Grade: A

Bam,

Let’s face it: I’m going to be perpetually late with reviews. Authors may want to kill me (or be thanking their lucky stars if I didn’t like the book) and I know you would love to light my hair on fire and put it out with a hammer, but I gotta be honest: I seem to be jammed up with life, work and whatnot. My love of romance hasn’t diminished (hey, I read four books this week…all romance in some form or another), but my ability to write a quality review has been seriously restricted by constraints on my time. Hopefully things will calm down soon, because I love books and want to spread that love. Wow…how ‘60s Haight-Ashbury of me. Truth be told, I’m not like that at all, but you knew that already.

You know I adore the Psy-Changeling world that Nalini has created. She keeps it rich and complex without turning each book into a simple repeat of the prior one; however (you knew this was coming), I’m concerned that those who haven’t read the two previous books will be stepping in over their heads by simply picking up Caressed By Ice, the third book in the series. I hate to admit this but it’s hard for me to say whether that would be the case, especially since I think each of the stories has not only evolved from the prior ones, but Nalini’s writing has gotten stronger with each book. My advice would be to read both Slave to Sensation and Visions of Heat before getting into Caressed by Ice. You’ll be happy to know that the first two books will definitely not disappoint (I think you gave Slave to Sensation an A- and I know I gave Visions of Heat and A-) and will make the reading of CBI that much more enjoyable.

The Plot: Okay, I’m going to keep it short on plot here, because a lot happens in this book, and it’s so tightly- and well-written that I don’t want to give too much away. The Laurens, a Psy family with different abilities, dropped out of the PsyNet and have been adopted by the SnowDancer wolves. While each of the Laurens is attempting to integrate into the SnowDancer pack, Judd Lauren has been left on the fringes, constantly being challenged by younger wolves and lacking a place in the Pack hierarchy. Judd is the unofficial patriarch of the Laurens and he has some incredible Psy abilities including a deadly telekinetic power, but of course I’m not telling you what they all are because they play an integral role in his character development and in the book. Judd was one of the people to participate in the rescue of Brenna Kincaid, a SnowDancer wolf that was kidnapped and mentally and physically tortured by Santano Enrique (see Slave to Sensation, Enrique’s an insane serial killer, Psy Council member and all-around lunatic with…yep, super-strong telekinetic powers). Brenna is tormented by her experience and acts out violently at times, leading her to fear that Enrique successfully managed to destroy her sanity.

Nalini doesn’t hesitate to get Judd and Brenna in each other’s faces immediately:

He stepped forward and her fingertips tingled, claws threatening to release. Oh yeah, she was definitely ready to tangle with Judd Lauren, Man of Ice and the most beautiful male creature she had ever seen.

Mmmm…tangle. Judd immediately takes the alpha male role with Brenna, which she definitely needs. However, Brenna is no shrinking violet. No, she doesn’t Mary Sue up the place (hey, she’s a brilliant technician, not a soldier or fighting machine), but she holds her own and doesn’t make any TSTL moves. Which, I should say now, is one of the consistent things about Nalini’s writing: her female characters know their limits and know when to push them. While they may chafe at certain constraints put on them by family, lover or friends, they never say “goddamn it, I’m going to do what I want even if it puts me in mortal danger”. Thank goodness!

Back to the tangling: Nalini recently wrote about passion and buildup, and Caressed could be a master class in this. Brenna is definitely damaged in ways one wouldn’t want to contemplate, so Judd’s slow and steady onslaught makes the sexin’ that ensues ™ fantastic. Of course, Judd has his own problems with physical contact…which is the result of his Psy training, and Brenna is determined to have an onslaught of her own. How they deal with their problems is brilliant, and leads to an unforgettable sensual scene.

Put all of the aforementioned over a tight (and tough to figure out) drug- and murder-mystery complete with threats to Brenna’s life, and that neatly sums up the plot. Oh, and don’t forget the appearance of the DarkRiver pack members, the abso-fucking-scary PsyCouncil and a special appearance from Sascha Duncan and Lucas Hunter. Damn, so much for short.

The Hero: Judd was an Arrow, a sanctioned assassin working for the Psy Council, and he was a perfect Psy – he believed in the cold, emotionless world because he believed that the Psy training kept his lethal power in check. However, Judd is aware of the corruption in the Psy Council and the heinous acts committed by Council members in the name of Silence. His defection from the PsyNet was apparently inevitable – he did not want his family destroyed so he helped save them. Obviously, Judd is no robot-assassin, and is aware of this on a conscious level. Judd realizes that he may have to leave the SnowDancer pack if he can’t 1) become integrated in some way and 2) continues to have problems with simply being around Brenna. Judd’s reaction to leaving Silence is (of course) completely different than that of Faith Nightstar (book 2) and Sascha Duncan; adding complexity to each of the characters and the world that Nalini has built. While his reaction is incredibly disconcerting, Nalini never strays Judd’s analytical bent on absolutely everything he does. Somehow, this makes him hotter – when he’s in the throes of passion or the heat of battle, he is collected until the last seconds when he just seems to lose it. A guy like this finally losing control is seriously sexy, and Judd never disappoints.

The Heroine: Brenna Shane Kincaid has survived being kidnapped and tortured by Santano Enrique, a complete PsyCho (sorry, I just couldn’t help myself there – gotta have one in every Psy/Changeling review). Enrique attempted to destroy Brenna from the inside out by violating her mind and breaking it open piece by piece. Brenna was rescued, but not before having been irrevocably changed – here eyes look like shattered glass; the once brown iris interrupted by jagged blue areas. And more disconcerting: Brenna hasn’t been able to reach her wolf, trapping her in her human body, with only her claws appearing occasionally. This makes for an incredibly interesting exchange with Dorian, the DarkRiver latent, soldier, and fellow tech specialist. Brenna struggles with the lack of physical interaction between her and Judd, and does it without whining. She knows she craves Judd physically and also knows that his physical interaction with her could eventually kill him due to his Silence training. Brenna is a female character who never tries to be something she isn’t: she doesn’t become a soldier, a member of Hawke’s elite, or super Mary-Sue. But she holds her own with Judd and she rediscovers herself. While her story is definitely secondary to Judd’s (hence the Hero/Heroine order of the review rather than vice-versa), she is a perfect foil for the Ice Man (and no, I didn’t have visions of Val Kilmer while reading this).

The Secondary Characters: Where do I start? Nalini has a raft of secondary characters, each with his or her own distinct personality and foibles that easily come across in one- or two-line sentences. Take this exchange between Brenna and Indigo (one of Hawke’s lieutenants):

Indigo jerked a thumb over her shoulder. “Walk with me. I’m off

to a morning session with Her Majesty.”

“Who?”

“Sienna ‘I’m a cardinal Psy and don’t need combat training’ Lauren. Damn juveniles. They all think they’re invincible.” Indigo scowled. “So what’s up?”

In a few lines, Nalini manages to convey a sense of humor, responsibility and caring for a secondary character that has made an appearance in all three books. I’m hoping we’ll see more of her in the future! Included in this group of secondary characters are all of the characters that we’ve seen in the prior books plus a few new personalities. We also continue to get a deeper look at the backstabbing, bloodthirsty, money hungry and complex world of the Psy. Shoshanna and Henry Scott are totally despicable, and I love them for it. Ming LeBon, the creator of the Arrow program, seems to be completely devoid of emotion. Nikita Duncan continues to scheme away and Kaleb Krycheck is a frightening dude, but I’m strangely drawn to his story. Either that or the baby is making me crazy.

Shuzluva Says: There is an incredible amount of backstory here (two books worth!) but the world and the characters that Nalini has created are so intense and complex that I couldn’t put the book down. You know there is sequel baiting here – I mean, COME ON! Of course there is when you have so many characters that are all deserving of their own books. But Nalini never falls behind the eight ball. There was no upstaging going on: Judd and Brenna remained front and center while the secondary characters did their job of remaining interesting but also focusing on the central plot of the story. After reading Caressed I know I’m going to want to re-read all three books before reading Clay’s story. And no, that isn’t a bad thing, all three are keepers. You know I have a very small keeper shelf, so that is saying quite a bit. This one gets a straight A, with the caveat that you must read the first two books in the series. Believe me, you won’t be disappointed.

Love ya, babe!

Shuzluva

Please buy this lovely, delish book here.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2007 at 6:30 am and is filed under Books, Grade: A, Romance: Paranormal, Shuzluva's Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.