Soul Deep (2004)

Soul Deep
3.5 Stars

Synopsis:
Kiowa is a coyote breed, one of the allegedly soulless animals bred to keep the other breeds under control. Raised outside the confines of the labs, Kiowa is currently assigned to protect Amanda Marion, the President’s daughter. When Amanda is almost abducted by genetic purists, Kiowa wants nothing more than to be rid of her but Mother Nature has other ideas and Kiowa and Amanda soon find themselves facing more than just the dangers of race supremacists.

Review: A short but compelling addition to the series. I particularly appreciated the additional information provided about the Breeds that is provided at the beginning and end of the book in the form of newspaper articles – a very clever technique.

Even though the plot is virtually non-existent and what there is feels exceedingly contrived, the characterization is exceptional. Amanda and Kiowa are the first couple in the series to be complete strangers and it was interesting to see the Breeds from the perspective of someone who knows absolutely nothing about them. The story of Kiowa's childhood is heart-wrenching and explains so much about his tortured nature. Despite the emotional barrenness of his upbringing, Kiowa has not become a merciless monster but has honor, loyalty and courage. Amanda is also a likeable character and her struggles against being dominated are completely understandable given the circumstances.

There is one aspect of this story and the previous one that does not appeal to me and that is the inclusion of the supernatural element surrounding Cassie’s “fairy”. While the idea of genetically engineered human/animal hybrids may be futuristic, it is not completely outside the realm of scientific progress. In contrast, the “fairy” is a completely paranormal notion and is inconsistent with the world Leigh has established.

Readers should also be aware of the fact that the sex scenes are quite explicit and while it does not quite enter the realm of BDSM it is kinky at times. Thus, it may not be to everyone’s taste.

Overall, this is worth reading for the characters and I understand that the plots do improve in later books. ( )

Loved Kiowa. This was very steamy (pull out a fan), had an interesting plot, and good characters. Just the right length too! ( )

Loved Kiowa. This was very steamy (pull out a fan), had an interesting plot, and good characters. Just the right length too! ( )

Soul Deep may not be a general fan favorite in The Breeds series, but it certainly ended up being one of my favorite books so far. In a series that has generally been riddled with plot holes, this character driven story was a welcome change of pace. The editing was also better than in previous books, primarily consisting of just typos with only one continuity error that I found, which made for a much more pleasant reading experience. There may not have been as much action or overall advancement of The Breeds story arc, but I really enjoyed getting to know Kiowa and Amanda.

Kiowa was a very tortured and lonely hero, perhaps even more so than any of the other Breed males to date. The felines at least had each other, and Dash, although something of a loner too, had found a place for himself in the military and had some friends. Kiowa is also a Coyote, the most reviled Breed species, because they were bred to be the jailors and tormentors of the other Breeds. He didn't grow up in the labs which in some ways was a blessing, but he was still treated with contempt by a grandfather who hated him and basically left him to fend for himself in an isolated mountain cabin. Kiowa has never known the love of family or any human being for that matter, but he grew up longing to experience those things. Constant disappointment trained him to bury those dreams deep inside, right alongside the pain of rejection, so he can seem a little cold and emotionless at times. However, I always saw through the stoic facade to the hurt little boy inside, and viewed him as more of the quiet, brooding type. Kiowa is definitely an alpha (does Lora Leigh ever write anything else?;-)), but a bit less intense than most of her other heroes I've read so far. Even in his more dominating moments, he seemed to have a tender, gentle side that I loved, and he was even willing to let Amanda go when he thought that was what she wanted. I even liked that Amanda didn't think of Kiowa as particularly handsome, much less gorgeous. Average looking romance heroes are hard to find. While I realize this might be off-putting to some readers, I found it to be a refreshing change. Overall, Kiowa was a surprisingly well-developed character to be found in a Lora Leigh novel, especially one this short.

Amanda is the president's daughter and a teacher who of course, loves kids. She is a kind, considerate woman who gets swept up and unexpectedly thrown into a situation that is totally foreign to her. Although she knows about the Breeds, she certainly didn't think she'd ever be mated to one, much less have to suffer through an excruciating mating heat. Even though Amanda is a virgin, she's always known through reading and personal experimentation that she has some “kinks,” but in spite of Kiowa being the embodiment of all her sexual fantasies, she is understandably upset about having her plans for the future disrupted. Everything happens so quickly that Amanda also has a lot of doubts about whether her feelings for Kiowa are real or just fueled by lust. I liked that she too was not as intense as Lora Leigh's typical heroines, but she did still have her moments. If I had one quibble with Amanda, it would be her lack of intuitiveness about Kiowa's feelings. For someone who was so nurturing toward others, I thought she could have tried a little harder to get Kiowa to open up to her about the past and what was bothering him. Instead she kind of went off half-cocked, first trying to run away from him in what I would call a TSTL moment and then just simply made threats, which I think only served to make him feel more unworthy. In spite of that, she was a pretty good heroine who did eventually come around, and she was brave to go through the terrible pain of the tests for the betterment of all Breeds. I just wish she had been a little more understanding.

As a couple, I thought that Kiowa and Amanda worked well together. Usually not being a fan of instant meeting and mating, I was rather surprised to feel some pretty deep emotions emanating from the pages of this novel very early on. One thing that might have helped those feeling along was less bickering between the hero and heroine (another Lora Leigh trademark, and something that in the large doses she tends to be fond of, isn't romantic to me at all). Although Kiowa and Amanda did argue, their first disagreements made perfect sense and didn't just feel like alpha posturing as it has in the other books of the series. I'll admit that it did begin to wear a little thin by the end and could have easily been solved with better communication, but overall it wasn't nearly as bothersome as it could have been. Their connection was also helped by some blistering hot love scenes (Lora Leigh's best trademark, IMHO;-)) which probably occupy at least half of the pages in the story. I was a little bothered by the beginning of their first encounter, because it initially felt a little like forced seduction. However, once I quickly realized that it was the biological mating frenzy taking over and neither one of them had much of a choice in the matter, I was totally on board. The only other thing that was a teensy bit troubling were some ropes and a knife. I like a little BDSM action in my erotic romances from time to time, but I couldn't stop thinking about rope burns, and the knife was just a little too scary, so not quite my cup of tea. Otherwise, the love scenes were totally scrumptious and for someone who was supposed to be cold and uncaring, I thought Kiowa was a very gentle, skillful, and considerate lover who set the pages on fire.

A large part of Soul Deep takes place inside the Breed compound, so there are Breed sightings galore and we get a few status updates on couples from previous books. Of course, Callan and Merinus (Tempting the Beast) are there, along with Taber (The Man Within), Kane (Kiss of Heat), Dawn (Dawn's Awakening), and Tanner (Tanner's Scheme). Mercury (Mercury's War) and Cabal (Bengal's Heart) are also mentioned but have no lines. Dash (Elizabeth's Wolf) is the one who recruited Kiowa to protect Amanda, so he plays a significant role, and his mate, Elizabeth, and daughter, Cassie have bit parts too. Also putting in another appearance is Dash's mysterious friend, Simon and one of his “girls,” Stephanie.

Soul Deep is book #5 in The Breeds series. Other than my few minor quibbles, I really enjoyed this story, and am pleased to say that it has earned a spot on my keeper shelf. After a less than satisfying experience with the last book, Soul Deep has helped to put the series back on track for me, and I now look forward, once again, to continuing with it soon.

Note: This book contains explicit language and sexual situations including some BDSM elements (bondage, spanking, biting) and anal sex which some readers may find offensive. ( )

not the best of the series read the others first ( )