Tangle of Need - Nalini Singh **Spoiler Alert**

It's not hard for me to say that this series is one of my all time favorite series. Right up there with Mercy Thompson and Kate Daniels.

The story picks up a month after the conclusion of Kiss of Snow. The aftermath of the fight between Pure Psy and SnowDancer, the wolves are still trying to get back into the flow of things. The Pure Psy are no longer targeting SnowDancer but they've turned their sights on Councilors Nikita and Anthony, which the changelings provide the necessary protection for when asked. In addition, the wolves are trying to align themselves with the BlackSea pack, which are water-based changelings. They offer their assistance to BlackSea and end up learning about ways to keep the Psy out of human minds. It's fascinating the way this series has developed. Not only are all three races intermingling and working together but the problems keep escalating and becoming more and more dangerous.

While I love the world and the couples and their stories, this one I was very disappointed in, in a lot of ways. For one, this story is about Riaz and Adria. Riaz came home to lick his wounds because he found his mate but this mate, Lisette, doesn't want him because she's happily married. Adria is also home to lick her wounds when she finally ends it with her long time lover, Martin. The two start off as friends with benefits with no strings and gradually grow to love each other. Normally, I'd be fine with this type of plot but I didn't feel a connection at all between them. They jump into bed and they stay that way. I don't feel like they know each other and I don't feel like their love is actually real. Then there's the way it ends. I was really, really disappointed in that. I've come to associate Psy/Changeling series with mates in the end. Logical assumption, right? But no, this story veered from that HEA element and had me extremely sad. Riaz already met his mate, I understand that but so did Hawke. Why is it Hawke can have a second mate and not Riaz? Made no sense to me and actually pissed me off because Riaz acted like a mate but there's never that firm bond. Riaz could still one day go back to Lisette if the compulsion became strong enough even though that compulsion isn't there now. It still can be there one day.

Second, this story tried to cover so many things in relation to couples. Not only are we getting Riaz & Adria's story but we're also getting a continuation of Hawke & Sienna and Riley & Mercy's stories mixed in with the ever present Sascha & Lucas scenes. Granted, it was nice to know why we were getting Riley and Mercy's POVs but this was Riaz and Adria's story and all the other POVs that dealt outside of the Psy/Changeling conflicts, just took away from the main romance of the story, which incidentally made me actually feel like Riaz & Adria were a secondary couple instead of the main couple.

Lastly, I'm not fond of love triangles. The way Ms. Singh handled the problem with Riaz, Lisette and Adria didn't appeal to me. Especially when Lisette was 'single' again. I didn't like the fact that Riaz yearned for Lisette and then she came back in the picture. I thought the scenes associated with that were awkward to say the least and didn't really pacify me on the whole 'Riaz chose Adria over his true mate'. Instead it just made me think that Adria would always be second best, the rebound girl.

I have to say, though, that I really enjoyed how much Kaleb was in this book as well as other Arrows. I liked the fact that we are seeing how the Arrows are dealing with everything, their loyalties and how they respond to it all. I love that Kaleb isn't as Silent as he likes to believe and that he's actually obsessed with a certain person. The ending was pure torture because of that last line! But, oh God, I can't wait until the next book! I really love Kaleb, Aden and surprisingly enough Vasic. He can be redeemed! He can! Also, I really hope Bo gets a story one day, too!

Overall, while the world is still fascinating, the main couple's romance didn't do it for me because I felt like we were getting so many other couples' POVs that Riaz and Adria just didn't get the justice they deserved. Then there's the fact my views on Psy/Changeling and mates have completely been crushed into pieces. The other aspects of the story like the trouble Nikita and Anthony are in, Kaleb's mysterious person and the Arrows, Aden and Vasic, was really interesting to me. They made the story appealing when the romance wasn't. I'm still looking forward to the next book. Although I hope it veers off from the fact the last two stories have been mostly romance/sex and brings in more suspense because I just didn't feel like there was much suspense in this story, not like there used to be in previous stories.