Book Review: Tempting the Beast by Lora Leigh

Review: Tempting the Beast
Series: Breeds – Book 1
Author: Lora Leigh
No. Of Pages: 252
Release Date: 24 November 2003

Callan Lyons is a genetic experiment. One of six fighting for freedom and the survival of their pride. Merinus Tyler is the reporter who will tempt him, draw him, until the fury of the “mating frenzy” locks them into a battle of sexual heat there is no escape from.

Deception, blood, and the evil Genetics Council are hot on their trail. Callan will use his strength to try and save them both...and do all in his power to keep his woman in the process.

My Thoughts:

Whew! That is some seriously hot writing!

Tempting the Beast is not just what every woman needs but what every man needs as well. It was extremely hot and the pages were sizzling as I tried to get through them as fast as what my eyes would let me.

Merinus is a journalist investigating the claims that there is a new breed of half human half animal beings hiding in a small town. As soon as she sees the picture of Callan Lyons, she is drawn to him and must meet him.

Merinus has grown up being sheltered by her seven older brothers, turning her into a stubborn, wilful, woman who is used to getting her own way, and won’t stop until she gets it.

That doesn’t make her unlikeable, her sharp tongue and witty comebacks in the face of men who are twice her size make for some very comical reading especially when she refers to her marine brother as a GI Joe and her half-breed lover as a Lion-O.

Put her in a room with Callan Lyons and you have yourself an explosion just waiting to happen. Callan is part lion (he he Lyons, get it?), he has the DNA of one of the proudest creatures on earth coded into his system; it’s his entire way of thinking. Callan is the leader of his Pride, of Breeds but he is the only lion. He was the original Breed, and he was the one who rescued the others from their torturous times in the labs, it now falls to him to protect them.

Callan doesn’t want anything to do with Merinus, according to him she is the enemy. Albeit a very nosy, nice-smelling, arousal inducing enemy, but an enemy all the same. He leads her astray during her first few days in search of his house, teasing her, tempting her with information. It isn’t until her poking gets her into trouble with his real enemies, dangerous soldiers trying to capture him that he gets close enough to her to realise that she might be something more than an annoying female.

Tempting the Beast was an interesting read into genetically altered humans, whilst being part animal and having the traits of the animal they are merged with the Breeds can’t actually shape-shift like werewolves can.

Although we don’t get too much into the science of how the Breeds came about it does pose for an interesting topic.

Basically though, you don’t go into Tempting the Beast expecting something as mild as Twilight or Mercy Thompson. The sex scenes were well written and although some of the story surrounding the sex scenes leave a little to be desired the effortless detail Leigh gives us without making us think we’re complete pervs is very well done.

Now that we have the world building out of the way, I am looking forward to exploring the rest of the Breeds stories.

Also in this series:
The Man Within
Elizabeth's Wolf
Kiss of Heat
Soul Deep
The Breed Next Door
Megan's Mark
Harmony's Way
Tanner's Scheme
Wolfe's Hope
Jacob's Faith
Aiden's Charity
In a Wolf's Embrace
Dawn's Awakening
A Jaguar's Kiss
Mercury's War
Christmas Heat
Coyotes Mate
Christmas Kiss
Bengals Heart
Lions Heat