This isn't hot, it's literally just misogynistic. There's a way to write these carachters that show him to be dominant, but this is just men being assohles and trying to figure out who can go the most neanderthal (when they're fully human). Also, characters change their wants and motives on a whim.

I decided to reread this series from the beginning as I ceased reading back in the day and wanted to start again afresh. I've been doing this a lot with older ones I've previously read. Seeing if I can recapture the magic and if I still feel the same about them as I once did. If I recall this series was first published by the now-obsolete Elloras Cave, so as you can imagine it's heavily ensconced in the erotica genre. Later books still were geared this way but I do feel the earlier ones before the publisher changed were much more so. Not that I'm complaining mind as this was the reason I initially picked it up. Well, that combined with the hybrid animal storyline as I was heavily in my human breeds era at the time.

This is the first book and it introduces us to the origins of the breeds. Our heroine Merinus is tasked along with her special ops brother Kane to attempt to persuade Callan Lyons to tell his story to the public. Her family want to expose the corrupt council and for Callon to come out of hiding and speak his truths. Merinus's task is to establish first contact with the secretive lion hybrid and Kane is the backup research. 

The bones of the story are intriguing and the potential for expansion huge. Being firmly in the erotica camp there's a hell of a lot of spice and descriptive language which is very detailed and this is as hot as Hades especially when these two go into heat. The pages sizzled with the intensity and the chemistry was explosive. The actual world expansion does take a bit of a back seat to all of this at least in this first book but it's still there and I enjoyed revisiting this series.

I'll be frank, book one isn't the strongest but I do remember this series only improving the further I read so I will be continuing on. This is mostly erotica with some additional world explanation but it's a definite good time and the subject matter is so interesting.

I liked both main characters and loved all the primal instincts and dominance battles. I'm now looking forward to rereading further and though this first book isn't my favourite it was still enjoyable and I know it's only on the up from here on out.