Sheep Book Review: Lair of the Lion by Christine Feehan

Lair of the Lion, by Christine Feehan, is a stand alone story. *in singsong voice* Tale as old as time...song as old as rhyme....bet you know the rest. Lair of the Lion is a new take on the old story of Beauty and the Beast, but as mentioned in the book description this version is much darker and a LOT steamier.

So let's try a new take shall we? I'd like to think it's more of a Lion Witch and Wardrobe saga. Lion= the dude, Witch= lady that cursed him, Wardrobe= for his sexy young Italian chick.

Lion dude: "Hey so uh, wanna check out my lair? Right this way. Don't mind the claws baby"

Italian chick: "Okay, btw I'm a total Virgin!"

Ha! Ok, that was totally for my enjoyment so on to the review!

Plot:

The Beast . . .
Rumor said the powerful Nicolai DeMarco could command the heavens, that the beasts below did his bidding . . . and that he was doomed to destroy the woman he took as wife. It was whispered he was not wholly human—as untamed as his tawny mane and slashing amber eyes.

The Beauty . . .

Impoverished aristocrat Isabella Vernaducci would defy death itself to rescue her imprisoned brother. She’d even brave the haunted, accursed lair of the lion—the menacing palace of legendary, lethal Don Nicolai DeMarco.

The Beast has lived in the DeMarco men since a curse cast long ago by a witch, and now the curse has passed on to our leading man. He's tall, dark, stealthily and the devil all wrapped into one. A leader and hero any lady will be willing to fall for, cursed or not the don has a lot going for him, plus it helps he's shacked up in the biggest castle around. Forced to find a way to save her older brother from imprisonment, Isabella rides day and night (and somehow this took two years) to the castle of the don to ask for his help in saving her bro.

The story picks up right away with some creepy things taking place in the cursed lands. As things move along more twists and turns are added fueling the overall mysterious plot-line. While I enjoyed this as a whole I would have liked a little more definition on why sometimes the don was seen as a beast and other times he's seen as the man he is. It's explained but more as a hand-wave to get us back to the action. Aside from that Isabella keeps being cast into every life or death situation you can image: kidnapping, trapped, attacked, drugged, stalked etc etc etc.

What I did like, and there is a bunch of likes, was the dialog between our main two. And especially Isabella's ability to embrace her new surroundings even while going up against some pretty awful scenarios. I could have used less fainting/crying and more cojones but overall it wasn't awful on the character's part. It's a great mix of romance and goth thriller, jealousy and betrayal all wrapped into one, it was definitely entertaining even with some small flaws here and there. THIS is why I read Christine's work, fun sexy and entertaining.

Overall this is a well written satisfying read coupled with a nice paranormal feel and heavy B&B influence, it's one for the adults to love. Kids, it's time for bed!

Getting 4 'will someone stop rattling those chains!' Sheep

KD