This time we get another member of the Mercant family that finds love. Ivan was a lost child of the clan, closemouthed about his past but fiercely loyal to Ena, his grandmother. At a training course to sharpen his skills as the security head of the family he meets a changeling healer that stirs something in him and possibly Lei as well. Lei and Ivan seem to hit it off and then one day she just never shows up again. A few days later after a attack in a nearby town he finds her in the rubble and sends her to the hospital. And yet she slips through his fingers again and the don’t meet for another 15 months. They cross paths in SF by accident when Lei is on her way to find out why Lucas Hunter destroyed her pack. I won’t go into the hows or whys, but it is a classic miscommunication scenario. While she is in SF Ivan sees her and he wants nothing more than to be with her and protect her. But Ivan also has a secret, there is something flawed with his Psy abilities but of course with these books the flaw turns out to be an asset needed to the survival of the Psy race. There is a big reveal at the end of the book that Ivan plays a part of and unveils the latest big bad in the series.
As usual fans of the series will be happy but new readers may be a bit lost on the overall all things that are happening with the psy. But a new reader happy to have a HEA story then this works quite well.

Review copy provided by the publisher through Edelweiss ( )

Storm Echo is the sixth novel of the Psy-Changeling Trinity Series (or the 21st novel of the Psy-Changeling Series) by Nalini Singh.

Content Note: drug abuse/addiction, child abuse/neglect

Plot:
Ivan Mercant is a security specialist, making it his business to prepare for every eventuality. But he couldn’t prepare for running into an intriguing changeling in the woods while on a training. He and Lei spend beautiful days together, but after Ivan tells Lei about a dangerous, always hungry part of his abilities that he can probably not keep in check forever, Lei fails to make their meeting. Devastated, Ivan accepts her decision to stay away, even after he finds her gravely injured in an attack – and loses track of her again. But when they run into each other a third time, this time with Lei in a bad state, including partial memory less that means she can’t actually remember him, and on a mission to kill the alpha of the DarkRiver leopard pack, neither Ivan, nor Lei’s cat half are willing to let go of each other.

Storm Echo not only has a lovely couple in Lei and Ivan, it also pushes the overarching plot forward quite a bit, balancing the comforting tropiness of the series with exciting new developments and making it very satisfying to read.

Read more on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2022/08/28/storm-echo-nalini-singh/ ( )

Read this in one sitting. I continue to adore this world and its characters, my favorite in the PNR genre. ( )

The fall of Silence meant the emotional world opened up for many of the Psy. No longer did they need to keep their feelings bottled up. However, for some, it was more a curse than a blessing. Ivan Mercant has struggled with the monster that has lived inside of him since he was young. Silence and strong shields kept him in check, but Silence is gone and his shields seem to be no match for the growing darkness within.

One day he comes face-to-face with changeling healer Soleil and instantly feels a connection only to be separated after a terrible attack on Soleil's pack leaves her gravely injured.

A year later Ivan and Soleil cross paths once again while rescuing those affected by another attack on the PsyNet by the chaotic Scarabs. But Soleil knows nothing of the man before her only that her animal recognizes and claims him.

As they contend with the possible implosion of the PsyNet, along with Ivan's ever-increasing power, it seems their time together may be finite.

Nalini Singh really chose an interesting way in which to bring together Ivan and Soleil, but I'm not entirely certain that it worked out completely to plan. As readers, we're up to speed on their relationship status from all angles. There's no surprise or twist on our end, it's more about waiting for the characters to catch up with the narrative, which moves their arc forward at a rather slow pace.

In my opinion, Ivan and Soleil aren't really breaking any new ground from the myriad of relationships we've seen across the original and spin-off series. I do appreciate the effort in trying to approach things from a different angle. All in all, Ivan and Soleil's story was still a good one.

I loved that with Soliel being a changeling we of course get to spend time with the OG characters in the DarkRiver pack. I always love that with such a long-running series Nalini Singh continually reminds readers where things began and still shows appreciation for these fan favorites.

Where Storm Echo really caught me was with the over-arching storyline that we've been contending with through the whole of the Trinity series. Dealing with the mysterious Architect and their uncontrollable Scarabs moved leaps and bounds in this story and really sets up what's to come next. I really hope the momentum continues into the next book. I really can't say enough about this twist. I WON'T say anymore in order to avoid spoilers, but well played Nalini Singh, well played. ( )

This is the sixth book in the Psy-Changeling Trinity series. While it is a romance, it also moves the larger story arc begun in the first Psy-Changeling book along.

The romance features Psy Ivan Mercant and Changeling Soleil Bijoux Garcia. Both are deeply troubled people. Ivan was exposed to drugs while he was in his drug-addicted mother's womb which changed his brain structure. He had a difficult childhood until his mother died and he was found by the powerful Mercant family. The Mercants are spies but they also have a strong, close family structure despite the rules of Silence which should have governed them. Lei also had a difficult childhood. She's a healer who was raised by her loving parents, both loners, who lived outside their clan. They died in a car accident when Lei was about eight. At that time, she was taken to her grandfather's clan but was never accepted by him or by his son when he became the alpha.

Ivan and Lei meet in Texas when Ivan is at a wolf training course and Lei is contemplating leaving the clan that doesn't accept her. They are fascinated with each other, but before their relationship can go anywhere, there is a rupture in the Psynet which causes the Psy who live adjacent to Lei's pack to go on a murderous rampage killing most of Lei's pack. Lei herself is almost dead when Ivan finds her. He loses track of her when she is sent from one hospital to another in the aftermath of the rupture.

Lei has lost her memory of ever meeting Ivan. She is living only for revenge when Ivan encounters her again in San Francisco. Lei is determined to kill Lucas Hunter who is the alpha of DarkRiver. She believes that he killed the few survivors of her former pack. She doesn't remember Ivan but her cat does and chooses him as her mate. Only Ivan believes that his will shortly go crazy because of his pre-birth brain damage and, while he wants Lei, he doesn't want to take her with him when he goes insane.

I enjoyed Ivan and Lei's hard-won romance. I also liked having some of the questions that have been left unanswered in earlier books finally answered. Of course, there are still many unanswered questions remaining about this unknown enemy's determination to bring down the PsyNet and kill countless Psy.

Fans of the series will enjoy this episode. Ivan and Lei are both characters who are badly in need of a happy ending. ( )