Book: Branded By Fire by Nalini Singh

Published July 2009 by Berkley|345 pages

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

Series: Psy-Changeling #6

Genre: Adult Romance/Paranormal Romance

Though DarkRiver sentinel Mercy is feeling the pressure to mate, she savagely resists when Riley Kincaid, a lieutenant from the SnowDancer pack, tries to possess her. The problem is not simply that he pushes her buttons; the problem is that he’s a wolf, she’s a cat, and they’re both used to being on top.

But when a brilliant changeling researcher is kidnapped from DarkRiver territory, Mercy and Riley must work together to track the young man – before his shadowy captors decide he’s no longer useful. Along the way, the two dominants may find that submitting to one another uncovers not just a deadly conspiracy, but a passion so raw that it’ll leave them both branded by fire…

I really liked this one!  It probably falls somewhere in the middle for me- it’s not one of my favorites, but it’s not one of my least favorites either.

We get a lot of different perspectives in this book, and I’m not sure how I feel about it.  I mean, we do get other perspectives in the other books in this series, but with this one, it seems like we’re getting a lot more than we usually would.  For some reason, I had a hard time keeping up with everyone, and I had the worst time remembering if some of the characters already had their book or if maybe their book was yet to come.  I’m hoping this isn’t going to worse in the books to come, but we shall see.

On the one hand, it really adds to whats going on, and I liked seeing what was going in the human world, and how what was going on with the Psy and the Changelings were affecting things.  It does add to the overall story, but I found it took away from the romance, and I really liked Mercy and Riley together.  I like them as a couple, and I really liked the conflict of them being in two different packs.  I also liked how that was resolved, and hopefully it will mean the alliance between the packs will stay in place.  I think I just wanted a little bit more on how things would work pack-wise if they did mate, but maybe that will pop up in some of the other books.

One perspective we see is the Ghost!  We still don’t know who it is, and I couldn’t even begin to guess who it is, but they’re obviously really powerful, and they are known to a couple of characters.  I’m curious to see who it is, but at the same time, I’m worried I’m going to be let down by the reveal.  I’m hoping we’ll learn more about them as the series goes on.  I do have the feeling that it’ll be a while before that happens.  Still, the more we learn about the Ghost, the more I want to know who it is.

Also, what is going on with Kaleb?  And Tatianna.  I mean, I’ve been wondering about Kaleb for a while, and I’m curious to see what he’s really up to.  I was surprised by Tatianna in this one, so I’m hoping we’ll see more of her because I really want to know what’s going on with her.

4 stars.  I really liked Branded By Fire, and I really want to know what’s going to happen next.