Wild Embrace: A Psy-Changeling Collection

If there was one anthology that I could take with me to a desert island, it would be this one. All four books have very different vibe to each other which is I guess is what makes it a great anthology, you get all different types of tropes. All the couples and their stories are uniquely suited to them as characters. Gah I loved it. Also the cover, I want that hair color that Kenji has, alas I’m not confident enough. This is going to be as spoiler free as I can make it because seriously you need to read it.Echo of Silence:Rating ~ 5 stars.One word: Adorable.It’s set around the time period of the second book in the series all before the fall of silence, where it’s hard to be open as a Psy showing emotions let alone being in a relationship with a human which shows how difficult (an understatement) it was for Psys to live under that regime and now they are free.We have been hearing about Stephen, Tk based at Alaris deep-sea station for a couple of years now. Most recently in the last book, Allegiance of honour where he find out that he had a link to a human. Stephen hadn’t completed his training as an Arrow when he was deemed unfit for active duty but this ofcourse doesn’t stop him or the other Arrows of thinking him as a part of the Arrows. Tazia Nerif is an engineer at the Alaris station. Tazia career choice made it things every difficult between her family and now she prefers the months spend with the friends she’s made at the station instead. Tazia and Stephen’s love is very sweet and understanding. It’s quite chaste compared to other stories because of Stephen being a high level telepath and Tazia’s culture but it didn’t make the story less interesting or the romance, less entertaining. They were wonderful together.DorianRating ~ 5 starsOne word: Sorrow&Joy (shhh it’s a word)This was such a treat, we get to see some stages of Dorian’s life and I might have sniffled here and there. It was just wonderful to see more of how he become the man he is and how is latency affected him in his younger years. I just loved the interactions between Dorian and the pack, how much they loved and cared for him. We get to see the sorrow and the hurt he felt at being latent, to trying to become the overachiver everyone said he was and finally him being happy with his leopard. His journey was told was told in a few chapters but the effect it had was profound.Partners in PersuasionRating ~ 5 starsOne word: Sweet!Next up is Desiree ‘Dezi’ and Felix’s story. Not only is it a Leopard (Dezi) and Wolf (Felix) pairing but it’s also male submissive with a female dominant. I just don’t know how Nalini Singh does it but I end up loving all different pairings with different amounts of power and hierarchy. Felix, the horticultural expert of the SnowDancer pack has been hurt before in a relationship so isn’t up to anything with another dominant but Dezi, the leopard solider tempts him greatly. I don’t even know how to explain it but Dezi and Felix made such a great couple, he is proud and in awe of her. While she can’t help but fall for his endearing shyness and the gentleness displays. They were so cute and they made so happy, to be fair I was smiling the whole way through the book apart from where Dorian made me sad.Flirtation of FateRating ~ 4 starsOne word: Intriguing.This one I have been waiting for years now, ever since we saw them bickering over a com. Garnet ‘Jem’ to other people and Kenji Tanaka have been in my mind for quite some times. I was ecstatic to learn that they would be getting their own story. This has more romantic suspense vibe as Garnet and Kenji both try to solve a murder of on of their own in Garnet’s den. Quite a bit part of the novella is spend finding the killer of Russ. Random fact: I learned beginner’s Japanese this summer at my uni, this made me ridiculously happy to see some words in the book but I digress. Garnet and Kenji were very close once, then Kenji broke Garnet’s heart leading to seven years of bickering and longing. Now that they have to spend some time together, it brings out old memories and feelings that were never forgotten.Garnet was great, she’s a kickass take no prisoner kind of gal that would also like to have a mate and family and I thought that was great. I loved how she went around teasing Kenji when she realises how much she effects him.I was like at times to Kenji ‘dude just tell her’ but it was understandable why Kenji behaved the way he did. Because at the end of day he loved Garnet no matter what happened. He wanted the best for her, which he thought was never going to him. It’s a teeny bit angsty, as second chance romance can be.OverallI really enjoyed this book. This is such a great anthology, and it gives newer reader a chance to sample all different kinds of relationships and pairing the series has to offer. And gives the series followers stories of some of the couples they have been waiting for. The writing of the book as always with Nalini Singh flowed and made the characters and the story richer. This was a such a great year for the Psy-changeling not only did we get 5 stories (1 in Allegiance of Honour and 4 in Wild Embrace), we also got to see almost everyone that we have loved and seen in the series. I can’t wait till the next one!!

It's hard to pick a favourite out of these four stories. I really enjoyed the first one about a damaged Psy and a human female who work on an undersea station, both alone and lonely, either realising what the other means to them till a natural disaster brings them together. The second is probably the weakest as it centre s around Damian and his inability to shift growing up to the present when he can finally embrace his leopard. The third is about a Snowdancer wolf and a Darkriver leopard, she is a dominant female one of her packs soldiers protecting those around her while he is a submissive responsible for the agricultural resources of his pack. This includes replanting a great swathe of Snowdancer territory which was denuded in a battle with Pure Psy ( in a previous book --- Kiss of Snow). He has been burned before in a relationship with a more dominant female and is determined not to go that route again no matter how attracted he is to the Darkriver soldier. And the fourth book,we have met Jenni and Barnet in previous books they are two of Snowdancer strongest each responsible for running one the outlying dens in the territory. But there has always been more between them, a death in Targets can while Jenni is there on business forces them to have to put aside their differences and work together, such close proximity though brings other feelings to the surface, feelings long buried.

I think I’ve lost all ability to be objective about this series. Having said that, I really enjoyed this novella collection – particularly as a couple of the stories took a look at some less well explored aspects of the world.* * *When I first heard that this collection was going to have a story set on the deep-sea station, I expected it would involve one of the mysterious BlackSea changelings. Sadly, it doesn’t. ECHO OF SILENCE is instead about a human and a Psy, one who was considered too broken to be an Arrow. Any disappointment I felt at not seeing a water changeling was mitigated by my curiosity about Stefan, who was name-checked several times in the last few books.It’s kind of a slow romance between him and Tazia, since Stefan is still having to hide behind Silence, while she has her own family hurts to deal with. But I enjoyed the careful pace as they worked together rebuilding the town after the earthquake. I also liked exploring more of Tazia’s culture and how different it was to what we usually see in this world.The ending was perhaps a little too perfect, rushing some aspects of their relationship more than was necessary, but given the short length, I still found it enjoyable.*DORIAN was probably the one I was most excited about – but ended up liking the least. It’s the shortest in the collection and is made up of a few brief snap-shots of Dorian’s life, both before and after Ashaya fixes his shifting problems. There’s more post-shift than I expected, and as cute as it was to read about him finding his feet with his leopard and messing about with the Sentinels, I would have liked more young Dorian.The scene with Lucas first meeting his leopard, though, was perfect. (And I also loved the first meeting with Clay.)*PARTNERS IN PERSUASION was lovely. A submissive male wolf and a dominant female leopard might not interest everyone, but I love unusual dynamics and always enjoy learning more about the non-dominants changelings.I liked getting to know Desi better, and I loved how carefully she went about her courtship. Felix was interesting, though not really all that submissive. The slow build of trust between them, and the careful way they figured out how to be together without either crushing the other, made for an enjoyable read. I liked this one.*FLIRTATION OF FATE was a satisfying conclusion to a long running mystery. The truth behind Kenji’s and Garnet’s antagonistic relationship has been teasing readers for a while now, so it was great to finally find out the truth. The added suspense plot also helped show how well these two work together, and how easily Garnet can trust Kenji to let her be her own wolf.I’ll admit I worked it out almost immediately, so was a little frustrated at how long it took for anyone else to even think it, but as it’s a novella, I will let that pass.As for Kenji’s reasons for breaking Garnet’s heart… oh, Kenji. I would have expected Garnet to have kicked up more of a fuss – or at least just kicked him a bit – but again, a novella doesn’t really leave time for that. Instead I shall focus on the cute bits and happiness and let the foolishness slide, since they were both a lot younger then.* * *Overall, I really enjoyed this. It might have been nice to have a little glimpse of all the couples a little further down the time line – Stefan and Tazia in particular – to see how all three pairs are coping with their less orthodox relationship arrangements, but hopefully we’ll get to see more of some of them in the future. I definitely want too see more Alaris one day.Small quips and quibbles aside, this collection provided a wonderful insight into a few less well known aspects of this world and filled in a couple of gaps along the way. Existing fans should enjoy it, and it also provides a nice taster for newcomers interested in learning more. It also left me even more impatient for Psy-Changeling Trinity to begin.