Hostage to Pleasure
by Nalini Singh
Narrator: Angela Dawe
Release Date: September 2, 2008
Publisher: Berkley
Book #5 in the Psy-Changeling series
Number of Pages: 331
Paranormal Romance
Ages 15 and up
CW: child abuse, torture, violence
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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 adore Dorian! Who doesn’t? At the beginning of this story, when Dorian and others in the DarkRiver pack are rescuing a young Psy child, my previous thoughts on Dorian are cemented. Changelings are all about the kids and the way little Keenan latches onto Dorian says a lot.
Ashaya is hard to understand at first. She’s in previous books and it’s unclear what her motivations are. No matter how much we are told she is an icy Psy, it was clear in the last book that her feelings toward her child are more than wanting to propagate her lineage. As things unfold in this book I learned to love Ashaya and ache for all she has lost and all she is trying to keep together.
Dorian and Ashaya are an odd couple even before some of Ashaya’s secrets come out, even more so after. Yet that mating bond is almost impossible to ignore. It always tickles me how much the “big, tough” Changelings are more attracted to their mates when they push back on their overbearing ways. Ashaya is no wilting flower and no matter how much she wishes she could give into her feelings for Dorian and her son she will not be swayed from her purpose to protect at all costs those she holds dear, even when it makes her look bad. She’s just as much of a protector as Dorian, just in a different way.
There are a few new Psy characters who are shown briefly who are part of the rebellion that I’m looking forward to seeing more. They were all quite intriguing with their abilities and the way they were helping Ashaya.
I found I missed the pack in this story. They are shown, but rarely all in one group. Of course, there is good reason to be wary of Ashaya and her real motivation. Yet once they started trusting her more, I hoped she would get to know some of the other Psy in the pack better. I found the absence noticeable.
3.5 stars
All In Good Time 