Nalini Singh

Have you ever read her books?  If you haven't, now is the time to start.  I (and millions of other readers) am hooked on her Psy-Changeling series.  They take place about 75 years in the future, but it's not all weird sci-fi stuff.  That's not my thing.  There are three "races":  humans, changelings (human shifters like wolves, leopards, etc) and the Psy.  The Psy are basically humans with extra psy talents such as telepathy, mind control, etc.  Most of the Psy are "Silent".  Silence was initiated years and years ago because the Psy came to believe that human feelings and emotions weakened them as a race.  There is no love, no sex, no anger, no joy.... everything with the Psy is middle of the road, do the right thing, don't step out of the box.  They don't touch, they don't laugh, they don't cry.  Everything, including childbearing and parenting, is a business transaction, and done for the better of the psy race. 

In Singh's series, there is so much time spent on the total storyline (which carries through from book to book) and on the world-building that I think the romance in each book almost takes a secondary role.  This would normally disappoint me since I'm strictly a romance reader.  However, Singh is a genius.  She has created this fantastic story in a world far enough into the future to explain some of the technology but not too far where it's not familiar.  The interaction between the humans, the Psy and the Changelings is done so well and so believably.  If I had one complaint about these books it would be that they are almost too technical.  There is often paragraph after paragraph filled with explanations and psy terminology that I can't even hope to understand, so my eyes tend to glaze over.  A computer geek or a science major would have a field day with these books!

I still have two more books in the series to be caught up to read the latest, but the one I read most recently was Blaze of Memory.  There is so much I could say about this book. I went from being underwhelmed halfway through to being completely overwhelmed at the end. It wrecked me. Throughout the first half of the book I found myself skimming through parts, waiting for something to actually happen. It seemed like there was chapter after chapter of build-up with nothing really *happening*.

All that being said, I loved how you could sense the need Dev & Katya filled in each other, right from the beginning. He was a man on the edge - trying to balance his humanity with the icy steel core that helped him endure rough times and tough decisions. Katya was the softness and light that balanced out his coldness. She was also a broken woman - a former scientist who didn't even know her own mind after her capture and torture. Dev was a caring, protective, possessive lover - something she wanted desperately despite her psy make-up. The last quarter of the book was stunning in its heartbreaking intensity and filled with emotion. It was amazing to see Katya come into her own by refusing to cower to her tormentor, and what Dev admired and loved about her was obvious when she eventually accepted her fate, knowing there was no hope, and forcing him to do the same. Watching such a strong, sometimes stone-cold leader and former soldier be brought to his knees by his overwhelming love and devotion for his mate was incredibly touching. When he said, "I will never be at peace with this," my heart broke along with his.

I stayed up until 2am to finish this book and spent the last hour with tears streaming down my face. It had been months since I read the previous book in this series so I wasn't totally familiar with where the storyline was going and I didn't have much of a feel for Dev's character, but none of that mattered. The changelings with their sensuality and warm affection are my favorites in this series and I was afraid I wouldn't feel connected to a book where the two main characters are Psy.  I shouldn't have worried.   I loved it.

(By the way, if you decide to try this series, definitely read them in order - Slave to Sensation is the first - and give a few a try before you quit.  A lot of people felt lost in the first one and gave up because they didn't "get it", but the series really just keeps getting better and better.)