Member Reviews
I haven't been reading a paranormal romance for ages and this was excellent as Nalini Singh is a master of this type of romance.
A fascinating main character and a well plotted world building. The characters are fleshed out and intriguing.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine
I got to 25% in this book before I was frustrated by it being, for all intents and purposes, a carbon copy of the other books in this and the sister series. It’s not a bad book. The writing is good and the continuation of the overarching plot line has potential, but the main characters lack distinct differences from the prior main characters in the series
A Psy-Changeling read that certainly didn’t disappoint. I love the changelings, so long as their senses aren’t triggered they just take you the way you are.
Remi even though he thought he was damaged was perfect for Auden, who you couldn’t help but like. Even though she came from one of the most twisted Psy houses.
I received a review reader’s copy of the book, and I am leaving this review voluntarily
So satisfyingly great. Another hit by the amazing Nalini Singh. 👏🏽 I could not get enough of this book. I HAD to of course read the whole series again before even opening the book! It was so worth it and am still giddy. It's full of mystery, romance, and a Ps Psy pregnant and leopard shifter protagonists. Cannot gush enough.
Rating 4.5 stars!
What a fantastic addition to the series.
I have wanting Remi's book since his first introduction in Shards of Hope, and returning to feline shifters (the ones that started it all really) was a bonus.
Auden Scott was introduced in the Psy-changeling trinity part of the series but was no less intriguing because of who her parents were and the fact that she's pregnant but also not completely there because of her previous injuries.
What I loved:
I really loved Remi and Auden together!
There was also nostalgia feeling when I read this, perhaps because of the whole she lived on her own in Remi's territory that reminded me of Visions of Heat and I adore that book. It gave them a chance to be together without other people's view.
The plot of this book is pretty fast paced, things are happening not just with Auden's and her pregnancy and the reason's behind this pregnancy but also in PsyNet as it's hurdling faster towards its breakdown.
I absolutely cannot wait till the next book! I'm really excited to see where Ms Singh will take us next.
I really want Pax's book though perhaps his might be the last book for this Arc, I do wonder if his or the next book's heroine is going to be human?
Really excited to see how the PsyNet starts healing if not get fixed and what comes next!
P.S As always adored Kaleb's cameo!
Auden is a hard FMC to love but only because so much of her character is hidden due to the Silence training she had. Once she gets to open up and really feel she is much easier to love!
Remi is great as the protective new Alpha of a rag tag pack of cats. As they spend more time together Auden really comes into her own - from placid drone like female to protective, mother to be, even though she was not exactly consulted before being impregnated!
Poor Auden has endured some horrid experimentation at the hands of her so-called family and I relished the finale when her "family" got some comeuppance!
I did struggle with the backstory and continuing story ARC between all the different factions. I love a solid world but this was really quite heavy in parts and I felt it slowed the narration of the story down.
Sadly not my favourite story in the story so far but that wasn't really the characters fault - it was just a wee bit bogged down in backstory for me.
This was my first book from this author, hence my first foray into the series. Because of this I found the beginning a bit slow as I tried to catch up on what was going on. But once I caught up, bot was I hooked. What an amazing author! I loved the connection between the characters and the wonder of having changeling and psy characters together just thrilled. I couldn't read it quickly enough. Brilliant
Remi's story
I really liked Remi when we met him before, so I was pleased this is his story. He's an excellent alpha changeling. Auden too seemed like a strong person, despite all her interesting and twisted issues courtesy of her awful former Councillor parents. I just wasn't quite sold on the falling in love, although they made a great team once they got there. There were some powerful moments in this story, especially relating to the child, and I really enjoyed the brief cameos from Kaleb and others. I know it's cynical of me, but I wasn't surprised it was only a temporary fix for the Net - keep the books coming! - saying that, I read these for the characters and the untangling of their issues so they can be together, rather than the overarching Net plot.
Enjoyable, not my favourite in the long running series, but still a strong entry.
Reading this felt like “an enormous comforting purr that wraps around me” in Auden’s words ❤️
I’ve been reading the Psy Changeling series for over a decade. It’s my comfort series, nothing else ever came close.
I loved this installment so much. Words don’t suffice to describe it. It’s a story of hope, of courage, of fierceness. And I eagerly look forward to the next one.
Where do I even star here?.
Nalini is an exceptional writer I mean that is a fact. The continuous storyline that runs now 23/24 books deep? that shit is unmatched at a level I really haven't read before and I've read a lot of books.
Primal Mirror is the eighth addition of Nalini's Trinity series which is and extension of the OG Psy-Changeling series. Baby this gets deep real quick in the thick of things.
We finally get Remi our delightful Alpha of Rainfire pack who made his true debut in Aden's story.
This is a younger alpha with a newer small pack to protect and all the heart and soul I didn't realise on body could contain. A man so dedicated and loyal to those he loves, he would do anything to protect them. He is the perfect hero. He doesn't play stupid here. He takes things slow but the thing about Remi and his big heart is he cannot help but protect those who need it. I mean we learned that when he let two of the deadliest Arrows into his home. Auden just didn't know she stole his heart from the beginning.
Auden is the elusive child of two councillors. Two very shitty ones at that being Henry and Shoshanna. Poor girl right. Right. She didn't stand a chance and you learn that very quickly.
Auden is broken in ways that are fixable. She is two in one. Moments of clarity vs periods of unknown. My girl is a hot mess express and I truly felt for her. Not only because personally she had been though the mill but also she was up against prejudice because hello .. her parents created a dynasty of monsters and left her to deal with the chaos of those ghosts. Under that.. she has so much to give and getting to know Auden on a level no one did was a beautiful disaster I was here for.
Auden and Remi's relationship was never going to be as sexually driven, tension filled or playful as many of our much loved favourites. There are so many reasons for that, that I wont go into but what I will say is that Nalini did these characters justice in their journey with staying true to them and their situation. This is a slow burn with so many factors but lord did I apricate those little moments of vulnerability and exploration between them. The gentle touches. The build of trust.. They truly blossomed into something so special over time even despite the crazy they were drowning in.
This journey of course continues with the downfall of silence and the fall out of the Psy web crashing around them. We get visits from very much loved characters like Caleb, Aden, Zaira and our travelling little alpha Kit who's no so little now. We get more details of the web and innerworkings of the destruction left from a 100 years of damage. we get more on the scarabs and hints of what is to come in the future. We also get some very interesting world developments which I was not expecting but equally grateful and curious about.
Nalini really surpasses herself here and it never fails to amaze me how she keeps this going and still makes things relevant and fresh. I was as invested today as I was back in 2013 when I first read the OG's. I'm even more excited in fact to see where she could take this next. The world and character development is just exceptional.
I wouldn't be me if I didn't mention Blacksea because the little cameos had me craving more. I know everyone has their favs they want more of obviously a main being Pax because SAME!!!!! I need and want his story. But also Blacksea... I want them all.
Anywho.. Enough of my mumbles for now. I just finished and my brain is overloaded with all the feels. I may come back and make this make more sense later. Just know this is, as always, fabulous.
Powerful next installment in a fantastic series.
Remi is a leopard changeling, and the alpha of the RainFire pack. His pack is facing another potential threat in the arrival of an unknown Psy in a previously hostile area. Auden is a broken Psy. She has periods of time when she loses herself, and knows things she's never been told. Not knowing who to trust was complicated enough without meeting a changeling alpha too...
Remi and Auden's relationship was slow burn by necessity - Auden is experiencing severe trauma so anything else would be inappropriate. The journey involves so much discovery for both of them. Auden is pregnant at the start of the book, and it was great to see how her developing relationship with Remi also impacted her thoughts on what options her child would have.
I loved the dynamic of being in a much younger leopard pack, and seeing how close-knit everyone was. The relationships between all the pack members are fantastic, and Remi was so sweet with the cubs.
This is the 8th book in the Psy-Changeling Trinity series. While you can start with the Trinity series, I would highly recommend reading the Psy-Changeling series before this book as there are a lot of references to events from the first series. There are also lots of recurring characters here, split across the overarching series plot and the events in RainFire. I'm always happy when the Arrows get to do what they do best. And I literally squealed when a certain other character showed up!
At its heart, this is a book about finding the place where you belong. With stories of how RainFire was founded. With Auden finding people she can trust for the first time in her life. This pack is the most beautiful found family.
Primal Mirror is book 8 in the Psy-Changeling Trinity spin off and in many respects this is my favourite series by the author, as I love the interaction of the emotionally repressed 'silent' Psy and the tactile, emotionally free Changelings, The books in the Trinity series have recurring characters and I love seeing which one will be highlighted .
This time we get to know Remi Denier, leopard alpha of RainFire pack, who comes across a group of Psy including Auden Scott on the edge of his territory. After a chance meeting, both human and leopard sides of Remi are intrigued by the puzzle Auden presents and he keeps a close eye out on his new mysterious neighbour.
Auden is the daughter of the not so lovely or ethical Henry & Shoshanna Scott, her memories are intermittent and she is pregnant but has no idea how she conceived. Her driving motivation as her mind mends and memories coalesce is to protect her child at all costs and the person she instinctively trusts to do this is Remi who fascinates her in so many ways.
Together Auden and Remi delve into her broken past and find the unimaginable, the fight for survival is on...
My thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for access to this ARC, all views are my own.
Through this is part of a collection, it is still possible to read as a stand alone novel due to the excellent world building throughout.
Remington Denier is the alpha of RainFire, a new pack in the Smokies, Auden Scott the brain damaged daughter of Henry and Shoshanna this is their journey of discovery.
The PsyNet is failing, which will impact on every Psy living if nothing is done to save it. Remy is disturbed by his first meeting of Auden, his animal senses that there is a strangeness about her, something abnormal. Auden suffers from blackouts that sometimes last for days, the one thing she knows for sure is that she can't trust the people around herself or family.
They have to overcome suspicion and hate, to protect Auden's child from the failing PsyNet and her family..
Wow a great story and a wonderful romance.
Loved loved loved this one back to the top for Nalini as thought the last few in this series were not up to par. Great characters. My only grip was the amount of silence scenes were sometimes distracting that said loved this book but feel this series is coming to a natural end.
Let me start by saying that I would read Nalini Singh's shopping list, so it was an absolute joy to to be given a ARC of her new book.
This story is primarily centred around Auden and Remi. Remi, we have met before when he offered safety and sanctuary to Aden and Zaira,
I love reading about psy and changling relationships and this one is very cleverly done as Auden is already pregnant with an unknown male child.
The only niggle I have is that the crisis about the net mind seems to have dragged on for so many books. I feel that it is time to move that story on one way or another.
Overall, a very good book and I eagerly look forward to the next one.
Psy Audin Scott was rejected by her ruthless parents , high gradient telepaths ,, even before her brain injury ,her talent useless to them
Now pregnant with a child she had no memory of conceiving she is determined to protect her at all costs
............... despite her repeated losses of time and memory .
On his regular security rounds of his territory Leopard Alpha Remi Denier has discovered a Psy woman in a cabin ,
alone , pregnant , with no one to help her in an emergency - his Alpha protective instincts rise to the fore
Just who is she , why does her scent change ? - she is the enemy but he is driven to protect her .
When she realises that someone is after her unborn child she asks Remi to protect them both and help
her retrieve her lost memories .......... but her enemies are determined the child will be theirs to do with as they will
This is a character driven story , highlighting an Alpha's desire to protect those he considers pack no matter the species and the strength
of a mother-to-be to give her all to protect her child........... even if it means her own life
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own
I absolutely love the Psy-Changeling series and Primal Mirror is no exception.
The story of Auden Scott, daughter of two ruthless former councillors, and Remi Denier, the alpha of RainFire, is gripping from the very first page and makes you root for the main protagonists right away. I was so invested in the mystery surrounding Auden, her brain injury, and her pregnancy that I could not put the book down.
Even though you can probably read Primal Mirror as a standalone, I recommend reading the whole series first for the best experience. You won't regret it.
Auden Scott is the daughter of Psy parents. She has no memory of the brain injury that changed her life.
All she has is the instinct to protect her baby.
Remi Denier is a Leopard Alpha to a small emerging pack. Enemies to the Scotts.
Together they are lethal.
Part of a series you can read this as your first delve into sci-fi fantasy genre.
The characters are very distinct and relatable. You really feel invested in their journey and fight for survival.
There are characters in this story that are well worth exploring in other stories in the series.
A world I’m glad I found and will revisit often.
Thank you NetGalley and (Orion Publishing Group) for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Although I read and loved some of the author’s earlier books, I haven’t read the more recent books in this series so did feel that I was missing out on the background to this book. Having said that, I still really enjoyed the story. The plot is exciting and immersive and the world building outstandingly detailed. At the start of each chapter there are quotes from other characters / people which I didn’t always fully grasp the significance off until towards the end of the book. There is a lot going on, with some very complex characters with nuanced motivations. An excellent book but definitely best read after the previous books in the series,
I have been an avid fan of the Psy-Changeling series since Slave to Sensation. Nalini Singh is still on point - engaging characters and thrilling plot points. I am glad that we finally got to read Remi's story (although I would have wanted to learn more about his backstory) and see glimpses of my favorite characters. Nalini, keep on exploring this world and taking us along for the ride. I eagerly await the next instalment.