So, after reading a few Nalini Singh books, it looks like she occasionally uses a formula like this:

1. Protagonist was battered/assaulted/etc before the book and is trying to recover
2. Alpha male gets her in his sights and starts coming onto her, leading to several chapters in a row ending in a variation of, "AND THEN, HE WOULD TAKE HER TO HIS BED."
3. Hot sex
4. Bad guy dies
5. Happy ending.

#2 is already annoying, but it's made even more annoying when the hero goes "I AM HARASSING/TOUCHING YOU LIKE THIS BECAUSE YOU ARE A SURVIVOR AND I WILL MAKE YOU STRONG."

It's even more annoying when I've read it in two different books of hers. Seriously, this trope sucks. I react badly to reading it and actually dropped Psy-Changeling because of it (that, and the repetitiveness).

Anyway... this book. It's all right. I really liked the first three but this one falls flat because I did not. like. Dmitri. (view spoiler)[The way he flipped his shit at Honor on pages 226-229 made me this close to putting the book down. (hide spoiler)] I liked Honor as a character. The way the two eventually developed was fun to read about, but I was more interested in what was going on with Sorrow and Venom.

(view spoiler)[The reincarnation thread was not well done at all. (hide spoiler)]

Reading what I've written... this is probably more like two stars, but ehhh, I did enjoy some of it. Is she ever going to write a book about Illium? I'd love that, tbh.