Review: HOSTAGE TO PLEASURE by Nalini Singh

 

Title: Hostage to Pleasure (Psy-Changeling #5)
Author: Nalini Singh
Release Date: September 2, 2008
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Source: bought physical copy
Buy Links: Amazon | B & N | BookDepo | Indigo | IndieBound | Penguin | Powell’s

With her darkly seductive Psy/Changeling world, Nalini Singh has created “a sensual, dangerous adventure not to be missed” (New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh). Now, as the deadly Psy Council tightens its grip, a rebel Psy scientist finds herself at the mercy of a changeling who has sworn vengeance against her kind…

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…
 

Read an EXCERPT on Nalini’s website.

 

Why did I want to read this book?

I have waited for Dorian’s story every since I first met him in this Psy-Changeling world that Nalini Singh has masterfully created. This review will actually be a re-read review since I’ve read this book back in 2013 and has re-read it a couple of times in 2014. Plus, did you see that gorgeous cover, with that gorgeous man, and that gorgeous eyes?

 

What worked for me?

I’ll just say this already since I know I’m going to be gushing over this book throughout this review. This is one of my most beloved books. Of all time. Like All-Time Top Ten favorite books. No matter how many times I read it, it just gets to me every single time.

First of all, I love the premise of the would-be romance story between Dorian and Ashaya. Dorian lost his sister to a sociopath Psy cardinal who was a member of the Psy Council. Ashaya is an M-Psy scientist who has been working for that very same council. When Ashaya helps two kids escape from an underground lab, the DarkRiver pack, that includes Dorian, settles the debt through kidnapping or rather saving Ashaya’s son from the Psy Councilor who has him. And when Ashaya finally defects from the Psy-Council, she finds herself being rescued in the middle of the forest by one very angry yet very turned-on (despite his utmost desire not to be) DarkRiver sentinel.

The development of the romance, as well as their individual arcs were just superbly done. Seamless, organic, and just exactly right. Dorian and Ashaya had to face the realization that perceptions can be misconstrued and that to really get to know an individual, you have to look inside and maybe see beyond what is immediately apparent. And I just love watching them uncover each layer of each other’s personalities, each other’s true selves. It absolutely doesn’t hurt that these two had incredible chemistry, like scorching, quiet, pulsing chemistry. They both have their own demons to face and you’ll just be left in awe with them as they dealt it with the strength of their hearts, the strength they find with each other.

As for the bigger series story arc, the plot does indeed thicken and proceeds to build the stakes as well as expand the characters that have such stakes in whatever happens in the future among these races of Psy, Changeling, and Humans. Nalini Singh weaves this incredible, incredible world that you’ll definitely just want to power through the rest of the books in the series.

 

What did not work for me?

Not. A. Single. Thing. This was book perfection for me.

 

My over-all take on it?

After 13 books in the series, this book remains to be my all-time favorite. Dorian and Ashaya have carved their place in my heart and on my bookshelf. Book perfection, you guys. And a definite re-read candidate for always.

 

My rating:

+

 

 

 

I’ve been writing as long as I can remember and all of my stories always held a thread of romance (even when I was writing about a prince who could shoot lasers out of his eyes). I love creating unique characters, love giving them happy endings and I even love the voices in my head. There’s no other job I would rather be doing. In September 2002, when I got the call that Silhouette Desire wanted to buy my first book, Desert Warrior, it was a dream come true. I hope to continue living the dream until I keel over of old age on my keyboard.

was born in Fiji and raised in New Zealand. I also spent three years living and working in Japan, during which time I took the chance to travel around Asia. I’m back in New Zealand now, but I’m always plotting new trips. If you’d like to see some of my travel snapshots, have a look at the Travel Diary page (updated frequently).

So far, I’ve worked as a lawyer, a librarian, a candy factory general hand, a bank temp and an English teacher and not necessarily in that order. Some might call that inconsistency but I call it grist for the writer’s mill.

Connect with Nalini Singh:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

 

 

 More Nalini Singh on the blog:

Rock Addiction (Rock Kiss #1)
Rock Courtship (Rock Kiss #1.5)
Archangel’s Kiss (Guild Hunter #2)