Review: Wild Embrace

Wild Embrace by Nalini Singh
Series: Psy-Changeling #2.5, 5.25, 11.1, 12.1
Rating: ★★★★☆

Echo of Silence
In a deep-sea station, Tazia Nerif has found her life’s work as an engineer, keeping things running smoothly. But she wants nothing more than to break down the barrier of silence between her and her telekinetic Psy station commander…

 

Dorian
A changeling who can never shift lives a life of quiet frustration—until he learns how to let his leopard come out and play…

 

Partners in Persuasion
Still raw from being burned by a dominant female, wolf changeling Felix will never again risk being a plaything. But for dominant leopard Dezi, he’s the most fascinating man she’s ever met. She just has to convince this gun-shy wolf that he can trust the dangerous cat who wants to take a slow, sexy bite out of him…

 

Flirtation of Fate
Seven years ago, Kenji broke Garnet’s heart. Now the wolf packmates have to investigate the shocking murder of one of their own. And the more Kenji sees of the woman Garnet has become, the deeper he begins to fall once more. But even his primal instincts are no match for the dark secret he carries…

Book 0.5: Beat of Temptation (See Wild Invitation Review)
Book 0.6: Whisper of Sin
Book 1: Slave to Sensation
Book 2: Visions of Heat
Book 2.5: Echo of Silence (See Wild Embrace Review)
Book 3: Caressed by Ice
Book 3.5: Stroke of Enticement (See Wild Invitation Review)
Book 4: Mine to Possess
Book 5: Hostage to Pleasure
Book 5.25: Dorian (See Wild Embrace Review)
Book 6: Branded by Fire
Book 7: Blaze of Memory
Book 8: Bonds of Justice
Book 9: Play of Passion
Book 9.5: Declaration of Courtship (See Wild Invitation Review)
Book 10: Kiss of Snow
Book 10.5: Texture of Intimacy (See Wild Invitation Review)
Book 11: Tangle of Need
Book 11.1: Partners in Persuasion (See Wild Embrace Review)
Book 12: Heart of Obsidian
Book 12.1: Flirtation of Fate (See Wild Embrace Review)
Book 13: Shield of Winter
Book 14: Shards of Hope
Book 15: Allegiance of Honor

Nalini Singh is one of the few authors that I count on to deliver when it comes to novellas and anthologies. She packs just as much emotion, heart, and heat into a shorter story as she does her longer ones. Yes, the relationship development moves quickly, but that doesn’t mean that a true connection is sacrificed. I never finish one of her anthology stories feeling anything but happy, with a smile on my face.

Echo of Silence
I’ve never been such a fan of the human/xxx relationships in this series, until this book. Here we have Tazi, a human, pairing with Stefan, a psy. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it so much, but there was such a depth of character in both Tazi and Stefan that I couldn’t help be become immersed in their dance towards each other.

I loved the introduction of Tazi’s cultural values and how that affected the choices that she made – both in her career and life, and the relationship that she develops with Stefan. Stefan was just as fascinating, with more than a little heartbreak in his history. He’s a psy that has been known to be broken, according to the Psy anyway, but he’s left to manage it without rehabilitation – and this is just after Faith defected. Highly unexpected. Until you factor in his rare and valued psychic gift.

How they cared for each other made me so incredibly happy in this book. It was the care and caring that showed the depth of their feelings. And love left simmering is one of my favorite story-lines.

Dorian
Let’s be honest, who hasn’t loved Dorian – the changeling that was latent – from the very start when we meet him? I know I was not immune to this broken man.My heart constantly went out to him, constantly found him fascinating, and always respected his strength.

As we already have Dorian’s HEA story in Hostage to Pleasure, this was more a series of vignettes about Dorian’s life – from the time he was a child, seeing his determination to never be less than his very best potential, his growth, and the immense changes that he goes through in life. I especially loved the fun, playful, challenging last scene with the rest of his Sentinel pack-mates. I couldn’t help but grin.

Partners in Persuasion
Dominant Female with a Submissive Male – this is a story that many have been hoping for for years.Many thought that we’d get it with Indigo, and we did…to a point. I won’t really get into the argument here about it, but will say that the closeness of the dominance in that pairing is brought up in this novella.

I found this story incredibly satisfying. Dezi is definitely a strong, dominant female. And Felix is definitely submissive. Submissive doesn’t mean weak though. And being the dominant in this type of relationship comes with some other things to be concerned about. Dominant/Submissive isn’t something we get to see explored too often; usually it’s different levels of dominance, but dominant all the same. In fact, I can only think of one other pairing on this scale, and that’s Cooper and Grace. It’s nice to see these issues explored from another angle.

I really liked how they were both so in tune with the other that they thought consciously about how to make sure they weren’t hurting each other. They talked, took it slow when need be, and respected each other. I finished this story with a happy sigh.

Flirtation of Fate
I’ve been enamoured of Kenji and Garnet’s flirtations in the Lieteniut’s meetings for years. Their sarcastic barbs back and forth was always so much fun to watch. Seeing them come together in this story was a lot more serious than I was expecting. There were some light-hearted moments, and some sarcastic teasing and flirting back and forth, but overall it was a pretty serious novella.

There was the murder, and the storm – with missing packmates – injuries, and years-old hurts buried beneath the previous joking. Though I guessed the source of the secrets, and the resolution of the murder-mystery, I still was desperate to see these two make it work. It’s the only of the four stories in this anthology that brought tears to my eyes. I love Kenji and Garnet. They’re perfect for each other, and I’m glad they finally both figured it out.

 

Overall, this anthology is a nice exploration of characters and their relationships that we wouldn’t get in the main storyline. Though they’re side-stories, they’re no less important for being so. Each member in this world makes a difference, and as we read further and further into this series it becomes clearer each book how much interconnectedness there is in the world, and how important that is.

As always, I’ll be waiting on tenterhooks for Nalini Singh’s next forary into this world – and every other world.