Review: Stygian's Honor by Lora Leigh

Stygian's Honor

by Lora Leigh

(Breeds # 27)

I have to be honest here... I read the book, I sat and thought about it.  Then I walked away from writing this review for a couple of days because I wanted all my feelings to fall back and settle down and here's how I feel now.

When you run a series for 27 books you have to know that what keeps readers interested is not JUST reading about yet another couple in the world they've grown to love.  There has to be more.  When I finished reading STYGIAN'S HONOR I actually thought that this book had completely missed the mark on giving me that.  Then on second thought I guess there was a good story, actually maybe even a better plot than in the previous book.  But I have two major issues with STYGIAN'S HONOR and the reasons why I think I enjoyed the last book more than this one.

The characters...

I really haven't had the chance to care one way or another about Stygian.  He's the typical overprotective breed and quite frankly, I've read that before.  There was nothing that really stood out about him amongst a sea of other breeds.   Well, maybe except for the fact that he's awesome at dirty talk.

Then there's the heroine, who actually annoyed me to pieces for most of the book.  Then her back story comes along and yes, maybe she stops being so whiny, and she's tolerable.  But again, her character is not all that memorable, even though there is a crazy twist at the end which I'm hoping will set a different tone and new adventures for the future of the series.

The plot...

OK ok ok it was interesting.  And I may be the only one that feels this way but I am actually getting tired of the "save Jonas' daughter" plot.  I think it's being dragged and I wish there was a resolution for it already.  I need something to finally happen so that we can move on to something else.

What ever happened to...

I find the choice in couples lately to be a bit strange.  We are getting books about breeds we've barely even heard of when we are still missing important stories, like Dr. Eli and Cassie.  At this point, I don't think Cassie can possibly be too young still, right?

Miss Congeniality...

I love Cassie, don't get me wrong.  But I find it so unrealistic when every time her character is needed in a book for some random breed that she has this special bond with them, they always have inside jokes and she's just their BFF almost.  It happened again with Stygian and somehow it didn't ring true.

Gideon Cross...

Seriously, am I the only catching these things?  Gideon was introduced in LAWE'S JUSTICE and we learn more about his character in this book.  I have a feeling he might be the next book, since it would seem the logical progression of the general story.  And I like him well enough.  But has no one else notice that his name is exactly the same as Sylvia Day's hero in BARED TO YOU? 

Overall...

This wasn't a bad book.  It was pretty hot because, well, it's Lora Leigh.  I just really need to start seeing some tying up of loose ends, fresh stories and a HEA for the characters I've already come to love without introducing a million new ones.  I wish we had the magic of DAWN'S AWAKENING or even LION'S HEAT back.

*ARC provided by publisher

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ARC Review: Lawe's Justice by Lora Leigh

Lawe's Justice

by Lora Leigh

(Breeds # 26)

This might be one of the most anticipated Breeds releases and I can only say that the wait was well worth it! This is the best book in this series, by far, that we've gotten in a while. With some of the original magic that the Breeds were able to give us and with some great characters.

We first met Diane in Lion's Heat, she's Rachel's sister. She's also pretty kick ass and leads her own group of secret ops. I always though of her as a bit rough around the edges but in reality she's tough but very sweet. I liked her character a lot in this book. She shows a vulnerability but that doesn't make her stupid or take away from her take charge attitude.

Lawe is an amazing hero as well. I see a lot of Jonas in him, which might be because he's being groomed to be second in comand to the sneakiest Breed ever to be made. He's known Diane was his mate for a while but refused to accept the mating because of his past and the labs. He saw the horros that mates endured and swore that he would never do that to someone he cared for.

Of course he can only fight it for so long! When Diane puts herself in the lead while searching for a feral Breed that might hold the clues to Amber's cure (Jonas and Rachel's baby), then the big bad Breed that is Lawe has to claim her as his.

This book had a good romantic suspense feel to it. There was the main storyline and a few sub-plots as well. I especially want to see more about Gideon and I'm hoping they're able to turn him around. We also get to see more of what happened in the labs, which is always very tough to read and especially in this book.

A great part of this book was that I realized the story overlaps An Inconvenient Mate (Tied with a Bow). It was great to see another layer to that story as well since I loved that novella. And just as we see them again, we see plenty of Jonas and Rule in this book. Have I mentioned before how much I love Jonas?

And last but certainly not least, this is my favorite cover in the whole series. Love it! Just hot and romantic and the color is great! Great job.

I'm very happy as well that I didn't find any problems with the continuity of the story or any editing problems as I've seen lately with Ms. Leigh's books.

Great job Ms. Leigh, this book is bringing back my love for this series and I can't wait for more.

* ARC provided by Berkley


Purchase Links: Amazon

Review: Tied With a Bow by Virginia Kantra, Kimberly Frost, Eileen Wilks and Lora Leigh

Tied With a Bow

by Virginia Kantra, Kimberly Frost, Eileen Wilks and Lora Leigh

Upon a Midnight Clear by Virginia Kantra - 4 Feathers
(Children of the Air - Prequel)

Historical paranormal romance about fallen angels! I found myself actually loving this story. Having never read this author before, I'm lucky this was a prequel to her series Children of the Air. Lucien is an angel who falls for the simple act of looking out for the wellbeing of the daughter of a dying woman. After his fall he doesn't have his memories of his time as an angel. He is now faced with the decision to marry a wealthy woman so that he can continue doing the good deeds he has taken upon himself. But fate has something different in mind. He ends up spending the Holidays at the house where the girl he fell for was taken in by what was left of her family. Aimee has been treated like Cinderella, she doesn't anything to offer a husband. But these two destined lovers can't fight what was always meant to be. And Lucien ends up falling in love with the girl he gave up his wings for.

First Light by Kimberly Frost - 3 Feathers
(Etherlin - Prequel)

This is the prequel for the Etherlin series. Kate is a journalist uncovering vampires, who keeps dreaming of a beautiful bronze man until that man lands pretty much in her path while she was skiing. Except he has no memories. He doesn't remember who he is, they just know he is running from ventala (part vampire, part human) and of course Kate will protect him. As the story progresses and his memories come back, Nathaniel feels the connection with Kate, she is to be his mate. But he doesn't understand what he has to give up in order to be with her. This was a bit of an ambitious introduction to a complex world in such a short story, which is why it's only getting 3 stars, but I am very excited to see where this new world will go with All That Bleeds

Human Error by Eileen Wilks - 2.5 Feathers
(World of the Lupi # 8.5)

This is now the second short story I've read in the World of the Lupi series and I have yet to read the series. I've come to the conclusion I shouldn't read the novellas for this series anymore because I feel I'm not doing them justice by not knowing the background. That being said, I thought this story was a bit boring. Taking a page from Meet The Parents, it is time for a lupi (shifter) to come into the home of a group of earth magic practitioners. While there, the lupi is not the only threat around and he might be the one to save them all.

An Inconvenient Mate by Lora Leigh - 4 Feathers
(Breeds # 25)

Lora Leigh is turning up the heat! This might be one of my favorite novellas in the Breeds series. Malachi was just *puuuurrrrrr* so alpha, determined to have his mate, welcoming of the gift Isabelle was to him. Even though I hadn't met Malachi before, being that he's one of the Coyotes, I was more than ready to connect with him and Isabelle as a couple. Sparks where flying before they ever spoke to each other, the fact that she made him hunt her instead of giving in right away to their desires, and when they finally did it was smoking hot! For once we didn't have a lot of tests at the beginning of the mating, which maybe I thought was a bit strange because Isabelle wasn't showing the crazy signs of mating all other females have gone through. Rule Breaker and Lawe Justice were also a part of this story in the Breeds general storyline, and I was happy to see Ashley! I'm looking forward to reading her story, but up next Lawe! Can't wait. After having a few misses this year with other series, Ms. Leigh has given us excellent Breeds stories! This story has a 4 toe curl rating!

Purchase Links: Amazon

Review: Navarro's Promise by Lora Leigh

Finally, after a lot of Breeds books that all started blending in together, and where the heroines where getting a bit on my nerves, we get a decent Breeds story.

I would recommend you read the story included in the Primal anthology first, because it does have some background needed in this one.

Mica was a very likeable character, strong, but smart, and the same time vulnerable and sweet heroine. She's Cassie's best friend, that right there gives her brownie points because I love Cassie, and she's a human who's grown up around Breeds. She is actually Dash Sinclair's goddaughter. And she's always had a crush on Navarro, wolf breed enforcer, who used to be an alpha of his own pack.

But they've both been tested previously and it was determined they weren't mates. He's even kissed her before, and mating heat didn't happen. But she wants him, she loves him. And even though Navarro fights it, he wants her too.

It was a refreshing new twist to the mating heat and matings in this series that could all start blending in together, and I'm looking forward to see how all this is changing and how it will reflect in new books.

Also the developments with Brandemore and Ely. I see interesting things coming up in this storyline.

I enjoy how Ms. Leigh always shows us bits and pieces of the old cast. I ALWAYS enjoy reading about Jonas!! He is still my favorite bad ass!  I also liked the new breeds mentioned in this book, and can't wait for Josiah and Cougar to fall. And then there's Ely. I really liked her interactions with Jackal, so I'm hoping, since Jonas is a sneaky bastard, that Jackal will be her mate, and maybe she's been denying it. CAN'T WAIT!!!

And now onto the issue everyone has been talking about. Yes, there seems to be a chunk missing to the story towards the end. In my opinion, it doesn't detract from the overall storyline, it just seems like abrupt change from one scene and then to something else. However, other than that, there are still issues with editing in this book. Wrong names mentioned places, things like that. I really do wish that would get fixed as I find myself having to read scenes twice to make sure I understand the concept.

Other than that, I think this was a good book and I'm really excited to see where this series will go from now on. And Lawe is next right? I've been waiting for him to get mated for a long time! HA! It's going to be fun!