ARC Review: Nauti Temptress by Lora Leigh

Nauti Temptress

by Lora Leigh

(Nauti Girls # 1)

First in a new series by Lora Leigh involving in some ways my favorite Nauti boys?  I'm in!  The Nauti series was one of the first romantic suspense stories I ever read so it really holds a special place in my heart.  They are all alpha males with lots of attitude, dominance, confidence and guns on occasion.  I was very excited about this series because I thought we would be reading about their daughters.  Which is not the case.  Don't ask me why I thought that, maybe I read it somewhere.

The good thing about not reading about the daughter of my favorite Nauti boys is that they are still young, still around and still kicking ass.  My favorite part of this book was the fact that they are all present in this story, especially Dawg.  See, it turns out that Dawg's father had a whole other family going and now Dawg is responsible for his half sisters and their mother.

Eve being the oldest works as a bartender and also helps their mother run the B&B that Dawg got for her.  And in both places all she sees is Brogan Campbell.  He's a bad boy, has been around for some time but rumor has it he's a thief and a traitor.  Dawg doesn't want his sister anywhere near him but Brogan has other plans.  He needs Eve so that he can get the help of the Mackay boys to solve the case he's been working on.

Overall not bad as far as a storyline goes, there was some action and some mystery.  But there were a lot of loopholes for me.  For example, at the beginning Eve seems like she doesn't know anything about Brogan they've barely talked before etc.  Towards the end of the book and without that much time passing, she knows everything about him from their prior interactions.  So either I'm missing something or this connection they had happened while I wasn't looking. 

But one thing is for sure... Lora Leigh knows how to turn up the heat.  Even if the story and characters are not 100% what I wanted, I have no complaints in that department.  Brogan is almost primal, a great dirty talker and knows exactly what to do for Eve.  I just wish for once the heroine wouldn't have been a virgin.  Maybe it'll happen one day.

*ARC provided by publisher

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Review: Nauti and Wild by Jaci Burton and Lora Leigh

Nauti and Wild

by Jaci Burton and Lora Leigh

(Wild Riders # 4, Nauti # 6)

First things first... Look at that shiny new cover this book got when it was re-released this month!  *drools*  Although I already have the print with the old one, I maaaaaaay be tempted to buy this one as well.  In case you haven't seen the old cover, here it is.

But enough of that.  This book is special to me because this was my very first read by Jaci Burton.  Yep.  I discovered her when this book came out because I was anxiously awaiting the last Nauti story by Lora Leigh.  See why anthologies are so important?  After reading this, I went back and pretty much have gone through I would say 85-90% of Jaci's backlist and she is now an auto buy for me.

Nauti Kisses by Lora Leigh - 4 Stars

This is the last chapter in the Nauti series.  For an ending it was ok but it didn't blow me away and I think part of that was the fact that I really had no vested interested in the couple featured.  John is Rogue's brother.  We met him during her book and although I really liked her, I could take or leave her brother.  He's big money, society and a hot shot lawyer.  Which is a lot of what Rogue was trying to get away from.  In his story we meet a woman that has been in love with John but he's always seen her as the innocent he didn't want to ruin.  Except he ruins her and then can't remember it because he was so drunk!  OK maybe that pissed me off a bit.  When he leaves town, Sierra is attacked and nearly raped and John comes back to protect her.  Much in the same way as the first Nauti book storyline goes.  NAUTI KISSES worked well as a short story without leaving out any important details of their relationship.  Of course it helped that the love and crush had been developing for years for my mind to come to terms with that.  However, I thought a little more originality could've been put into this story being that it would end the series and maybe the couple choice should've been better or at the very least, the characters been more present in the previous book.  But overall it was a good story and not a bad intro to Lora Leigh or the Nauti series if you haven't read either.

Riding the Edge by Jaci Burton - 4.5 Stars

Like I said before...new author for me when I read this and it blew me away.  I mean, I can't resist a hot biker who is also some kind of special military type agent and riding with a bike gang.  So basically Rick is assigned to protect a senator's daughter who is riding with the Hellraisers bike gang.  Ava had decided to ride with the gang in order to try and see what was going on with her childhood friend Lacey, who had become involved with one of the leaders.  Rick has to infiltrate the gang so that he can protect Ava but to make matters more interesting, this is the same gang that Rick used to hang with ten years ago when he was nothing but trouble and before the Wild Riders, and his cousin Bo is now the leader.  Gives him an in but also puts a lot of doubt on everyone's minds as to his real reason for being there.  Rick is just to die for!  Take me on a ride on the back of that bike and runaway.  HOT HOT HOT!  Ava was young but not so stupid, loyal to her friends, smart about her choices and one all around lucky gal if you ask me.  Rick is controlled and you would think intense and tough but he's got such a soft side when it comes to Ava.  He truly makes her feel beautiful and cared for.  And all this with just the right amount of danger while riding along all those hot rods. ;)

Which cover do you like best??

Purchase Links: Amazon

Review: Wild Card by Lora Leigh

Wild Card

by Lora Leigh

(Elite Ops # 1)

First things first, yes you probably know already how I feel about the new cover of this book.  If you didn't read our cover post earlier this week, you can find it here.

The Elite Ops series is a spin off of Lora Leigh's Tempting Seals, however if you didn't read that series you can still enjoy WILD CARD.  That's actually how I originally read it although now I do recommend that people read the series in order since the story about the hero of this book (Nathan Malone) starts in the previous series and you would know why he is in the situation he finds himself at the beginning of this book.

In the previous series they were trying to bring down a drug lord and Nathan had actually been captured and drugged with a new substance that made him extremely horny to the point of pain and forced to be with women.  He was tortured to horrible extents.  He was put through hell.

His team finally gets to rescue him after a long time of this and they can't believe he's alive.  He was actually declared dead, they had a funeral, his wife mourned him.  Now that he's back, even though with a new face, he wants his wife back but he is a changed man.  The love between Nathan and Bella is a thing of beauty.  It was strong even after death, even after torture.

When Nathan comes back in his wife's life he does so as Noah Blake, mechanic.  Noah is the man Nathan thought he could never be.  He's dangerous, a bad boy, lethal where Nathan was sweet and tender.  And even though I love both sides of him, I do have a thing for Noah.  Sex on the desk at Bella's office?  HOT.  Sex on the floor by the fire?  SCORCHING!  Noah was Nathan's opportunity to truly express his desires, even some light BDSM and plenty of dirty talking, that he was always too scared of showing.

There is still danger, action and mystery but WILD CARD is above all a beautiful love story of two people that can love each other through the hardest obstacles and overcome them.  This is probably one of Lora Leigh's best romantic suspense books.   And of course, a perfect introduction to the Elite Ops series!

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

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

Purchase Links: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Review: Deadly Sins by Lora Leigh

3.5 Feathers

Deadly Sins

by Lora Leigh

(The Callahan's # 2)

Look at the pretty cover!!!!  I was also very excited to read the book because I couldn't wait to read about Logan and the sexy neighbor.  Sadly, this book, as well as the first in this series, was just okay.  This series is not filling the void that the ending of Elite Ops left.

In a way, the continuing killer that just wants to exterminate the Callahan's is a bit like her Men of August series, although the suspense part was done much better in those books (brother sharing and menages aside there).  I don't know what it is that her writing is lacking but there's a spark missing for me.

I will also point out that I got this on audiobook so I didn't encounter any of the editing problems I've seen some other people mention with this book.  I'm not sure if that's really due to better editing or just the fact that the narrator read what it should've said instead of what it actually said.

Now on to the hero and heroine.  Even though Logan and Sky worked well as a couple, I still don't like the recurring theme in this series where the girl has been in love with the man her older sister was dating.  I was however, happy to see Sky wasn't a virgin!

The storyline was better than the first book in this series, so I guess there is hope still.  Logan's ex-girlfriends, or ex-hookups, are being targeted now by the killer on the off chance that he might've gotten them pregnant and there might be some Callahan rugrats running around.  As much as he'd prefer to stay away from Sky to protect her, she proves her skills and connections are useful in aiding the brothers.  Once he decides that, all the possessiveness comes out.

A new player is introduced that might be able to help them out in the future and I am curious to see where the story will go from here.

Purchase Links: Amazon

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