Saturday, March 7, 2009

Review: Primal Heat (anthology) by Lora Leigh, Sherri L. King, Lorie O'Clare, Jaci Burton

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Title: Primal Heat
Series: Breeds, Moon Lust, Lunewulf, Devlin Dynasty
Author: Lora Leigh, Sherri L. King, Lorie O'Clare, Jaci Burton
Read copy: Paperback
Published: May 15, 2004
Publisher: Ellora's Cave
ISBN: 1843607409
ISBN-13: 9781843607403

Moonlust By Sherri L King
During Brianna's trip to the Ural Mountains of Russia, a life-threatening accident places her at the mercy of a strange, reclusive man. A man whose secrets and unquenchable hunger will change her life forever...

Pack Law By Lorie O'Clare
Pack law states every female shall have three mates. It's a necessary action in order to keep the lunewulf breed alive. Sophie Rousseau has just learned who her three mates will be. And one of them is the sexy Nik Alexander who has invaded her dreams since high school. Though Sophie's nervous about fulfilling pack law, she can't wait to mate with Nik. Nik has lusted after Sophie, wanted her for his mate and mother of his children. He gets his way, but by pack law, Sophie cannot be his alone. Nik will share her with two other werewolves. But only on his terms.

Running Mate By Jaci Burton
Senator Jason Devlin is a man with a secret. A big one that could ruin his political career and his family. He guards his secret closely, allowing no outsiders to penetrate his intimate circle. Kelsey Harper is a reporter itching for an interview with the elusive senator. When a case of mistaken identity lands her in his bed, she gets much more than an interview.

Wolfe's Hope By Lora Leigh
Hope believed Wolfe was dead, but he was only waiting for the right time to claim her. He is a man whose DNA was altered, infused with the genetic code of the wolf. His unique genetic makeup has created a male unlike any other and will make itself known in the most surprising ways. Now Hope must convince her mate she hasn't betrayed him, and they must defeat the plans of a scientist gone mad.

My rating:

Ugh.

Judging by Lora Leigh's contribution (for her Breed series) I would never have thought this anthology could be bad, but I stood corrected yesterday when I read the other three stories and remained stock still in my comfy chair, staring at the pages with a disgusted/confused frown on my face.

Let's start at the beginning.

Sherri L. King's Moon Lust was amateurish in tone, style, and use of the language. The end result: the story was so boring and "frigid" I couldn't wait for it to end.

Lorie O'Clare's Pack Law was the absolute worst in the bunch, and I dare say the absolute worst novella I've read so far. The premise had so much potential, yet the author turned all those little conflict-makers into a crazed sex fest, obliterating a solid "fact" of werewolf culture...Or is it just the male wolves that mate for life - with ONE partner - leaving the promiscuity to the females?
Also the language, though probably used "in context", came off so degrading to women, I merely skimmed through the rest of the story.

Jaci Burton's contribution, Running Mate was a nice reprieve from the first two novellas. It was cute in its own funky kind of way, and I wished it was longer. I would've loved to explore it a little further, maybe polishing the rather abrupt ending.
The scene in the clearing was a bit too much, though, if you ask me. It brought a huge kink in the stride of an otherwise good story.

Once again, it is Judging by Lora Leigh's Wolfe's Hope that shines the most. I loved it. Yes, it was short, too short in fact, and seriously lacking in story, but still I loved it. This hot, hot, hot novella provided a great distraction, and though I'm not really partial to the EC excuses for stories, the amount of sex and almost invisible story didn't bother me. It was more an itch scratching, not providing any real insight into the leading couple, except they had the hots for each other, but I wasn't that interested in them.


The anthology as a whole is, unfortunately, an (almost) complete waste of paper and reading time. Though it's fifty-fifty in good and awful, the four stories are far from gems you absolutely have to read.

I wouldn't recommend this book, not even to the "Breed followers", since the Breed novella doesn't provide any real insight and any new developments on that front. It's a mere interlude, one that we all can do quite well without.

So, definitely not a recommended read.

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