Changeling Love: Playful and Passionate!

I read passionately while playfully riding this week


Pages read 321 pages
Riding Time 3 hours 47 minutes
Calories Burned 1418
Distance Peddled 67.97

Making the Grade: A

For My Thoughts


They’re baaaack! Yay! The Changelings are back and two members of the SnowDancer pack are holding centre court in Nalini Singh's latest entry in the Psy/Changeling series Play of Passion.

This is the ninth instalment in the series and while it still remains one of my favorite, must-read series, the last two books (Blaze of Memory and Bonds of Justice) featuring mainly the cold, calculating Psy with very little Changeling interaction have not been my favorite. I need my fix of playful, cuddly, passionate Changelings - so once again thank goodness they’re back!

Drew Kincaid is one big, bad wolf you better watch out for cuz this cub will charm the socks (and you’re pants) right off of you and he‘s got his wolf sights locked and loaded on the very delectable Lieutenant Indigo Riviere.

Here’s the rub and boy do these two like to “rub“...if you catch my drift...when you are part of a pack there are rules to the hierarchy.

Indigo has a hard time (or at least her wolf does) of accepting Drew as a potential mate - he just doesn‘t fit the mould for what Indigo believes she needs in a mate. He is younger (ok it’s only 4 years…it’s not like she’s a cougar!) and he‘s a dominant male Changeling, but she is at the top of the pack hierarchy and effectively his superior…his boss. They’ve got a few hurdles to overcome, but Indigo would have to be a cold-hearted Psy to resist the likes of this bad boy charmer.

Drew is like the cool kid of the pack…Mr. Popular who is well liked by everyone and all the ladies are lining up around the den for his affection. But Drew knows what he wants and regardless of all the challenges and roadblocks Indigo throws up, he wants the sexy Lieutenant.

Now I said he was charming, but he’s still a male and when he challenges Indigo’s authority in front of co-workers…she sends him straight to the dog wolf house…do not pass go…do not collect $200.00. Mr. Tenacity has a few tricks up his sleeve though and what girl can resist roses and chocolate kisses for long?

One of the most touching scenes…one that made me go awwwww and tugged at my heartstrings involved a little stuffed bear named Platypus. It brought back all my childhood memories of my own beloved Blankie and if possible made me fall in love just a little more with Drew.

Play of Passion is like 321 pages of one long fun and playful flirtation between Indigo and Drew. They are great together and Singh makes sure we see where their heads are at as they struggle through the ups and downs of their relationship to make it work.

Several changeling favorites make appearances including series favorite Hawke. Seeing this Alpha male meet his match is highly anticipated by everyone who loves this series and his long awaited book is up next…woot woot!

Those sneaky, unfeeling Psy are up to something in this book and Singh feeds up just enough tidbits throughout to know it does not bode well for the Changelings and humans..and they are evil so it can‘t be good. Play of Passion definitely ended almost on a cliff-hanger note, almost as if it should have ended with To Be Continued… It sure seemed to be setting up for a climatic continuation in the next book.

Lastly it’s always hard to recommend if someone who has never read a series should start with a book, in this case #9 in the series. I personally like to start a series at the beginning. That being said, I think it’s fair to say Play of Passion could be enjoyed all on it’s own. But without understanding all the back history and pack dynamics and the influence of the Psy you might not get full value or enjoyment of the story.

Do yourself a favor and start at the first book Slave to Sensation and enjoy all the books in this series.


Play Of Passion
Publisher: Berkley
Available: November 2nd 2010
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Read an Excerpt

In his position as tracker for the SnowDancer pack, it’s up to Drew Kincaid to rein in rogue changelings who have lost control of their animal halves—even if it means killing those who have gone too far. But nothing in his life has prepared him for the battle he must now wage to win the heart of a woman who makes his body ignite…and who threatens to enslave his wolf.

Lieutenant Indigo Riviere doesn’t easily allow skin privileges, especially of the sensual kind—and the last person she expects to find herself craving is the most wickedly playful male in the den. Everything she knows tells her to pull back before the flames burn them both to ash…but she hasn’t counted on Drew’s will.