Tangle of Need - Nalini Singh So...I don't know how to rate this book.

Idea: ★★★★
Plot: ★★★
S&H romance: ★★★★★
A&R romance: ★★
M&R news: ★★★★★★★★★★
No mating bond: ★
Vasic/Aden/Kaleb: ★★★★★
Last line of book: ★★★★★
Ending in general: ★
Adria as a person: ★

(S&H stand for Sienna and Hawke, A&R stands for Adria and Riaz, M&R stands for Mercy and Riley)

See my dilemma?

Let me elaborate...

Adria

image

Adria is supposed to be a tough, dominant female like Indigo or Mercy. WTH? This girl was a whiny, bratty woman with a love for drama. She had a good childhood, people who loved her, friends who were always there for her and her one "trauma" was a bad relationship. One single bad relationship, not the abusive bf kind of bad either, just a relationship that didn't work out with a generally nice guy. The woman acts as if that was the first time in history a couple didn't work out. She has trust issues with anything male because she and Martin weren't meant to be.

image

I can accept heroines with bad childhoods or history of abuse having so many issues but I just can't accept so many issues as a result of one bad man choice. Call me crazy.

Riaz

image

I liked Riaz. Now there I get the drama. He found his mate and she is married and in love with someone else. It makes sense for him to be so messed up since changelings are supposed to be looking their whole lives for their other half. I freaking GET IT! And despite having a reason to be Riaz wasn't half as dramatic and overly emotional as Adria. He got over the fact that his mate belonged to another, fell in love with someone who could love him back, did everything to make her understand it. I like Riaz.

Don't get me started with the book in general. I would like this book to be two SHORT stories, not a huge book that has almost nothing to say. There was all this built up with the Pure Psy next movement and then:
*boom* Plan found out
*boom* Good guys protected
*boom* Good guy saved
*boom* Bad guy leader dead

All this in about two pages. I didn't even get the time to prepare emotionally for it. All this drama and the bad guy lost and died in two seconds flat.

image

Then there was the lack of the mating bond between Riaz and Adria. The fact that the bond could be doubted and ignored put a dark spot on the series for me. I accepted so many insta-love cases, so many changelings accepting the bond so easily because it was fated, couldn't be ignored, and the ones who tried even for a while supposedly went almost crazy and then this. WHY?

The only saving graces were the Hawke and Sienna scenes as well as the new Mercy and Riley turn. I also LOVE Vasic and Aden. I am so in the "want to see them together" group. Last but not least what's coming in the next book because of stupid spoilers I also loved the closing line of the book. I'm so looking forward to beginning HoO.

That's all for now...:)

PS. I think I'll go for 3.5!