#BooKReview: Mine to Possess by Nalini Singh - 4.5 Wine Glasses

Title: Mine to Possess
Series: Psy-Changeling #4
Author: Nalini Singh
Format: eBook/Mass Market Paperback, 328 pages
Published: February 5th 2008 by Berkley
ISBN: 0425220168
Links: Goodreads | Amazon | Kindle | B&N
Source: Purchased by Reviewer
Reviewer: Crystal
Rating: 4.5/5

Clay Bennett is a powerful DarkRiver sentinel, but he grew up in the slums with his human mother, never knowing his changeling father. As a young boy without the bonds of Pack, he tried to stifle his animal nature. He failed...and committed the most extreme act of violence, killing a man and losing his best friend, Talin, in the bloody aftermath. Everything good in him died the day he was told that she, too, was dead.
Talin McKade barely survived a childhood drenched in bloodshed and terror. Now a new nightmare is stalking her life--the street children she works to protect are disappearing and turning up dead. Determined to keep them safe, she unlocks the darkest secret in her heart and returns to ask the help of the strongest man she knows...
Clay lost Talin once. He will not let her go again, his hunger to possess her, a clawing need born of the leopard within. As they race to save the innocent, Clay and Talin must face the violent truths of their past...or lose everything that ever mattered.

Thoughts:
Incredibly enough, this series just keeps getting better and better!

With tragic childhoods, Clay Bennett and Talin McKade came together as only children with a shared pain could. Until Clay found out Tally's secret, and in a fit of violence and terror destroyed the one safe haven Tally had, leaving her to start over alone while Clay was sent to a juvenile detention center. After living years caged up, serving his time, the first thing Clay did when released was to find Talin again....only to be told that she died in a car accident. But her ghost haunted him, refusing the let go. And now, after two decades of self-hatred over his failure to protect her, Talin is back and asking for his help. Children are disappearing from the streets, children that she has promised to look out for. And she knows that there is only one man strong enough to help her and save them. But can Clay ever forgive Talin for her deception? And what will happen when the bond they shared as children explodes into the want of two grown adults destined to be together? Danger is around every corner, but the deadliest danger may come from within. 

In the previous books, readers have been immersed in the world of the Psy, emotionless beings with physic gifts, and Changelings, human and animal in nature. But in Mine to Possess, Nalini Singh broadens the scope even further by adding humans into the mix and introducing readers to the Forgotten; humans with Psy ancestors that defected at the start of Silence. Many of the Psy gifts were deluded through the generations but now they're reappearing again, and stronger then ever. The sub-plot is an ever-expanding entity in the background of these books, gracefully moving the inner workings of the council and pack business along while readers delve into the lives of two lost souls. In this case, Tally and Clay. 

From previous books I never would have guessed the past that DarkRiver Sentinel, Clay Bennett, emerged from. And he shares that past with another. A human that he believed dead for two decades, but who he's never forgotten. When Clay finally see's Talin again he is rightfully furious but unable to deny her his help. Not that his cat would let him, even if he wanted to. His road to a future with Tally is twisty and turning, brimming with lies and betrayals, hurts and misunderstandings. My heart hurt for Clay, for all the blame he shouldered and emotions that he had to stifle. There were so many unforeseen layers to his character that I couldn't help but fall for this panther. 

Tally's abuse and Clay's unknowing abandonment have left deep scars on her, but she also suffers from a rare condition that is causing her brain to slowly deteriorate. It seemed like life was just throwing one hit after another to this girl and I empathized with her frustration over the hand life dealt her. At first though, I really didn't want to like Tally because of the pain she put Clay through. I felt that she needed to grow up at times instead of putting irrational blame on Clay for circumstances that were out of his control. But on the other hand, Tally was young and traumatized and I could sympathize with her feelings. Together, her and Clay must learn to trust and love again. But even if they can, can they find a way around the illness that is slowly taking her life? 

Nalini Sings writing is superb. The characters and world-building is so vivid, they come to life on the pages. The plot is exciting, the characters memorizing. It is easy to loose yourself in the world of the PsyChangeling. This is a series that I wish I could just lock myself up in a hotel room or beach bungalow to read and finish without interruption. Sadly though, it's summer time which means hiding out from my kids in the bathroom to get some reading time in. LOL But this series is worth it!