Review: Atonement Sky by Nalini Singh

 

Atonement Sky (Psy-Changeling Trinity #9) by Nalini Singh

Publication Date: July 15th 2025 by Berkley

Pages: 400

Source: Publisher 

Rating: ★★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Audible | Libro.fm | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Justice Psy Eleri Dias knows she doesn’t have much time left with her mental shields collapsing, so she travels to Raintree, Arizona to following a serial killer’s trail and to make amends with the only man she’s ever loved a falcon-shifter, Adam Garrett. There’s a lot of hurt between Eleri and Adam, since his parents were killed and Eleri was caught between a dangerous situation and justice.

 

They work together as they hunt for a killer and are forced to confront the past.

 

Nalini’s Singh’s writing is captivating and beautiful, playful and sensual! I loved how Eleri was gathered into Adam’s clan, giving her family, love and protection. However, there’s a lot of intensity in Atonement Sky. Eleri and her Justice Psy “family” are at the brink of complete mental overload with no solution in sight. I always trust we’ll come to a happy ending by the end, though!

 

The Psy-Changeling series is original and addictive! It’s a blend of sci-fi and fantasy and Nalini Singh’s creative mind never fails to impress. It’s a long running series but I think you could read Atonement Sky without reading the previous books and enjoy it, but I’d recommend reading Silver Silence first, book one of the Trinity books, a sort of “season two” in the long-running series. There’s enough background there to understand the series more fully.

5 Stars

Book Description:

The hunt for a stealthy predator takes a damaged J-Psy to the heart of falcon territory in this new Psy-Changeling Trinity novel from New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh...

Justice-Psy Eleri Dias knows the end is near for her, her mind one step away from fatal psychic exposure. In the short time that remains, she is determined to atone for an act of omission that has haunted her for a long, cruel decade. But that decision not only means facing a powerful changeling wing leader, but also putting herself in the path of a serial killer.

Falcon wing leader Adam Garrett is fiercely protective of his family and his clan. After losing his parents as a teenager in a shocking act of malice, Adam has no forgiveness in him for the J-Psy who betrayed him, betrayed them, at the most painful moment of his life. But the evil that stalks his territory will allow him no respite, forcing him once more into contact with the J he has never been able to forget.

Everything that could've been between Eleri and Adam was lost years ago, a shimmering promise crushed. As they work to uncover a monster, the moment of reckoning looms ever closer. Soon, there may be no more time left for either atonement...or love...

Review: Primal Mirror by Nalini Singh

 

Primal Mirror (Psy-Changeling Trinity #8) by Nalini Singh

Publication Date: July 23rd 2024 by Berkley

Pages: 400

Source: Publisher 

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Audible | Libro.fm | Goodreads

My Thoughts:

Auden Scott is the daughter of the ruthless Psy-Counselor pair: Henry and Shoshanna Scott. Her mind was fractured in an experiment approved by her mother that went wrong. Auden has recovered for the most part, now fully aware/awake, and pregnant, without her consent or memory! She and her baby are constantly monitored by the advisors left over by her mother, a prisoner in her own home.  When touring the properties she inherited from her parents, Auden discovers land adjacent to the Rain Fire Pack where she encounters the Alpha, Remi and there’s an immediate connection.

 

Remi is fascinated by Auden Scott, the clearly damaged Psy, so when she takes up residence close by and alone, he can’t help but check on her. What he discovers about her circumstances is chilling. Auden needs his help. Remi’s determined to keep her and her child safe.

 

I was outraged for Auden by the treatment she had by the ones who were supposed to love and protect her! I wondered at what was going on and I had my suspicions. Auden’s mother was truly awful! I was so happy she found the Remi and sanctuary with the Rain Fire Pack, because she and her baby needed protection from those psychos!

 

Primal Mirror is book 8 in the Psy-Changeling Trinity series, “season two” in the Psy-Changeling series. It’s best read in order. Or at least from the first Trinity book. Each book is a standalone romance, but there’s an ongoing story arc that came to a critical point in this installment. The Psy race are desperately trying to repair/salvage the Psy-Net from imminent collapse. There was movement on that front and other revelations that wouldn’t make sense if you read this as a standalone. I loved the cooperation from all races: Human, Psy, and Changeling banding together to help the Psy.

I completely recommend this series for fans of fast-paced, chemistry filled shifter/sci-fi romances! I would start from the very beginning, the original series and keep going. The audios, read by Angela Dawe, are fantastic!

4 Stars

Book Description:

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh takes us into a family dark with shadowy secrets, as the world of the Psy hangs on the edge of a final catastrophic collapse…

Daughter of two ruthless high-gradient telepaths, Auden Scott is not the child her Psy parents wanted or expected, even before her brain injury. Her thoughts are scattered, her memories fuzzy—or just terrifyingly blank. The only thing she knows for certain is that she must protect her unborn baby…a baby she has no recollection of conceiving and who draws an abnormal intensity of notice from her dead mother’s closest associates.

Leopard alpha Remi Denier is a man driven by the primal instinct to protect. Protect his pack, protect his allies… and protect the mysterious woman who has become a most unlikely neighbor. With eerie eyes that see too much and a scent that alters in ways disturbing and impossible, Auden Scott is the enemy…but nothing about this strange Psy is what it seems, Remi’s feline heart as fascinated by her as the human half of his soul.

Then Auden asks Remi to help her shatter the wall of secrets that is the Scott bloodline. What they unearth will reveal a nightmare beyond imagination. This time, the battle is to the death…

About the Author

New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh is passionate about writing. Though she’s traveled as far afield as the deserts of China, the temples of Japan, and the frozen landscapes of Antarctica, it is the journey of the imagination that fascinates her most. She’s beyond delighted to be able to follow her dream as a writer.

She is the author of the Psy-Changeling novels, including Primal Mirror, Resonance Surge, and Storm Echo. She is also the author of the Guild Hunter series, including Archangel’s Lineage, Archangel’s Resurrection, and Archangel’s Light, and three stand-alone thrillers, A Madness of Sunshine, Quiet in Her Bones, and There Should Have Been Eight.

Connect with Nalini Singh:

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Audio Review: Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens

 

Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens

Publication Date: August 3rd 2021 by St. Martin's Press & Macmillan Audio

Pages: 374

Audio Book Length: 11 hrs 7 min

Narrator: Angela Dawe, Brittany Pressley, Isabella Star LaBlanc

Source: Publisher

Rating: ★★★★

Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Audible | Goodreads 

My Thoughts:

Seventeen-year-old Hailey must move in with her Aunt Lana and her police officer husband, Vaughn when her father dies in a car accident.  Vaughn is well known and widely disliked in the town of Cold Creek as he uses his position as a police officer to bully and control. Hailey had the barrier of her father before his death, but that protection goes away now that he’s gone. The problems between Hailey and Vaughn are immediate, and just like her I’d have been counting the days until I turned eighteen!

Vaughn infuriated me! I can’t stand it when men go into policing because they crave power over others, but Vaugh was worse. Every time Hailey thinks of a way around his rules, to grab some independence he’s there to screw things up. It soon becomes apparent that he’s not just a control freak, male chauvinist, but he’s a dangerous man. Anyone stepping in to help Hailey risks his rath as well, so she decides to disappear until she’s of legal age.

While this is playing out, the mystery of missing and murdered women on the Cold Creek Highway becomes the central focus when another local woman, Amber, is found murdered.  It’s speculated that Hailey’s own disappearance might be at the hands of the Cold Creek murderer, as well.  

The murder of her sister, Amber, hits Beth hard, derailing her life plans. She travels to Cold Creek to find some closure and ends up staying to find out what happened to Amber, putting Beth in danger.  She’s overcome by grief and sort of directionless, and at this point isn’t super concerned about safety. I was more than a little worried for her. Thankfully, she’s got a couple of people looking out for her. I was happy there was a bit of romance for Beth even though this story is mainly a mystery/thriller.

I started Dark Roads on the way back from vacation, and I couldn’t stop the story when I got home! I was on the edge of my seat guessing about what would happen next and wondering how it’d all turn out. It was a nail biter at times! I wanted justice for all these poor women, and I wanted Hailey to prevail! I was pleased to be surprised at the identity of the killer, but also happy that it didn’t completely come out of left field.  

I was excited to get an audio copy because I’m already a fan of the performers. I love both Angela Dawe and Brittany Pressley’s narration, and each performed a main role: Beth and Hailey respectively. Isabella Star LeBlanc is a new to me narrator, but she had a lovely voice. I think she performed the prologue and epilogue, each leaving a lasting impression. The audio version is a total recommend! 

4 Stars

Book Description:

The acclaimed and beloved author of Still Missing is back with her most breathtaking thriller yet.

The Cold Creek Highway stretches close to five hundred miles through British Columbia’s rugged wilderness to the west coast. Isolated and vast, it has become a prime hunting ground for predators. For decades, young women traveling the road have gone missing. Motorists and hitchhikers, those passing through or living in one of the small towns scattered along the region, have fallen prey time and again. And no killer or abductor who has stalked the highway has ever been brought to justice.

Hailey McBride calls Cold Creek home. Her father taught her to respect nature, how to live and survive off the land, and to never travel the highway alone. Now he’s gone, leaving her a teenage orphan in the care of her aunt whose police officer husband uses his badge as a means to bully and control Hailey. Overwhelmed by grief and forbidden to work, socialize, or date, Hailey vanishes into the mountainous terrain, hoping everyone will believe she’s left town. Rumors spread that she was taken by the highway killer—who’s claimed another victim over the summer.

One year later, Beth Chevalier arrives in Cold Creek, where her sister Amber lived—and where she was murdered. Estranged from her parents and seeking closure, Beth takes a waitressing job at the local diner, just as Amber did, desperate to understand what happened to her and why. But Beth’s search for answers puts a target on her back—and threatens to reveal the truth behind Hailey’s disappearance…