Branded by Fire (Psy-Changeling, #6) in Dangerous Hero Addict Support Group

Nov 02, 2008 Danielle The Book Huntress rated it it was amazing

Shelves: hero-in-pursuit, hero-to-die-for, flawed-heroine, werewolf, futuristic, owned-copy, paranormal-romance, shapeshifter, part-of-a-series, kickbutt-heroine

Before I wrote a review on this book, I had to sleep on it. I was trying to figure out a way to express my feelings about Mercy. She annoyed the crap out of me for the majority of this book. I felt so bad about it. I love strong women. I am definitely a reader who wants a strong, independent heroine in a story, yet I like the sweet heroines as well. I just like well-written heroines. Mercy was certainly well-written. I can't say I fault Nalini Singh for writing a book about an interesting charac Before I wrote a review on this book, I had to sleep on it. I was trying to figure out a way to express my feelings about Mercy. She annoyed the crap out of me for the majority of this book. I felt so bad about it. I love strong women. I am definitely a reader who wants a strong, independent heroine in a story, yet I like the sweet heroines as well. I just like well-written heroines. Mercy was certainly well-written. I can't say I fault Nalini Singh for writing a book about an interesting character like Mercy. Having said that, she really worked my nerves.

It suddenly came to me as an epiphany about Mercy. She's a female cat. As a lifelong cat lover, I have made an observation that other cat lovers will probably agree with me on. Female cats can be a pain in the butt. They are much more grumpy and unreasonable more often than male cats. They are mercurial as all get out, one minute wanting to be loved on, the next trying to scratch your eyes out. That's Mercy in a nutshell.

Frankly I was doubting for some period of time while I was reading that she deserved Riley. I felt like I was being a sexist thinking this. I asked myself why do I love heroes that are flawed, but Mercy was bugging me. Well, I came to realize that her imperfection wasn't the problem. It was the fact that she gave Riley hell most of the time for what seemed like no good reason. Sometimes she was a purring kitten, but most of the time, not so much. It was made clear fairly often that this was the way of a dominant female changeling, and that was when the lightbulb about female cats came to me. Once I accepted this realization, I could deal with Mercy a lot better. And since Riley loved her for who she was, I guess I can't afford to lose sleep about it.

I do have to say that she did admit when she was wrong, most of the time. But she really put Riley through her paces, and he was clearly the one who gave of himself much more. When it came down to it, she made a very difficult choice out of love for him, and I had to give her props for that.

Now I have to say that I loved Riley to bits. Nothing wrong with him. The part where he so-called betrayed Mercy, I can acknowledge that it was the wrong decision, but he made it for what he truly believed was the right reason. Just like Mercy couldn't change her spots, if you will forgive the pun. It's wrong to ask a wolf to shed his skin. He had the right to be the dominant male, just like she had the right to be a dominant female. I don't like double standards, so I don't think that Mercy should have been able to get away with her bad behavior (because of her nature) and then give Riley a hard time for him following his nature. I thought that the romance between Riley and Mercy was good reading, although I didn't love it as much as Sascha/Lucas, Vaughn/Faith, Judd/Brenna, and my favorite Dorian/Ashaya. I think it's because I love the Changeling/Psy relationship dynamic so much. Having said that, it was nice to see the hero be a wolf. Love me some wolf heroes. :)

Gender politics dealt with, I really enjoyed the suspense and conspiracy elements. Singh writes a great romance, but she also weaves an interesting read that I believe would appeal to a straight science fiction fan if that person didn't mind a lot of kissy-poo along with it. The stakes have been raised, and the world of the Psy/Changeling has expanded to focus more on the human quotient. It will be interesting to see how that aspect plays out in the future. Can I say I am a serious fangirl of the Psy. They are kickbutt. Still want to read more about the Tk-Psy and the Arrows. (Hint, hint, Ms. Singh).

As for Hawke and Sienna, I am a little worried how things ended with them. Call me sexist, but I hope that she doesn't get deeply involved with Kit. I want her to wait for Hawke. Don't give up hope, Sienna. Hawke has deep feelings for you, girl.

I loved the glimpses of my favorite male character (although I dearly love Dorian and Judd) in this, Hawke. He's just droolicious. More Hawke please.

So, I must say that I was not disappointed, although Mercy gave me some heartburn. ...more

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Sep 30, 2010 Lady Jayne *~*The Beach Bandida*~* rated it it was amazing

Shelves: romance-paranormal, author-nalini-singh, shifters, owned-read

5 Stars!! - YOWZA!!! I felt Branded by Fire, alright!!!

September 2011 - Review to come... But just a few thoughts, for now... This is probably my favourite of the series, so far, along with Dorian's and Ashaya's book and the first book with Lucas and Sascha (which will always have a special place in my heart). I adore the DarkRiver alpha couple. *sighs* And I loved Mercy and Riley. LOVING this series!!!
......

March 2012 - Finally wrote my review.

Also reviewed at: Lady Jayne's Reading Den

This ...more

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Jan 05, 2009 MelissaB rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorite-paranormal-romance, paranormal-romance, 2022-reads, favorite-romances, 2009-reads, kindle, best-heroes, psy-changling-series, shapeshifters, 2013-reads

Branded by Fire starts out with some fireworks as Mercy, a top sentinel in the Dark River leopard pack, has a hot forbidden interlude with Riley, the second to the alpha of the Snow Dancer wolf pack. She is a dominant alpha female in her pack which makes her fear that she will never find a mate because she would need someone more dominant than her and she doesn’t think she would be able to submit to a mate the way she would need to. Riley is a stubborn, protective, by-the-rules man who is helple Branded by Fire starts out with some fireworks as Mercy, a top sentinel in the Dark River leopard pack, has a hot forbidden interlude with Riley, the second to the alpha of the Snow Dancer wolf pack. She is a dominant alpha female in her pack which makes her fear that she will never find a mate because she would need someone more dominant than her and she doesn’t think she would be able to submit to a mate the way she would need to. Riley is a stubborn, protective, by-the-rules man who is helplessly drawn to Mercy’s fiery personality. He grew up taking care of his younger siblings and is now the highest ranking lieutenant in the Snow Dancer pack, so he can’t imagine having a mate like Mercy who insists on taking care of herself.

Mercy and Riley are thrown together often as their respective pack’s representative in the alliance between the cats and wolves – especially now as attacks on humans, changelings and Psy are beginning to escalate. The sexual attraction between Mercy and Riley leads them to start a forbidden affair because they just can’t keep their hands off each other. Mercy knows Riley is a dominant wolf who will try to take over her life, which she thinks will kill a part of herself. Riley feels like he needs to protect those he loves, especially after what he sees as a failure to protect his little sister Brenna from being attacked. Mercy and Riley start to care a lot about each other but both are afraid of the consequences of staying together. They both dedicate their lives to protecting their packs – plus cats and wolves just barely get along. Can they both survive a mating – and do they have any choice but to try since their feelings are so intense?

I loved this story! Mercy and Riley were such a great pair, they really complemented each other in every way. The love scenes were scorching hot! Riley certainly knows how to please a woman. Both Riley and Mercy had to come to terms with each other – Riley had to accept that he could be dominant with Mercy while they were making love but he needed to see her as a partner at all other times and not try to shield her, while Mercy had to accept and trust Riley enough to allow him completely into her heart as a mate.

The storyline of the series progresses as we learn more about the battle for and against Silence in the Psy web and more clues about the Ghost’s identity. Sienna and Hawke have small parts in the story, I can’t wait until we see what happens between them. Lucas and Sascha receive wonderful news that I have been waiting for! I also found out the answer to the two questions I have been wondering about since I heard of the pairing between Riley and Mercy: What type of children will a wolf and cat have together and how can two dominant sentinels from different packs actually make a mating work – but you will have to read Branded by Fire to find out for yourself!

The Psy/Changling series is one of my favorite romance series, every single book has been amazing. Nalini Singh is a very talented author who writes wonderful romances with a great background story. I highly recommend this series to any romance reader! ...more

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Aug 31, 2009 Cindy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: keepers

Good read. The latest in the Psy/Changeling books is another winner. We have seen Mercy and Riley dancing around each other in earlier books and in this one it finally comes to a head. An interesting study of dominance, what do you do when both players want to be on top? That's tough enough - but both of them are savagely loyal to their packs - and expect that accepting the mating bond will force one of them to leave theirs... The Psy/Changeling/Human struggle continues to ramp up with the Allia ...more

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Sep 03, 2010 RogueHireling rated it really liked it

Better then a pint of chocolate Ice Cream (and I dont mean the shabby stuff!)
I would have liked a little more outside romance story, and would have been perfectly happy if the book had been about two hundred pages longer, but that is not Nalini Singh's style.
Still it was great. I want to read it again and probably will once I run out of psy/changling books.
...more

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Oct 21, 2011 Pet rated it it was amazing

I’ve read this book for the third time and loved it, delighted in it and adored, laughed, cried grit my teeth in rage and sighed with the characters. Identify think there’s a paranormal romance fan alive who hasn’t read Nalini Singh but if I’m wrong and you’re reading this, go for it, buy or borrow from the library but definitely read this book.

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Aug 12, 2011 Wendy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library-book, e-book, paranormal-romance, 2011, 2013

Some books I wish you could give more that 5 stars. This was one of them. Re-reading it for the third time took away none of the enjoyment of a truly well-written romance. So thankful to have such good writers continuing to have such stellar books to read. And so so proud this one is a fellow kiwi. Highly recommended.

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