Title: Soul Deep
Author: Lora Leigh
Series: Breeds #5
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Erotica, Paranormal romance, Shapeshifters
Dates read: 28th January 2021
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave
Year: 2004
5th sentence, 74th page: Two vehicles were behind them, one at their side and two ahead of them and in seconds there were bodies hanging out of all of them, firing at the helicopter streaking toward them.

What couple could be more unlikely than a sassy, independent President’s daughter who doesn’t know when to keep her mouth shut and a longer Coyote Breed with a hunger for a cute rosebud mouth that he’s determined to still.

Kiowa’s job is to watch Amanda, the President’s daughter – look, but not touch. just make sure the Secret Service detail assigned to protect her does their job until the new Breed Law is passed. But when the bad guys move in to take her out, Kiowa reluctantly slips i to the rescue, snatching Amanda away to safety. But she isn’t going to come easy and it takes mroe than smooth talking to make her see his point of view.

For a man who’s had nothing, Amanda Marion is food for hte hunger that has tortured him, the reality to every dream Kiowa never dared believe in. What he feels for her is more than heat, more than love. She breathes life into his hardened heart, melting the icy chill and touches a part of him that he thought had died – his soul. And now he’ll kill anyone who tries to take her away from him.

But the one person he can’t fight is Amanda, and when she wants to leave…

This was a bit of a quicker and less conspiracy-theory based story than the other Breeds novels so far. But, it did introduce the idea of the Coyote Breed, and the fact that people of minority groups, such as Native Americans, were kidnapped in this world to create the Breeds. Which meant that although this novel wasn’t as intense in the overall series as many of the others, it was still wonderfully brilliant. And completely impossible to put down.

As with all of the Breeds books, this one just made my toes curl. And left me with a huge grin on my face. There is something a little bit extra lustful and guilty-pleasure-like about this series. Something that always makes me check over my shoulder and spreads a blush across my cheeks because I don’t want anyone to take a peek at what I’m reading. I love that in a good romance and add to that the fact that it’s just generally well written… well, I’m seriously falling hard for these books.

Kiowa’s story really made my heart break. None of the breeds have good background stories, but the way he was treated by his own blood… it just made everything feel that much worse. It also stopped me from wanting to put down this book at all. I had to find out about Kiowa’s happily ever after. After all, he’s already been abandoned and destroyed by his own blood, so you need to know that Amanda is going to stick with his bullshit and they’ll get their happily ever after.

Amanda was such a wonderful female lead in this story. Kiowa and Amanda are a little bit more into the DomSub stuff in the bedroom… but she’s also more than capable of standing on her own two feet when the world requires it. This great juxtaposition helps her to kick Kiowa’s butt when he needs it and get the respect that all women deserve. Whilst still enjoying the benefits of his dominance in the bedroom… 😉

Image source: Internet Archive

Title: Kiss of Heat
Author: Lora Leigh
Series: Breeds #4
Rating Out of 5: 4 (Really good read!)
My Bookshelves: Erotica, Paranormal romance, Romantic suspense
Dates read: 3rd January 2021
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Lora Leigh
Year: 2004
5th sentence, 74th page: And now Kane was sleeping deep and painlessly while she paced the room, kicking herself for her own lack of control.

They’ve waited a decade to come together. Long years filled with unbearable pain and soul-wrenching torment that have changed them both and left wounds that have laid their souls bare. Wounds that stand one chance of healing – if only they could stop fighting each other long enough for the truth to work its healing balm.

Kane, a relentless warrior, lost more than his heart to Sherra in a night of mating passion that marked them both for life. But news of her death ripped his soul apart. For years he has fought to avenge the death of the woman he loved more than his own life, by revealing the deceit and cruelty of the Council that created the Breeds

But Sherra didn’t die, and now amid the rapidly escalating violence against the Feline Breeds, Kane and Sherra learn that there’s more to mating than just the “heat,” just as there’s more to love than just the sex…

Ever since reading Tempting the Beast, I’ve been really intrigued to find out more about Kane and Sherra’s story. There are hints and bits and pieces throughout the next two novels in this series that highlight how great a story it’s going to be. And very, very many hints about what really went wrong between these two. But until I actually had the chance to read this story… wow.

Although this novel had the same intensity and erotica as the other Breeds novels, there was a little more heart break and heart wrenching than the other stories. The horrors that have been committed against the female breeds start to rear their ugly, horrifying heads. And pull my heart apart even more. After all, some of the horrors that are mentioned in this story are exactly the things that I am most afraid of. I’m just glad they don’t go into too much detail.

I always find in a series, particularly romance series which focus on different couples each novel, by the third or fourth novel, things start to get… intense. And that’s exactly what happened here. Now, there is more at stake in each story than the happiness and the livelihood of the couples. Rather, war is declared and things are steadily getting deadlier and deadlier. I can’t wait to see how everything progresses from this point forward!

Kiss of Heat is a phenomenal paranormal romance novel. One that I read cover to cover in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed. It makes me not only keen to read more Breeds novels. But left me with some very… wonderful dreams later that night.

Image source: Fantastic Fiction

Title: Elizabeth’s Wolf
Author: Lora Leigh
Series: Breeds #3
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Erotica, Paranormal romance, Romantic suspense
Dates read: 28th – 29th December 2020
Pace: Fast
Format: Novel
Publisher: Berkley
Year: 2004
5th sentence, 74th page: Even his balls tightened at the smell.

New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh returns to the “highly charged and carnal” (Fresh Fiction) world of her Breeds novels with an expanded edition of Elizabeth’s Wolf, a paranormal romance that awakens the beast within…

Special Forces soldier Dash has all but given up his will to live – until an innocent letter from a little girl brings him back to life. Cassie writes to him every week, strengthening his resolve to recover from the devastating loss of his unit. But when the letter suddenly stop arriving, Dash instinctively knows Cassie and her mother are in critical danger.

Elizabeth and her daughter are on the run from a dark and bloody past that refuses to let them go. The stakes are too high for Elizabeth to fall for this dangerous man who just walked into her life, but, now more than ever, she needs help.

Saving his mate and her daughter calls Dash’s beast to the forefront and transforms the lone wolf into an alpha protector; he becomes Elizabeth’s wolf.

The Breeds series is one that I have a bit of a tendency to pick up, and then put back down again. Not because it isn’t amazing. But it is most definitely graphic. And not the kind of books that I like to read with other people around… there’s a little too much toe-curling spice in it to have witnesses to my reading. Which means that its been quite a while since I picked up a Breeds novel.

Elizabeth’s Wolf may be my favourite Breeds novel yet. It was a little bit more romantic and relationship based than the others. Less of that raw, animalistic frenzy to mate. Which, whilst enjoyable, is a little bit intense. Instead, Elizabeth and Dash work slowly towards trust. And, whilst they do start ripping each other’s clothes off with abandon, it takes that little bit longer.

There is something gorgeous about a child setting up their parent and creating their happily ever after. Somehow, Cassie is much, much better at this and more manipulative than most of the children I’ve had in my other romances who do this. So much better at it. And a lot more entertaining. She’s an absolute delight and often steals the show. Which makes her backstory and all of the horrible things that happen to her that much more heart wrenching.

I could not get enough of the emotional rollercoaster that this novel took me on. It had all of the fun emotions in it that I’m used to in some of my favourite books. And although it was still erotic and incredibly graphic, the greater build up to these moments made me want it that much more. And seriously helped me to fall further in love with all of the characters.

Image source: Penguin NZ