Scan barcode
A review by givemaribooks
Mine to Possess by Nalini Singh
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
I really struggled with this book. I went in hoping there was a good reason for Clay thinking Talin had died because I usually hate this troupe. There’s rarely a good reason for it, but in this case that was not my problem with the book. I think Talin had a legitimate reason to do what she did and wanting to stay away from Clay. It’s not like she knew they were mates, for all she knew he would have been fine without her as adults. She had a lot of trauma and had suffered enough. Wanting to have a clean break from her past, especially as a child, makes total sense to me.
And here comes why I struggled with this book. I hated Clay whenever was around Talin. He was fine on his own, but he was an overbearing judgmental asshole to Talin. She owed him nothing. She was a traumatized 12 year old when they last saw each other. She didn’t owe him fidelity, and judging her for sleeping around was unforgivable to me. At one point, she even feels impure because of her past, including because of the abuse, and that was so problematic to me. It’s one thing for her to have those feelings and to have reacted to the abuse by becoming promiscuous, but he doesn’t get to judge that. As I said, she didn’t own him fidelity and he didn’t own her body. And apart from the slut-shamming (and a bit of victim-blaming), I don’t think the puritanical views about sex that keep appearing in these books make any sense in this setting. One on hand we are told that younger shifters are very sexual and need sex, but then they also expect their mates to magically be virgins?! Make it make sense! This is also supposed to be in the future and they still are worried about virginity?! Even the psy not having sex doesn’t make sense. It’s a normal bodily function. It would’ve made more sense for them to be super causal about sex and treat it the same as exercise the way they do yoga.
I was also annoyed with the story line about Talin’s missing time. It didn’t really add to the story for her to be further violated this way. As in the previous book, the author used sexual trauma as a plot device. It felt unnecessary since she was already dealing with trauma and she could just had missing time without it being about sex.
The author also uses outdated terms, especially when it came to ableist language.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator is great.
CW: murder, child sexual abuse (recounted), medical issues, trauma from neglect and abuse
And here comes why I struggled with this book. I hated Clay whenever was around Talin. He was fine on his own, but he was an overbearing judgmental asshole to Talin. She owed him nothing. She was a traumatized 12 year old when they last saw each other. She didn’t owe him fidelity, and judging her for sleeping around was unforgivable to me. At one point, she even feels impure because of her past, including because of the abuse, and that was so problematic to me. It’s one thing for her to have those feelings and to have reacted to the abuse by becoming promiscuous, but he doesn’t get to judge that. As I said, she didn’t own him fidelity and he didn’t own her body. And apart from the slut-shamming (and a bit of victim-blaming), I don’t think the puritanical views about sex that keep appearing in these books make any sense in this setting. One on hand we are told that younger shifters are very sexual and need sex, but then they also expect their mates to magically be virgins?! Make it make sense! This is also supposed to be in the future and they still are worried about virginity?! Even the psy not having sex doesn’t make sense. It’s a normal bodily function. It would’ve made more sense for them to be super causal about sex and treat it the same as exercise the way they do yoga.
I was also annoyed with the story line about Talin’s missing time. It didn’t really add to the story for her to be further violated this way. As in the previous book, the author used sexual trauma as a plot device. It felt unnecessary since she was already dealing with trauma and she could just had missing time without it being about sex.
The author also uses outdated terms, especially when it came to ableist language.
I listened to the audiobook and the narrator is great.
CW: murder, child sexual abuse (recounted), medical issues, trauma from neglect and abuse
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse, Murder, and Sexual violence