Review and Giveaway: Rule Breaker

Rule Breaker (Breeds - Book 29) by Lora Leigh

Publication Date: 02/04/2014
Publisher: Penguin Group
Imprint: Berkley Books
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Pages: 448
ISBN-10: 0425265455
ISBN-13: 978-0425265451

(Received for an honest review from Berkley Books)

Purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Indiebound

Lora Leigh on the WEB: website, blog, twitter, facebook, goodreads

Books in the series: 

Tempting the Beast (2003), The Man Within (2005), Elizabeth's Wolf (2004), Kiss of Heat (2005), Soul Deep (2004), The Breed Next Door {Short Story in Hot Spell Anthology} (2005), Megan's Mark (2006), Harmony's Way (2006), Tanner's Scheme (2007), Wolfe's Hope {Short Story in Primal Heat Anthology} (2004), Jacob's Faith (2003), Aiden's Charity (2007), In a Wolf's Embrace {Short Story in Beyond the Dark Anthology} (2007), Dawn's Awakening (2008), A Jaguar's Kiss {Short Story in Shifter Anthology} (2008), Mercury's War (2008), Christmas Heat {Short Story in The Magical Christmas Cat Anthology} (2008), Coyote's Mate (2009), Bengal's Heart (2009), A Christmas Kiss {Short Story in Hot for the Holidays Anthology} (2009), Lion's Heat (2010), Styx's Storm (2010), Primal Kiss {Short Story in Primal Anthology} (2011), Navarro's Promise (2011), An Inconvenient Mate {Short Story in Tied With a Bow Anthology (2011), Lawes Justice (2011), Stygian's Honor (2012), Rule Breaker (2014)

Coverart: Click the Image for a larger, clearer view of the covers in this series.

WARNING: The materiel in this excerpt and book may be inappropriate for readers under the age of 18 years.
Excerpt from, Rule Breaker, courtesy of Amazon's Look Inside feature.

Synopsis:

There’s a fine line between animal instinct and human desire—and in her “highly erotic saga” (Fresh Fiction), #1 New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh crosses it. 

Now, in her new novel of the Breeds, the mating heat continues… 

Lion Breed and enforcer Rule Breaker has just a few rules he doesn’t break. Not for anything. Not for anyone—like never have sex with a woman outside his own breed, especially a human woman. Especially someone too helpless, too fun loving and too full of life to ever be able to protect herself, let alone help him to protect her.

If the damned animal inside him insists on a mate, then why pick her? A woman who is an easy target and who can be used as a weapon against him at any time.

But what he suspects is mating heat may not be that at all. Just his animal instincts rioting, pacing, irritated whenever he's away from her.

Okay, he can handle that.

What ensues is a fiery affair that breaks all the rules of mating heat and will eventually endanger his mate with the very rules designed to protect the Breeds—for she’s possibly been working against them…

Thoughts:

Author Lora Leigh brings readers the twenty-ninth book in her Breeds paranormal romance series, Rule Breaker. Fans of the series have waited awhile for this one to come out and they definitely won't be disappointed. Leigh's fiery sex scenes and explosive story lines are all here as well as the resolution of several story threads from the last few books. Readers will fall in love with Gypsy, a young woman with a tragic past and Rule Breaker, a breed that will deny the mating heat until he can no longer fight it's pull. A great addition to a long-lived series.

What I liked:

This is another one of those series and authors that I have not had the privilege to read before. Which is good and bad when writing a review. The good part is being about to look at the series with new eyes. To see things that other reviewers may miss because of their connection to the series. The bad part is not knowing how to evaluate the author's work because you cannot tell whether this book is better or worse than what she offered before. That being said, I was very skeptical about jumping into a series in the 29th book of all things. However, I was completely taken aback by how much I liked the concept of the series and the characters I was able to meet in this book. Lora Leigh obviously knows how to write paranormal romance and I thought the world building, the sexual content and the characterizations were simply fantastic. Now, I have the difficulty of going back to read all 28 of the previous books before the next one comes out! Lions and Tigers and Wolves... oh my!

The Breeds series is based on the overall theme of a government experiment gone wrong. The combination of animal DNA with human embryo's has created an entirely new species, with many different breeds, Lions, coyotes, wolves etc. trapped within a human body. Believing the project to be flawed the very people who created them begin to experiment further, to imprison and kill many of the breeds they have created. Many have escaped and have started to build lives for themselves among the human population, but they are still hunted. I absolutely fell in love with the whole concept. Leigh certainly has an amazing imagination and she really seems to understand how this world needs to work to make readers interested in it.

Rule Breaker is the 29th book in the series and many would think that means it probably on the end of a declining series. I don't think so. Even though this is my first book in the series, I could tell that Leigh has a lot more in store for this series. Rule Breaker obviously ties up some loose ends from previous books, but it also asks new questions and that will take the series in a new direction from this book. I liked the fact that even though I was coming into the series way late in the game, I was still able to follow exactly what was going on. There were a lot of characters that obviously came from previous books, but I didn't feel like I was missing anything essential. I was able to see who they were and even see some of the motivations that drove them. I liked the mysteriousness of some characters that existed in this book and the openness of others. 

Rule Breaker was quite an alpha male even for a breed. His lion was fierce and protective and even a bit deceitful to his own ends. Rule was forced along with his brother Lawe to see their mother killed because of her mate and he refuses to think he would put a woman in that position. He tries to prevent finding his mate in every way possible. If he thinks it might be mating heat he runs, he doesn't take cases involving women, he essentially cuts himself off from anyone that might trigger his mating instincts which are so incredibly strong in breeds that they are unable to stay apart. But his lion has other ideas.

Nine years ago Rule Breaker assisted in the prevention of a rape that left a valued college dead and his sister completely destroyed by guilt and self-recrimination. Gypsy was totally devastated by death of her brother and believes his death to be her fault. Not only does she have to deal with that, but her parents blame her as well. She lives a life of danger by working undercover as a party girl to gain information for the Uknown, a group who supposedly has the best interests of breeds at heart, but who work outside the lines. Gypsy is embroiled in a deadly game of cat and mouse, but throughout her life she has been protected, sheltered, even though she didn't know it. 

I was completely engrossed in this story from the beginning. I loved the characters, the concept of the story, the world building, you name it. Gypsy was such a wonderful heroine. She had experienced so much pain and heartache in her life and I just couldn't help hurting for her and wishing she could make peace with her demons. I couldn't believe the way her parents treated her and Rule even has his moments of total stupidity where she is concerned, but he redeems himself eventually. I loved the way that the secondary characters had such a presence in the story and how important they were to it's resolution. I wanted to know more about them and felt drawn to finding out what was going on. If the 29th book in a series can affect me that way, it has to be good... really good. I can't wait to learn more about this intriguing world. 

What I didn't like:

There were a few moments where I got a little confused, but that was purely because I had not read the other books in the series. It didn't happen enough times that it bothered me or caused me to feel totally lost, but there were those moments. I would recommend that readers read the entire series, because I am positive there are things I would love to know about what happened in the past. But it isn't completely necessary. 

Bottom Line:

I liked everything about this book. It might have been late in the series, but it only whetted my appetite form more of this amazing series. The overall concept was intriguing and the characters were amazing. Lora Leigh will clearly become a favorite of mine. Read this book... it's that good!

Rule Breaker is available NOW from your favorite bookseller.

I'm giving this one 5 out of 5 apples from my book bag!

About the Author:

Lora Leigh is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the Breed novels, including Lawe’s Justice, Stygian’s Honor, and Navarro’s Promise. She is also the author of Nauti Enchantress, Nauti Temptress, and the Nauti Boys series which includes Nauti Deceptions, Nauti Intentions, and Nauti Dreams.

Giveaway Details:

The publisher is sponsoring a giveaway for one copy of Rule Breaker by Lora Leigh.

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~ The deadline to enter this giveaway is Midnight EST, March 12th.

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