#psy-changeling

[jeanjauthor]

One of my best friends from high school engaged in an international pen pal service. Many years later, she eventually married the Finnish man she had met through that letter exchange service (before the advent of the internet, but not too much before, lol). She now lives near Helsinki, but recently came back just this last month to visit many friends and remaining family members. (She can do the work-from-home thing which means she can work from just about anywhere so long as she has decent wifi.)

And she brought me Finnish chocolates (as she often does), which are less sweet than the kind you find in America, but quite good overall.

However, this time she brought a small bar as an experiment.

(The image is taken off of the Puhdistamo website.)

It's not a very big bar, about two fingers wide, a little bit more than finger-length long. But it was mint, and my friend knows I like mint.

Turns out, it does not taste like any chocolate I have ever had before. And the reason is in the "Raaklasuklaa" part of the name. Raw Chocolate*. (*Note, NOT a direct translation!)

What does that mean? Well...apparently...it's not fermented.

To clarify, chocolate goes through two (2) fermentation steps.

The first is when the pods are harvested, split open, and the seeds are scooped out and dumped into a pile with the pith (juicy bits) of the fruit, where they are lightly covered by leaves (iirc) and left to ferment in the open for a week or so.

Then they go to be cleaned, roasted, shelled, winnowed, ground, mixed with other stuff, special treatments of temperatures, etc...and then they get poured into bars that are then set aside for literal months to continue fermenting. This is the second round of fermenting.

I am not certain which step was skipped (it could be both for all I know), but this chocolate is not fermented.

Now, we mostly think of fermenting as being alcoholic (because drinks!), but it's not. Technically, pickles are fermented. Sauerkraut is fermented. This is a not-alcoholic-in-nature fermentation process that normal chocolate bars go through, to develop the rich, strong flavors that make chocolate so distinctive.

But in this Raakasuklaa bar...?

It's raw, not fermented.

The flavors are there, but they're very very subtle. The mint is much stronger. And like many things in Europe, it's not very sweet, so the mint is the highest riding note, but it's not overly sweet. (Kinda like spearmint gum, in fact.) Aside from the mint, it's mostly a texture that you notice. (Not an unpleasant one, just there's more texture than flavor...?)

I think this is a chocolate bar that those who cannot stand strong flavors would like.

Which makes me think of my fellow author Nalini Singh, and her Psy-Changeling universe, where the psy race underwent a century of emotionless existence in order to learn enough discipline to control their psychic powers. In order to ensure that cool logical attitude, they developed a lot of foods that were, well, bland. Because strong flavors provoke strong emotions.

This is a chocolate bar that would be consumed by the psy in Nalini's created world. it's a good bar that is remarkably mild Even if something is mild-mannered, that doesn't mean it's bad. It's simply something different.

If you are curious (and can get your hands on some), I say, why not give it a try?

(Just don't go into the experience expecting a strong flavor sensation.)

[mashithamel]

In the absence of new Wheel of Time info, I’m going to hijack this tumblr to delve into my new obsession—paranormal romances!

I recently read Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changling (Trinity) series and had a blast with it. I had not known there was a criminal minds-paranormal-romance genre, and it’s like, did they make this especially for me???

So, on a reread I’m writing my honest take on each book, giving each a rating, and keeping track of just how many times the romantic couple takes a shower (hint: probably a lot!). Let’s jump right in with the first one.

[Ratings are out of 5 cold showers]

Slave to Sensation

(The covers are…mostly not great)

Slave to Sensation

Doing it in your dreams first? Hot. Multiple times? Very hot. Then in reality? Even hotter. Our first time meeting the twins, and they are so cute. The Pack one-by-one accepting Sascha was sweet. Meeting the wolves and the Laurens was also delightful. Sascha learning she’s not broken resonated with me as the mom of a kid recently diagnosed with autism as a teenager. Changeling justice is very satisfying, and the serial killer storyline was gripping.

Number of showers: actually pretty low!

Lucas: 2

Sascha: 3

Rating: at least a couple cold showers

[fredicia]

[thatwritererinoriordan]

Resonance Surge (Psy-Changeling Trinity) Hardcover – Picture Book, July 18, 2023

[o0quoththeraven0o]

Thank you! This series has been so disappointing for the past 5 books. There are so many good characters that she just dropped for no reason and keeps writing the same characters over and over.

If I have to read another plot about a super powerful empath thinking that they are evil bc of some past trauma/“bad feeling inside them” I’m going to scream. Also, she spent an entire book explaining how humans are important to society and still (5 books later) never picked that plot back up!!!!

Wow. I didn’t realize that I needed to vent like that.

[aaronwarner]

Ivy’s sweater slipped off her left shoulder when she leaned forward, baring skin of golden cream to the morning sunlight. “Okay, I get that.” She didn’t notice when he nudged the sweater back in place with [telekinesis], the temperature too cold for her to be so exposed. [...] “How did they know your subdesignation so fast?” Her sweater slipped again and he nudged it back. “It usually takes time to be certain, even with genetic markers.” [...] Vasic glanced at her shoulder, nudged the sweater back up. This time, she noticed, color on her cheeks as her hand went up to the spot. “How many times?” “Five.” He got to his feet before he could make it six. “I need to rest.”

SHIELD OF WINTER by Nalini Singh

[dreamlandcreations]

Silver Silence masterlist

changeling!Sergei Kravinoff x Carter!Reader (Psy-Changeling AU)

Summary: Control. Precision. Family. These are the principles that drive the youngest Carter, who is the director of the new agency that is meant to protect the three races and the fragile peace between them. If only the new leader of a powerful predatory changeling pack wasn't so distracting and destructing...

To be updated…

[madamebaggio]

Notes: Previously...

***

Arthur crossed his arms. “You know what I want.”

“Yes, I do.” Sansa gave him a flat look. “You want to be insufferable and domineering. Like all dominant men.”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “I’m not like all ‘dominant men’, my lady. I’m an Alpha.”

Sansa rolled her eyes. “And it took you only five minutes to point that out. Lovely.”

“It’s in my nature.”

“It is.” She agreed way too easily. “Which is why we cannot pretend this is anything but temporary insanity.”

“Why?” Arthur pressed.

“We’re both Alphas, Arthur. This is unheard of.”

“Stop avoiding the word.” Arthur growled at her. “Say the words. What is unheard of?”

“Do not show your teeth at me.” Her eyes went wolf.

“Say the words, Sansa.” He pushed. “What is that we can’t do?”

“We cannot be together. At all.”

[mermaidsirennikita]

One thing I do love about high stakes paranormal romances is that you typically do get to see old couples with an HEA come back, and while you know their HEA will last (this is why I always scoff at IAD readers who feel like "someone" has to die in the ultimate endgame... they don't.... lol at least not permanently; you can kill randoms, but you can't kill romance couples) you get to see them imperiled a little? And the Drama?

Like:

--in Kristen Callihan's Soulbound, we have an existential threat to the hero, which in turn creates an existential threat for all the supernatural creatures he's "sired", including two!!! Former heroines. Whose heroes subsequently get to cradle their prone forms (in the case of Jack and Mary of Shadowdance) or basically burn the house down in a case of werewolfy insanity (Ian and Daisy of Moonglow, one of my favorite romance couples of all time, who only got better through him literally growling over her prone form, I swooned).

--in Kresley Cole's Lothaire, when Mariketa of Wicked Deeds on a Winter's Night (a book that was 8! installments prior) attempts to reach through a mirror and rescue/kidnap Ellie, only for Lothaire's Contractually Obligated Friend to cut her hand off (it grows back it's fine). Kresley just writes that Ellie hears a "beastly roar", but if you've read all the previous books, you know that's Bowen, Mariketa's husband/beast familiar werewolf man, who is VERY UPSET.

--and on a flip side, in Kresley's Sweet Ruin a few books later, you see Lothaire being very typically flippant about a Big Danger he's been called to help with, and Ellie isn't even named; but if you're a series reader, you understand exactly how the mood shifts when he snaps to the "female vampire" next to him to get the hell out of dodge IMMEDIATELY

(Kresley does not elaborate if she does, and it's Ellie, so I assume she Does Not)

This is also a benefit of being a series reader, of course; and I'll never be over the pure geeky joy of seeing two people I watched fall in love and be stupid for 400 pages come back to be in love and stupid on the sidelines, sometimes with MORTAL DANGER.

[bleedinknight]

I'm back in the Psy Changeling phase .

Thanks to Lucas Hunter, and Judd Lauren.

And ofc, @authornalinisingh

[azrielsbxtch]

I truly cannot wait to start Nalini Singhs Psy Changeling Series

Like you don’t understand I am absolutely obsessed with the Guild Hunter series!!!! It’s right up there with ACOTAR for me and as a plus the fandom isn’t toxic!!

So the fact that she has another series I haven’t read yet…and it’s like 30 books!!!!

Don’t threaten me with a good time!!!

November cannot come fast enough my TBR is creaking under its weight.

[reading-valkyrie]

↳ Book Aesthetics — Kiss of Snow

“'Except I never had a prayer when it came to you. You're in my every breath and every thought, intertwined so deep inside me that love's not a strong enough word—you have my devotion, your name branded on my soul, my wolf yours to command. A hundred years? It'll never be enough. I want eternity.'”

[mashithamel]

Visions of Heat review:

Picking up your partner’s erotic thoughts, and only those, is both funny and kinda hot. I’d forgotten Vaughn was an artist/sculpter, and his lair is pretty awesome, although I don’t know how comfortable I’d be coming home everyday and having to navigate a literal minefield correctly to get inside. Vaughn’s sob story is, for me, the most heartbreaking in a series full of terribly sad stories. I do like a romance that has to go slow, involve seduction, and I like how he both respects and *expects* her strength, but much as I like them both individually this isn’t the hottest couple. Also, two showers together and no hanky panky there either time? Lack of imagination, Vaughn!

Number of showers:

Vaughn: 3

Faith: 4

Rating: one long cold shower

[nzbookwyrm]

July 2023

[i-swear-to-god-im-an-artist]

Hawke and Sienna from the Psy Changeling series by Nalini Singh.