Reviews with content warning for Torture - Hostage to Pleasure

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Hostage to Pleasure by Nalini Singh

4 reviews

rissahoo's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Ashaya is seriously kick ass - not among my favorite characters in this series, but probably the one who I respect the most. Of course, it’s also great to see Boy Genius Dorian settled at last. I had to spend some time thinking about whether it’s anti-ablelist or ableist that Dorian is “just as good” as the other Sentinels even though he can’t shift. I think that his heavy reliance on assistive devices (guns) makes it legit.

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allingoodtime's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I adore Dorian! Who doesn’t? At the beginning of this story, when Dorian and others in the DarkRiver pack are rescuing a young Psy child, my previous thoughts on Dorian are cemented. Changelings are all about the kids and the way little Keenan latches onto Dorian says a lot.

Ashaya is hard to understand at first. She’s in previous books and it’s unclear what her motivations are. No matter how much we are told she is an icy Psy, it was clear in the last book that her feelings toward her child are more than wanting to propagate her lineage. As things unfold in this book I learned to love Ashaya and ache for all she has lost and all she is trying to keep together.

Dorian and Ashaya are an odd couple even before some of Ashaya’s secrets come out, even more so after. Yet that mating bond is almost impossible to ignore. It always tickles me how much the “big, tough” Changelings are more attracted to their mates when they push back on their overbearing ways. Ashaya is no wilting flower and no matter how much she wishes she could give into her feelings for Dorian and her son she will not be swayed from her purpose to protect at all costs those she holds dear, even when it makes her look bad. She’s just as much of a protector as Dorian, just in a different way.

There are a few new Psy characters who are shown briefly who are part of the rebellion that I’m looking forward to seeing more. They were all quite intriguing with their abilities and the way they were helping Ashaya.

I found I missed the pack in this story. They are shown, but rarely all in one group. Of course, there is good reason to be wary of Ashaya and her real motivation. Yet once they started trusting her more, I hoped she would get to know some of the other Psy in the pack better. I found the absence noticeable.

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vivivi's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Hostage to Pleasure picks up where we ended off in Mine to Possess, with a quick action scene. Keenan's really cute, especially when Angela Dawe is narrating the book. Somebody wrap this kid up in fluffy blankets! 🥺

That's basically it. Kid stole the show.

Nah, I'm kidding. I like Ashaya's relationship with her son: the way how she tries to hide her emotions but gives in to them in the end. And Dorian trying to figure her out was fun to read, too. His internal struggles about his feelings towards Ashaya gave their relationship an interesting twist.

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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

Well, I have to wait like 2 weeks for my hold on this 5th book to come in, so by the time I got it I was so ready to read it that I sprinted through it in basically a single sitting. I wasn't necessarily planning to....but here we are.

This book is Dorian's story (one that I was definitely looking forward to). We all know he's a DarkRiver sentinel with latent changeling shape-shifting ability whose sister was killed by the Psy serial killer from the first book (an emotional hit that he is not dealing with particularly well). And in deep romance irony, his mate turns out to be a Psy herself, Ashaya, the M-Psy doing research for the Council on their hive mind implant plan who helped Tally's kids escape her research facility in the last book. This one opens with DarkRiver paying back their IOU from her help with that and "kidnapping" her son back from the Psy holding him hostage to ensure Ashaya's cooperation. And the drama and romance continue from there.

Like I said, I raced through this 5th book in record time. I think it was in part that I had to wait for it and, honestly, in part because it was following my least favorite relationship to date (Clay and Talin). So, I was ready for a little romance redemption. And I got it. Dorian has a lot of internal stuff to deal with (being unable to shift, guilt over his sister's death), and Ashaya has a lot of family issues (how to protect her son, dealing with her sociopathic twin sister, having had to hide that Silence didn't work on her for her entire life), but what I liked is that, while some of their issues paralleled (sister stuff), it was also different enough that they could help each other through it without falling into unhealthy feedback loops/patterns. And of course, it was very convenient to the story, in that "romance novel" way, that Ashaya's DNA-medical specialty was the perfect one to help figure out Dorian's latency issue. Of note, there were less (and less compelling) steamy scenes in this book than in previous ones. In fact, I felt like Dorian and Ashaya were more an emotional match than a physical one in most ways and in general their physical chemistry was a bit sub-par compared to the rest, but I didn’t hate it. Sometimes, relationships are like that. Though I am reading this series, at least in part, for the steamy scenes, so I hope they come back strong.

In addition to the romance, Singh continues to develop the over-arching story of the Psy-changeling-human interactions and conflicts. Due to Ashaya’s role in the Psy Council plans, we got a lot more insight into that group here, specifically some of Kaleb’s goals, as well as some of the internal splits among the rest of the Council members. Plus, just in general, the cracks in the Psy world are getting larger and you can tell an implosion is coming. We also got to see a bit more from other changeling groups outside the leopards and wolves (in particular, the rats – kinda ew, but also really well chosen considering their role). And for the first time ever, we are seeing some shadow powers in the human world start to get involved. After Talin’s intro as the first human love interest in the last book, that move makes sense here, as well as bring more depth into that third race in this tri-conflict (albeit clearly the one everyone writes off as weakest).

Again, I applaud Singh for the way she is managing to keep these romances moving forwards with just enough fresh-ness to keep them interesting (situationally and in their relation to the overall plot advancements), while maintaining all the formulaic paranormal romance aspects that made me ready to start this series in the first place. And she’s doing it all while managing to keep previous couples relevant and getting on-page time, which is satisfying for me, personally. Anyways, a solid addition to the series and now I sit waiting impatiently for the next one (again).

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