Lora Leigh
Author of Megan's Mark
About the Author
Lora Leigh was born in Ohio on March 6, 1971 She is the New York Times bestselling author of erotic romance novels. Her works include Killer Secrets, Maverick, Lion's Heat and Nauti Temptress. Her most popular series is entitled, The Breeds. She won the 2009 Romantic Times Award for erotica. show more (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Lora Leigh
Real Men Last All Night (Luring Lucy / Cooper's Fall / The Edge of Sin / Wanted: A Real Man) (2009) — Contributor — 208 copies, 5 reviews
Rugged Texas Cowboy: Two Stories in One: Cowboy and the Captive, Cowboy and the Thief (2017) 69 copies, 4 reviews
Barak's Bargain 24 copies
Yesterday (Short Story) 8 copies
Sinful Pleasure 6 copies
Breeds Series Collection: Bengal's Heart, Lion's Heat, Styx's Storm, Navarro's Promise (2011) 6 copies
Winged Sex (Breeds Short Story) 5 copies
Bound Hearts, Books 1-8 3 copies
Algernon’s Curse 2 copies
Nauti Kisses 2 copies
Hot Shot (Rogue Warrior, #1) 2 copies
Bengal 1 copy
Breed Series: 1 copy
Married in the Spring 1 copy
Embraced, Bound Hearts 6 1 copy
Erin's Kiss 1 copy
Time Share: Amelia’s Journey 1 copy
Shiloh Gets Spanked 1 copy
Megan's Mark 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1965-03-06
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- romance novelist
- Short biography
- Lora Leigh lives in the rolling hills of Kentucky, often found absorbing the ambience of this peaceful setting. She dreams in bright, vivid images of the characters intent on taking over her writing life, and fights a constant battle to put them on the hard drive of her computer before they can disappear as fast as they appeared. Lora’s family, and her writing life co-exist, if not in harmony, in relative peace with each other. Surrounded by a menagerie of pets, friends, and a teenage son who keeps her quick wit engaged, Lora’s life is filled with joys, aided by her fans whose hearts remind her daily why she writes.
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Ohio, USA
- Places of residence
- Martin County, Kentucky, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
This was an absolute whirlwind. Leigh masterfully blends steamy romance with gripping suspense, creating a heart-pounding and heartwarming story. The childhood connection between Poppy and Jack, forged through acts of heroism, evolves into a complex, adult relationship filled with longing and unresolved tension. Jack's return as a formidable ex-Navy SEAL to protect Poppy brings their past and present crashing together, with danger lurking at every turn. While the storyline echoes the show more intensity of an erotic romance, it stands out with its unique blend of suspense and deep emotional bonds. This book kept me on my seat, eagerly anticipating the next installment. show less
Whoever would've guessed I'd enjoy a book entitled The Magical Christmas Cat? But it did prove enjoyable---especially for an anthology I picked up only in order to read the Lora Leigh selection. I didn't get much out of Erin McCarthy's "Christmas Bree," as weird witch types with prejudices against and abnormal chemistry with normal lawyer types don't do much for me, but Linda Winstead Jones' "Sweet Dreams" was surprisingly spooky for a Christmas story, and Nalini Singh's sweet, heartwarming show more "Stroke of Enticement" sketched a world interesting enough that I just might pick up another one of her books. Overall, definitely worth the read. show less
Fundamentally, this book lacks consistency.
At first it seems to be about two strong alpha personalities and the sexual battle royale between them. Braden is a Breed - a genetically engineered blend of human and lion, battle trained, superhuman, but ruled by animal urges. Megan is a tough cop with extensive military training whose incredibly strong empathic powers prevent her from working in teams, or in large cities...forcing her to live and work as a lone wolf. The early action-packed show more sequences between the two are all about their powerful sexual attraction building through a contest of wills.
And then Megan turns into a fragile weakling and Braden takes on the role of a tutor or protector. After Megan fearlessly investigates a murder scene and twice fends off mysterious Breed assassins (killing a couple of them along the way) her character does a 180. We are expected to believe that actually, she can't continue the investigation because she is so averse to exposing herself to painful thoughts and emotions. Suddenly it's Braden's job to push her forward and encourage her and tell her she can do it, while Megan cowers in fear and whines shrilly about how crippling her empathic abilities are. Braden is going to protect her and teach her and deliver some tough love, while Megan resists and trembles and cringes her way through it.
Sexually, the contest of wills degenerates just as completely. Braden seems at all times totally sure of himself and his desires, a guy who's confident in the bedroom because experience has told him that he should be. Megan thinks that oral sex is really risque and whenever Braden brings up even minimally kinky sexual scenarious she calls him a pervert. She's clueless and naive. There's no contest at all, actually.
The thing is, long after it's screamingly obvious that Megan is a pretty weak and fragile sort of person, most characters in the book continue to act as though she's the tough, independent heroine she seemed to be in the beginning - Megan herself included. While she becomes weaker and more subservient by the page, everyone around her claims that she's a "warrior" or "impossible to subdue."
Braden seems to think he's imposing his will on Megan via his violent, dominent sexuality - but that's a hoax too. Mostly because Megan's resistence is a sham, but equally because Braden is so concerned about respecting her and encouraging her to be a free and independent woman. The brutal, dominating animal is mostly talk - deep down, he's a supportive partner, an idealized and bland mate of the 21st century.
MEGAN'S MARK is ultimately so confused, with so many glaring contractions between who its protagonists actually are and what they are supposed to be, that it's hard to enjoy. The positive elements of the book - like the gross yet hot sex hormone Braden secretes from a gland under his tongue - are lost in the wreckage. show less
At first it seems to be about two strong alpha personalities and the sexual battle royale between them. Braden is a Breed - a genetically engineered blend of human and lion, battle trained, superhuman, but ruled by animal urges. Megan is a tough cop with extensive military training whose incredibly strong empathic powers prevent her from working in teams, or in large cities...forcing her to live and work as a lone wolf. The early action-packed show more sequences between the two are all about their powerful sexual attraction building through a contest of wills.
And then Megan turns into a fragile weakling and Braden takes on the role of a tutor or protector. After Megan fearlessly investigates a murder scene and twice fends off mysterious Breed assassins (killing a couple of them along the way) her character does a 180. We are expected to believe that actually, she can't continue the investigation because she is so averse to exposing herself to painful thoughts and emotions. Suddenly it's Braden's job to push her forward and encourage her and tell her she can do it, while Megan cowers in fear and whines shrilly about how crippling her empathic abilities are. Braden is going to protect her and teach her and deliver some tough love, while Megan resists and trembles and cringes her way through it.
Sexually, the contest of wills degenerates just as completely. Braden seems at all times totally sure of himself and his desires, a guy who's confident in the bedroom because experience has told him that he should be. Megan thinks that oral sex is really risque and whenever Braden brings up even minimally kinky sexual scenarious she calls him a pervert. She's clueless and naive. There's no contest at all, actually.
The thing is, long after it's screamingly obvious that Megan is a pretty weak and fragile sort of person, most characters in the book continue to act as though she's the tough, independent heroine she seemed to be in the beginning - Megan herself included. While she becomes weaker and more subservient by the page, everyone around her claims that she's a "warrior" or "impossible to subdue."
Braden seems to think he's imposing his will on Megan via his violent, dominent sexuality - but that's a hoax too. Mostly because Megan's resistence is a sham, but equally because Braden is so concerned about respecting her and encouraging her to be a free and independent woman. The brutal, dominating animal is mostly talk - deep down, he's a supportive partner, an idealized and bland mate of the 21st century.
MEGAN'S MARK is ultimately so confused, with so many glaring contractions between who its protagonists actually are and what they are supposed to be, that it's hard to enjoy. The positive elements of the book - like the gross yet hot sex hormone Braden secretes from a gland under his tongue - are lost in the wreckage. show less
I say I like erotic romance, but now I wonder. I don't like Lauren Dane, Maya Banks or, apparently, Lora Leigh. My claim is looking kinda baseless. More research is in order.
Anyways, the book. Oh, the book.
Megan's Mark starts off well. Megan Fields is an empath working as a sheriff's deputy in the nice empty New Mexico desert. The blessed lack of people and action leaves her at peace, leaving her free from the overload of feeling other people's emotions.
When she checks on a SUV left in a show more washed out canyon, however, that quiet is gonzo.
Embroiled in a shoot-out after discovering the bullet-riddled vehicle contained two dead Breeds, Megan has to make a run for it with Braden Arness, a law enforcement agent of some sort, and a lion Breed. Someone's out to kill Megan, and Braden is the man assigned to keep her alive.
The world building relied on a bit more info dumping than I like. A few instances of POV from a lion Breed named Rothgar Bewcastle Jonas Wyatt provide long bursts of backstory on how the Breeds were forged of animal and human DNA in labs and treated inhumanely, long-winded descriptions of the Mating Heat, and so on. After each of these, I expected to see stardust, a rainbow and "The More You Know" emblazoned across my reader.
The first half of the book sets up the action plot. It's not quite suspense, as we know who the bad guy is. We know it's her father's friend, Senator Mac Cooley, and that he's got her surrounded. We're just waiting for Megan to learn how to control her empath abilities and figure out that Cooley's the bad guy.
All of a sudden, it's time for the sex plot. Have you seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail? You know that part of the climactic battle scene when it suddenly changes to the colorful screen that says INTERMISSION? The sex is like that. I kept humming that organ loop to myself while reading it.
The action just stops, and Tab A, Slot B sex commences for the bulk of the rest of the book. And, speaking of tabs:
Another common claim of mine, that I don't read for prose, might also be false. This took me days to read because the mechanical sex prose, coupled with some very purple metaphors, kept yanking me out of the book. One egregious example:
Then, as quckly as the Sex Phase began, it ended, and the action plot is wrapped up in a 10-15 page fury of action, leaving just enough dangling to seed a sequel. Um, WTF? WTB smooth transitions, PST.
I'm sad to say that I did not enjoy the book. I did enjoy the action sequences immensely in a Michael Bay things go A-SPLODE sort of way, but they weren't woven together well enough with the sexxoring to hold my interest. I have the next few books in the series, as I grabbed them all when they were free, so I may try the next one. As it stands, however, I did not like how she wrote the sex scenes, and they took up much of the book.
Note to Author: Vaginal lubrication is not opaque and white. Repeatedy calling it "cream" turned my stomach. Opaque and white means the girl's got an infection. Those do not make for sexy cunnilingus. Jus' sayin' is all. show less
Anyways, the book. Oh, the book.
Megan's Mark starts off well. Megan Fields is an empath working as a sheriff's deputy in the nice empty New Mexico desert. The blessed lack of people and action leaves her at peace, leaving her free from the overload of feeling other people's emotions.
When she checks on a SUV left in a show more washed out canyon, however, that quiet is gonzo.
Embroiled in a shoot-out after discovering the bullet-riddled vehicle contained two dead Breeds, Megan has to make a run for it with Braden Arness, a law enforcement agent of some sort, and a lion Breed. Someone's out to kill Megan, and Braden is the man assigned to keep her alive.
The world building relied on a bit more info dumping than I like. A few instances of POV from a lion Breed named Rothgar Bewcastle Jonas Wyatt provide long bursts of backstory on how the Breeds were forged of animal and human DNA in labs and treated inhumanely, long-winded descriptions of the Mating Heat, and so on. After each of these, I expected to see stardust, a rainbow and "The More You Know" emblazoned across my reader.
The first half of the book sets up the action plot. It's not quite suspense, as we know who the bad guy is. We know it's her father's friend, Senator Mac Cooley, and that he's got her surrounded. We're just waiting for Megan to learn how to control her empath abilities and figure out that Cooley's the bad guy.
All of a sudden, it's time for the sex plot. Have you seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail? You know that part of the climactic battle scene when it suddenly changes to the colorful screen that says INTERMISSION? The sex is like that. I kept humming that organ loop to myself while reading it.
The action just stops, and Tab A, Slot B sex commences for the bulk of the rest of the book. And, speaking of tabs:
Horror swept across his face as she felt the change. The swelling of the already thick crest, the extension reaching out, locking onto the back of the pulsing muscles that gripped him, feathering inside her, pressing firmly into a spot that sent sensation crashing through her mind.Penile barb, ladies and gentlemen, penile barb.
Another common claim of mine, that I don't read for prose, might also be false. This took me days to read because the mechanical sex prose, coupled with some very purple metaphors, kept yanking me out of the book. One egregious example:
His hand landed on her ass once again as she felt the fiery head of his cock breach the virgin portalThis lead me to create a new game for roadtrips: "Sex metaphor, or World of Warcraft quest?" Certainly "breach the virgin portal" sounds like something I did in the Caverns of Time.
Then, as quckly as the Sex Phase began, it ended, and the action plot is wrapped up in a 10-15 page fury of action, leaving just enough dangling to seed a sequel. Um, WTF? WTB smooth transitions, PST.
I'm sad to say that I did not enjoy the book. I did enjoy the action sequences immensely in a Michael Bay things go A-SPLODE sort of way, but they weren't woven together well enough with the sexxoring to hold my interest. I have the next few books in the series, as I grabbed them all when they were free, so I may try the next one. As it stands, however, I did not like how she wrote the sex scenes, and they took up much of the book.
Note to Author: Vaginal lubrication is not opaque and white. Repeatedy calling it "cream" turned my stomach. Opaque and white means the girl's got an infection. Those do not make for sexy cunnilingus. Jus' sayin' is all. show less
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- Works
- 185
- Also by
- 8
- Members
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- Popularity
- #585
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
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