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Hostage to Pleasure
Berkley
by Nalini Singh
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List Price: £6.99
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| Product Details |
ISBN/ASIN: 0425223256
Release Date:
Sales Rank: 5136
Average Rating: 
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Audience Rating:
Product Group: Book
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| Customer Reviews: Average Rating: 4.5/5 | | Let this series take YOU hostage: Rating: 5/5 |
This is the fifth book in Nalini Singh's Psy-changeling series and let me just say, what a series this is! It is, in my opinion one of the most original series out there at the moment. In Singh's world there are three species: humans, changelings (or shifters) and the psy who are a complex race, possessor of psychic gifts ranging from telekinesis to seeing the future.
Hostage to pleasure is Dorian and Ashaya's story. Dorian is a member of the DarkRiver pack, a latent (he can't shift to his animal form) leopard shifter who we know from the previous books. Ashaya Aleine is an M-Psy, or one of the medical designation. The plot is captivating from page one. In Mine to Possess, Ashaya helps Tally to get John and Noor away from the labs in which they are being experimented on to safety. In exchange she asks the DarkRiver pack for a favour she will call in later. She wants her son Keenan kidnapped from the clutches of the Psy Council who hold him over her head to force her cooperation on one of their projects. When Ashaya escapes she enters the protection of the DarkRiver pack with Dorian as her personal bodyguard as she fights to bring down the Council who is trying to unify the minds of the Psy (who need psychic feedback) into a hive mind.
This is probably my favourite book in the series. I loved Dorian from book 1 and was worried his story would not live up to my expectations. However, Singh delivers not only an amazing love story between the main characters, we also get to see how Dorian overcomes his hatred for the Psy race after his sister Kylie's murder, insight on how previous couples are getting on, what the Council is up to, changes in psy/human/changeling politics and how a member of the psy race who is supposed to be unapproachable, cold and unfeeling fights tooth and claw, no pun intended, for her son. No matter who tries to stand in her way.
My only criticism for this series is how much page time Sasha and Lucas (from book 1 and Alpha pair of the DarkRiver pack) get in every single book, whilst it is nice to see and hear about previous characters, it doesn't seem fair that they are the only ones of the other couples we get to hear part of the story from and though I loved them in their own book, I don't understand why we need their views on what is happening in all of the rest.
This is an amazing read and I recommend it to anyone who wants a good, ORIGINAL paranormal romance and who is sick and tired of whinny, immature, push over women. If you have not started this series, now is the time.
| | weakest book of series so far: Rating: 3/5 |
| I have read the whole series of psy-changeling books and always given them 5 stars but I found this to be the weakest book so far, as in there was too much netmind/council stuff going on, add to that Ashara's twin Amara's thoughts and there were whole chapters of the book that I admit to skim reading! Dorian was the saving element to the book as I felt no empathy to Ashara at all, her character was the least charismatic of all Nalini singh's female leads so far. | | Hostage to pleasure rocks!!: Rating: 5/5 |
| I just love Nalini Singh. Her rich universe with the 3 species, the Psy, the Changelings and humans, is just captivating. She manages to weave in the main story of Dorian and Ashaya with the other characters so well, that you want to follow the plot on and on and see what is coming next. She is a great story-teller. The San Francisco wolves and leopards' adventures in the cruel world of the Psy makes for a real page turner. I love this series. As good as the BDB or Dark-Hunters, it's one of my favorites. | | Dorian and Ashaya's story is paranormal romance and so much more!: Rating: 5/5 |
Repeatedly Nalini Singh has proved her amazing gift at writing with romance and action packed tales that keep you on the edge of your seat. I shouldn't be surprised anymore of this fact but once more I have read an outstanding story with HOSTAGE TO PLEASURE. I found myself embraced again in the DarkRiver pack that contains such treasured characters for me and they welcomed me back into the mesmerizing world of the Psy/Changelings.
The first page starts with a high-tale rescue of Keenan and it is the immediate connecting between Keenan and Dorian that paints such an endearing picture. Moreover, it ones again proves how protective Changelings are about their cubs or are of children. Dorian is one of those highly addictive Sentinels within the DarkRiver pack whom holds you spellbound from the first moment you meet him. Now, in HOSTAGE TO PLEASURE, it is his story that is told and he is re-acquainted with Ashaya, an M-Psy who harbors a few secrets that puts her in the direct path of Dorian. Both their pasts set up for conflict between them and from the moment they meet it causes verbal firework that made me gobble up the pages like it was my next fix of chocolate.
For me one of the things I love about Nalini Singh's writing is the seemingly impossible love between two people that makes the impact of their tale above and beyond. Ashaya and Dorian will both separately as well as together pull at your emotional strings, all your strings! May it be love, pride, endearment, fear and perhaps even anger. I experienced the whole rainbow of emotions as Dorian faces his past and Ashaya faces a difficult decision. Moreover, it is with skin privilege that Dorian dares Ashaya to take it a step further and though the passionate encounters are few it is not something that I overly missed. The intensity, but also the playful purring nature of Dorian as a Changeling, makes the eruption of build-up sensuous tensions all the more satisfactory.
With Ashaya being the leading M-Psy of a very important experiment the reader is being pulled deeper into the Psy world with The Council at its centre. And to my surprise I found out there's a new group in town and they are not going anywhere soon. Hidden in a cloak of mystery they already meddle with Council business and form a new threat for the Changeling packs. The plot thickens all around and served the overall story superbly as Psy keep up scheming and plotting which gives Dorian and Ashaya the necessary issues to work out. With enticing little tidbits of information at the start of each chapter various voices are heard and I enjoyed this extra addition to the story.
Of course there is a rich cast of secondary characters that makes you feel right at home. Kit is on the verge of becoming an adult but he still has that juvenile exuberance that makes him so endearing. Lucas, Sascha, Tammy and her cubs, Vaughn, Faith, Clay and his Tally, they all form a family with their own customs that makes me feel a part of this extraordinary pack. From the Psy Council to the DarkRiver and SnowRiver pack, they all add their unique voice to this novel and it creates a vibe that makes you want to return to it the moment you close this book.
HOSTAGE TO PLEASURE is another engrossing read, with another dynamic couple and it is another welcome addition to this much beloved series. Dorian and Ashaya's story is paranormal romance and so much more. Nalini Singh holds on to a level of intensity in her Psy-Changeling novels which makes it synonymous with breathtaking story telling!
On a last note: I feel that to experience the full impact of Dorian and Ashaya's story you should read this series in order: SLAVE TO SENSATION,- VISIONS OF HEAT,- CARESSED BY ICE and MINE TO POSSESS.
Reviewed by Leontine
Courtesy of Realms On Our Bookshelves
| | A read in one go book: Rating: 5/5 |
I have waited for Dorian book from the begin and the wait was well worth it. He was the character that your heart bled for in first book and his pain his anguish was there to be seen.
A year later his pain hasn't diminished and the "Boy Genius" is back with a vengeance, blazing across the pages. His relationship with Shaya is complicated but did we expect it to be any less?
I love hearing about the Pack interaction it's as normal as any large extended family only they have claws. The background story is getting more and more meatier as each book gets published.
I know I haven't critiqued the storyline, but why spoil the fun!!!
All I can say is that it was well worth my fiver!
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