I received this book for free from in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Storm Echo
by
Nalini Singh
paranormal romance in a Kindle edition on August 9, 2022 and has 384 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Must Love Hellhounds, Kiss of Snow, An Enchanted Season, Archangel's Blade, Angels of Darkness, Lord of the Abyss, Desert Warrior, Angels' Flight, Tangle of Need, Play of Passion, Archangel's Storm, Wild Invitation, Heart of Obsidian, Archangel's Legion, "Hide and Seek", "Making Dinner", Shield of Winter, "A Conversation", "Home", Angels' Pawn, "New Year's Kisses", Night Shift, "Weapons Training", "Zoë's Workshop", "Wild Night", Archangel's Shadows, Archangel’s Enigma, Shards of Hope, “Fairy Balloons”, “An Unexpected Guest”, Allegiance of Honor, "The Song of the Wolf", Silver Silence, Archangel’s Heart, Archangel’s Viper, Ocean Light, "Elena's School of Horror", Cherish Hard, "Ain’t No Party Like A Bear Party", Archangel's Prophecy, "One Night At The Refuge", "Secret Things", Rebel Hard, Rock Hard, Wolf Rain, "Clean and Dirty", "Wolf School", "Naya’s Most Important Visitors", "Grocery Shopping", "The Cannibal Princess", "A Gift for Kit", "Movie Night", "Kaleb and Sahara’s Meeting with Sascha and Lucas", "Housewarming at the Orchard", "Christmas in the Kitchen", "Stalking Hawke", "Romancing Drew", "Sunday Morning", "Rowan", "Baubles & Ben", Wild Embrace, Love Hard, Rock Addiction, "Music Awards", Rock Courtship, "Rock Courtship Memo"s, Rock Redemption, "Sunshine", Rock Wedding, "With This Memo", "That Lip Ring…", A Madness of Sunshine, "Beary Tiny Ghosts", Alpha Night, "A Wedding Breakfast", "Poker Night", "Knives and Sheaths", "Seedlings", "Star Kissed", "A Walk on the Cliffs", "Wild Cat Blues", Slave to Sensation, Caressed by Ice, Visions of Heat, Kiss Hard, Angels' Blood, Archangel's Kiss, Archangel's War, Archangel's Sun, Archangel's Light, Archangel's Resurrection, Last Guard, “A Perfect Moment”, "Music in the Rain", Resonance Surge, "Mate", “New Year’s Eve”
Sixth in the Psy-Changeling Trinity (and twenty-first in the Psy-Changeling universe) paranormal romance series revolving around Changelings, Psy, and humans. The couple focus is on Ivan Mercant and Soleil Garcia. If you’re interested, there is a chronological listing of the Psy-Changeling books on my website.
My Take
Singh has created an amazing character in Ivan, a rebel, doing what he pleases and yet never opposing Grandmother. It’s easy to see that he isn’t Silent, nor a psychopath, for he has firm moral lines. I totally approve of his “hobby”! Yeah, Singh really suckered me in with all her insinuations, lol.
Singh uses third person global subjective point-of-view, primarily from Soleil’s and Ivan’s perspectives, and Ivan’s back history is so sad, and a great show of Ivan’s issues. He has an interesting insight into the drug his mother took when he was in the womb and as a child. Soleil also gives us perspective on her past with her parents as well as in SkyElm.
That reminder of how the StoneWater bears pulled in the Mercants as family makes me want to re-read all the bearshifter stories again. I do love them bears!! Poor, Ena, she is becoming resigned to what her grandchildren are doing to her emotions, lol.
Ya gotta love Ena Mercant. Silent and yet not. So full of compassion yet strong. She may not like it when family members claim they’re a family of spies, but hey, potato, potahtoe.
Speaking of potatoes, can you imagine going through life never knowing the joy of taste? The joy of playing? Oh, I loved, loved, loved the tales of Arwen as a child empath, trying to give you his toys to make you feel better!
Aww, it’s so sweet that Ivan is asking Arwen for relationship advice! It’s a happy contrast against the fears Ivan has about his mind shattering.
The underlying premise of the series is the fracturing of the PsyNet. Each rupture kills any Psy attached to it, for they cannot survive without its biofeedback.
”Silence has fallen. Each story is another move forward in trying to understand how to fix it, how to save the Psy. I’m allowed to love my baby.”
An interesting side issue, well, not to Soleil, is what makes for a good Alpha. Ena Mercant has her own advice for Ivan, a piece which we should all take to heart.
Silence made sense for SOME Psy, definitely not all.
This is such an uplifting story, you shouldn’t miss it.
The Story
Meeting and falling in love with a woman was a first for Ivan Mercant, a Psy so terrified of the ability that lives inside his mind, an ability he keeps chained up. But now he’s lost her . . . or she chose against him after he revealed the truth about himself.
It’s chance, or Fate, that finds Soleil Garcia, determined on revenge against Lucas Hunter for murdering what remained of her SkyElm pack, coming to the rescue of Psy under attack in San Francisco. In the same neighborhood as Ivan, also coming to their rescue.
It’s too late for Ivan, though. He’s in a countdown against himself. Although. He has been preparing for this all his life.
The Characters
Soleil “Lei” Bijoux Garcia, a.k.a. Leilei, is a healer and an ocelot Changeling. Her parents, Arturo (an ocelot shifter and the son of the current SkyElm Alpha) and Hinemoa Bijoux (a human) died early in her life. Farah Khan is Lei’s best friend. Melati is the friend Soleil had been visiting in Texas. Other friends include Brett, Shamita, and Gina.
SkyElm is . . .
. . . an ocelot pack that had been led by Monroe (Allegiance of Honor, 15). Em and Robbie had been Monroe’s mate and son. Yariela Castaneda, a.k.a. Abuela Yari, is/had been their healer and Lei’s adoptive grandmother who had taken Lei in. Lula and Duke were the two remaining soldiers. Razi and Natal were the surviving ocelot cubs. Salvador had been the protective submissive.
The seemingly urbane Ivan Mercant is not Silent, but he’s a Mercant, accepted by Ena Mercant, the Matriarch of the Mercants. He oversees Mercant security and monitors his own brain for the neurological damage it suffered in utero when his artistic mother, Norah, took Jax while pregnant. His primary psychic ability hits 8.9 on the Gradient while his secondary ability is a respectable 6.1. Canto, another cousin, is a cardinal anchor, is engaged to Payal Rao, another anchor, the head of the Rao Conglomerate, and on the Ruling Coalition (Last Guard, 5 (20)). Silver Mercant, an “Ena in training”, had once been Krychek’s personal assistant and is now the director of the EmNet, the Emergency Response Network; she’s mated to Valentin Nikolaev (Silver Silence, 1 (16)). Arwen Mercant, a cousin, is an E-Psy, an empath who has kept the family sane. Ostensibly, he works in marketing and communications. He’s currently involved with Pavel Stepyrev, a bear Changeling from the StoneWater Clan. Genara is a teleport-capable Psy. Adina Mercant had been an infamous poet in the latter end of the nineteenth century. Magdalene is Canto’s guilt-feeling mother. Rufus is an uncle.
RockStorm is . . .
. . . a wolf pack in Texas that runs a training course. Jorge and Flint were some of the instructors.
Striker is a tiger Changeling who only knows Ivan through his alter ego. RainFire is a pack in the Smokies led by Remington “Remi” Denier, a leopard shifter (Shards of Hope, 14).
DarkRiver is . . .
. . . a pack of leopards who are seen as the protectors of the entire city and share San Francisco with SnowDancer. Lucas Hunter is their Alpha, and he’s mated to a cardinal Psy Sascha Duncan, who’s defection started the series (Slave to Sensation, 1). Their daughter, Naya, is part-Changeling, part Psy. Lucas is also a member of the Trinity Accord. Carlo Hunter had been Lucas’ father; his mother had been a healer. Tamsyn Ryder is the senior healer. Her mate, Nathan, is a senior Sentinel and ruthless. Their twins are Roman and Julian. Ferocious is their adored pet cat. Mercy Smith, Vaughan D’Angelo (Lucas’ righthand man and a jaguar shifter), and Dorian Christensen are DarkRiver sentinels. Ace, Belle, and Micah are Mercy and Riley’s (a SnowDancer wolf) pupcubs. Aaron is a receptionist at DarkRiver headquarters. Dr Keelie Schaeffer is doing a study on Changeling rogues (Wolf Rain, 3 (18)). Yuka is yet another example of a good pack.
SnowDancer is . . .
.. . a pack of wolf Changelings with Hawke as their Alpha. Lucy is a trained nurse and wolf Changeling.
Vasic Zen is a Tp-V teleporter married to Ivy Jane, who’s the head of the Empathic Collective and on the Ruling Coalition (Shield of Winter, 13). Zoula is a pregnant Psy caught up in the madness. Aden Kai, a Psy leader of the Arrow Squad, has been working closely with Krychek to heal ruptures.
Kaleb Krychek, a dual cardinal Psy, is married to Sahara Kyriakas (Heart of Obsidian, 12). Councilor Neiza Adelaja Defoe has a report on the pharmaceutical development of Jax. Shoshanna Scott had been one of the old bad councilors. Auden Scott is Shoshanna’s daughter who had been raised by Henry’s family.
The Consortium is . . .
. . . a group created by the Architect, now Queen of the Scarabs, who has been gathering Psy with Scarab Syndrome in order to remake the world. These Scarabs are powerful and out-of-control, a byproduct of the fall of Silence.
The PsyNet is a psychic network that spans the globe and is necessary for the Psy to survive Silence was a protocol intended to save the Psy. Instead it’s destroying them. Dr Jamal Raul is a Psy neurologist. Dr Maia Ndiaye, is a Psy concerned about Scarab Syndrome, a disease that emotions allow to run rampant, eventually destroying those Psy. Project Scarab had been an initial study on the syndrome. Pure Psy is a Psy hate group. Clarence, a former Psy scholar of mathematics with a love for literature, is one of the halfway house attendees. I think the ChaosNet is the network on the Island. Jin was one of the Psy who retrieved Norah. Ager Lii seems to be two people, both anchors. Dr Lee Luang has the Lii’s medical Power of Attorney. Wild Woman is a magazine for Changelings; Aunt Rita is a relationship columnist with the best, lol, advice.
The Cover and Title
The cover is mostly deep blues with a very, very pale blue of sunset lighting the division between the silhouetted heads of Ivan and Lei superimposed over the Golden Gate Bridge. At the very top is an info blurb in white with the author’s name below it in a pinkish lilac. Below the chins is the title in the same purple. Below that is the series info in white.
I’m thinking the title refers to the whispers in the PsyNet, the Storm Echo of those Scarabs seeking their queen.
