4.5 Stars

This is my 2nd time reading this story and I loved it. The 1st time I read it I only liked it.
It's a short story about Ria and Emmet. How they met etc.
It's fast paced and flows smoothly.
Both mc's are sweet and lovable.
The steamy scene, when it comes, is hot and intimate and just full of love. You can really feel their connection to each other in that scene and throughout the story.

You can find this story in the [b:Burning Up|7044446|Burning Up (Psy-Changeling, #0.75; Children of the Sea, #3.5; Iron Seas, #0.5)|Angela Knight|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388260971l/7044446._SY75_.jpg|7294256] [bc:Burning Up|7044446|Burning Up (Psy-Changeling, #0.75; Children of the Sea, #3.5; Iron Seas, #0.5)|Angela Knight|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388260971l/7044446._SY75_.jpg|7294256] anthology.
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My twin sister has been telling me to read this series for years and despite liking the other Nalini Singh's I had read I never got around to reading it. After reading these books I can't imagine why I hesitated to read them ; they are really good. The story is fresh and original, the writing style is engaging and the characters are so well written that you truly get invested in their lives. I have enjoyed all the books in this series psy, changeling and human as they are all fascinating in their own way. ( )

Mob trying to get foothold in city, changlings clearing them out, love story of Emmett and Ria, good humor too!
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Whisper of Sin is a Psy/Changeling novella that falls between the prequel novella “Beat of Temptation” and the first full-length novel, Slave to Sensation, in the series chronology. It’s the story of Emmett and Ria, who my foggy memory seems to recall may have been in Slave to Sensation. Emmett is a soldier for the DarkRiver pack and an engineer for DarkRiver Construction. Ria is just finishing up college classes and looking for her first real job outside of her family’s store, and eventually finds employment as Lucas’s administrative assistant at DarkRiver Construction. Ria’s family is being shaken down for protection money by a gang that’s moved into DarkRiver territory in San Francisco. On her way home one night, she’s brutally attacked by their goons who assault and nearly rape her before Emmett and other pack members come to her aid. Feeling guilty that a lady was harmed on his watch, Emmett sets up a protection detail for Ria and her family, and assigns himself the task of being her personal bodyguard. Although Ria’s overprotective family is trying to steer her into an arranged marriage, she has no interest in the guy they’re pushing on her, while Emmett holds all kinds of attraction for her. While Emmett and the pack investigate and work to eliminate the gang, things heat up between him and Ria.

For its short length, Whisper of Sin was a pretty good novella. I generally liked both Emmett and Ria. I like the way Emmett comforts Ria following the attack and can’t seem to let her go. With their inner beast in play, the male Changelings in this series tend to be pretty intensely alpha, which doesn’t always work well for me. I thought that maybe Emmett came on just a tad too strong, too soon, given that Ria was so recently attacked, but otherwise, I liked him and felt that he found a decent balance between being protective and possessive of his woman and having gentler moments, too. Ria is a little spitfire, who can be rather temperamental at times, but not to the point that she was irritating. She still lives at home with her family, which I think is mainly a product of her Asian heritage. But that doesn’t stop her from standing up for herself and seeking her independence. Due to the shortness of the story, Emmett and Ria’s relationship does develop very quickly, almost a little too quickly to be entirely believable even with Emmett’s animal mating nature in play. I struggled a bit to put my finger on exactly what drew them to each other and made them fall in love, although I’ll admit that I felt a connection between them during the intimate scenes.

There are several common Changeling characters who pop up during the story including Lucas (Slave to Sensation), Tamsyn and Nate (“Beat of Temptation”), Dorian (Hostage to Pleasure), and Clay (Mine to Possess). I also enjoyed Ria’s family, particularly her grandmother, who despite their overprotectiveness are good people who really care about her. The writing was generally good with my only small issue being that the author has a penchant for using short phrases in place of full sentences (eg. “A small wicked smile.” instead of He gave her a small wicked smile. Or “Another kiss before he straightened.” instead of He kissed her again before he straightened.) These are peppered throughout the narrative. I can’t recall if Nalini Singh commonly did this in her other stories I read or not, but it kind of annoyed me here because IMHO, writing this way both makes the narrative passive rather than active and it feels lazy, as though the author couldn’t be bothered to form complete sentences. Also while Emmett does use his cat senses to investigate, he never shifts, which was just a tad disappointing. Otherwise, though, I didn’t have any major problems with the story, so overall this was a good novella and a nice addition to the series. Whisper of Sin was originally published in the multi-author anthology Burning Up and was later reprinted as a stand-alone ebook. ( )

a perfect small taste of the Changeling world. Emmett and Ria! ( )