Review: Beat of Temptation

*Note: Beat Of Temptation by Nalini Singh is a Psy-Changeling short story published in the anthology An Enchanted Season.

Title: Beat of Temptation
Author: Nalini Singh
Publisher: Berkley
Genre: paranormal romance
Copy for review was one I owned already

50 words or less: We finally get to read about Nate and Tamsyn!

When I read a series, I like to read all the facets of that series- novels, online content, and especially, novellas or short stories that are published in anthologies. I kind of have a love/hate relationship with anthologies so it's nice to get to read one that I know I'll enjoy, or to know that I'll at least like that one part of the collection if nothing else.

Beat of Temptation is the story of Nate, a sentinel in the leopard pack, and Tamsyn, the pack healer. These two have kind of been held up as an exemplar for what being mated is all about throughout the series so it's nice to see how they got started. This story also takes place well before the start of the actual series so there are no spoilers in sight.

The relationship in this story is a good example of how communication is important in a relationship and how FUBAR things can get if that's missing. The crux of the problems here is that Nate and Tamsyn know they're mates, they know they're destined to be together, but Nate has this idea that because Tamsyn is nineteen, she needs time and independence before she's going to be fully okay with committing only to him. His intentions are good, unfortunately he thinks that he gets to decide what's okay in the relationship and Tamsyn gets no say. Tamsyn doesn't take this well at all, needless to say, and she immediately goes about getting what she wants independent of what Nate thinks is best. Unsurprisingly, a lot of hurt feelings and emotional issues come out of this misguided situation.

Other characters in the series make brief appearances in the story, and other one-shot characters are here as well. This is a nice bonus addition to the series; if you enjoy the series already you'll like reading it, but if you don't get around to it you won't be missing any information for the main series. Best of both worlds.

Overall Grade: B+