Lover Awakened by J.R. Ward

I'm at a loss as to what to say about this book. Everything feels like a spoiler.

Once again I'm left thinking "I should hate this book." But I don't, I loved it. The names are still ridiculous, I hate the word "shitkicker", the "leathers" are such a cliche, the tortured vampire hero is an even bigger cliche. Bonded, mates, the needing, yikes. Yet it all works.

We met Bella in Lover Eternal, and she was already falling for Zsadist. She's part of the vampire aristocracy and he thinks completely out of his league. This book opens with Bella having been kidnapped and missing for 6 weeks and Z has been frantically searching for her. When he finally does he pushes her toward his brother (Phury), but she only want Z. The story unfolds from there, we have flashback to Zsadist's period of captivity, we see what torture he's been through that's made him what he is. Yet, I'm left wondering about his name, is he really a sadist? I don't think so. After years of abuse he correlates pain with feelings and emotions.

So, he's running for all he's worth away from Bella, she's sucking him back toward her and this makes him feel again, more than pain. She goes through her first period of needing (when vampire women are fertile) and this completely bonds them together. This needing thing is completely over the top, but still works, why?? I don't know.

Anything else feels like a spoiler. You have to read it to find out how much love transforms him.

There are glimpses of Wrath/Beth and Rhage/Mary.

John hasn't gone through his transition and he's still a 90 lb. weakling. But we do find out who is father is.

Torh and Wellsie's story continues.

What the heck is going on with Vishous and Butch and Marissa?

Rehvenge (the Reverend), Bella's brother is an important part of the story, he's a symphath (check out the glossary for an explanation).

Butch and Marissa are next.

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

Another book that leaves me somewhat speechless, but at least I think I can come up with a review that is somewhat coherent.

Sascha Duncan is a Psy a race of people who have basically banned all emotions in the attempt to stop violence, of course by banning all emotions they've basically created a race of unfeeling psychopaths. Sascha's problem--she feels emotions, but has learned to hide this.

Lucas Hunter is the alpha of the DarkRiver leopard pack, actually he shapeshifts into a panther. He's investigating the serial killing of changelings by a member of the Psy and he's doing this under the guise of a business arrangement with the Duncan family business.

Ms. Singh's world building is handled smoothly and flows into an alternative world filled with Psy, changelings and humans (though we don't see humans in this story). The attraction between Sascha and Lucas is instantaneous and slowly builds through the story. The story's conflict isn't really between them, the conflict is dealing with the Psy without them realizing it. The Psy function and live through an intricate system called PsyNet. Kind of like what we know as the internet yet instead of connecting computer networks, they're connecting brain functions in a telepathic way. This becomes an important part of the story as Sascha needs a telepathic network in order to survive. They mystery is handled well, the story flows smoothly. The secondary characters are well developed and interesting.

This is a wonderfully told story, I'm looking forward to the next in the series.