Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

I don't know why I've been so resistant to reading these books - they get such high praise by readers. After reading two great reviews on Ms. Singh's Psy/Changeling series, I decided now was the time. I think I'm gonna like this series!

Sascha Duncan is a Psy - a race sort of like humans with no emotion. Lucas Hunter is a changling - part human, part panther. The Psy and Changelings are working togther on a joint venture that will be very lucrative for both parties. Sascha thinks she has been slowly going insane, Psy aren't supposed to have feelings and she does. After meeting Lucas her feelings and craving for touch increase - she is having more and more difficulty sheilding these thoughts and desires from other Psy. If it is discovered, they will destroy her mind and kill her. Lucas, the Alpha for his panther pack, cannot get Sascha off his mind; he's determined to have her.

As they work together, Sascha decides she can work through her thoughts and emotions about Lucas through dreaming; she doesn't realize she is transporting her dreams and he's having them too - raw, lusty dreams where she can let herself so whatever she wants!

Lucas is trying to get to know her better, using any opportunity to touch her and talk to her. Slowly she warms to him and he realizes she's his mate. Then, a female from a local pack of wolf changelings goes missing and there is evidence it's the same serieal killer the jaguar pack has been searching for that tortured and killed one of their own - they have evidence it's a Psy doing the killing.

Can they trust Sascha to help them? Will she be able to help without getting herself executed by the Psy? Can she agree to a mating bond with a Changeling?

I really enjoyed this book. I think one of the reasons I was hesitant to read it was for some reason I thought it was going to be a sci/fi-type story, or set on another planet or something. It was set in the future, but I can live with that! The bit of it that was sort of sci/fi was written so well it was easy to imagine. She wove great backgrounds for both characters and the social dynamics were interesting, they showed very well why the hero and heroine are they way they are. I liked both Lucas and Sascha and how their relationship progressed slowly. Sometimes you get a book where the heroine says "no, no, no...ok, yes" very abrubtly and unbelieveably. Ms. Singh writes it so that you see the thought process and emotional journey Sascha takes to reach her potential. Lucas' patience while he waited for her made me fall in love with him. AND, he has a lair (more on my love of lairs later)!

Now, to get my hands on Book 2!!!

Angels' Blood by Nalini Singh

I've not read anything by Nalini Singh before. I know she has a very popular psy-changeling series (I'm not even sure what that means), but this is her first book for me.

Angels' Blood is a story of angels, vampires, and a vampire hunter. In this reality, vampires are created by angels and are bound to the angels for 100 years. Sometimes they try to escape before their time is up and that's where the vampire hunters come in. Elena is a vampire hunter called by an archangel, Raphael, to capture what she thinks is a vampire but turns out to be a rogue archangel. There is quite a bit of sexual attraction between Elena and Raphael; he's an archangel used to giving orders and she's quite the rebel who refuses to take orders.

I enjoyed the book but it's not a keeper for me. It took awhile for me to get into the story; I enjoyed the middle but by the end I was ready for it to be over. I can't really pinpoint what about it I didn't care for, but it just didn't reach out and grab me. There were no Too Stupid To Live moments, but she just seemed be obstinate for no good reason. Also, there was quite a bit of "remembered painful past" that the author never got into. That was kind of frustrating.