Review: Mine to Possess

Mine to Possess by Nalini Singh
published by Berkley Sensation in February 2008

Clay Bennett is a powerful DarkRiver sentinel, but he grew up in the slums with his human mother, never knowing his changeling father. As a young boy without the bonds of Pack, he tried to stifle his animal nature. He failed...and committed the most extreme act of violence, killing a man and losing his best friend, Talin, in the bloody aftermath. Everything good in him died the day he was told that she, too, was dead.

Talin McKade barely survived a childhood drenched in bloodshed and terror. Now a new nightmare is stalking her life--the street children she works to protect are disappearing and turning up dead. Determined to keep them safe, she unlocks the darkest secret in her heart and returns to ask the help of the strongest man she knows...

Clay lost Talin once. He will not let her go again, his hunger to possess her, a clawing need born of the leopard within. As they race to save the innocent, Clay and Talin must face the violent truths of their past...or lose everything that ever mattered.

Genre: paranormal romance
Series: Psy-Changelings, Book #5

Nath: Okay, let’s be brutally honest - I enjoyed the book and liked it, but I didn't love it. Not like I love Slave to Sensations and Caressed by Ice. I think I didn't like Talin all that much, I couldn’t bond with her. I had a mental block when it came to her character… Yes, she’s a strong heroine and all; however, I don’t agree with many decisions, no matter how well explained and rationalized they were in the book. However, Clay… Clay is very, very yummy.

Chantal: There isn't anything I didn't like. Every time Clay used his claws to take off Talin's clothes I swooned. One thing I noticed as I read was that I kept touching my DH. We are an affectionate couple who do a lot of hand holding, hugging, kissing, etc, but while I read Mine to Possess, I seemed to need the 'skin privileges' even more. I love how the book seeped into my real life that way.

I admit I was nervous to start it because I was not at all impressed with Caressed by Ice. I felt nothing for Judd, and I was afraid that I would not be able to connect with Clay either. I did connect with him though.

Nath: I was worried too... I was worried I had too high expectations and it would ruin the book for me, like it happened so many times before. But it didn't. Which is all to Ms Singh’s credit.

Another thing that bugged me a little is Clay and Talin’s relationship. I don't know if an 8 years old girl can from such an attachment. It seems that the connection they have would have been more believable to me if Talin would have been a bit older.

Chantal: I wasn't surprised about that attachment Talin made to Clay at that young age. I have kids, and I have seen them form those attachments to people other than DH and myself on several occasions. I even would have believed it if Talin was younger than 8. So yeah, the attachment issue was believable for me.

Nath: Yeah, maybe it's because I don't have kids. I mean, it's not that I don't believe Talin getting so attached to Clay... However, it seems to me that it wouldn't translate into love and such strong love at such a young age... but then, now, I wonder if Clay didn't recognize Talin as his mate when he was young and just didn't realize it. I don't know if you remember but I think it's in Caressed by Ice, Hawke says that when he was a kid, he had a childhood friend and he knew she was going to be his mate. Perhaps it's the same for Clay, but because he wasn't raised in a pack, he didn't know he was going to have a mate and didn’t realize that Talin was it.

One thing I’m sure about though is that I would have liked to know more about Clay and when he joined the pack. We know that Nate picked him up, but why did he choose to be so loyal to Lucas. Any events in particular?

Chantal: Good point about Clay and his role in Dark River. When I think about it there may have been a moment where I wondered the same thing. Also, when did Faith and Clay get so close? They had few interactions in Faith and Vaughn's book. I even just flipped through to see if I missed something.

Nath: Well it was said that Clay came to have dinner at Faith and Vaughn’s place at the end of Visions of Heat. That’s the only clue we’re given… but I think it was also said that this was a rare occurrence to Clay. That it surprised everyone and I guess it meant that Clay and Faith started to have a connection too.

I have to admit, one thing that made Mine to Possess so good to me was that the book is moving the story arc along very well. The whole rebellion plot is taking shape and it's very interesting. I like how we discover new elements about the Psy-changeling world in each of the book, without having the feeling that Ms Singh is just dumping information to her readers. All the new information is well integrated in the storyline and is easy to follow. So kudos to Ms Singh.

Any supposition as who is the Ghost? I'm starting to think Kaleb, but wouldn't that be too obvious?

Chantal: The Ghost part is messing with my head, LOL. Every time I think I know who it is my mind changes. I can't wait to find out.

What did you think of Dorian this time around? His flirting with Talin was cute. I'm a fan of Talin's, but too bad he didn't get the chance to dunk her in cold water like he threatened, lol.

There was a lot of laughter for me while reading Mine to Possess. Most of the time it was Dorian and his back and forth banter that made me giggle. I may be more excited for his story than I am for Hawke's now!

Nath: Well at least, you won’t have to wait for long, since Dorian’s story is next! I guess she prepared the readership very well for the next book, but again subtly. There was almost no mention of the Snow Dancers in this book… so I guess it took away a bit of the anticipation for Hawke’s story and focused it all on Dorian.

Chantal: Just waiting for one of the gals to get knocked up now!

Nath: See, that’s something I find it refreshing too… Although we’re in book 5 of the series, there’s still none of the previous heroine pregnant! How rare is that! LOL.

Chantal: What would you give Mine to Possess? An A from me, for sure.

Nath: I'm giving it a B+.

psssst - take a look at the polls :)

EDIT: Polls are up, but the font is white! Arghh! you can wait till I change the color to vote or you can highlight and see! Sorry for the inconvenience.

EDIT #2: I couldn't figure out the font color, so I had to put a background color... but at least, you can now see!