Review: Leopard’s Fury by Christine Feehan

Series: Leopard People, #9
Paranormal Romance
Released: November 8, 2016
Mass Market Paperbacks

Reviewed by Sheena

A ruthless criminal unleashes his most feral desires in the new Leopard novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Wild Cat.

Passion melts the will of an ice-cold criminal when he meets the one woman who can tame the beast inside him.

Favorite Quote: “Now please do as I ask so I am not forced to terrify you before I make it all better.”

I typically shy away from jumping into a series that more than a few books deep.  Primarily because too much is lost in translation, too much history that is taken for granted and coming to the party 9 books late is a gamble.  Lucky for me, interest was piqued from the blurb and I didn’t realize it was the 9th novel until I sat down to review it and needed to collect author and series information.  Leopard’s Fury was a hit for me.  It rang all of my bells.  Alpha Big Bad Cat shifter, Alonzo is a formidable hero.  Dominating his every environment, but battling his cat’s aggression at every turn, he finally finds solace when he happens upon heroine, Evangeline, in her bakery.

History has proven that whenever a heroine is a baker or bakery owner, I am bound to loooove her- and Evangeline was no different.  A survivor of a traumatic childhood where she was basically raised on scraps and loneliness, Evangeline escapes the bitterness of her past and has carved out a nice life for herself.  She is independent and sassy. Strong without an element of obstinate behavior that usually turns me way off.  Evangeline is a heroine that you can’t help but root for.  I was so proud of her accomplishments, prior to mating that I didn’t want her to just roll over and change her life for her man- he earned everything she had and I loved seeing her pride and determination to succeed despite her humble beginnings.

After realizing that Evangeline is the one person whose presence soothes him, he visits her shop often. She can’t help but notice the quiet, watchful man who visits her several times a week.  Evangeline dubs him, her IceMan.  Cold, watchful….dangerous and gorgeous, she too begins to feel the stirrings of her own feline that has long gone unnoticed.  Alonzo is not your average alpha cat – he also leads a dangerous life as a crime boss and death and danger are always on his heels.  No way can he do what he wants most- take the lovely Evangeline for his own, a move that would sate his leopard and balance his life but that would also upend hers, making her an instant target for his enemies.  He is fearsome, but a sense of honor holds him back from dragging her into his vicious world- too bad Evangeline had to go and make him snap.

He was bringing an inexperienced woman into his nightmare world.  No decent man wanted to tie a woman to him when he knew the kind of life she would be facing and he’d tried to stay away. He’d tried to be content with just keeping his cat sane.  But she’d kissed him.  He wasn’t decent, and she kissed him.  There was no getting rid of the taste of her in his mouth.  The feel of her body against his.  There was no stopping his cat from rising to claim what belonged to him…

They both, man and leopard recognized her.  She was the real thing.  Theirs.  She belonged exclusively to them.  And they were never giving her up.

….

Evangeline drew in great gulps of air, trying to get her lungs to work properly again.  She couldn’t think when she was panicked.  Alonzo could tie her to him in so many ways, but the worst would be sexually…This was her worst nightmare.  A lair.  A dangerous, killing leopard.  Her female in heat causing her to be…she wouldn’t be able to use her brain.  Her body would be on fire and so hungry for him she wouldn’t be able to think.

No way was she going to get caught up in Alonzo’s world. Se would be vulnerable…he’d walk all over her.  She’d be back in a world of deceit and violence.  Not happening.

Spoiler alert- totally happening!

I really enjoy paranormal, shifter romance.  Of late, the shifter aspect is more of a novelty to sell to niche readers like myself.  I gave author, Christine Feehan, major kudos for actually going another layer deep and making their shifter DNA more than sparks of light as they poof from one form to the other.  Being a leopard means something more than a bossy, cocky attitude there are biological imperatives that are discussed and I really got an animalistic vibe from this novel that I found very refreshing.

“When your leopard really begins to rise, and my male says she’s close, what we do together is going to be intense and maybe a little scary and shocking.  I’m going to take you very way a man can take his woman.  I’m a rough man, but I’ll make certain you love it, every single time, no matter what we do. You have to learn to be comfortable with me and to trust me.

She shivered.  His touch was very possessive, his words even more so.  She couldn’t look away from his face, although he was looking down at her body.

“Are you going to give that to me, woman?  Everything that I ask for?”  He kissed his way down her throat, stopping to suckle gently and then shockingly, use the edge of his teeth…

Leopard’s Fury is a fast paced and action packed novel.  There are a host of supporting characters that must be past couples from earlier series, and I found them comical and interesting.  The primary issue I had with the novel is there was a thread of repetitiveness. I do not know if this was missed in editing, but I swear several chapters could have been combined for as similar as they were regarding the events that transpired. It could be that there was some padding going on, personally, I prefer a shorter book than to have the same thoughts and character occurrences happen over and over. My favorite plot development- though she is a lady and abhors violence, Evangeline is nevertheless a shifter and has considerable strength on her own that is set on display in spectacular fashion toward the climax where she has an opportunity to be the rescuer!  Girl power!

It is ambitious to commit to reading all eight predecessors, and I likely won’t but I am interested in seeing some of what I’ve been missing out on.

Grade: B

Previous Author Reviews: Leopards Prey, Earth Bound, Fire Bound
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