Silver Silence (Psy-Changeling Trinity, #1)

by Nalini Singh

[EBookObsessed]

I am in love. Forget about leopards and wolves. I want a sweet, kind, lovable bear to snuggle!

My undying love for Kaleb was tested after meeting Valentin Nikolaev in Silver Silence. I don’t know if my uber-powerful psy can fight against the power of this honey sweet bear with is big laugh, who can be “sneaky like a cat” to work his way into the heart of the woman he loves. I just want to hug him! *sigh*

Valentin started winning me over as soon a Silver opens her door to find the Alpha bear who can sneak into her high security apartment simply because he wants to see her and get under her skin just a little. He calls her Starlight or his Sunshine and sends her gifts of food — food is very important to a bear — all of which she tells him to stop doing but bears apparently don’t hear so well when “no” is involved. Valentin pushes Silver because he knows she is strong willed and he really likes when she pushes back. We can easily see that this big bear has his heart set on Silver and not just because she is pretty. He has a great deal of respect for her. He sees everything about her as exceptional and attractive, from her efficiency and her passion for her work to her kindness to the little cubs in his den. And he will do anything to make her see him as a future mate. How can you not love a man who when Silver has a moment of doubt says You are Silver Fucking Merchant, of course you can.

From her first introduction, Silver was pure Silence and as a protege of both Kaleb Krycheck and Ena Mercant, she was all efficiency and ruthless businesswoman. Yet you can also easily see from the beginning that Silver is softening to Valentin, even though she acts cold and standoffish like a good psy, but she never calls security or threatens him in any way or even tells him to go away like she means it. She is not as bothered by his constantly showing up at her apartment as she tells him she is nor is she bothered by her calling her Starlight since she lets it slide. She does realize that her acceptance of these actions as just being Valentin seemed to start about the time that the E-psy’s started the honeycomb and which is bleeding emotions into all the psy’s.

Silver is attacked at the beginning of the story making it necessary for Silver to go somewhere safe. We don’t know if this has anything to do with Silver being the director of the newly established worldwide Emergency Response Network run under the new Trinity Accord or is this more personal. Valentin offers sanctuary to Silver with the StoneWater bears because who would be stupid enough to try to attack a den full of bears. Bears might appear a bit clueless but it is all part of that “sneaky like a cat” facade.

While Valentin is angry that Silver’s life is in danger, having Silver in Denhome is exactly what Valentin wants. He is hoping that he can use their time together in his cat-sneaky plans to wheedle his way into her heart and bed and that he can get her to feel at home with his clan.

Silver is trying to recover while not being overwhelmed being surrounded by the always curious bears, but someone is targeting humans and Silver needs to keep working to mobilize EmNet. Instead of working a wedge between the three factions, these attacks keep focusing the attention on everyone working together.

Yeah, yeah, yeah… action…story plot…let’s get back to how adorable these two are. I had a hard time picking a favorite scene. Valentin shows his kind heart while taking care of his clan, and while he plays at being a humble brute, Silver sees the intelligence behind the facade and is quite impressed. And while Silver plays Psy and says she is Silent, we can see that Valentin is breaking down those walls. She teases him and feels safe with him. I had to laugh at one point when they try to out scary each other to get information on Silver’s attack.

Whether they are working as a powerful team to support Trinity or the clan, or just playing with the cubs in the den, you are going to love Valentin too because…well, bears! You just won’t be able to help yourself.