I LOVE Tuesday's!!!

I love Tuesday's because that is new release day for most publishers. I like to hit the websites and see what might be out there that will tempt me to put down the book I am currently reading and pick up something new instead. Some of my favorite authors have books that came out on Samhain today so be sure and check them out: http://www.samhainpublishing.com/.

Our theme for the blog this week is our favorite authors, let me tell you how hard it was for me to pick just one, but since this author just had a book that came out, it made it a little easier for me. Let me just start by saying that I LOVE LOVE LOVE Lora Leigh, I think I have read everything that she has written and her breeds are the series that started my love affair, stalking, whatever you want to call it, with Lora. If you have not read this series, it's not for the faint of heart, because the sex in these books is HAWT!!! Now if you have not figured out yet that I am completely nuts about reading things in order let me just come right out and say it... "Hi, my name is Tyra and I am anal retentive about books being read in order", it makes my head spin around when other people read things out of order, so do me a favor and click here:http://www.loraleigh.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=49&Itemid=61 for the suggested(ie:correct) reading order for the Breeds because it can get confusing with this series. Different publishers make it difficult but this list will help.

Styx's Storm, by Lora Leigh (Berkley, October 2010)

Styx's Storm was different from a lot of the other breed books in that the heroine, Storme Montague, is not secretly working to help the breeds, she doesn't like or trust them. She watched a breed kill her father and brother and so her distrust and fear is understandable. Before she escaped her father gave her a data chip that has information on it that he doesn't want in the hands of "The Council", and he tells her that someone will come to her and will say something that will prove she can trust them with the chip. This doesn't happen, so she continues to run and hide from both the breeds and the council for the next ten years.

Jonas has been trying to protect Storme and talk her into coming to them on her own for the past ten years, but when he realizes that the data chip may contain information that could help his daughter all bets are off and he calls on Styx to bring her in...willingly or not.

Styx seduces Storme and realizes that she is his mate...almost. He feels the overwhelming attraction and sexual heat and need to protect her but other manifestations that occur during mating do not happen. His glands don't swell with the mating hormone and he doesn't "knot" her, she also doesn't go into full mating heat and can, to a point, control her reactions to him. The fact that it is not a normal mating makes protecting Storme even harder for Styx because she is not protected under breed law. Dr. Armani, the wolf breed specialist, is confused by this and feels it might be due to Storme's fear of the breeds and that Styx's wolf can sense that and is blocking the mating.

The longer that Storme stays at Haven, the wolf breed compound, and is around free breeds the more she understands that her fears are not of all breeds but of the one that killed her family. She finally starts to relax and watching the trust and love grow between these two characters was nice to read. The sexual chemistry is always there, but what good is sex if you can't truly trust the person you are with? While attending the anniversary party of Dash and Elizabeth Sinclair, she decides to give the chip to the breeds, unfortunately the compound is attacked and Storme is kidnapped during the fighting. Can Storme make it back to the one man she has finally learned to trust and love?

I enjoyed this book because of it's differences but the attitude of some of the past characters toward Storme seemed harsh to me. I completely understood where her fear and mistrust came from and thought that Hope, especially, was too hard on her. The girl had been on her own and running for her life since she was 14, give her a break! I was also very happy that the editing in this book, compared to the many wrong words, grammer and punctuation errors in the last several books, was much better. I didn't find myself reaching for my red pen hardly at all. I happily give this book 4 "hot" chocolate dipped strawberries!