Caressed by ice

Caressed by ice by Nalini Singh

Published by Berkley Sensation

Why I read this book: This is a fantastic series! I had to read book 3.

As an Arrow, an elite soldier in the Psy Council ranks, Judd Lauren was forced to do terrible things in the name of his people. Now a defector, his dark abilities have made him the most deadly of assassins—cold, pitiless, unfeeling. Until he meets Brenna… Brenna Shane Kincaid was an innocent before she was abducted—and had her mind violated—by a serial killer. Her sense of evil runs so deep, she fears she could become a killer herself. Then the first dead body is found, victim of a familiar madness. Judd is her only hope, yet her sensual changeling side rebels against the inhuman chill of his personality, even as desire explodes between them. Shocking and raw, their passion is a danger that threatens not only their hearts, but their very lives…

Judd Lauren, who is the hero of this story, is an Arrow Psy who we saw in both the previous book of this series. Caressed by ice is the perfect title for this book, he really is an Ice Man.
Brenna, the Wolf Changeling who was kidnapped and tortured in book one, is the Heroine. She is determined to melt Judd, no matter the cost.

In case you have not read the other books, Psy men and women are part of 'Silence'. From an early age they are conditioned not the feel. No happiness, anger, fear, lust, love, etc.

In the Spy-net, Judd was an Elite Arrow Spy. An assassin for the Psy Council, so his conditioning was different than it was for regular Psy. As a child he was abused as part of his training. When Judd starts to feel any type of emotion, something called 'dissonance', kicks in. The higher the intensity of emotion, the more pain he feels. Eventually, it gets so bad that he loss control and could kill someone. In fact, he did once accidentally kill someone because of it.

Judd wants Brenna. Badly. However, he can't risk killing her in the heat of passion. He also refuses to let her be with anyone else. He knows that she needs touch, but to touch her the way he wants to touch her, and the way she needs to be touched is an obstacle that they need to find a way to get over.

As much as I enjoy this Psy/Changeling series, I have to give Caressed by ice a C+. Unfortunately I ended up skimming one part, and totally skipped over all the council POV's.

Judd was a problem for me. As sexy as he sounds, I didn't connect with him at all.

This is a quote from the book...

"As far as the rest of the den was concerned, he was still the man of ice. They couldn't understand how she mated with him. But he earned his stripes as far as being Pack went, so they shrugged and accepted the pairing."

I feel the exact same way as the den. Even though I read the story and know Judd's POV, I still don't feel anything for him. I can't figure out what Brenna sees in him.

My feelings remind me of Lora Leigh's Breed books. As a whole I love the series, but I enjoy the books that have the Hero as the Breed a lot more than I do having the Heroine as the Breed.

I think with this series, I enjoy a Changeling Hero much better. Vaughn, from the second book is still so fresh in my mind and he was such a perfect Hero. Judd didn't come even close to measuring up to him.

I still recommend this series, and I will repeat myself from an earlier review and say that you have to read the books in order.

They are,

Slave to sensation

and

Visions of heat