Mine to Possess

Mine to Possess, the fourth full-length installment of Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series was an awesome read that was jam-packed with excitement. In it, we have the enigmatic Clay, a DarkRiver sentinel who has always been a loner in danger of giving in to his beast nature and going rogue (taking his animal form and never turning back to human again). He’s reunited with Talin, his best friend since childhood and the human female he’s always thought of as his, when she comes looking for him in the hope that he can help her find the culprit who’s killing off the street kids she works with. Tainted by their respective checkered pasts and not sure if they can trust one another, they form an uneasy alliance that gradually heats up show more into a passionate romantic relationship. But meanwhile, Talin finds herself a target of the killer who wants her to stop investigating the murders, and not surprisingly, it all ties back to the Psy Council. This story really hit the spot, not only with a deep and emotional romance for our main couple, but by also adding a lot to the overall series story arc that I can tell is headed toward an eventual dismantling of the Psy Council and Silence.

Talin was an orphan who became friends with Clay when she was only three years old and he was nine. They both lived in the same slum neighborhood, and although she was somewhat afraid of him at first, she came to his rescue when he broke his leg and no one else was around. After that, they were nearly inseparable, but several years later, when Clay found out that Tally’s foster father was abusing her, his inner beast came out, brutally killing the man. Afterward, Clay went to juvie while Tally was adopted by a good family who lived far away. However, Tally had borne witness to Clay’s savage nature that day, and fearing that he might someday turn on her, she asked her social worker to tell Clay she was dead. Two decades later, she is now a social worker herself, helping street kids through an organization that helped her in the past. Several of her kids have gone missing and some have turned up dead, so Tally seeks out the one man she knows is strong enough to take on the murderer and find one of her kids before the teen is killed, too. Their reunion isn’t exactly a happy one, though. Tally finds that she’s still fearful around the man that she used to call her friend, but at the same time, he stirs emotions and desires in her that she’s never experienced before. Tally is a very complex heroine, and the threads of her characterization are masterfully woven throughout the story as she gradually comes to trust Clay again and accept that they were always meant for one another. There are so many things I’d love to say about her, but I can’t without giving away major spoilers, because she harbors several secrets that eventually come out. But I loved how she and Clay managed to work through all of them. I also loved her dedication to the kids in her care and how she was willing to risk everything for them. She was a wonderful character who exhibited the perfect mix of vulnerability and strength that has quite possibly made her my favorite heroine of the series so far.

Clay grew up with a single human mother and never knew his changeling father. Although he loved his mother, she was never quite able to accept his animal nature. He tried as best he could to suppress it, but living within four walls inside a city was difficult for the predator in him. Everything combined made him an angry loner who had no real friends until little Tally came along. She became a beacon of light to him and he became her protector. He doesn’t regret killing her foster father, but he does blame himself for not realizing what was happening sooner. Then after being released from prison, he was told she was dead, and his world imploded. Luckily the DarkRiver pack found him and took him in, but he’s continued to pretty much keep to himself and many times has felt like he might end up going rogue. When Tally suddenly reappears in his life, he’s angry with her for lying to him and staying away so long, but at the same time, he feels compelled to help her. After all she is his Tally, the one woman his beast has known belonged to him for most of his life. It takes some time for him to work through her fear and all the bombshells she drops on him, as well as his own anger, but he gradually does. In the early chapters, he’s kind of a jerk a couple of times, but ultimately I understood where his frustration was coming from and was able to forgive his conduct. He also proves to be surprisingly patient for a changeling male, taking time to help Tally overcome her issues, which helped me to feel much better about him. As the story progressed, he became the perfect mix of alpha protector and passionate lover, who ends up wearing his heart on his sleeve for Tally, which made me place him at or near the top as one of my favorite heroes of the series so far.

As with all the other Psy-Changeling books, there are supporting characters aplenty, many of whom have their own stories. From previous books, Lucas and Sascha (Slave to Sensation), Nate and Tamsyn (“Beat of Temptation” from Wild Invitation), Vaughn and Faith (Visions of Heat), and Judd and Brenna (Caressed by Ice) all make appearances, each with varying degrees of significance to the plot. Dorian, the pretty boy and latent DarkRiver sentinel, pairs up with Clay in a number of scenes as they deal with various threats together. Ashaya, an M-Psy who is working on the Protocol I project for the Psy Council, makes some surprising decisions. Dorian and Ashaya meet in this book, albeit off canvas. I could sense a bit of an attraction, at least on Dorian’s part, so I wasn’t the least bit surprised to find out that they become the hero and heroine of the next book, Hostage to Pleasure. Devraj Santos, Talin’s boss and the head of the organization she works for, becomes the hero of book #7, Blaze of Memory, and Max, an Enforcer (their futuristic version of police) who comes to Tally’s aid when her apartment is vandalized, becomes the hero of book #8, Bonds of Justice. I liked both of these men and look forward to reading their stories. We also get a couple of brief scenes with Mercy, heroine of book #6, Branded by Fire; Ria, Lucas’s assistant and heroine of the prequel novella, Whisper of Sin; as well as Kaleb, the newest Psy Council member and hero of book #12, Heart of Obsidian. I’m beginning to suspect him of certain activities and very much look forward to unraveling his motivations in the coming installments.

Overall, Mine to Possess was an awesome read that didn’t disappoint in the least. I loved Clay and Tally both as individual characters, while the romance between them is deep and heartfelt. I’m a sucker for both friends-to-lovers stories and reunion romances, both of which are strong tropes in this book. Their long-time bond, while a little battered from time apart, had survived, and with a little care and nurturing, flared back to life. It also made their emotional connection a very strong one. The mystery of who was kidnapping and murdering the kids was woven seamlessly throughout and completely engaged my attention as I waited for it all to unravel. Perhaps best of all, was the advancement of the overall story arc, which was possibly even stronger in this book than all the ones before it. At the very least, it added a great deal to the story and built wonderfully on all the others. I can’t wait to see how everything turns out and very much look forward to continuing the series to find out. show less

I think I love this series more with every book! I adored this book and could not put it down. I didn't particularly like Talin at the beginning of the book and I was sure how I would enjoy reading about this pairing but both Talin and Talin and Clay as a couple grew on me with the ongoing and back ground story arcs luring me in further and making me annoyed every time i had to put the book down to do things like work and sleep (who needs sleep). The best thing about this series ( and the worse thing since I still need to get my hands on the next book) is that you can devour each book in a sitting or two and then immediately reach for the next one. I am so glad this is a longing series and I am still so near the beginning. I love the show more direction this book took and I am looking forward to lots of lovely reading a head. show less

As the series progresses the leads get more damaged and complex, and I love it. The darker the better. In Tally we get a less then virtuous heroine, and I appreciated that the author stuck to the psychology of an abused and traumatized child. It is true that abused children do act out sexually and have low self esteem. I liked Tally and thought her very strong and brave. Clay was magnificent too, domineering but accepting of Tally's past. He was very possessive and protective of Tally, but he was never a jerk about it. When she said she wasn't ready for anything sexual, he didn't force her. The courtship between Tally and Clay was very complex, so much emotional baggage and demons to fight. I loved every minute of their emotional show more journey toward healing. The next book was set up nicely, I can't wait to read Ashaya's story. show less

Patterns are my jam. Biological patterns, behavioral patters, whatever it is that helps me organize the data. So the first book in this series is fun, and the second as well, despite feeling like the relationship is an imitation of the first. Through each book, however, Singh is working on the idea of a growing conflict between the 'races' of psionic beings, animal changling and humans, accompanied by a revolution within the ranks of the psy. It's the nicotine that makes a series like this addictive, as our heroes and heroines try to break away from the controlling psionic culture. Add to it a set-up of basically emotionally repressed people (the psy) and the people who are close to 'animal' behavior (apparently, writers think mammals show more are in their rutting and estrus cycles every single day), and you get a setting that's ripe for paranormal romance.

However, by book four in the series, I'm noticing some things that could be bugs--or features, depending on how you roll. To date, the men have all displayed extremely physically controlling behavior, and it's become rather disturbing how often they have their hands resting on a woman's neck (is this supposed to be an affectionate thing?). In the male shifter books, they are literally physically taking the woman to and from 'safe' spaces Sure, they're also about pleasuring the woman, but they are also portrayed as challenged with controlling themselves while the woman struggles with emotional barriers to intimacy. In the first two, the women were psy, in the third the woman was a member of a wolf pack who had been recently abused, and in this, the woman had a history of abuse as a child, up until 8, and then a period of manic-like sexual activity in her late teens/early twenties.

This story has the inclusion of two angles that are discussed in an uncomfortable way: Tally making a joke that was interpreted as being interested in women (to which the pack was immediately distancing), and Tally's promiscuous sexual history. Try this line:
“Why?” A stark demand, his hand remaining clasped around the side of her neck. “Why did you give away what you should have protected?”



I thought one of the intriguing things about this world is the possibilities it offered to connect with sexuality, but quite honestly, it feels largely repetitive by this book. Singh is advancing the background world plot, but the "relationships" are all masculine-dominance bummer. We get it: men are powerful, sexual, experienced, and controlling, and women are in need of help getting in touch with their sexuality. I should be clear, however, that at least them getting in touch is very female-pleasure focused.



I mean, that's usually the premise of the shifter romances, but I was hoping something different could happen here. It's also worth noting that it comes with a ton of baggage that takes means it's not only sexually domineering, but socially as well. Combine that with some gross social commentary (in the last book, drug users were weak, in this one, homosexuality is freaky) and its looking less attractive all the time. I'll check out others in the series at some point, because as mentioned earlier, Singh can write, they are also about female pleasure, and I'm often down for a good revolution, but I definitely am ready for my nicotine patch now. show less

This was definitely my least favorite of the series so far. As I said in an update, I just could not get into the romance and I really didn't like our male lead, Clay. The mystery element also was really watered down but this books own introduction. This intro basically gave the plot away, at least in my opinion. Normally, I don't really care about spoilers and am totally fine with finding out plot points about a book prior to reading but I think in this case I was more annoyed because the book spoiled itself. Also as a note, this book deals with abuse of a child.

To get into the romance a bit, I was trying to work through why I didn't like this romance as much. Almost every book in this series thus far has the male character sort of show more pushing the female character past where they say their comfortable. It didn't bother me in those books but it did bother me here and I'll try to parse out why. In the past books, some of the main characters, typically the Psy character, were convinced that they physically wouldn't be able to handle a physical relationship and that's why their partner had to push them. Brenna from the previous book is probably most similar to Tally. They both have gone through a trauma that makes them really reluctant to be physical. However with Brenna, Judd also had reasons to be hesitant of forging a connection where in this book, Clay had no such reservations and was also really judgemental of Tally's past sexual history. Clay is genuinely angry at the fact that Tally has many past sexual partners and that just made me feel really bad considering why Tally did that. Since Tally's trauma is really wrapped up in sex and a lack of control in sexual situations, I just couldn't give Clay's boundary pushing the benefit of the doubt like I could in previous books and that made me really dislike Clay.

I don't actually have that much to say about Tally; she mostly washed over me. I like that we finally got a human love interest and she was the catalyst for introducing us to new parts of the world that seems like it will be really interesting. There was her sickness that we're introduced to early on that I thought would play a bigger part but actually just disappeared for the whole middle part (which is the same thing that happened with the idea that Clay was close to going rogue, which was introduced and then never came up again). I think that some of her story could be impactful to people but I just could not connect to her in this story.

As I signaled, the plot of this let me down. The pacing of the mystery and insertion of the politics of the world felt a bit off to me here. A lot more of this book focuses solely on Clay and Tally and doesn't include the rest of the pack compared to other books and I found myself missing that pack element. Maybe this was because I didn't like the relationship as much but to me it felt like the child kidnapping plot was introduced and then it went away for a bit and then a while later they got everyone else involved but only after they realized a certain connection this disappearances had. The second half is significantly better in this regard than this first, which I think is why I found the pacing a bit uneven. We also barely check in with the Psy council in this book and I would have liked to see them folded in more.

This is not a bad book and I still enjoyed parts of it and read it pretty quickly. It's just a step down from previous books. It was a few small complaints and then the larger complaint of really disliking Clay that added up to a above average rating. Honestly, it's a credit to Singh that I can really dislike the male love interest and still give a romance three stars but I'm hoping this is the bottom and the books are only up from here. show less

Talin works with disadvantaged children – homeless, troubled and in trouble. And several have gone missing and the only thing she can think to do to help them is confront a horror from her past

Clay, the wereleopard and desperate reminder of a terrible past she’d left behind and a moment of terrifying bloodshed that still stains her memories

Clay can’t believe the woman he long thought dead is still alive, but he can hardly reconcile the fact she left him for so long nor can he bring himself to let her go again.

I continue to love the world building of this series – the Psy and the Changelings, the Psy’s society’s desperate struggles as they face conflict and threats on all sides against the council; whose loosening grip show more increasingly shows the flaws in Silence while at the same time we still see how dependent the Psy are on it. I love how we’re seeing Psy both shape the netmind and be shaped by it

I love the history of Silence and the existence of the Forgotten which is so excellently filled out and developed to create a very real society with so many possible storylines and characters arising out of it.

I really like that we’re beginning to look at humanity as well – after all here we have people with no powers, no strength, clearly the victims of society. They’re even called the “worker bees” and often forgotten. But Talin embraces this label – and we several mentions of how the humans are supposed to be the glue that holds their society together

And now we have emerging hints of what the races are like when they come together

All of this is excellently explored with the ongoing story of the Psy, Talin desperately hunting for missing children with extra bonus insight into Ashaya, another Psy facing the Council while still being Psy – not an outsider like Sasha or Faith. She’s still Psy, she’s still Silent – but she still fights the Council. A Psy doesn’t have to be none-Psy to oppose the Council or what the Psy have become.

One thing that was powerful was Talin’s living with trauma – as someone who suffered abuse as a child. She is vulnerable, fragile and in considerable pain – and often very very afraid. Yet, despite these vulnerabilities, she’s still an active participant in the story. She isn’t shelved, she isn’t dragged along behind the others, she doesn’t cower and not have an opinion or input. She can have fun, she can engage in banter, she can be snarky and she can stand up for herself. Just because she’s vulnerable doesn’t mean she is presented as being an object to be placed in the corner and acted on. The whole plot of this book begins with her facing those fears and working, fighting despite them

But she is hurting, from her fear, her recitation of her childhood (with a foster family that was both loving but not a magic bullet), how she embraced sex as a method of self harm, how she is desperately afraid of Clay, even though he saved her, because of the extreme violence she witnessed as a child.

Alas, though, this is a romance. And, like the previous books in this series, it’s a romance that makes me cringe. Can we not have a romantic lead that makes me think “kill it! Kill it with fire!”

So, our leading lady is Talin, a human woman and she is deeply traumatised by a terrible past, thinks she’s dying and is utterly terrified and fragile and needs Clay (our leading man) to help heal her, strengthen her and have her trust enough to feel love again

Ugh. Look I’m not saying Talin’s trauma is bad, as I’ve already said it isn’t. But this is the fourth book and in every book we have either a) a female Psy who is imploding and being destroyed and needs the love of a good man to heal/save her or b) a traumatised changeling/human woman who has been horrifically abused and needs the love of a good man to heal/save her. Gods preserve me from this litany of delicate, fragile broken women and the magical healing cocks that pull them back from the edge.

The pattern for “healing” is also depressingly similar – involving completely ignoring the woman’s wishes, her agency and her barriers (while smelling how horny she is so it totally makes it ok to ignore her agency, honest) until she cracks and we discover the man was right all along. Talin isn’t a Psy but she is terrified of Clay from the very beginning after seeing him brutally murder her abuser as a child. She also has major issues about sex due to her past and doesn’t want to enter a sexual relationship with Clay. After much prodding she accepts him as a friend and that friend’s touch. And his instant come back? Friends also kiss (yeah? I don’t recall Clay, Dorian, Nathan or Lucas kissing, and they’re very good friends) and he thinks about how he’s going to keep pushing against her boundaries to until she has sex with him. He views any “no”, any resistance on her part as a temporary thing he just has to work at. Which is just like Lucas, just like Vaughn and it’s awful. You do not heal a trauma survive by pushing her boundaries and pushing her into sex. This is not healthy.

On top of this we have a whole lot of sex shaming of Talin because she self-harmed with promiscuous sex. And, as I mentioned, yes it’s not a bad depiction of a traumatised person. But the main reason this is used in this book is so that Clay can be utterly furious that she dared “sell herself cheaply”. Not only is this grossly sex shaming and heaping shame on a victim to boot – but he’s a Changeling! We’ve just spent the last 3 books commenting on the fact that Changeings have a very open culture when it comes to sex! What is this? Why is it here?

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Another great book in the Psy-Changeling series, tied with Caressed by Ice for the best book in the series, in my mind. This book really focused on the deep relationship between Clay and Talin, who sort of grew up on the streets together. We learn so much about these two. Their histories are very well developed and the relationship between them so well done that I almost think the author had to have some experience with the kind of relationship that builds from childhood and on-- or else, she just knows people. For those new to the series, it is important to begin from the first (even though it's the weakest of the series, not surprisingly) as the next -juicy- books build directly on the plot (and I'm so excited to learn more about the show more ongoing rebellion). I can't wait until we learn the identity of the Ghost. Note: There is a little less on the Psy this time around. Singh's writing style remains formal and feminine, and in this stallment I particulary noticed her habit of using metaphor to explain emotion: "anger built a shield around him." I'm paraphrasing, but you get the idea. I'm not a big fan of this device. It's a little cheesy. I prefer a more practical, grounded fashion of conveying emotions, but for me, the detailed characters and gripping plot, and the world she constructs, politics and all, (even more -wondrously- detailed) make this little foible barely noticeable. All of Singh's books have different degrees of edge. Some, as the first book was, are dark because of the hero's breaking control of his beast, for example. Mine to Possess, in particular, was a little intense, but I really enjoyed that aspect. Sometimes I'm in the mood (actually, usually in the mood) to appreciate a book that transports you from the most grueling, testing depths of humanity to the highs (because I need some kind of HEA, after all)-- and not in a soap opera, tears-and-tantrums fashion. Singh does this well here. I ached for Talin when I read the history that she can't put behind her, and I celebrated with her when she overcame it. In other words, if you like angst (somewhat similar to Ward's), you'll find it here in spades (but in a mostly serious, non-cheesy, we're-not-just-using-this-as-a-device way, LOL). The author really gives it attention.Also, for those who like their relationships on a more level footing, Clay is another intense Singh hero, all alpha and such, but there's a give and take between him and Talin that's very sweet, especially because he really does care so much about keeping her happy. He's not just overbearing, LOL. Needless to say, I recommend this for anyone who likes their paranormals, especially romantic paranormals. show less