Synopsis
In a world that denies emotions, where the ruling Psy punish any sign of desire, Sascha Duncan must conceal the feelings that brand her as flawed. To reveal them would be to sentence herself to the horror of "rehabilitation" - the complete psychic erasure of everything she ever was...
Both human and animal, Lucas Hunter is a changeling hungry for the very sensations the Psy disdain. After centuries of uneasy coexistence, these two races are now on the verge of war over the brutal murders of several changeling women. Lucas is determined to find the Psy killer who butchered his packmate, and Sascha is his ticket into their closely guarded society. But he soon discovers that this ice-cold Psy is very capable of passion - and that the animal in him is fascinated by her. Caught between their conflicting worlds, Lucas and Sascha must remain bound to their identities - or sacrifice everything for a taste of darkest temptation.
My Thoughts
Though they dont have as much mainstream popularity as a few years ago, I still love a good paranormal romance / urban fantasy novel. Over the years I have read many books by most of the biggest names in the genre but never any by Nalini Singh. To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of the Psy-Changeling series starting, I decided to give the first book, Slave To Sensation, a try.
The story is set in a world with Psy (people with various powers such as mind control) and Changelings (shapeshifters) living alongside humans, who dont feature much in this particular book. The main characters Sasha and Lucas are a Psy and a Changeling respectively, two warring factions, so it is a bit of a Romeo and Juliet tale. The romantic storyline is the the strongest element of the book but romance isnt all this has to offer. The Psy-Changeling world is really interesting and quite well built but there is still plenty of room to develop and build further in the future books.
There is a "detective story" element to this book and that was probably my favourite bit. The characters are trying to catch a serial killer and the mystery of "who dunnit" and them trying to track down the culprit was really well done. It added some extra excitement and a bit of edge to what otherwise would have been a very standard shifter romance like so many on the market. As for the characters, Lucas was great, a well written typical alpha hero. Sasha wasnt one Iif my favorite characters but she developed really well as the book went on. I would have liked to see her do more with her potential at the end.
Overall, Slave To Sensation is sexy, romantic, action packed, mysterious and has a great dose of humour. It is on the upper end of the raunchy scale for this type of book with a few sexually explicit scenes, so if that isnt your cup of tea then it is probably best to give this book a miss. However, if you are looking for a steamy romance that brings some excitement, adventure, and shapeshifters to the table, then this is perfect. I will definately be looking to read more of the books in this series.
Verdict: Recommended.
Try it for youself! Goodreads | Amazon | Amazon UK
For the chance to win a copy of the book courtesy of Gollancz checknout my instagram and twitter. You can enter on both for two entries.
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