DNF 40%.

*sigh* the past couple of days i have been on the hunt for more PNR authors to read, and have found nothing but disappointment.

so, this one... the hero almost makes me want to keep reading. however, the heroine is out-of-this-world annoying.
she is the worst kind of journalist. she only cares about getting a story to publish and not about how she affects the people she stalks. she is asked to leave by the hero probably a dozen times in the first ~20% and she reacts by basically begging him to fuck her, like take a fucking hint??

i thought this series would be a bit like laurann dohner's new species series but the heroine keeps calling the hero mean names that reference how he was created, even though she knows his life has been a living hell because he'd been an experiment in a lab for years. why does she think it's okay to ridicule him for that ? in the new species series that would result in her getting banned from ever talking to another one of their kind, and probably some other sort of legal retaliation.
the last straw, though? what made me stop reading? when she tells him he's just as bad as the people HUNTING HIM because he retaliates against them. oh, fucking spare me.

I decided to try an different series and I'm glad I did. I liked this story, although it was a bit too saucy for my tastes. I'm not sure if I'll go on though.

This is much more erotic than I normally read, but that seems to be a theme of late, due to several recommendations from friends.
That being said, I did enjoy the story. The thought of the government making new "breeds" by messing with DNA coding was intriguing. And in addition to the HOT romance between Callan and Merinus, you just get an overwhelming sympathy for the people who've had these experiments and testing done to them. I'm curious to read the rest.

if this had been the first book i'd read in the series I probably would not have continued. Because of the nature of the world building most of the stories have line walking when it comes to creepy rapey bits. This one does not walk the line very well at all.

I usually don't read erotica, but I was curious. I liked the general plot and I'm curious to know what happens next. I also liked the explanation given for all the sex scenes, which weren't random but justified (although a bit too many, if you ask me). I didn't like the lexicon used too much, but that's a personal taste of mine. I prefer other words when describing the sex act.
All in all, I'm curious to read the next one and see if this is a strictly erotica series or if it will have some development plot wise :)

I read the dumbest free books...

Doing a reread of this series over the summer.

Housewife porn. The basis of the story could lead to some pretty interesting situations so I will see where this goes.

So obviously this is erotica, and I realize erotica is pretty subjective and hard to grade. But to me, this was just bad.

The premise was actually somewhat promising. Callan is one of several genetically manipulated humans--he has lion DNA in his genome--who are all part of some top secret highly unethical experiment. Merinus is a journalist who is eager to expose what was done to Callan and his fellow "Breeds", and requires his cooperation. They meet, sparks fly in a big way, and we find out that they have some sort of intense biological connection. As in, they are in heat and absolutely must have sex, lots of sex, or they suffer painful consequences.

I may have actually been able to ignore the very contrived nature of the plot and all the hokey science fiction, had the characters been likeable. But they are not. Merinus is the worst--she is absolutely too stupid to live. She's understandably upset at being forced into a sexual relationship with Callan. But she uses it as an excuse for the stupidest decisions possible. She gets mad and blames him, though it's not his fault. She lashes out at those trying to help her. She runs away. She gets angry at Callan for killing rapists who would have killed him. She insists that she's tough and un-girly, but her toughest action in her moment of desperation is to call her big brother for help. And Callan isn't much better. He instantly falls into the overly possessive caveman routine so common to this sub-genre of romance. He's arrogant and sexist. While he says he admires Merinus' tough act, he continuously says things along the lines of "her brothers should have trained her better" and other things that demonstrate an utter lack of respect. This is all justified by saying that it's his nature, he can't help it, this is how all men would be were it not for that pesky feminism keeping them in check.

As stated above the plot is contrived entirely to get the main couple to boink a lot. In erotica, that's to be expected. I know a lot of women like the whole fated mate concept--you see it in Christine Feehan, J.R Ward, Kresley Cole, and Eileen Wilks. I don't have a problem with it if it's handled well. By that I mean, if it isn't used as a substitute for real emotional relationship building and depth of feeling that is only gained with time. Well, this book doesn't have much relationship building outside of the sex, so that was a problem for me.

Also, the plot is kind of...gross. There's a doctor and several assistants helping to figure out what's going on with Callan and Merinus. And the research process involves a lot of swabbing and sample taking before and after they have sex. And the doctor comes up with some kind of birth control, but just as soon figures out that it probably won't work long term. This medical/science drama really took me out of the sexy moments and were just plain creepy.

I was told by people who have gone ahead and read this entire series that this isn't the best book to judge by. I may attempt book two at some point to see if it improves, but probably not soon. I'm giving this book 1.5 stars.