Book Review: Elizabeth's Wolf by Lora Leigh

Review: Elizabeth’s Wolf
Series: Breeds – Book 3
Author: Lora Leigh
No of Pages: 304
Release Date: 30 June 2005

Dash thought himself alone, a soldier, a fighting machine and no more.

Elizabeth made him realise he was a man.

Danger surrounds the woman his soul marked as his mate, death and blood and treachery that go beyond even his worst nightmares. But he will protect her and what she claims as her own. He was created to kill, trained to do it efficiently, and only a man bound to her, heart and soul, will have the strength to save Elizabeth and her prized possession.

My Thoughts:

You don’t really read Breeds books for their riveting plots, but for me Elizabeth’s Wolf was just too far-fetched in how she brought the pair together.

Dash is a soldier, a soldier who has been wounded very badly. He starts receiving letters from a little girl in a school program. Cassie writes to Dash telling her about her life, about her mother, her troubles and her search for a new daddy as she doesn’t have one. Through a brief, two line description of Cassie’s mother, Dane falls in love with her.

After being on the run for the past two years Elizabeth is running out of steam both physically and mentally, and when Dash walks into the restaurant she’s sitting in with her daughter and introduces himself, she goes with him.

For me, this storyline was just a little too off with the pixies, if I had been on the run from criminals for the past two years and had no trust in anyone, no way would I trust a guy who had just walked into a random restaurant I had picked to eat at after tracking me for the past few weeks. I would not get in his car with my baby and go off with him. And yet Elizabeth, the strong willed, stubborn woman did.

Like I said, you don’t read Breeds for the plot and although this plot was too stretched for my tastes the sex as always is good, even though Leigh took it a little too far in this aspect as well. I will spare the details of the nitty gritties, but there are certain things in certain areas of one’s life and ones anatomy that just don’t work like that regardless of the person on the other ends DNA.

And then there was the shaving scene. There is not much in this world that will make me cringe, and this raised the bad kind of goose bumps. Not only would I be monumentally embarrassed to have someone shave me, let alone my lover, but I would also be inconsolably enraged at the gall my lover would have to even attempt doing such a thing, and for those who haven’t caught on yet; he wasn’t shaving under her arms...

Elizabeth’s Wolf is good in a sense if you want to use it for dirty smutty relief, but if you’re going in there for a good story I really suggest you don’t waste the time or money. I will not warn you off the rest of the Breed’s books though just because this one for me was a flop. I will continue the series, mainly because I need my occasional dosages of smut relief.

 Also in this series:
Tempting the Beast
The Man Within
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

Book Review: The Man Within by Lora Leigh

Review: The Man Within
Series: Breeds – Book 2
Author: Lora Leigh
No. Of Pages: 236
Release Date: 28 October 2004

He had protected her as a child, filled all her teenaged fantasies, and as a woman, he stole her heart. Only to break it.

Now fifteen months later, the news has released. The man she loves is one of the genetically altered Feline Breeds who have shocked the world with their presence. He’s also her mate. The mark on her neck attests to that. The fire that rages in her heart and body further proves it. But he hadn’t wanted her then; does he really want her now?

Deceit and treachery, born in the past, now haunt the present as Taber and Roni fight to make sense of a sudden bonding. The mating of heart, body and soul as the man and the beast within merge; both battling the forces raging against the union and dominance over the woman he claimed.

My Thoughts:

The Man Within had its good points, but it resembled Tempting the Beast a little too much.

I will say now that I think that I enjoyed The Man Within even more than I did Tempting the Beast but if Leigh continues on in this current pattern, I am going to find it very boring by the time I get to Book 21.

The Man Within continues on mere days after Tempting the Beast ends. I think it was more interesting because we now have the world building out of the way and most of the story behind the breed’s creation as well, although not their own personal stories.

This chapter of Breeds surrounds the story of Roni and Taber. Taber is a panther breed and Roni has been his friend and he her protector since she was eleven. They work together, confide in each other and each use the others company to spur them on every day, until Taber leaves.

It’s pretty obvious at the start that the break-up letter was a fake, just as the pair were about to begin a relationship – and also take the crown of first mated pair – a trick from the psychopathic cougar Dayan sees their barely begun romance come to an abrupt halt.

The story then picks up fifteen months later after the breeds have revealed themselves and Roni realises why the mark Taber left on her shoulder isn’t fading. Roni has the mark of a mate, and she doesn’t like it one bit.

Roni has grown up in a tormented childhood with an uncaring and often violent father. He never hit her, but was constantly threatening her and using her for money. Taber is a breed, a hard, traumatic lifestyle no matter how strong the victim may be.

I think why I like The Man Within so much was because Roni was a strong female lead not just because she was stubborn like Merinus but because she knew the pain of betrayal and how hard it can be to trust. It’s what makes it so hard for her to accept the situation she’s in because of her previous lack of trust issues and then Taber's supposed betrayal on top of that.

The similarities between the two books then are a little too obvious to ignore. Female gets trapped in Breeds household with insatiable lust, male is reluctant to tell all of the secrets behind his true nature, female finds out that the only way to cure the lust is to conceive a child, they fall in love, female coaxes male to lose control of his beast therefore proving that she really loves both of his natures, they conceive, get married, bob’s your uncle.

I will continue on with this series because I am hoping that alongside the really, really hot sex we will also have the beginnings of a really good story now that it has been established that this is how mates will meet and be attracted to each other. With the war between the Council also starting to take shape we are going to be in for a really hot, interesting ride.

Also in this series:
Tempting the Beast
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

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