~REVIEW of Lora Leigh's ELIZABETH'S WOLF~

Elizabeth's Wolf (Breeds, #3)

Opening Line: "The letter came at a time in his life when the battle inside his soul could have tipped either way."

Now this is the Lora Leigh that made me a fan. Erotic romance at its best; Steamy, graphic love scenes mixed with action and suspense. Written in 2004 (when she still used an editor and cared) and before her storylines became repetitive, ridiculous and made sense.

ELIZABETH'S WOLF was my first Breed book and even though its the forth in the series, stands alone just fine and had me captured from the very beginning.

Dash Sinclair is a wolf/human hybrid created in a secret lab from which he managed to escape as a teenager. Growing up alone and on the streets without friends or family Dash eventually finds himself in the military where he is trained to kill. After a horrific helicopter explosion in the Middle East that kills his entire unit Dash is slowly recovering in hospital when his commanding officer begins reading letters to him from a young girl back in the states.

She is Cassie Colder and something about her letters calls to him, something about the girl and her widowed mother makes him feel possessive and protective almost immediately, forcing him to recover faster from his life threatening injuries. When the letters abruptly stop Dash learns that Cassie and her mother Elizabeth have perished in a fire. In his heart he doesn't believe this to be true and hires a private detective to look into their situation. Learning that the two are actually on the run from the twisted, evil man known as Grange, Dash makes it his personal mission to protect them and claim them as his own. His mate and his child.

Months later Dash tracks down Elizabeth and Cassie and rescues them from another would be attacker. Cassie accepts him immediately but Elizabeth although fascinated is weary because she hasn't been able to trust anyone in a long time and those that have helped her in the past have died in the process. Having no choice however, Elizabeth allows herself to be rescued by Dash who whisks them away to a safe house where they can all begin to heal and recover. As Dash learns more about why Grange really wants Cassie his worst fears are realized but as Elizabeth comes to trust and love him he also knows that he will stop at nothing to protect what is now his.

Even though our heroes don't make love until nearly halfway through the book this is one hot read. Dash tells Elizabeth from the beginning that when she's ready he will have her and she accepts this knowing that there is no way to fight the growing attraction she feels towards this gorgeous alpha male. Ultimately the anticipation, the knowing looks, and gentle caresses, the reader foreplay is almost hotter than the actual act.

The sex scenes are graphic and so explicit that at times I was uncomfortable. Still this is a good, strong story full of action, intensity and family bonds. Dash's loneliness is heartbreaking but Elizabeth's character is written strong, she is a worthy mate who completes him. The scenes between Dash and the precocious Cassie are also well written and very sweet. Several breed characters (I'm assuming from past books) turn up for the exciting climax which comes together rather abruptly and finishes too quickly even though all the loose ends are tied up

~REVIEW of Lora Leigh's WILD CARD~

Wild Card (Elite Ops, #1)

Opening Line: "Nathan Malone stood in the clinical white office he had been brought to"

This one is a keeper. One of those books that you can't stop reading and then find yourself sad as you approach the end because you don't want it to be over. WILD CARD is a beautiful romance with scorching hot love scenes, plenty of action and a sexy alpha male hero that literally jumps off the pages at you. Bound in leather chaps and just daring you to get on the back of his Harley. What an escape, I loved it.

Navy Seal Nathan Malone was happily married to his young wife Sabella. His last mission was supposed to be simple, infiltrate a Columbian drug cartel and rescue three young girls. But things went disastrously wrong and Nathan finds himself at the hands of Diego Fuentes the evil crime lord. He is held captive for 3 years, pumped full of experimental drugs, tortured and beaten beyond recognition. When he's finally rescued there isn't much left of the man he used to be. Scared inside and out, Nathan now feels that he's too damaged and violent to ever return to his wife and joins a team of covert ops. After several reconstructive surgeries Nathan Malone becomes Noah Blake aka "Wildcard." The man his wife loved is now gone forever.

Several years later a new mission (ironically enough) takes Noah back to his hometown and puts him undercover as a mechanic in Sabella's garage. He'd assumed that after 6 years his wife would have moved on with her life but she hasn't ever let Nathan go. After learning of Nathan's death Sabella didn't leave the house for 3 years, barely functioning, she dreams of him. There's is a love that will last forever, she tells herself. Only after almost losing their home and business does she manage to pull herself together enough to rejoin the world. Sabella initially has no idea that the sexy new Harley riding mechanic is her dead husband but something draws her to him and awakens feelings she had thought long buried. Nathan is stunned that Sabella isn't the agreeable little wallflower that he remembers as his wife anymore. Where did this tough, no nonsense woman come from?

This establishes the characters into their plotlines and that's when the story really gets going. The sex scenes are amazingly hot but they are also filled with such tenderness and longing that you will simply sigh. Lora Leigh pushes the boundaries further each time Noah and Bella are together and just when you think they couldn't possibly do anything else sexually, that it's just going to be another sex scene, she manages to make it different and even more exciting. The running internal dialogue is also well done here and heartbreaking as Noah struggles with the ghost of the man he used to be and Sabella tries to not let on that she knows who he really is. The endings full of suspense and I wasn't certain until the last few pages if our couple would truly get their HEA or if our testosterone filled hero would leave again.

For an erotic Romance this is a very involved story and surprisingly long at 415 pages. Lora Leigh however had me enamoured from beginning to end and I feel that this is some of her best work. The unconditional love between the main characters was beautifully written, the story interesting and suspenseful. My only complaint would be the sloppy mistakes overlooked by her editor.

This is a story that I won't soon forget. Highly recommended.

-It's now been a few days since I finished reading Wildcard and an interesting thing has happened. I can no longer remember the sex scenes but I still find myself thinking about the love story.
Go Siorai, Forever my soul.

~REVIEW of Lora Leigh's LOVING LIES~

 .5

Opening Line: "The music was a gentle swell of sound around the riverbank clearing."

~This was a reread  for me and I still really like this one. It reminded me of why I initially enjoyed Lora Leigh’s writing so much.~

This is a really good love story that I enjoyed way more then I expected to. Written way back when Lora Leigh still bothered to have her writing edited and the stories and characters weren't yet repetitive. Still this does have a WILD CARD flavour in its reunited lovers theme and with an Uber alpha hero who’s come home and is taking back what is his.

After admiring Jessie for years and finally having one weekend of bliss together our hero Slade is forced to marry another and leave both Jessie and his hometown behind while he works a case for homeland security. (Okay, whatever with the homeland security plotline, it’s kind of an afterthought here and honestly we’re not reading LL for cohesive plots now are we?) Anyways as heartbroken as Jessie is over this betrayal it is Slade who truly suffers. Tortured by his thoughts of her he longs for the day when he can return, but will she take him back?

Throughout the story you can feel Slade and Jessie’s love and absolute longing for one another. They may have spent five years apart but thats done nothing to dampen their desire for each other. However Jessie is not the same innocent girl Slade left behind and he’s got his work cut out for him if he’s going to make her realize that they belong together, forever.

All of LL’s numerous sex scenes are done with her own unique style of erotica (if you know what I mean)-you may feel like you need a shower afterwards. With sub characters that are well developed and a story that kept me interested, even giving me a couple of *sigh* moments with all the angst riddled internal dialogue. I should mention that Slade’s “alpha-ness” is a bit much at times, with his comments and actions bordering on violent. It’s only marginally acceptable because he states that she has the power and he won’t ever hurt her or make her do anything she doesn’t want to do. Still its always all about Slade.

"She didn’t want to grow up, she said. By god, if growing up meant she lost the waif-like innocence and steel-hard core of determination, then he’d have to beat her if she grew up. Before he considered anything else though he had to have her. Rising to his feet, before Jessie could do more then gasp, Slade had her in his arms stalking to the one place in the house he knew Jessie could scream without little ears hearing her.”  -Yup good times with Lora Leigh.