Psy-Changeling Read-Along: Visions of Heat (+Contest)

Psy-Changeling Readalong.2013

Psy-Changeling Readalong.2013Here it is! The second book, Visions of Heat, in our read-a-long. We hope you’ve been enjoying it so far. And remember, Wild Invitation is out on March 5th. Be on the lookout for our reviews!

Before we get started we want to let you know that we are assuming you have read Slave to Sensation and Visions of Heat. We talk about what happened so we do give some things away.

With that out of the way let the fun begin! We can’t wait to hear from you!

– Courtney and Casey

Go deeper into the world of the Psy and the changelings, where a gifted woman sees passion in her future-a passion that is absolutely forbidden by her kind…

Used to cold silence, Faith NightStar is suddenly being tormented by dark visions of blood and murder. A bad sign for anyone, but worse for Faith, an F-Psy with the highly sought after ability to predict the future. Then the visions show her something even more dangerous-aching need…exquisite pleasure. But so powerful is her sight, so fragile the state of her mind, that the very emotions she yearns to embrace could be the end of her.

Changeling Vaughn D’Angelo can take either man or jaguar form, but it is his animal side that is overwhelmingly drawn to Faith. The jaguar’s instinct is to claim this woman it finds so utterly fascinating and the man has no argument. But while Vaughn craves sensation and hungers to pleasure Faith in every way, desire is a danger that could snap the last threads of her sanity. And there are Psy who need Faith’s sight for their own purposes. They must keep her silenced-and keep her from Vaughn…

Here are the past discussions!

Slave to Sensation – the discussion Blaze of Memory – the discussion
Visions of Heat – the discussion Bonds of Justice – the discussion
Caressed by Ice – the discussion Play of Passion – the discussion
Wild Invitation – the discussion Kiss of Snow – the discussion
Mine to Possess – the discussion Tangle of Need – the discussion
Hostage to Pleasure – the discussion Heart of Obsidian – the discussion
Branded by Fire – the discussion

World/Society:

Not much changed in the Psy/Changeling world between Slave to Sensation and Visions of Heat. The ties between DarkRiver and SnowDancers has started improving. The pack members aren’t instantly embracing each other, but the Alphas are at least talking and working together.

The Psy world hasn’t changed much either. There are a scant few rumors that Silence might not be perfect. Sascha dropping out of the Net is only adding fire to those rumors.

Main Characters:

Vaughn – A jaguar who was rescued by DarkRiver when he was only 10 years old. He is closer to his animal than most of the other members of DarkRiver. Vaughn is very curious about the Psy who lives close to the DarkRiver territory. He goes to investigate and meets Faith. He realizes that Faith is being ‘hunted’ by another Psy, a serial killer, and he decides he is going to save her. Vaughn reveals more of himself to Faith telling her of his parents who abandoned him and his younger sister and how his sister died because of it. He also helps Faith by pulling her out of the dark visions that are threatening her life. He teases Faith and falls in love with her and finally convinces her to mate with him. In the end they find the killer and Judd makes sure he cannot hurt anyone again.

Faith – A cardinal F-Psy who has been getting visions about murders that haven’t happened yet. Then she is told that her latest vision was actually the murder of her younger sister. Faith, already having planned for the trip and not knowing why, escapes her house/prison and ventures into DarkRIver territory to find Sascha, hoping she can help her stop the visions. She is found by Vaughn who arranges the meeting. Vaughn is very demanding of her and Faith, not used to physical touch, has seizures when they touch. She also realizes that her gift of foresight should not be just used to predict business trends but can be used to stop bad things from happening. The problem is she needs emotion to fight the visions of disaster and emotion is the one thing she does not know how to use. She slowly warms up to Vaughn and comes to rely on him to help her find her sister’s killer. She also agrees to mate with him. After getting her sister’s killer and becoming a part of the Web of Stars, she realizes that her father is not as perfect in his Silence as she thought.

Changeling Characters:

Brenna – While Brenna survived Enrique’s attack from Slave to Sensation she is still not fully healed, emotionally or mentally. Tamsyn, Lara and Sascha are doing their best to help her but she is very hurt and is having trouble coping.

Lara – SnowDancer healer. Fills the same role in SnowDancer as Tamsyn does in DarkRiver.

Sascha/Lucas – Happily mated but they disagree when they feel their mate is being insensitive (Lucas) or too trusting (Sascha).

Dark River Sentinels SnowDancer Lieutenants
Nate – Senior Riley – Senior
Dorian Indigo
Vaughn
Mercy
Clay

Psy Characters:

Anthony – Faith’s father and the leader of the NightStar Clan. He wields enormous financial power and this allows him to defy the PsyCouncil without retribution by speaking to Faith even after she has joined DarkRiver.

Judd – Some of the mystery around Judd is solved when Faith realizes he used to be an Arrow.

Kaleb – A Cardinal Tk-Psy. He replaces Enrique on the PsyCouncil. He is known to be ruthless to get what he wants. One of his instructors was rumored to be Santano Enrique.

Psy Designations Psy Council
Tp-Psy – Telepathy Marshall Hyde
Tk-Psy – Telekinesis Ming LeBon
M-Psy – Medical Henry Scott
F-Psy – Foresight Shoshanna Scott
E-Psy – Empathy Nikita Duncan
Santano Enrique Kaleb Krychek
Tatiana Rika-Smythe

Subplots:

Anthony seems to care for his children. Could he be against silence?

Faith had a vision about Dorian. What does that mean for the latent leopard?

Glossary of Terms

Vocabulary from the previous novels can be found on their discussion pages:

Arrows – An elite group of Psy whose entire goal is to ensure Silence does not break.

Jax – A drug that is used mostly by the Psy. When a changeling takes Jax they are unable to hold their form and end up dying when their forms mix.

NetMind – A sentient being that is the ‘mind’ of the PsyNet. It can communicate with certain Psy and has been hiding E-Psy from being detected.

Web of Stars – The net that includes Sascha, Lucas, Faith, Vaughn and the other sentinels. It is not bleak like the PsyNet and is filled with rainbows that can help emotionally heal those in the web.

Discussion

What do you think of Faith and Vaughn? Is there something specific about them you love or hate?
How do you like way the world is evolving?
What’s your favorite scene in Visions of Heat?
Do you have a new favorite character?
What are your impressions of Kaleb? The Council?
Who do you want to see more of?
Anything we missed? Anything you have questions about?

Visions of Heat Giveaway Winner

Last week we gave away a copy of Visions of Heat to anyone who answered the question What do you think about the Psy? Do you agree with their philosophy of Silence or do you believe they made a grave error? Everyone had some really fabulous ideas, and the winner was:

H Brady, who said “I love the Psy/Changeling world Nalini has created. I have recommend this series numerous times since I read Caressed by Ice. (I started in the middle, oops) The world is vivid and I find myself immersed every time I read or re-read a story. I can’t read these before bed or I’m up half the night.

I’m a shifter groupie, so changelings all the way! The cats are terrific, but those wolves are sneaky and I found myself wanting more of them in the story.

My favorite scene is when Sascha discovers the Web of Stars. The perfect ending / beginning……

I loved Tammy and her cubs. Tammy always seems to provide the missing pieces of the story when needed and the cubs are great comic relief.

Vaughn is one of my favorites and I am so glad he is next. So strong, quiet and alpha male, Yum.

You can almost see the beginning of the end of Silence or a change in what Silence means???

Giveaway

Thanks to Nalini Singh and the wonderful people at Penguin, I have a couple of every single novel in the Psy-Changeling series, and while some of them have been claimed, all of them haven’t. So this is what we’re going to do – we’ll be giving away all the books in one shot at the end of the Read-Along. That means you have 13 different chances to enter for any one of the Psy-Changeling novels. Join in on any of the discussions and you’ll automatically be entered to win.

To enter, all you have to do is answer this one question: While the Psy Council is made up of several individuals, it becomes obvious that each member has their own unique personality. As a group that believes any emotion is a disease that needs to be destroyed, what emotions do you see the Councils members displaying?  Don’t be afraid to answer any of the discussion questions above either!

The contest will stay open until July 1st, at which time we’ll determine the winners with help from this snazzy plug-in that Jackie has.

About Casey 203 Articles
Casey is the founder of Heart Full of Ink, Director at Reading Until Dawn Con, and a full time cheese addict. She's been ranting and reviewing for Literary Escapism since 2010, and is part of the trio #3Bloggers1Series podcast. When she's not reading, looking for new books, or stalking authors online (waiting for more books), she can be found binge watching Netflix. But really, her life is all about DEM BOOKS!

12 Comments

  1. I see the members of the counsel showing pride, envy, jealousy and most of all hate and distrust. I think when they decided to hide emotions the only ones that couldn’t be hidden totally are the negative ones and that is making the web sick.

    • I agree. But it seems the Psy can justify most emotions as long as it is used as “Research” or gaining a higher position.

  2. All the books will be a re-read for me. I had planned on a quick skim through to brush up on the story or find details I had previously missed. So far, no skimming. They are too good to rush through.

    • Yes! That’s exactly it. I’m actually re-reading this twice. Once for fun and once for the read-a-long posts. Really, who needs sleep?

      • Same here! I actually have the audio book version of this one, and the narrator has a soft voice for Faith. When I listened to the book for the second (and this third) time, I kept in mind that she’s not soft. Faith is strong. She handles those visions, she left the compound which is the only place she had ever known, and she took on a jaguar. ;)

  3. I think the Council think they don’t have any emotions but we can associate their personality with the Seven Deadly Sins.
    They’re so sure that they don’t have any emotions that they’re actually feeling all the negative emotions.
    I know it’s not really clear but a world without emotions is really paradoxal, that’s for sure !

    • It is! They have to have things they prefer right? Which means they must like them which means it makes them happy? It’s so confusing but I think that’s what makes this world so fun.

  4. I’m a little surprised that no one has really commented on the couple themselves. I’ve seen many people post that Vaughn and Faith are one of there favourite couples. Personally, this is the book I like the least in the whole series. I know Vaughn is closer to his animal than most changelings but I felt he came on too strong and was too aggressive with his pursuit of Faith. As for Faith, I know that she must be strong to deal with her visions but I just didn’t feel it. Don’t get me wrong, this series is one of my all time favourites and I love Nalini’s writing. Her world building is amazing.
    Kaleb is an interesting addition, and I do love the mystery surround him throughout the rest of the series.
    There was speculation about Faith’s cousin Sahara being a future character as she disappeared 6 (?) years ago, but the Ghost has been searching for someone for 10 years. Is that right?

    • I agree with you on that point — I felt like Vaughn came on too strong, too. Book 1 was really strong for me, 2 was less so, and then 3… Oh man I love Caressed by Ice!

  5. I would like to start out by saying that I adore Nalini’s writting and am equally in love with the world of the Psy/Changlings. However, this is also one of my least favorite books. That said, I still love each and every book in the series. I did myself a diservice by reading Carassed By Ice first and Visions of Heat Second. I may have likes it more if I had read in order.

    After reading and loving the Judd character, Vaughn came off a little too strong, espically when written opposite to the weaker character of Faith.
    I thought Judd struck the perfect ballance between strong, alpha, etc and vulnerable enough to open up to a woman. Vaughn not so much. I realize that Faith has to have some backbone to deal with her visions and a man like Vaughn, but it seemed to me she let him roll right over her. I prefer a bit more of a build up, hard to get woman. Then when the characters do finally give in to their feelings it’s much more gratifying for me as a reader.

    That said, I still very much enjoyed this book, as I have every single book Nalini has writtten. I love that she made Vaughn into an artist. I really like the introduction of Anthony, Faith’s father. I’ve always wanted to see his character explored more fully. Maybe a short story about a secret lover? Also, I do love the progression into this wonderful world.

    This book marks the introduction of Kaleb, who from the very start captured my heart. (Apparently I have a thing for the strong, silent, dark types). I am so hoping that Heart of Obsidian is about him. I have long thought he was the Ghost and am dying to hear his background. (Ok, getting really excited again for the next book). I thought the point about Faith’s sister being his long lost love was interesting. Could be. I also wonder if the woman he’s been searching for has been rehabed. Hopefully he can bring her back.

    Lastly, I just want to say I’m so excited to have a place to talk about these books and Nalini’s writting. Can’t wait for the CBO discussion. Thanks for giving all us Psy/Changling/Nalini fans a place to chat.

    Ok, so one more though, I would love to see this kind of thing happen for the Guild Hunter series. That’s what first got me into Nalini’s writting and I’ve been addicted ever since.

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