Primal Heat (Ellora's Cave Presents) [Paperback]

Primal Heat is a collection of some of the stories of the "Queens of Steam" of Ellora's Cave Romantica Publishing. Sinfully HOT, full of ALPHA MALES and STRONG FEMALES these werewolf stories will have you looking for your own howling male (or the nearest stash of fresh batteries)!

Moon Lust - Moonlust By Sherri L King (Book 1 in the MoonLust series)
Brianna takes a trip to the Ural Mountains of Russia to fulfill a promise to her dying uncle. After a bad fall, she is rescued and cared for by a strange, reclusive man. A friendship turns to something much hotter as the two are put together by the winter weather. But as his hunger for Brianna increases, she realizes he has a secret...
Sherri King creates a new world of werewolves and their packs, which we find out more about with her next book in the series BITTEN. This is a SHORT story that still develops the characters well enough that you care about them... and it is HOT HOT HOT! Do not read without your hubby near by!

Lunewulf - Pack Law By Lorie O'Clare (Book 1 of the Lunewulf series)
In order to keep the oldest and most pure lunewulf breed from dying out, Sophie's Grandmother and Pack leader enacts a law stating that every female shall have three mates. Sophie learns who her three mates will be, and one of them is Nik, the sexy wolf she has fantasized about since high school. Nik has lusted after Sophie as well, and has wanted her for his mate. He gets her, but pack law says he has to share her with her other two mates as well. He will... but on his terms...
Its difficult to take a generic character type and develop a world and background story about them that is unique, and yet Ms O'Clare has done just that. Word of caution... there is GROUP activity in this book and it is not for the faint of heart!! WOW!

Devlin Dynasty - Running Mate By Jaci Burton (The first story in the Devlin Dynasty series)
Senator Jason Devlin has a secret... that could ruin his political career and pull him and his family into the eyes of the press well beyond the normal paparazzi. So he guards his secret, and allows no one to penetrate his inner circle. Kelsey Harper is a reporter on a mission to get an interview with the Senator. When she is mistaken for a woman hired to help the Senator release some "frustrations", she gets more that the interview she bargained for.
Werewolves who run the country... I only wish!! Jaci Burton makes a strong female character and a strong male... add some sparks and KABOOM!! Great short story, with great characters and of course.... HOT ACTION! Yummy.

Wolf Breeds - Wolfe's Hope By Lora Leigh (Book 1 in the series Wolf Breeds)
Hope thinks Wolfe is dead. Hope's mother, the scientist who created him and his family by altering their genetic code and infusing it with the code of a wolf, knows he is not dead. And she wants her creation back, as well as any children he might breed on her daughter. Wolfe kidnaps Hope to claim her, and now she must convince him she has not betrayed him and defeat the plans of her mother... a scientist gone mad.
Lora Leigh has taken an idea and put her own amazing spin on it!! The Breeds... that encompass the Wolf Breed books as well as the Feline Breeds (and you can tell she has some other characters in there she can develop later) have a unique science like aspect, the fact that the characters were created in labs. It adds some great character development, and the background story acts as a major catalyst for the action in the books. The entire series of Breed books are a great read on their own merits... but they have the added bonus of MAJOR HEAT! Add that to some unique aspects of their genetic makeup showing up in a surprising way... and you have a cross-your-legs-attack-your-husband-do-not-read without-a-fresh-supply-of-batteries book!!

PRIMAL HEAT is an anthology, or a collection of stories by Sherri L. King, Lorie O'Clare, Jaci Burton and Lora Leigh. They are tied together by fantasy themes and preternatural or supernatural characters. They are also mostly one-dimensional, though they vary in the level of heat they inspire. I know I don't usually like anthologies. Usually, one or a couple authors has to compensate for the other authors' weaker stories. More authors than usual stepped up to the plate, I suppose. However, in my opinion, Burton did it the best with RUNNING MATE.

#1. Moon Lust by Sherri L. King.

Brianna goes to Russia, fulfilling a promise to her dear Uncle Alexei. All you will learn about Russia, if you've never been is that the Ural Mountains are "breathtaking," "cold" and "humbling." Likewise, King fails to expound on Brianna and the male lead, Ivan Davidovich Basileus (who gets to third base before Brianna even knows his name); King fails to elucidate the details of their relationship beyond the bedroom. The execution of their love story is as fake as Ivan's name: sex, sex and more sex. No talking aside from repetitive statements from Ivan about the moon, but (though we never actually hear any conversations or humorous anecdotes or sharing of secrets) apparently they "enjoyed an easy and fast friendship," easy sex and even easier love. Crazy. Ivan learned most of what he knew about Brianna when she was passed out rambling in her sleep...including what he knew about her private parts! MOON LUST didn't even attempt to pretend there was a plot beyond the bedroom action (which was OKAY; the scenes, not the story, in FETISH were better) and there wasn't any character development. This is a bit of fluff to read, if you've got a few minutes on your hands and nothing else to do.

Okay Porn: No stars.

#2. Lunewolf: Pack Law by Lorie O'Clare

Like lots of...people, Sophie Rousseau is part of a culture in which...marriages are arranged. Unlike most, Sophie is obliged to make a life-long connection with not one other...person, but three.

Unlike MOON LUST, the `love scenes' in LUNEWOLF were very spicy and are definitely good for getting the juices flowing. O'Clare proves it's true that down-n-dirty stories are okay, even absent a plot, if you don't try to pretend that it's more than erotic porn.

Sexy: One star.

#3. Devlin Dynasty: Running Mate by Jaci Burton

Senator Jason Devlin appears to be the most eligible bachelor in Washington-that is, a handsome, thirty-something Senator who happens to be single. Who cares about his politics, right? Well, Kelsey Harper cares. She wants to know who the charming Senator really is underneath the polish. As a reporter for her father's paper, The Washington Oracle, Kelsey's after a one-on-one interview with Devlin. Well, Kelsey finds the answers to her questions in more ways than one.

Only Burton really attempted to craft a short STORY. Though everything is moving quickly (there are only 58 pages in which to get it all done), Burton attempts to throw in some of the typical markers of romance. Here, there is at least a clear framework-potential. Here, there is a framework for a book that could be both exciting and suspenseful.

Oh, and the `love scenes' were positively steamy. I guess I should use those special code words: not for the faint of heart.

Good: Two Stars

#4. Wolfe's Hope by Lora Leigh

I hoped for more after reading a Breeds book. Wolfe's Hope is another book about genetically altered individuals who can mark their one true mate. In this case, the story concerns Wolfe and his one true mate, Hope.

I can say about Leigh that if you've read her before, then you know not to expect much as far as plot or character development. It's just a matter of how hot (see TEMPTING THE BEAST) or...odd (see SARAH'S SEDUCTION or MARLY'S CHOICE) the story is going to be, in my opinion.

As usual, sizzling and shallow: One star

All in all, pretty okay.

I purchased this to get the first installment of Lora Leigh's wolf breeds and was very unimpressed by 3 of the 4 short stories in the book. The second story was the only one that remotely kept my attention focused and sadly it wasn't the Lora Leigh story. Thankfully the future installments of the Wolf Breed series was a significant improvement!

I do not recommend this book.