Alicia Thomas’s review of Mine to Possess (Psy-Changelings, Book 4) by Nalini Singh
Paranormal romance published 5 Feb 08 by Berkley

I’ve gotten a bit cynical. I had started waiting for a series to lose its ‘new car smell’ before I started to read it. Luckily for all of us, Singh’s still sparkles four books in.

I noticed I tend to comment on the blurbs. I guess it’s because they sell the book or not, when the reader has no other experience with the author. This one is just kind of “blah.” It isn’t wrong. It just doesn’t capture the energy of the book.

Clay’s animal didn’t just cause him to kill. He was protecting Tally from an immediate threat and, in his rage, took it too far. She was a child and the horror of what she saw stayed with her. She lied through a third party to avoid him and it was a bitterly harsh measure. Tally has a lot fear and confusion and since a lot of it involves Clay, he is hurt by it, too. I loved Clay more than Tally for a lot of the book. I had as much trouble as he did forgiving her for the lie. These two have a lot of past history to get through before they can get their HEA.

But it’s all handled beautifully. I had tears at the end. The characters are alive and the dialogue sparkles. If you haven’t read any of Singh’s Psy-Changeling books, they need to be read in order. Start with Slave to Sensation, but start soon. You need to hurry and get to this one.

Grade: B+

Blurb:  Clay Bennett is a powerful DarkRiver sentinel, but he grew up in the slums with his human mother, never knowing his changeling father. As a young boy without the bonds of Pack, he tried to stifle his animal nature. He failed…and committed the most extreme act of violence, killing a man and losing his best friend, Talin, in the bloody aftermath. Everything good in him died the day he was told that she, too, was dead.

Talin McKade barely survived a childhood drenched in bloodshed and terror. Now a new nightmare is stalking her life–the street children she works to protect are disappearing and turning up dead. Determined to keep them safe, she unlocks the darkest secret in her heart and returns to ask the help of the strongest man she knows…

Clay lost Talin once. He will not let her go again, his hunger to possess her, a clawing need born of the leopard within. As they race to save the innocent, Clay and Talin must face the violent truths of their past…or lose everything that ever mattered.

Read an excerpt and an excerpt.

Other books in the series:

A

Read Gwen’s review of Book 3, Caressed by Ice here.