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A review by tani
Mine to Possess by Nalini Singh
4.0
Clay and Tally were the best of childhood friends. Tally didn't mind that Clay was a leopard trapped in a housing complex, and Clay cherished Tally's childlike trust. However, all of that changed when Clay killed Tally's foster father. He went to juvie, and she went to a new foster family. When he came out of juvie, he was told she had died in a car crash. So, it's no surprise that when he sees her at a bar, he thinks he's seen a ghost. Turns out, the car crash was a lie, one that she asked for, and her childlike trust has been replaced by fear. But there's something more important than fear, and it's the children under Tally's care. Already, several have been murdered, and now one is missing. Clay is the only one she can think of to turn to, despite her own issues. But will he help, after she's spent so long running from him?
I will preface this by saying that this book deals pretty explicitly with the abuse of children, both in the present and the past, so if that's something you're not comfortable with, please avoid. For me, this book was also the weakest so far, although I still quite enjoyed it, obviously. The ghosts of Tally's past are really hard to deal with, and although I think Singh does a good job of dealing with them within the confines of a limited number of pages, I felt a bit disconnected from Tally's character. She felt lacking in continuity to me. One minute, she could cower in fear, and the next she could be bold as brass, and that just didn't really jive for me. I don't think it was badly done, I just think it's a personal issue of mine, and I didn't quite manage to make it past it.
The trope of friends (especially childhood friends) to lovers is also not one that I'm a huge fan of. It feels like a shortcut around some of my favorite parts of a relationship, and there was a bit of that here. I like the development of a relationship, but when it's already been partially developed in the past, I tend to enjoy it a bit less. I do think that Singh didn't take too many shortcuts, despite using this trope, though, so I did still enjoy this romance quite a bit.
Luckily, the world-building actually made up for my quibbles on the romance. Tally is our first human protagonist, which was really nice to see, and this book gave a much more human-focused look at the world, while simultaneously exploring the history of the Psy and the Silence. I feel like this book had the most complete world-building out of any so far, and I was totally there for it. It also gives a really blatant lead-in to the next book in the series, which made me quite eager to get to it. I will be taking a bit of a break, as I blew threw the second, third, and fourth book of this series in about a day each, but you can bet that I'll be back in the world of the Psy-Changelings soon!
I will preface this by saying that this book deals pretty explicitly with the abuse of children, both in the present and the past, so if that's something you're not comfortable with, please avoid. For me, this book was also the weakest so far, although I still quite enjoyed it, obviously. The ghosts of Tally's past are really hard to deal with, and although I think Singh does a good job of dealing with them within the confines of a limited number of pages, I felt a bit disconnected from Tally's character. She felt lacking in continuity to me. One minute, she could cower in fear, and the next she could be bold as brass, and that just didn't really jive for me. I don't think it was badly done, I just think it's a personal issue of mine, and I didn't quite manage to make it past it.
The trope of friends (especially childhood friends) to lovers is also not one that I'm a huge fan of. It feels like a shortcut around some of my favorite parts of a relationship, and there was a bit of that here. I like the development of a relationship, but when it's already been partially developed in the past, I tend to enjoy it a bit less. I do think that Singh didn't take too many shortcuts, despite using this trope, though, so I did still enjoy this romance quite a bit.
Luckily, the world-building actually made up for my quibbles on the romance. Tally is our first human protagonist, which was really nice to see, and this book gave a much more human-focused look at the world, while simultaneously exploring the history of the Psy and the Silence. I feel like this book had the most complete world-building out of any so far, and I was totally there for it. It also gives a really blatant lead-in to the next book in the series, which made me quite eager to get to it. I will be taking a bit of a break, as I blew threw the second, third, and fourth book of this series in about a day each, but you can bet that I'll be back in the world of the Psy-Changelings soon!