Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh

The second book in Nalini Singh's very popular Psy-Changelings series, Visions of Heat was very difficult to get through. I have hopped around in the series and enjoyed the other books following Visions of Heat, which was why it was so disappointing to read one of the first books and find it coming up short of the other novels. But then again, this is probably a good thing because it means her writing got better as she continued to work on this series.

Why didn't I like Visions of Heat? My biggest problem was with Faith, the female lead. She's boring. Rather bland and difficult to empathize with. Of course, she's Psy, a member of an emotionless psychic race in this world, so naturally she's difficult to relate to; she doesn't feel anything. But maybe it's because she's too good of a Psy - compared to the other Psy heroes and heroines in this series - that makes her so difficult to relate to. I love Sascha from the first novel - but she's an empathic Psy so of course she feels things despite initially trying not to.

Also, I was rather unimpressed with Vaughn. Too much "Rawr, I am Animal and Confused!" to be a really great hero. Although, yes, while it is rather sexy when heroes walk a fine line of control, Vaughn is...not so much. He's rather crippled by the fact that Faith is a Psy and therefore unfamiliar with his needs and desires. He treats her like glass one moment and then decides that it's time she submit to his desires the next. It's rather disconcerting. He can't make up his mind. Which is probably the point of the story but it was not very endearing.

So although I did not like Visions of Heat, I do like the rest of Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling universe. I definitely plan to continue reading; I just didn't like this particular novel in the series.