Used to cold silence, Faith NightStar is suddenly being tormented by dark visions of blood and murder. A bad sign for anyone, but worse for Faith, an F-Psy with the highly sought after ability to predict the future. Then the visions show her something even more dangerous–aching need…exquisite pleasure. But so powerful is her sight, so fragile the state of her mind, that the very emotions she yearns to embrace could be the end of her.
Changeling Vaughn D’Angelo can take either man or jaguar form, but it is his animal side that is overwhelmingly drawn to Faith. The jaguar’s instinct is to claim this woman it finds so utterly fascinating and the man has no argument. But while Vaughn craves sensation and hungers to pleasure Faith in every way, desire is a danger that could snap the last threads of her sanity. And there are Psy who need Faith’s sight for their own purposes. They must keep her silenced–and keep her from Vaughn…
Visions of Heat, by Nalini Singh
I wrote about how much I love the Psy/Changeling world in my review of the first book, Slave to Sensation. Even if that book wasn’t necessarily my favorite, there was still plenty to seduce me and pull me onward, into the next story. Visions of Heat is a worthy successor, even if it’s not my favorite book in the series either. The worldbuilding is still there, building on the foundation laid in the first book, and Nalini gives us the first real glimpse of what sets her books apart for me compared to a lot of romance series: how much other characters play a role.
We met Vaughn in Sascha and Lucas’s story, since Vaughn is one of the Sentinels in DarkRiver. He’s a jaguar, not a leopard, but that doesn’t make a difference when it comes to being Pack. Faith, on the other hand, is an F-Psy, capable of seeing the future. And not just any F-Psy but the most powerful F-Psy of her generation.
When she starts having dark visions of murder instead of the normal business forecasts she’s used to, Faith finds herself forced to seek out Sascha in an effort to obtain answers from a Psy not linked to the Psynet — and therefore the Council. She can’t risk word of her potential mental degradation getting back to anyone, not if she wants to maintain what little freedom she has. Of course, trying to meet Sascha puts her directly in Vaughn’s path and sparks fly.
I really like how Faith grew as a character over the course of the book. She starts sheltered and somewhat naive but has a core of inner strength that she draws on to deal with Vaughn, who most definitely pushes her out of her comfort zones. Vaughn, while being everything a hero should be, mostly stands back and provides the pillar of strength she needs him to be as she grapples with emotion.
One of the things I like best about this book, however, are the side characters (again!). Sascha and Lucas both show up, along with the other DarkRiver Sentinels. Judd Lauren also makes an appearance, as do a few wolves from SnowDancer. It really gives you the sensation that this is a living, breathing universe, where the characters are part of a whole instead of in the sun for their one brief moment and then never seen again. Nalini does this incredibly well and it’s a huge factor in why I’m still in love with this series today.
Which is why it should go without saying that if you haven’t read this yet, stop waiting and start!