His latent leopard has recognized Ashaya as his mate, but his human side is fighting the attraction tooth and nail (don’t call me on that bad pun) because he believes he should hate the Psy. Dorian and Ashaya’s relationship evolves along with Dorian’s emotional development, and he comes to the realization that not all Psy are evil except the ones that he loves or cares for (i.e., Sascha and Faith). Ashaya, on the other hand, is willing to sacrifice everything, including herself, to protect Keenan. While Ashaya’s actions place her in the martyr category, her motives and desires are truly respectable, giving her the strength and determination to face both the murderous Psy and Dorian’s unstable emotions. Together, Dorian and Ashaya combust, neither one wanting to give an inch for what they believe is right, and not wanting to let the other take on their problems. When they finally give in to their feelings the passion on both an emotional and physical level is fantastic.

As you know, I am fascinated by the Psy and their crazy antics. Nalini continues to take us deeper into the Psy world in HtP and I am not disappointed. The world of the Psy seems to be heading toward a mega-disaster and I am truly enjoying watching the Psy Council begin to come apart at the seams. The in-fighting, twists and hatred are delightful. I can’t wait to read more about them. Mercy’s book is next, and she is gonna need one strong man to her Sentinel woman. I can’t wait for it!

Babes, this gets a Straight A for me. Thanks, Nalini!

Love ya,

Please buy this fabulous book here.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 at 9:08 pm and is filed under Books, Grade: A, Romance: Paranormal, Shuzluva's Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.