Kiss of Snow (Psy-Changeling Book 10)

I adore this book and maybe not for the same reasons one would think. I, of course, enjoyed the antagonistic push and pull between Hawke and Sienna. I think that they are well matched despite their age gap. Sienna is a militantly strategic powerhouse and she needs a partner at her level who can challenge her. It also doesn't hurt that Hawke has a wolf hellbent on teaching her how to play to make up for the lack in her short life. However, the secondary romance is what made this book for me. Walker Lauren is a dark horse and has completely stolen my heart. (It is always the quiet ones) I am glad Walker's romance wasn't stretched out for an entire novel of his own. I think his HEA hit harder being short, sweet and unexpectedly, mind blowingly spicy; like an extra burst of cinnamon goodness as you drink down the last few dregs of a chai latte. What a wonderful way to wrap up a book.

Ever since Hawke showed up in Book 1, I sat up, howled, and wanted to skip right to Book 10 and devour his story. Ever the one to want to draw out my pleasure, I forced myself to read the books in order (except for skipping three for two different reasons. In case you are curious, here are the three I skipped):1. Book 4 – Mine to Possess – The heroine was so weak I read about 15% of the book and DNF. It was awful2. Books 7 and 8 – These were human based books, and I wasn’t interested. I wanted Changelings or Psy in my stories.However, in Book 1, when we got teased with who Hawke was going to have as his romantic partner, I had reservations on Hawke’s love story right from the beginning. Why was a 30 year old being paired with a 16 year old? I thought, well, his story is in the future, maybe it will be in ten years. The age gap is still there, but at least she will be older.No. this story takes place when she is 18 and he is 32/33ish. I have seen the argument elsewhere that she is “older than her years” due to her loss of childhood at the hands of her training. While that may be true, the age gap still stands, she’s still 18, a virgin, and she acts like an idiotic 18-year-old by going to the bar for Hawke’s attention. Something I found really obnoxious and stupid. (She goes the first time with friends as a night out which was a normal episode, and it gets a reaction from him. When she decides she wants his attention again, she repeats the action to get him to come get her again. I rolled my eyes – yeah… just what a 30 year old wants. An 18 year old going and dancing on bars to get his attention. This is just what an Alpha Warrior male trying to save the world in an epic battle showdown needs right now. I mean… come on.) So don’t give me the ‘she’s older than her years’ crap.That said, Sienna, our heroine, is a great character. I truly like her. I just really don’t like her for Hawke. She should have dated Kit, he was the perfect match for her. Age appropriate, a future Alpha, and able to handle her abilities and her strength.Hawke is dynamic, wise, trying to save the Changelings and also lead the largest wolf pack in the world. He’s amazing. I love everything about him. He needed a better mate.To show the disparity between the two: Sienna is taking college classes and trying to learn how to control her abilities. She is still finding herself. Hawke already has. Hawke needs someone on his level, and he sure as heck doesn’t need a virgin. I’m so sick of virgins. The only time virgins are ok, are with the Psy males in these stories – I loved that they were virgins. You never get virgin males so this was an unexpected twist and I personally loved to see it. Here with the older male and MUCH younger female – ugh. Just ugh.We get this speech about how he’ll own her sexuality, that he’s a dominant alpha. We never get this actually followed up on. Ever. We get a slow, VERY SLOW, courtship. It is excessively saccharine. I didn’t see the alpha male behavior at all. Yes, the courting of his mate was sweet, and I liked it, but possibly a bit too over the top. Didn’t really understand the gift giving. This is our only Alpha after Lucas, who was MANY books ago. Give us more. A LOT MORE!I was so disappointed on so many levels.I believe that Singh backed herself into a corner by writing the dynamic between Hawke and Sienna in book 1, so she couldn’t change her mind later. I believe Sienna should have gotten with Kit. I very much would have loved that story actually.Hawke needed a powerful mate that was also mature and experienced and could handle him, and also be able to help him in a real way. (There is no one in this story that was a match for him other than Sasha who got with Lucas or Judd. Yep, be open minded people. I believe that Singh also regretted pairing Judd with Brenna in Book 3. Brenna drops off the face of the earth, but Judd is in every book – I think he’s her favorite.)Yes, Sienna does have her powers and helps in the final battle. But she could have done that regardless. She isn’t going to be able to help him lead the pack on a day-to-day basis. He needs someone age appropriate (I detest age gaps like this) and where we could see the sexual chemistry and how an Alpha wolf can really unleash. There is never a hot and heavy scene between them. It’s all sweet polite sex. For example – Riley in Book 6 with Mercy is a perfect example of how Hawke SHOULD have been with Sienna. Kaleb in Book 12, also – a way better story than Hawke’s.Hawke’s book was the one I was most looking forward to, and book 6 and 12 blew it out of the water unexpectedly. I was so let down and disappointed and I felt that Hawke was done wrong.The continuation of Hawke and Sienna in Book 11 (not their book it’s supposed to be about another couple but they are in just as much) made me cringe. Every chapter featuring them felt like Singh screaming at me “See! They are made for each other!” But in reality, I was running away like the King in Monty Python as the French throw cows from the walls. I hated every moment. For me, it showed the disparity in their age, and the inability for Sienna to be a true partner to Hawke in every single interaction. It was incredibly painful.This story was less of the love story between Hawke and Sienna and more about the epic battle that concludes a lot of the storyline with the Changelings. That was disappointing as well. In my opinion, Singh realized this because of the time she gave to Sienna and Hawke in Book 11 and to show their story as they settle into their new roles.I don’t recommend Book 11, it wasn’t great.Overall, I think you need to read Book 10 because it concludes a lot of elements in this series regarding the big battle with the Changelings and the Psy. It gives you Hawke’s romance story even though it is horribly disappointing and it is subsumed by the action. I would say that actually the romance is a subplot to the action by quite a bit. It is a minor element, almost making this book not a romance book in my opinion.

He wants her. There's no use lying to himself about that. Hawke aches to possess her with a single-minded intensity that has his wolf starving for the most intimate of skin privileges. But he's not going to take her. He's a mature wolf changling, alpha of SnowDancer, and significantly older than she is. But damn, he wants her.PsyNet defector and cardinal X-Psy Sienna Lauren is an adult in the pack, and given her past, she's older than her years. She is the ultimate weapon, one that requires unimaginable discipline, and it makes her crazy that the one man she wants, Hawke, refuses to see her as anything but the child she was never allowed to be.As attacks by an aggressive faction of Psy known as Pure Psy are leveled against SnowDancer and the winds of a burgeoning war start to blow in their direction, Hawke's focus is torn between his pack and his desire for the one woman he refuses to take. His resolve is legendary, but even he has to see that a woman who can fight for her pack, risk her life for them, is old enough to decide who she lets into her bed.She has to do something to show the stubborn wolf she is more than the child he sees. Even if it endangers the woman she's become.~*~I can't tell you how many times I've highly anticipated a book in series only to have that book disappoint in some way or another. You'd think I'd know better than to ever let myself feel that anticipation, but it's a lesson I seem to need to keep learning. Or maybe it's books like this, those rare awesome books that are highly anticipated...and manage to deliver for me on every front...that keep anticipation burning.Don't know. Don't care, either, at the moment. I'm too busy being thrilled with this book.Obviously, as I'm still reading this series at the tenth book, both the series and the author are favorites of mine. Some of the books in this series have been more beloved than others, and I do slightly prefer Singh's Guild Hunter series to the Psy/Changling series, but both are two of my favorite ongoing series and I highly recommend both for fans of well-written and imaginative paranormal romance/urban fantasy romance.I loved everything about this book. The complexity of the plot and the myriad of plot threads that Singh wove together throughout the story were impressive. There's so much that goes on, and so many characters involved in so much of it, with a rock-solid foundation built by every one of the preceding books, that I would definitely not recommend a reader new to the series start here.It could be done, Singh has a gift for condensing necessary exposition and fitting it in well with current developments, but so much of the emotional impact would be lost that it just shouldn't be.I adored the relationship arc and character developments for Hawke and Sienna in this book. It wasn't what I would call a traditional romance, really, and that's what I love about Singh. She has such a gift for creating stories that fit perfectly with the characters featured in it. Hawke and Sienna have known each other for a while, have battled and locked horns, have struggled against their attraction for years, so the relationship between them is in a completely different place and needed completely different things than, say, Judd and Brenna did in their book.The pack, the past, who they are, what they're responsible for, what they can do, the issues each have with how they feel, the threat of the Psy, all of that plays a significant role in each character's definition and development, not to mention on their romance. It was frustrating at times (very frustrating at times). It was enlightening at others. There were moments that made me mad and moments that made me laugh. Sometimes it just flat-out broke my heart. For me, though, all the sublimely well-crafted pieces that factored into their personalities and into every moment of their relationship arc worked...perfectly. I loved every second of it.I was also very much in love with the secondary romance between pack healer Lara and Walker, Sienna's uncle. Where the relationship between Hawke and Sienna was rocky, fiery, raging with emotion, and practically shouting its passion and angst, hurt and strength, stubbornness and pride, Lara and Walker's relationship balanced that with its quiet implacability, its soft moments and tender touches. The frustrations were more internal, the feelings more subdued. That relationship created such a wonderful counterpoint to Hawke and Sienna's point that I can't imagine what the book would have been like without it.By no means is this book, or any of the books in this series, focused solely on the romance, though. This one definitely provided some forward progression on the Pure Psy threat and the continuing degeneration of the Council and the PsyNet. There are so many, many balls up in the air in this series that a single book can't really touch on every plot point without being six hundred pages long, but there were certainly a lot covered here. Singh manages to keep me guessing on some things, keep me horrified about others, and still manages to introduce new story elements all the time.Honestly, I don't know how she does it. I don't know how this series, even at the tenth book, feels just as fresh, just as original, just as intriguing and compelling and a thousand times as complex as it did in the beginning. I open a Psy/Changling book and feel like I'm visiting old, beloved friends who I care about very much...even if I wouldn't want to catch a meal with them. In particular, I want to thank Singh for the gift of seeing Lucas and Sasha's newest development meet the world.I'm so incredibly invested in this series. To me that's the mark of a series that is a step above, one that has just that little extra that makes it stand out among a huge crowd. This, its tenth installment, is perhaps the best of them for me. It certainly did not disappoint.QUOTABLES:"Do you really think I'd let you go that easily?"An implacable glance from eyes that were suddenly decades older than him. "I'm not yours to let go.""Walker doesn't glare...He just LOOKS at you until you obey.""You're in my every breath and every thought, intertwined so deep inside me that love's not a strong enough word - you have my devotion, your name branded on my soul, my wolf yours to command. A hundred years? It'll never be enough. I want eternity."~*~*~*~Reviewed for One Good Book Deserves Another.

I feel like I've been waiting forever for Hawke's book, I think I pretty much fell for him the moment he was first introduced and every little snippet we've seen of him since then has only cemented him as a firm favourite. So you could definitely say I had high expectations for Kiss of Snow before I read it. Happily it was everything I could have dreamed of and more and it's now my favourite book of the series (until I read the next one anyway!).As the SnowDancer alpha Hawke has always put his people first. He has lieutenants he can rely on for help but when it comes down to it he shoulders all the responsibility of the pack's safety on his own. The girl who should've been his mate died when they were still children and since then he has always steered clear of proper relationships because he knows he'll never give another woman his heart. Sienna has fascinated both him and his wolf ever since she came to live with the pack but not only is she much younger and less experienced than he is he is also scared that he could hurt her by never being able to give her what she needs.Sienna is a powerful Psy with an unusual ability, one which comes with a high risk of causing her to self destruct. She has become better at controlling her powers but being around Hawke is the one thing that is guaranteed to cause a flare up. Sienna has wanted Hawke for such a long time but he seems determined to ignore the attraction between them, it's reached a point where Sienna has had enough though and she is determined to push the boundaries and rile him up a bit.I can't even begin to tell you how much I loved seeing their relationship develop. It's been building for a looooooong time now and their chemistry is absolutely off the charts. I loved seeing Sienna start to really fight for Hawke's attention, she's always pushed his buttons but now she's deliberately poking him with a sharp stick just to get a reaction. Hawke is taken by surprise by how far she is willing to push him but he needs a woman who is capable of standing up to him and Sienna is determined to prove that's her. Their's is a slow build romance, Sienna wants Hawke but is understandably nervous since she's so inexperienced and once Hawke decides to pursue her he pulls out all the stops to make sure she is with him every step of the way. I think I could have died of frustration waiting for them to finally give into temptation but I mean that in the best possible way and it was so, so worth the wait. Hawke was everything I thought he would be and then some which makes Sienna a lucky, lucky girl!Alongside the fantastic relationship between Hawke and Sienna Kiss of Snow has a lot more to offer. There are some utterly adorable moments between Lucas and Sasha, a wonderful side romance between Lara and Walker and some wonderful Lauren family moments that allow us to spend more time with Judd, Brenna, Drew, Indigo and the Lauren children. Don't even get me started on what the Psy Council are up to and the absolutely heart stopping, action packed final quarter of the story - I was on the edge of my seat and almost too scared to breathe in case I missed something! Nalini Singh is hands down the best author I can think of when it comes to blending multiple plot threads and points of view into a story that is impossible to put down. She manages to include just the right amounts of sweet romance, caring friendships, down and dirty sex, fun banter and almost unbearable tension to create the ultimate reading experience and once again I loved every minute of it!

I'v just finished Kiss of Snow..it was worth waiting for..Hawke always facinated me in the previous books..at first I thought he was going to be a bit of a 'side' character..even though he was alpha of the 'Snow Dancers'..but slowly and surely I fell in love with him.. you wanted things to end up so good for him..he thought he would never mate again.. I loved the way he has teased Lucas with Sacha..she in turn was so sweet with him.. good storyline..but he always wanted Sienna..and boy did she want him even though she was so much younger than him..but good on her she showed her worth..Of course I have read the whole series..and I will/ cannot rate any of them too low because I have loved them all..a couple a 5 rating..a few 4.8..maybe 9..but this book was the icing on the cake..yes the Pys-changeling gets a little confusing at times but stick with it.DO NO MISS THIS SERIES OF BOOKS...also have loved her Archangels series..poss not as much....but def hovering in the 4.65 area....enjoy or miss out..

Hawke is almost twice Sienna's age. He is a blooded, adult alpha male in charge of the 'most dangerous changeling pack in the world'. She is a headstrong, sulky teenager prone to adolescent angst and temper tantrums. I found their relationship unbelievable, creepy and borderline abusive. I wonder if Nalini Singh had some concerns about this as she repeatedly described Sienna's early experiences as making her older than her years but, I'm afraid, her behaviour for most of the book didn't back this up. Her attitude towards discipiline and Pack hierarchy was appalling, her sense of entitlement due to her Psy talent immature. Similarly, Hawke is described as fighting valiantly against his attraction until Sienna's behaviour becomes so sexualised and aggressive he gives in. She had a crush on a good-looking, powerful man (who hasn't!) but for Hawke to respond put KoS on very dodgy ground for me. I work with survivors of childhood abuse - perhaps this had a bearing on my reaction to this book but I still think my reservations about the central relationship are valid.

I love this book it longer than its predecessors but there's more to question too. It finally answered questions about hawk and what sienna was capable of with her power it was a two romance in one as we followed the main story with hawk and sienna then the secondary was Lara and walker I would like to see a little more of Lara and walker see them grow me matebond like the others... It's a must read for any fan of NaliniShe has made me a fan of hers for life

The broad arch of the story moved the narrative along nicely, the background was all excellent. My problem is I don't like hawke and sienna, los of words about pure steel spine - but what you have is a mature powerful man having sex with a young, troubled girl. I know it's a good fantasy for some but I found it a bit disturbing, plus I don't find him interesting or attractive. For me he's a bit of a cardboard cut out, the ultimate strong grizzly man who completely dominates (boring - at least for me😊)