Hostage to Pleasure - Books (Nalini Singh, Mass Market Paperback)

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Customer Reviews of Hostage to Pleasure

Realms on our Bookshelves
Netherlands, ZH
12th September 2008

Dorian and Ashaya's story is paranormal romance and so much more!
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

Bookworm
Manc UK
27th August 2008

A read in one go book
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!

Auntie Helen
Essex, England
26th August 2008

Fifth in series
Nalini Singh certainly writes these books at a good pace. This is the fifth in the series, following 'Slave to Sensation' (September 2006), 'Visions Of Heat' (March 2007), 'Caressed By Ice' (September 07) and 'Mine To Possess' (February 2008), so she's managing to churn out two per year. I suppose this is on a par with many other authors but, having finished 'Hostage to Pleasure', I wonder if this author with her original ideas is perhaps a slight victim of her success.

'Hostage to Pleasure' was a good read. We had a varied cast of characters as always (shapeshifters including leopards, wolves and even rats), the Psy (Mr Spock-like beings who communicate telepathically) and occasional references to humans. We have characters who have their own bad memories, demons, difficulties, fears and a central love story which shows two people growing together and learning to gain strength from each other. Unfortunately for this reader at least the story felt a bit tired. Somehow I never quite felt I connected with Dorian Christensen, latent leopard shapeshifter and member of Lucas's pack, or with Ashaya Aleine, Psy scientist whose conditioning is not only fracturing but who may have never been properly conditioned anyway. It doesn't seem like a great deal actually happens in this story and for those who haven't read the previous books the cast of characters is fairly large and might get confusing. I was less than convinced by Ashaya's sister Amara and the ways in which the two interacted (and I also found the similarity of the names confusing at times).

Nalini Singh's worldbuilding continues in this novel with more about the council and another group, Pure Psy, which didn't always feel particularly connected to this story. I like the author's Psy/Changeling world but I found this book rather forgettable and nowhere near as good as 'Caressed by Ice'. It's a good read, worth the four stars, but not as good as some of the others.