Book: Hostage To Pleasure by Nalini Singh

Published September 2008 by Berkley Books|330 pages

Where I Got It: I borrowed the paperback from the library

Series: Psy-Changeling #5

Genre: Adult Romance/Paranormal Romance

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…

I really liked this one!  I definitely liked it a lot more than Mine To Posses, the previous book in the series.  Ashaya has come up in the previous novels, and I was really intrigued by what she was doing.  I’m really glad that we got her story, though I did figure we’d get it eventually.  It’s the same with Dorian, of course.

I thought Ashaya was interesting.  We do get more of what she was doing, especially with the implant protocol she was working on.  I also thought her shields were interesting as well, and the whole thing with her sister really got my attention as well.  Even though Ashaya was the focus of this book, I’m sure her work and everything with her twin will come up in some of the other books.  I really wanted more of it.

I also like that we got bits and pieces from her encrypted files.  That’s definitely different, but it gave a lot more insight into her thoughts and what was going on with her.  She’s definitely logical (she is Psy, after all), but she and Dorian are so good together, and they are my favorite couple.  At least, so far they are.  That could change as I continue the series, but so far, they are it.

The more I read this series, the more I love it.  The characters are all so different, but there are some great friendships, alliances and romance.  And even though each story stands alone pretty well, I also love that the world keeps building on itself.  I’m curious to see how it all comes together and how it all ends.  I’m at the point where I’ve requested the entire series from the library, and I’m waiting on the last couple of books before picking it up again.

I haven’t talked about Dorian at all!  I loved seeing him with Keenan, and I really feel for him.  I definitely get why he doesn’t want to be with Ashaya, even though she is his mate.  One thing I’m kind of curious about is how the changelings know who their mate is.  Now that I think about it, I can’t recall it ever being mentioned in detail, especially since they all seem to mate with Psy.  Maybe I’m not just remembering anything, and I’m totally cool with them just somehow knowing, but it would be interesting to get more details.  Or details that I can remember.  Maybe I’ll have to pay more attention in the next one to see if it comes up.

What is driving me crazy is not knowing who the Ghost is!  Singh is doing such a great job at not giving anything away.  Not that I’m actively trying to figure it out, and I can’t recall any clues.  I’m wondering if it’s someone we know, or if we’ve never met them before.  I’m hoping we find out, but I also don’t want to be let down with the reveal either.

And what is going on with Kaleb?  I’ve decided, I want a book focusing on him.  I’m intrigued by what he’s up to, and I can’t quite decide if he’s good or bad.  Time will tell, but I’m sure this is not the last we’ve seen of him.

4 stars.  I really liked this one!  I liked Ashaya and Dorian together, and both characters are pretty cool.