With a name like Sara Beth Reynard, it's not hard to guess that this tale's heroine is a lively were-fox. When we meet her, she's annoyed that some mixed human-fox DNA has been analysed and the story of her clan's existence revealed. SECRET PASSIONS is the fifth in a series called Forbidden Passions but I was reading this as a standalone, lured by the prospect of a different variety of shapechanger.
Sara Beth runs the residential side of the family construction firm and some of the guys on the crew are werewolves. That's all that saves her when a strange man tries to seize her and stuns her with a tranquiliser dart. The guys chase him off and bring her to her father and the werewolf clan alpha. To keep her safe, these two decide to send the girl to stay with the were-eagles. Patrick Aquila is in charge of the guards and he takes protecting Sara Beth seriously. He'd love to get to know her better, but her safety comes first.
The fox is attuned to home and hearth, while the eagle protecting her is lofty and flamboyant. Thrown together, their mating instinct surfaces, but Sara Beth is concerned that a fox and eagle are temperamentally unsuited and Patrick will get tired of her and move on. I was amused by werecreatures using a facial recognition program, while we are told that wereleopards and werewolves have only recently made peace. Meanwhile a game hunter is stalking the recently revealed shifters, considering them animals for the shooting.
Anyone keen on earthy shifter stories should find this tale exciting, and there are plenty of hot adult scenes and occasional strong language, so definitely one for grown- ups. I particularly enjoyed the characterisation of the various were-beasts while the notion of the game hunter trying to hunt the shifters down, upsetting in itself, did follow logically and made a plausible danger. Loribelle Hunt has made a good job of bringing her characters to life in SECRET PASSIONS and I would be interested in reading the others in this series. Werewolf stories abound, but I really took to this foxy lady.
How do you claim the heart of a fox? Tempt her into giving
it up.
Forbidden Passions, Book 5
Though Sara Beth Reynard shuns the spotlight, her sensual
animal nature always draws unwanted attention. On the rare
occasions she leaves fox territory to supervise a
construction project, humans are her number one hassle.
When the discovery of human/animal DNA makes her a sleazy
tabloidβs lead story, Sara finds the whole thing laughable.
Right up until some goon attempts to kidnap her. Worse, her
alpha sends her to the wereeagles, clan of her childhood
nemesis, for help.
Patrick Aquila takes one look at the grown-up version of
βFoxyβ, and wants to peel away all her layers of uptight and
proper. His attempt to show her a night of lighthearted fun
turns into an off-the-charts explosion of passion. But
romance among weres is never that simple.
Patrick is in a race against time to convince Sara Beth they
belong together, and find the snitch who is feeding
information to not just one stalker, but two. The reporter
who wants to hang her out to dry, and a hunter who wants to
hand her over to her worst nightmare.
Warning: A reluctant fox, a sexy alpha eagle willing to pull
every erotic trick in the book to keep her, and an obsessed
big game hunter.
No excerpt available.
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