Leopard's Run (A Leopard Novel)
by Christine Feehan
November 6, 2018
432 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Timur Amurov has one purpose in life: protect his family at all costs. With lethal skills honed from a violent upbringing, Timur is a leopard shifter who sees any newcomers as possible threats--and the petite blond barista who his sister-in-law, Evangeline, has hired to work in her bakery is definitely hiding something. While Timur still needs to determine if Ashe is an enemy, he does know that she is the only woman whose presence has ever truly calmed the beast roaring inside of him.
Ashe Bronte is well aware she has a type: sexy, gorgeous and dangerous as hell. Despite the fact that Timur is all those things and more, Ashe is in San Antonio for reasons that do not involve getting wild with a ruthless leopard--and she cannot afford to make any mistakes. But Timur has ignited something deep within her, and even though she knows she should keep her distance, every move he makes has her craving a taste...
Timur is completely alpha and also a feline shifter. He isn't all that trusting so when the new girl starts working at his sister in laws bakery, he's sure she's hiding something but just as sure that he's got to get closer to her since his leopard finds her oddly calming.
Ashe is hiding something and is in this town for a reason. A reason that doesn't involve the hot guy that she can't help but lust after. She's in trouble and running from people who are coming after her.
Timur's leopard was crazy violent, he wanted to kill everyone and hated humans. Timur had been raised by a violent father and so his leopard had been too which made the leopard a lethal, vicious killing machine. It roared, clawed and made Timur crazy always trying to get out to kill again. But when he was around Ashe, the leopard went quiet and calmed down.
Ashe ran from her life because she's in a lot of trouble and figured Timur's brother was some sort of mafia boss and if the trouble ended up at his door step he would just take care of it and she could get on with her life. What she didn't expect was to find her true mate and for them all to end up being in some serious danger.
While I read this book, I thought of that old saying about how nothing can hurt you more than family can. That is a reality in this book. Some family members just can't leave well enough alone, and while they're determined to make them pay for their defiance, I just wanted someone to mail and bomb to them and hope it took them out. While the players in this book are sort of like mafia, they're also loving people who don't deserve the hell that was brought down on them starting when they were just kids.
Ashe and Timur fall hard and fast for one another and that's all fine and good but when hell is raining down on you from all sides, it's hard to make time or find a safe place to get naughty but they do and it was so hot! There was a lot of fighting and action in this book, it was definitely a bloody good time. But when you have a romance about a leopard shifter mob boss and his family, I guess you have to expect that.
I give this book 5 out of 5 sheep!
November 6, 2018
432 pages
Publisher: Berkley
Timur Amurov has one purpose in life: protect his family at all costs. With lethal skills honed from a violent upbringing, Timur is a leopard shifter who sees any newcomers as possible threats--and the petite blond barista who his sister-in-law, Evangeline, has hired to work in her bakery is definitely hiding something. While Timur still needs to determine if Ashe is an enemy, he does know that she is the only woman whose presence has ever truly calmed the beast roaring inside of him.
Ashe Bronte is well aware she has a type: sexy, gorgeous and dangerous as hell. Despite the fact that Timur is all those things and more, Ashe is in San Antonio for reasons that do not involve getting wild with a ruthless leopard--and she cannot afford to make any mistakes. But Timur has ignited something deep within her, and even though she knows she should keep her distance, every move he makes has her craving a taste...
Timur is completely alpha and also a feline shifter. He isn't all that trusting so when the new girl starts working at his sister in laws bakery, he's sure she's hiding something but just as sure that he's got to get closer to her since his leopard finds her oddly calming.
Ashe is hiding something and is in this town for a reason. A reason that doesn't involve the hot guy that she can't help but lust after. She's in trouble and running from people who are coming after her.
Timur's leopard was crazy violent, he wanted to kill everyone and hated humans. Timur had been raised by a violent father and so his leopard had been too which made the leopard a lethal, vicious killing machine. It roared, clawed and made Timur crazy always trying to get out to kill again. But when he was around Ashe, the leopard went quiet and calmed down.
Ashe ran from her life because she's in a lot of trouble and figured Timur's brother was some sort of mafia boss and if the trouble ended up at his door step he would just take care of it and she could get on with her life. What she didn't expect was to find her true mate and for them all to end up being in some serious danger.
While I read this book, I thought of that old saying about how nothing can hurt you more than family can. That is a reality in this book. Some family members just can't leave well enough alone, and while they're determined to make them pay for their defiance, I just wanted someone to mail and bomb to them and hope it took them out. While the players in this book are sort of like mafia, they're also loving people who don't deserve the hell that was brought down on them starting when they were just kids.
Ashe and Timur fall hard and fast for one another and that's all fine and good but when hell is raining down on you from all sides, it's hard to make time or find a safe place to get naughty but they do and it was so hot! There was a lot of fighting and action in this book, it was definitely a bloody good time. But when you have a romance about a leopard shifter mob boss and his family, I guess you have to expect that.
I give this book 5 out of 5 sheep!
Mary Kirkland
Dark Thoughts Blog
Dark Thoughts Blog
Excerpt from LEOPARD’S RUN by Christine Feehan
“I don’t sleep in the nude.” She gave him the information in her snippiest voice and forked another bite of his delicious concoction into her mouth. Spices burst on her tongue. It tasted good. She wondered what he would taste like. His skin. His mouth. He had a gorgeous mouth. She risked a look. She could fantasize over that mouth all day.
“That’s going to change.”
“What’s going to change?” she asked absently, wishing he was nude and she could memorize his body with her tongue.
“Sleeping with clothes. I want you naked when you’re sleeping with me.”
He stated it so quietly, so perfectly matter-of-factly, that for a moment his declaration didn’t register. She stared at him, her lashes fluttering because she couldn’t quite believe her ears. Had he just said what she thought he had? She stole another look at his hard features. Yeah, he’d just said it.
“That isn’t happening, although, I must say, the coffee was very welcome and this egg dish is amazing. But still, with regret, I have to decline your invitation.” She forked more eggs into her mouth and feigned being calm while she chewed.
Who would pass up a chance to sleep with him? What kind of idiot was she? She was never going to have this kind of chemistry with another man. He didn’t have to touch her, he just looked at her with that mixture of detachment and dark, dark desire. The kind of desire that set a woman’s body on fire. She kept her eyes on his, not daring to look away.
A very slow smile barely curved his bottom lip, as if he didn’t really know how to smile. His eyes remained as cold as ice. All that glacier blue. She could get trapped there if she wasn’t careful. The need to see that ice melt was becoming far too strong in her, and gaining more momentum with each passing second they were together.
“It’s happening.”
His voice was low. A caress. The sound stroked over her skin like a velvet rub. She resisted the urge to squirm—to rub her thighs together. To scratch the itch that was beginning to throb between her legs. It was the best morning she’d ever had.
“Why would you think that?”
“Because I want you with every breath I take, and I always get what I want.”
That was beautiful. Perfect. So what she needed to hear. She sighed with regret. “Not this time. I absolutely am not going to risk going to bed with you. You’re not a man who has relationships. You’re the kind of man who leaves. Fast. Do you even bother to buy a woman a meal, before or after?”
Keeping his eyes on hers, he shook his head slowly. A shiver of desire spiraled through her body. Why did she find him so sexy? Why was she so turned on, craving him like the worst possible drug?
“So, we’re going to have sex, you’re going to leave and I can get on with my life?” There was far too much speculation in her voice, because she might be able to handle that.
“I didn’t say that.”
“Well, say it,” she challenged him. Maybe she was challenging herself. Would she take the chance? She didn’t have an answer for that yet.
He took another sip of coffee and then set the mug on the table. He leaned back in his chair, sprawling out, long legs spread out in front of him. He looked lazy and yet in complete control. Bastard. She was a mess. The least he could do was be a mess as well.
Posted by arrangement with Berkley, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © Christine Feehan, 2018.
“I don’t sleep in the nude.” She gave him the information in her snippiest voice and forked another bite of his delicious concoction into her mouth. Spices burst on her tongue. It tasted good. She wondered what he would taste like. His skin. His mouth. He had a gorgeous mouth. She risked a look. She could fantasize over that mouth all day.
“That’s going to change.”
“What’s going to change?” she asked absently, wishing he was nude and she could memorize his body with her tongue.
“Sleeping with clothes. I want you naked when you’re sleeping with me.”
He stated it so quietly, so perfectly matter-of-factly, that for a moment his declaration didn’t register. She stared at him, her lashes fluttering because she couldn’t quite believe her ears. Had he just said what she thought he had? She stole another look at his hard features. Yeah, he’d just said it.
“That isn’t happening, although, I must say, the coffee was very welcome and this egg dish is amazing. But still, with regret, I have to decline your invitation.” She forked more eggs into her mouth and feigned being calm while she chewed.
Who would pass up a chance to sleep with him? What kind of idiot was she? She was never going to have this kind of chemistry with another man. He didn’t have to touch her, he just looked at her with that mixture of detachment and dark, dark desire. The kind of desire that set a woman’s body on fire. She kept her eyes on his, not daring to look away.
A very slow smile barely curved his bottom lip, as if he didn’t really know how to smile. His eyes remained as cold as ice. All that glacier blue. She could get trapped there if she wasn’t careful. The need to see that ice melt was becoming far too strong in her, and gaining more momentum with each passing second they were together.
“It’s happening.”
His voice was low. A caress. The sound stroked over her skin like a velvet rub. She resisted the urge to squirm—to rub her thighs together. To scratch the itch that was beginning to throb between her legs. It was the best morning she’d ever had.
“Why would you think that?”
“Because I want you with every breath I take, and I always get what I want.”
That was beautiful. Perfect. So what she needed to hear. She sighed with regret. “Not this time. I absolutely am not going to risk going to bed with you. You’re not a man who has relationships. You’re the kind of man who leaves. Fast. Do you even bother to buy a woman a meal, before or after?”
Keeping his eyes on hers, he shook his head slowly. A shiver of desire spiraled through her body. Why did she find him so sexy? Why was she so turned on, craving him like the worst possible drug?
“So, we’re going to have sex, you’re going to leave and I can get on with my life?” There was far too much speculation in her voice, because she might be able to handle that.
“I didn’t say that.”
“Well, say it,” she challenged him. Maybe she was challenging herself. Would she take the chance? She didn’t have an answer for that yet.
He took another sip of coffee and then set the mug on the table. He leaned back in his chair, sprawling out, long legs spread out in front of him. He looked lazy and yet in complete control. Bastard. She was a mess. The least he could do was be a mess as well.
Posted by arrangement with Berkley, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, A Penguin Random House Company. Copyright © Christine Feehan, 2018.
About the Author:
I write every day and have done so since I was old enough to pick up a pen. (I spent a lot of time getting in trouble at school for writing instead of doing the things I was supposed to do.) Once I create my characters, I try very hard to have them react to situations as they really would. Sometimes I have preconceived ideas of what I would like them to do, but they don't mind me, because it would be out of character for them. They take on a life of their own. Sometimes when I throw difficult situations at them in the hopes I'll get a certain reaction and they don't do what I want, I complain bitterly to my husband and he laughs at me. Still, it is important to me to have them be real, not perfect people, so they make mistakes we lesser mortals might make.
I really do need to give Feehan a try. I am so glad that you liked this one as much as you did!
ReplyDeleteI hope you do give her a try. I love her books.
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