Visions of Heat by Nalini Singh is the second book in her Psy-Changeling series. This book focuses on the powerful F-Psy Faith Nightstar and her DarkRiver jaguar Vaughn D’Angelo. Faith Nightstar is a special Psy. Her forecasting abilities have made a lot of money for the Psy. F-Psys are extremely rare and most are exploited until they literally lose their minds. Because of her abilities, Faith leads a cloistered life and is under constant supervision. Faith senses changes in her abilities and begins to suffer from nightmares. She decides to seek out fellow Psy Sascha (from Slave to Sensation) for help. Vaughn is the sentinel assigned to protect Sascha. Vaughn is immediately fascinated by Faith. His jaguar is intrigued as well. The descriptions of Vaughn are well done. The author captures his jaguar side beautifully: he walks like a cat, acts like a cat, thinks like a cat, and hunts like a cat. The courtship between Faith and Vaughn reflected their characters. As a Psy, Faith was not used to the touch that Changelings crave and it was an overwhelming experience for her. Vaughn made his decision about Faith before she even entertained the idea of being with him. The relationship built slowly, almost excruciatingly so. Other aspects of this book stood out for me. The images of the Psynet were fascinating. A kind of internet for the Psy, the Psynet was a way the Psy shared information and received biofeedback. The Netmind was a part of the Psynet that encompassed joy and happiness. On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Darkmind intrigued me. It would be interesting to see what happens with this part of the Psynet in future books.The politics of the Psy seem convoluted. The Psy Council seem incredibly power hungry and sinister. They do seem out of touch with their people and it will be interesting to see how this story plays out. I will definitely continue reading this series. Review posted on Badass Book Reviews.
