Reviewer: Casee Ocean Light by Nalini Singh
Series: Psy/Changeling Trinity #2, Psy/Changeling #17
Also in this series: Silver Silence, Silver Silence, Silver Silence, Ocean Light, Wolf Rain , Wolf Rain, Alpha Night, Alpha Night, Last Guard, Last Guard , Mine to Possess, Hostage to Pleasure, The Magical Christmas Cat , Kiss of Snow, Tangle of Need, Slave to Sensation , Wild Invitation, Heart of Obsidian, Shield of Winter, Shield of Winter, Visions of Heat, Mine to Possess, Caressed By Ice, Branded by Fire, Blaze of Memory, Mine to Possess, Hostage to Pleasure, Hostage to Pleasure, Shards of Hope, Shards of Hope, Heart of Obsidian, Caressed By Ice, Branded by Fire, Blaze of Memory, Play of Passion, Allegiance of Honor, Kiss of Snow, Tangle of Need, Shield of Winter, Shards of Hope, Allegiance of Honor, Allegiance of Honor, Wild Embrace, Wild Embrace, Wild Embrace, Tangle of Need, Caressed By Ice
Publisher: Berkley
Publication Date: June 12, 2018
Point-of-View: Third Person
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 416
Add It: Goodreads
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New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh dives beneath the surface of her Psy-Changeling world into a story of passionate devotion and selfless love...
Security specialist Bowen Knight has come back from the dead. But there's a ticking time bomb in his head: a chip implanted to block telepathic interference that could fail at any moment--taking his brain along with it. With no time to waste, he should be back on land helping the Human Alliance. Instead, he's at the bottom of the ocean, consumed with an enigmatic changeling...
Kaia Luna may have traded in science for being a chef, but she won't hide the facts of Bo's condition from him or herself. She's suffered too much loss in her life to fall prey to the dangerous charm of a human who is a dead man walking. And she carries a devastating secret Bo could never imagine...
But when Kaia is taken by those who mean her deadly harm, all bets are off. Bo will do anything to get her back--even if it means striking a devil's bargain and giving up his mind to the enemy...
It literally hurts my heart to write this review. I have never not loved a book by Nalini. Well, there was Silver Silence. While I didn’t love it, I liked it a lot. This book, not so much. It wasn’t that I disliked it. I didn’t. It was just boring. And slow. So incredibly slow and boring. There wasn’t a lot of excitement until almost the end of the book. Then it picked up and got interesting. Until then? It just wasn’t for me. I had to force myself to read it because I wasn’t going to give Nalini a DNF.
Bowen Knight has been in the Psy/Changeling books for a long time. He is the “alpha” of the humans. Bowen long ago realized that someone needed to step up to protect the human race. While he never thought he would be the one to do it, he ended up doing the job. After being mind-raped by a Psy when he was thirteen, Bo has an incredible aversion to the Psy race. Such an aversion that he has an experimental chip implanted in his head. He doesn’t care if it kills him as long as it protects his mind from the Psy. Bo understands that the Psy race is evolving, but not enough for him to trust. A few of his most trusted people, along with sister, have the same chip implanted in their heads. When things start going wrong with the chip, Bo doesn’t think of himself, but of his people.
At the end of Silver Silence, Bo takes a bullet to the heart and falls into the water. Lucky for him, the BlackSea changelings save him. He wakes up in one of their strongholds to a scientist that tells him he has a chance to live. A five percent chance, but a chance nonetheless. His attention strays from the doctor and seeks out her cousin, Kaia Luna. He has never felt such an attraction to a woman; a woman that seems to despise him for no reason.
Kaia has her reasons for not liking Bowen Knight. He is involved with the disappearance of several of her packmates. That is unforgivable to Kaia. What is even more unforgivable is when Kaia finds herself attracted to Bo. How can she be attracted to someone so evil that they capture and torture changelings? It doesn’t take Kaia long to realize that Bo is nothing like she thought he was. So they end up falling in love miles and miles under the ocean where the experiment on Bo is taking place.
This is why the book is boring. It takes place in the ocean. There is no excitement there. Kaia stays there specifically because she feels safe. Because nothing ever happens there. She never surfaces to the land above. Bo is all about excitement and Kaia, well, isn’t. I just didn’t feel them together. It just felt forced. Which is sad, really, because they were both really good characters. Just by themselves. Not together.
Like I mentioned above, the book picked up about seventy five to eighty percent in. It was too late for me. By then I was skimming, trying to finish the book. If you’re like me, you can’t skip a book in a series that you’re this invested in. So I’m glad I read it even though I didn’t like it.
I’m sorry, Nalini. Don’t hate me.
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Psy/Changeling Trinity
I thought that I wasn’t going to like this book as much as I did. It was a little slow in the beginning while we were waiting for something to happen during Bowen’s rehabilitation and testing but I found that as the story went on, my enjoyment went up. I ended up liking this book a lot more than both you and Holly. Still, great review. I can see why you felt the way you did.
This one wasn’t my fav. I thought Bowen and Kaia were a bit bland. But, I still loved getting more of Black Sea.
I feel like I’m in the minority, but I actually loved this 1000x more than Silver Silence haha. I think it’s partly that I went into SS with huge expectations, but definitely toned them down for OL, because of being disappointed in SS. I liked that this was slower than usual, probably because learning about the water changelings was so fascinating and fun. I do wish the whole “will this character die??” would be left out of future books, because after seeing different versions of it in the series, I’m tired of it, and come on, we all knew he wouldn’t die smh. Great review!
Veronika @ The Regal Critiques
I was a bit disappointed in Silver, myself. I really loved Valentin, but Silver wasn’t what I expected. Still, this felt much slower to me and I had a harder time staying focused on it.
SO MUCH THIS! I think I’m approaching burn-out with this series for just this reason. Of course he wasn’t going to die. He’s the MC.