First up, if you’re reading this hoping for a review…sorry, though I hope to get my review up and on Goodreads soon since I really enjoyed the story. Today, instead of a review, I want to jump off Kiss of Snow to discuss series.

I’ve always loved reading books linked in a series, from Enid Blyton’s Famous Five and the Nancy Drew books to Jayne Castle’s “Harmony” SF series. But in her Psy-Changeling series, Nalini Singh juggles more than a cast of returning characters or a shared setting, she sets up a developing conflict that arcs across the series. This is so deftly handled that I’m in awe.

One of the joys of series reading is that you get to see characters who “owned” one of the earlier books in the series return as bit players. You learn how their relationship has grown. You get to see them happy together. It’s lovely. Nalini manages these walk ons in a way that supports the development of the series’ story arc, but without detracting from the focus on the romantic lead characters of the particular book.

Kiss of Snow is Hawke and Sienna’s book (though Wilder and Lara have an equally appealing romance), yet Luke and Sascha (whose romance started the series) get quality air time without detracting from this focus. In fact, by contrasting their established happiness to Hawke and Sienna’s tense relationship, the tension is underscored.

A good series takes some series plotting. Thank goodness Nalini Singh doesn’t seem set on world domination. With her plotting skills, she’d probably succeed … and then, she’d have no time to write!