PRIMAL MIRROR by Nalini Singh

Nalini Singh’s paranormal romance PRIMAL MIRROR is already book eight in the Psy-Changeling Trinity subseries, and it’s book 23 in the the Psy-Changeling series overall. This series has been going on for 13 years already, and I wonder if Singh is trying to raise the stakes so high in each recent book to try to keep this world fresh. The pacing of Singh’s later books can be a bit off, as she focuses more on worldbuilding and never-ending catastrophes rather than on the romance of any given couple. PRIMAL MIRROR focuses more on the teetering catastrophe of the impending collapse of the failing PsyNet which neurally connects all of the cerebral Psy beings, with their paranormal abilities.

The heroine is the telepathic Psy daughter of two ruthless and cunning high-gradient telepaths. Auden Scott has a delightfully creepy backstory. Her parents had an implant placed in her brain that caused a severe brain injury, and Auden now has huge gaps in her memory and episodes of blackouts. The thing that makes her approachable is the fierce love she holds for her unborn child- a baby she has no recollection of conceiving! There’s an obvious web of lies surrounding Auden, but Singh does a nice job of teasing out the mystery throughout the book.

Auden’s hero is a leopard pack alpha, Remi Denier. Remi’s history and his alpha status both give him a massive drive to protect those whom he cares about, which means his pack, his friends and allies, and now Auden. Due to Changling mating drives, Singh has a great excuse for the insta-love that Remi develops for Auden. Upon the death of her evil mother, Auden begins to seek solitude at a family cabin along the periphery of Remi’s territory, which brings the two together. Stalwart Remi quickly gets wrapped up in Auden’s world, and the two forge a deep bond.

We get to see plenty of longstanding Psy-Changling characters acting as secondary characters in PRIMAL MIRROR, which will please longtime readers. Newcomers to the series will be able to dive into this world of shapeshifters and alien-like Psy without too much problem, however. Singh’s PRIMAL MIRROR provides a lot of action and some romance with a paranormal twist while acting to advance the long-standing arc of Psy-world-in-peril.

New York Timesbestselling author Nalini Singh takes us into a family dark with shadowy secrets, as the world of the Psy teeters 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 unnerving depth of interest 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, and Remi’s feline heart is as fascinated by her as his human half. 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. . . .