Review: Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh
PSY-CHANGELING SERIES BOOK 10: KISS OF SNOW
Nalini Singh
ISBN: 978-0-425-24209-4
ASIN: B004RKXN44
June 2011
Penguin Putnam/Berkley Sensation
Paranormal Romance/Shape Shifter
Hard Cover and eBook
Hawke, the Alpha of the SnowDancer Pack and Sienna Lauren, a Psy have been butting heads from the moment her family defected from the PsyNet. Three years later, Sienna has matured and thanks to the SnowDancer pack, she’s learned to leave the cold of the PsyNet behind her and embrace her emotions, especially when it comes to the wolves dynamic Alpha. Sienna knows that she’s woman enough to be a match for Hawke, however Hawke knows that the wolf who was destined to be his mate died as a child and wolves only mate once in a lifetime. Hawke believes it’s in Sienna’s best interests if he keeps away from her, despite the desire she stirs inside the wolf and the man. The more he tries to keep away the more destructive he becomes for denying his instincts. With the SnowDancers on the brink of war with the Psy a unhinged Alpha is the last thing his pack needs.
He and Sienna began a destructive game that could not only destroy themselves, but the entire wolf pack.
I’ve been looking forward to reading Hawke’s story since I first began Ms. Singh’s Psy-Changeling series last year. Hawke and Sienna have been building up as a couple from the first book and KISS OF SNOW has been my most anticipated read this year. My anticipation has built as word trickled in several months prior to Kiss of Snow’s release that Hawke and Sienna’s story was the best in the series to date.
Since receiving KISS OF SNOW, I’ve read it from cover to cover twice and the ending at least four additional times. It gets better with each retelling. I admit I was little confused and disappointed with the ending at first. While Ms. Singh does an awesome job at putting her characters in the worst possible situations for their psyche’s and then having them have to figure out how to get out of it, I have to admit, I’ve seen this type of ending from her before and while it captured me the first couple times, I wished for something different (to be more explicit, how the Psy can connect with each other outside of the contriction of the Net works and how that construct expands). However, the more I read the ending the more I liked it. It felt like pieces of a chessboard coming together and that everything was going to tie in later on down the road in the series.
Hawke and Sienna were great characters. Hawke was as drool worthy as always and I was glad that Sienna was his match despite her age. Hawke needed put in his place several times and I was glad that Sienna was woman enough to do so. Their relationship throughout KISS OF SNOW was one step forward two steps back, but it was done in such a compelling way with interesting plot twists and turns that I had to keep reading to see how it was going to turn out.
The side plot of Walker Lauren’s romance was so multi layered that I believed it deserved a book of its own. Despite how complete Walker’s romance was, it didn’t distract from Sienna and Hawke’s romance.
When I read books, I focus more on the characters and their reactions to each other rather than the actual plots, but can I humbly say that with the exception of the one thing that bugged me with the ending, I was constantly surprised with the twists and turns, the real conflict preventing the hero and heroine from achieving their happily ever after (Sienna’s unique destructive power, even for a Psy, Hawke’s inability to mate, and the war coming to destroy the pack) was the best that I’ve read this year. What I love about Ms. Singh’s Psy-Changling series is how rich the plot is but not at the expense of character development.
Fair Warning: KISS OF SNOW is not a stand-alone book, and would make readers confused if they hadn’t read the previous books in the Psy-Changeling series. However, I highly recommend getting the earlier books in the series and reading them. They’re great reads.
