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maryshercules's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Moderate: Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Kidnapping, and Murder
crownoflaurel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Minor: Suicide, Torture, Kidnapping, and Murder
friends2lovers's review against another edition
3.5
Through a program called Silence, the Psy are conditioned from birth to eradicate all their feelings. Silence didn’t really work on Sascha and over the years she’s built up mental shields to hide her ‘flawed’ psyche. In the beginning, Sascha is emotionally guarded, wary of affection, and believes herself broken. This is typically where a hero’s arc starts in a M/F romance novel; it’s the heroine who breaks down his walls and encourages him to feel and love. It was refreshing to have this trope reversed; Lucas is more in touch with his feelings and he affectionately provokes Sascha out of her shell.
So later, when Sascha embraces her empath abilities and matures emotionally while Lucas struggles with his emotional control, it was a little disappointing. Their dynamic went from atypical to falling in line with gender norms, albeit with a supernatural twist. As an E-Psy and ‘healer of the mind’, she’s shouldering a lot of emotional labor in her relationship with Lucas as well as with the pack. I hope later books introduce male healers and E-Psy, because I don’t like the idea of these inherent abilities being passed down to females only. The powers that E-Psy possess are really cool, especially the potential to heal the trauma of others! It seems like a bummer, though, to constantly manage the emotions of other people (mainly male shapeshifters with tempers).
Overall, I really enjoyed the romance, I just liked the earlier bits best. The shared dreams were particularly effective at forging a believable connection between them, before either character was ready for that in real life. It’s like a heightened version of the trope where dreaming about another person either makes them realize their attraction to the person or allows them to act on feelings they aren’t supposed to have. Because neither character realizes that they’re dreamingtogether, their subsequent struggle to continue acting normally around each other is especially entertaining. I also liked that the mating bond was not immediately evident and it took time and effort to develop and accept.
I liked the earlier bits of plot and worldbuilding more than the latter, too. The culture of the Psy and the inner workings of the PsyNet were intriguing. Singh’s writing struck a good balance between being concise and descriptive. I never felt like I was drowning in exposition nor was I left wanting more explanations. Unfortunately, because Sascha’s abilities are all mental, the climax of the plot was internal, too. Sascha going into the PsyNet to trap and identify the serial killer was the one part of the book that I found difficult to grasp conceptually. Then the physical confrontation and action occurs off the page with different characters. It was just a bit underwhelming to have an external, high-stakes conflict resolved through internal strategic mental maneuvering.
3.5 stars. The first half is completely engrossing and fast-paced. The second half took me longer to get through as the things I liked about the romance and plot shifted in a different direction. Still, I’m pretty eager to continue the series and am curious about how the overarching plot will progress.
EDIT 04/13/2021: Yesterday, the Heaving Bosoms podcast posted their recap episode for this and I highly recommend checking it out. I wholeheartedly agree with Erin about the changelings' aversion to M/M platonic PDA within the pack, despite having no qualms about M/F PDA. I kid you not, I wrote a paragraph about this in my original review but decided to cut it for length.
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Violence and Murder
just_one_more_paige's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
nisha_nee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
As for the actual story itself, I did not bother trying to guess what plot twist there is or what the explanation to the mystery behind Sascha, because I was just in it for the ride baby! haha. I just wanted my time reading this to be enjoyable as possible, so no need to get so analytic. The villain and some plot twists were somehow predictable but that did not hinder my enjoyment either.
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Murder
rorikae's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
This is the first installment in the Psy-Changeling series, which takes place on an Earth where there are three different groups of people. These are the Psy, who have psychic powers and have ensconced themselves in the Silence to suppress all of their emotions, there are changelings who can shift into different animals, and then there are humans. 'Slave to Sensation' centers on Sascha Duncan, a Psy who believes she is falling apart because she is unable to completely shut out her emotions like other Psy. When she is assigned to help with a building project, she meets Lucas Hunter, an alpha changeling. Her emotions begin to crack further as she starts to feel drawn to Lucas and as she is drawn into a mystery. There is a Psy serial killer abducting changeling women and Sascha's link to the PsyNet may be the one way that they can solve this mystery and stop any future changelings from being hunted.
I absolutely love the world in this book. Singh does an exceptional job of introducing a politically complex world but in an easy to understand way. One thing that helps is that it is set on Earth and familiar places, which means that the reader can focus on the relationships and politics of the world. Getting to learn about this through her character's interactions does a great job of making the reader interested both in the world and the characters themselves.
I am finding that the romances I enjoy best are those that have a really strong plot outside of the romance element and that is definitely true for 'Slave to Sensation.' The reader gets to uncover a lot about the characters as Singh expands their relationships through the main mystery of the story. Though the beginning was a bit slow, when the mystery element and investigation started to heat up, I found it really hard to put this book down. The one hiccup with the mystery is that there aren't that many people who are possible suspects, which makes it a little easy to figure out though that didn't stop Singh's set-up from being engaging.
The one downside for this story for me is that Lucas is very alpha and that isn't something that I love in books. He's very possessive and though him being a changeling explains this away in some respects, it was the part of the book that I enjoyed the least.
I do love this world though and will definitely be reading more in this series. I can't wait to see what happens next because I have heard that Singh does an exceptional job of incorporating what is happening in the world in each book.
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder
bookroom's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Graphic: Sexual violence, Violence, Kidnapping, and Murder