Caressed by Ice

4.5 Stars! This one was really strong and I really enjoyed both these characters!

In this book we are following Judd Lauren, who is part of the Psy family that found refuge in the wolf changling pack, and Brenna, who is a wolf changling and was rescued in book one. I didn't know much about this third book going it but I knew a lot of people really like this book so I was very excited and I was not disappointed. I thought Brenna and Judd worked really well as a couple. I liked how they played off of each other and how they really balanced each other out. This is the first book where they hero is the Psy and the heroine is changling and I really liked the dynamic. I don't always like a very tough and cold hero who is softer around the show more heroine. Sometimes it works for me and sometimes it doesn't and I haven't quite figured out what makes the difference but luckily I did like it here. Judd is so lovely to Brenna even with his icy exterior. But even beyond that, I loved seeing him interacting with the other pack members because to me, that's where you can really see his kindness. There were some moments between him and the pups that I just found to be so lovely.

Brenna is no slouch either. I really enjoyed her character in this. We only hear about her in the other books but I loved reading about the strength she shows in this book. She has to stand up to her brothers, figure out her relationship with Judd, and deal with the severe trauma of her kidnapping. I really grew to love Brenna throughout this book and I really liked seeing her and Judd get together.

The angst between them is also so good. They're clearly interested in each other but there are so many legitimate things keeping them apart. It can be hard to create scenarios where it's believable that the two love interest wouldn't be together but Singh does it really well here. I loved all the stuff with Judd trying to figure out his relationship to the Silence now that he is with the wolves and Brenna trying to figure out a relationship where she can barely touch Judd, something she needs as a wolf. It created a lot of really good tension and I really liked it.

There's also a lot more plot stuff introduced here that I'm really intrigued about. The stuff going on with Judd and the Psy-net is super interesting to me and I can't wait to see how that develops in later books. I am also really intrigued with what's happening with the Psy-council, especially with Kaleb. There is also a mystery in this book that is pretty well done and did intrigue me, but I am even more intrigued by those larger political threads running through this series.

This whole series has been a really great reading experience but this book was especially good and I can't wait to see where the story goes from here! show less

Caressed by Ice is the third full-length novel in Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series. It pairs Brenna Kincaid, the SnowDancer wolf who was kidnapped in the first book, Slave to Sensation, with Judd Lauren, a Psy who defected from the PsyNet with his family to save them from rehabilitation. The entire Lauren clan has been harbored by the SnowDancers ever since, and as a former soldier, Judd sometimes helps them with sticky situations involving the Psy, while trying to keep the full nature of his powers under wraps. In the previous two novels, we’ve had female Psys coupled with male leopard changelings, so this new pairing of a female wolf changeling and a male Psy was an intriguing one that I looked forward to exploring, and I show more wasn’t disappointed. Most of the heroes in this series so far have been pretty intensely alpha, which is always a hit and miss proposition for me. Whether I like an alpha male depends on how he’s written. When I discovered in the previous book that Judd seemed equally as alpha as the changelings, I had a few reservations, but they soon dissipated in light of his sexiness and vulnerabilities. Brenna was the perfect mate for him, a strong woman with a few alpha tendencies of her own, but an underlying gentleness and vulnerabilities that made her likable and relatable. So I very much enjoyed this book, which has edged into the top spot as my current favorite of the series so far.

After her ordeal of being kidnapped, tortured, and brutally mind-raped by a powerful Psy serial killer, Brenna was a broken shell of her former self. It’s taken a lot of time and work with Sascha, the empathic, healer Psy, to find some peace and normalcy in her life again. But just as things start settling down for her, she begins to have frightening, blood-soaked dreams and visions that are more Psy in nature than changeling, leaving her believing that her captor did something to alter her mind and that she might be going crazy. These episodes have a tendency to leave her extremely agitated and the only person who seems to be able to calm her is Judd. She’s deeply attracted to him on a physical level, but with the cold, emotionless Psy existence brought about by the Silence Protocol ruling his life, she’ll have her work cut out for her convincing her Psy protector that they’re meant to be together. Brenna is a very strong young woman who had a promising career ahead of her in the technical field. She has a genius-level mind that proves extremely helpful in sending a message to the Psy after they attack defenseless changelings. She’s still affected by the things done to her during her kidnapping ordeal, but she’s determined to put it all behind her and live the fullest life she can, which I found very admirable. She’s often the pursuer in her relationship with Judd and refuses to give up on him finding a way for them be together.

Judd was trained as an Arrow, one of the elite Psy soldiers, from a very young age. Ever since taking refuge with the SnowDancers, he’s been working as a freelance operative, making hits on Psy targets under instructions from the Ghost, a mysterious person with high-level intelligence who is trying to dismantle some Psy structures. The SnowDancers also sometimes use him for certain purposes, but haven’t yet fully integrated him into pack life. Judd has a powerful telekinetic gift that makes him a lethal killer. In fact, before Silence, those with his talents always ended up accidentally killing someone they cared about. Under Silence, he’s able to keep himself in check, but it also means that every time he gets close to Brenna, his own body rebels against him, causing him great pain that will eventually kill him if he maintains his course. He soon realizes that being without Brenna isn’t really a choice, but he isn’t sure if it’s possible to undo the extensive programming of his mind to make a relationship work. Judd may be a hardened soldier, but he has a sexy intensity that I like in my alphas. Although he has the typical cold, robotic, Psy veneer on the outside, I could sense a gentler heart beating inside. For quite a while, he braves a significant amount of pain to be with Brenna, which IMHO, showed how much he loves and cares for her. His virginal status brings a small touch of sweetness to his character, but he’s no slouch in the bedroom, using that logical Psy brain of his to plan an incredibly sexy seduction for their first time together while giving freely and generously of himself during their love scenes which again showed his tender side.

As with seemingly all the Psy-Changeling books, Caressed by Ice boasts a plethora of supporting characters to make things interesting, so many that it’s sometimes hard to keep track of them all. There are the members of the Psy council working in the background in an effort to maintain what they see as order, but which is usually damaging to society as a whole. Some of them get their own short POV scenes, including Kaleb, who I’m starting to have suspicions about. I’m eager to see how his part in the greater story-arc plays out, and to eventually see him as the hero of book #12, Heart of Obsidian. Then we have lots of changelings from both the SnowDancer and DarkRiver packs. On the cat side, we have Lucas and Sascha (Slave to Sensation), Dorian (Hostage to Pleasure), and Faith (Vision of Heat). Since this is primarily a wolf story, there are lots of wolves present, including Brenna’s brothers, Riley, who ends up paired with DarkRiver lieutenant, Mercy, in book #6, Branded by Fire, and Drew, who’ll be coupled with SnowDancer lieutenant, Indigo, in book #9, Play of Passion. Then there’s Hawke, the SnowDancer alpha, who will get a romance with Judd’s niece, Sienna, in book #10, Kiss of Snow. I felt a little tension between these two even though Sienna is still just a teenager, so I’m pleased to see this future pairing. And finally, Judd’s brother, Walker, will find love with SnowDancer healer, Lara, in the novella, “Texture of Intimacy,” from Wild Invitation. I very much look forward to eventually reading all these characters’ stories.

Overall, Caressed by Ice was a wonderful read. There were a couple of tiny things that made me waver just a bit on my rating, but in the end, I had to give it the full five stars. Judd and Brenna play off of each other so well, and have a tendency to electrify the pages whenever they’re together, making me love this pairing. There’s also lots of intrigue going on in the background, as we learn more about the overarching Psy agenda that I hope will eventually be dismantled, as well as who killed one of the SnowDancers and why. This part was nicely tied in to events both in this book and a past story. This was a book that really kept me on my toes, trying to keep up with everything that was going on, but at the same time, it didn’t really skimp on the romance which was a major plus. Everything put together makes this book a highly recommended read from my perspective, and really makes me look forward to both the next book and the rest of the series. show less

Things were turned around in book 3 of the psy-changeling series. This time the psy was male and the changeling female. You'd think that that would also change the power dynamics, but no. Because the psy is a highly-skilled assassin, and the changeling is 1) not a soldier and 2) recovering from a vicious attack that happened in one of the earlier books.
So, plenty of room for the genres tropes, but I actually had a very low level of annoyance. The stereotypes were obviously present, but nothing that really crossed any lines for me (which did happen on a low level for the other books).

I enjoyed it.

Caressed by Ice
5 Stars

Synopsis
Brenna Kincaid has survived the most heinous of attacks at the hands of a maniacal Psy but the only one to make her feel safe and whole is another Psy, Judd Lauren. A former Arrow (an elite soldier within the Psy), Judd's dark abilities have made him the most effective of assassins and he is determined to keep himself ice cold until Brenna starts to make him feel and begins to thaw his heart. Will the two manage to survive the fallout of their growing passion and desire?

Review
While the first two books in the series are enjoyable, this one finally made me realize why so many people rave about this series.

The plot is exciting and a welcome change from the serial killer trope in books #1 and #2. Don't get me show more wrong, I love a good serial killer story but having two in a row in the same series stretches the imagination a little. Instead, the Psy council machinations together with the stalker and the mysterious Ghost saboteur subplots make for engrossing reading.

Judd and Brenna have a sizzling chemistry that intensifies throughout the book. Both are such strong and incredible characters. Brenna's courage and determination to overcome the trauma she suffered and Judd's willingness to sacrifice everything to have her in his life make them an extraordinary couple.

The well-written action scenes combined with an intense romance and wonderful characters make this a fantastic read. Moreover, the unresolved questions regarding the identity of the Ghost and the agenda of the enigmatic Kaleb Krychek should make for entertaining reading in the next installments. show less

This was a pleasant surprise! In the previous books in this series, I struggled to connect with the couple. Not so with Caressed By Ice! Judd was a fascinating Psy, with unique abilities. I liked how protective he was of Brenna and that he was willing to endure the pain of dissonance to give her the comfort she needed. I agree with others who say Brenna's healing seemed a little fast, but it didn't take me out of the story. She was a strong character and very likable.

The plot was interesting, as always, and I like how the changelings are coming together to battle the Psy attacks. My interest in the series has been renewed and I'll be grabbing the next book soon!

This would have to be one of my favourite of this series. And despite being the third, it is about the eighth that I have read (maybe even higher, I've lost count). Perhaps because I read #2 just before this one, the overall plot seems to make more sense to me now, than when I was reading it as a fragmented jigsaw. Now the trick would be to re-read all the others in order... Anyhow, I have been eager to hear more of the story behind Judd, the cold Arrow assassin that seems to strike fear into the hearts of many and at the very least, have the Changelings be wary of him. It was great to see a little insight into his cold Psy mind, and to watch as slow and steadily, Brenna began to thaw it out. Although these novels are very steamy, I am show more not quite sure if they qualify as erotica - the first sex scene is a decent length into the novel and then it lasts 15 pages. Fifteen pages! Despite its length, Singh's attention to detail - specifically emotion and light humour over cold, biological descriptions, makes for rather an enticing read. Her writing style in general is far superior to other, recent and popular erotica novels (which shall go unnamed) and her characters are much stronger and easier to empathise with. Her females are generally strong, although still varying enough in personality to mark them all as individual entities, and because each book concerns a different pairing, it is always interesting to "see" one book's title pairing from a different perspective further through the series. I think, however, one of the strongest drawcards for me to this series - in terms of relationships - that Singh favours monogamy. Changelings mate for life and the bond established between them - even when only one of the pair is Changeling, is fierce.

Indeed, my only complaint is that the hyenas got a bit of a bad rap. I don't like hyenas being the villains and labelled as cowards. Still, at least she didn't make them hermaphrodites. I would like to see a predator/prey pairing - a wolf Changeling with a deer perhaps? I imagine the male deer Changelings would be quite fierce and protective of their mates. Or would they have harems? show less

I can’t believe I put this book off for so long. I had no reason to because I knew it was going to be good. I wasn’t disappointed. Her love stories are just so good! What I really like about it is that it’s a love story but there’s so much action and political stuff too. I just loved everything that happened in this book. This book was different from the others because of the perspective but you can still tell it’s part of the same series.

There’s so many more characters I want to read about! I love Brenna and Judd! I was also really excited to see that we we’re in SnowDancer territory this time. It was a nice change. PLUS all the characters we love like Lucas, Sasha and Faith, were in it too! I just loved everything about show more this book. I’m really, really glad I found this series. It’s really well written and the author created an interesting world. I can’t wait to read the next one! show less