Styx's Storm (Breeds Novels) [Mass Market Paperback]

I have to admit before I bought this book I went on to the American site to read the reviews as Lora`s books always come out at least 2 months earlier in the US than they do here.
I did wonder though if I was actually reading the same book as everyone else as it had such a `panning` by some readers. Not all breed books are going to have the same impact and I think the way they are all written should be different some more subtle and used to build up to the next book.

After reading some of the low star ratings I was in two minds as to whether to buy it. But I have to say I am glad I did, I really enjoyed the story it was nice to hear more about Haven the Wolf and Coyote compound this time. It was fast paced and sympathertically written. Storme did became a little irratating near the end before the last scenes but she redeemed herself and came out by the end of the story a much more rounded enlightened individual it was nice to have a human mate with issues rather than the breed, and it showed how Stormes predjudice had coloured her young life and how strong she was by the end to rise above it all and realise her errors, the last chapters were particulaly good.
It would have been nice to be given a little more information regarding the chip Storme had and how it affects the breeds and their future, but hopefully that will be revealed in the next book.

Having said all that I have to admit some of the comments in the review were justified not the harsher ones but the parts of the books which left the reader with a mountain of questions that they hoped would be answered in the next book and were not, so below I have put them in question form and included a few of my own incase this gets back to the powers that be that dicatate to a certain extent book content and how they are cut down and arranged.

1. Firstly the synopsis written in Amazon and other sites has absolutly nothing to do with the contents of the book as Storme is not kidnapped by Firestorm - breed slavers - had to admit that was really off putting as it sounded good. It was as if Miss leigh had penned the idea then changed her mind!
2. Styx and the next book Navarro are new additons to the story and alot of readers were unhappy about this as there are other characters in the Breed series that could have had their story written first, Miss Leigh said she wanted the readers to be intoduced to more of Cassies life but could she not have done that by using the other characters she had already mentioned and written in to the other stories?
3. There are now SO many story arcs that Miss Leigh can now use it seemed wrong to add more - she has written on her site that she has at leat 15 more stories (I am assuming the last book will probably be about David) and although I love the series feel she needs to condense some areas and answer questions about the arcs so far rather than thinking up more, this will probably pacify alot of readers that are now waiting for these answers including me.

Arcs which have been hinted at but then disappear from the next books are:-
a) The 10 year old breed children the labs still have inclucing Rick`s son, at one point a child was mentioned that a lab technicion rescued and disappeared with,is this another arc?
b) Shouldn`t Rick have had a story and is he still going after council collaborators? - he disappeared after Cabel`s story now 4 books away)I thought this book especially was a great build up to a more dark approach to some of the stories and so many arcs that could have been used, including, The Village where Breeds settled I think many readers thought this would be included as well as Haven and Sanctuary.
d) It was hinted in the last book that there was something going on between Mordacai and Diane now I find out it is Lawe and Diane!
e) It is widely thought that Dog is Cassies mate as he pops up in the background so much (but then I may be proverd wrong)
f) John Bolen who is working undercover has disappeared too after Schemes and Tanners story (great piece of writing when we are first introduced to Dog)
g) We never have any hint about what happens to the Breeders of the children bought up in the labs,are some of them mates to the breeds that are at Sanctuary and haven? - this area especially always seems to leave a gap in the story telling.
h)Some previous characters never appear or get mentioned again in the books, including Taber and his mate and the human scientist that was originally with the group in the first books he disappered too!
i) The breed children at Sanctuary and Haven don`t have names apart from David and Hunter although we know they exist as they are mentioned. This can be a bit off putting as this helps the story for me. e.g Tanner & Scheme`s twins are they male or female, Callens new born is it a boy or a girl?
j) Cassie - we are constantly reading that she is still very young and her book is a while away but Miss Leigh has jumped forward before (eight years once, to age David) so Cassie could age quicker couldnt she?
k) Is the Sherrif in Buffalo Gap near sanctuary a breed? me thinks yes - more to him than meeets the eye eh.
l) Ghost team - more breeds suddenly appearing on the horizon last count 18!!! who could have stories
m) Bengal Tiger Breeds that Cabel mentioned where did they go? The first book stated that there were only two Bengal breeds Cabel and Tanner! - now the books are in main stream rather than ebook it seems harder to accept constant changes to the story line.
n)Brandenburg`s side kick has disappeared whats he up to? Also the `baddie` Councillors seem to appear then disappear so we are never sure if they are still part of the over all story or not.
o) There has only ever been one lab rescue written maybe there need to be another - to bring things back into perspective with the stories?

Need I go on readers, there are probably some that I have missed, Having said all that Lora Leigh is a great story teller and has created THE most amazing world and I have loved all the books and can`t wait for the next instalment -but maybe its time to either wrap some areas up so new stories will not be over shadowed by these other arcs/questions in previous books or maybe used to help explain areas that have been left hanging and caused such an out cry by some quarters!.

I have really loved most of this series. THis one left me cold. It raised too many questions (admirably summarised by the previous reviewer) and I didn't really warm to either of the characters. One thing which has always irritated me about male Breeds is their ability to know who their mate is, yet still bed-hop with other women (while the human female just sits around and waits, because God help her if she tries the same thing!) This was no exception, and it was made even more obvious in this book.
There seemed like an awful lot of new story lines which I found confusing, a lot of previous story lines that seemed to change (again, succintly put by the previous reviewer so I won't repeat them). It was just all a jumble and I just didn't like it. I may not read any more of these. I think I've run my course - they're predictable and rather boring now. LL seems to just add more and more strands to the story rather than concentrate on developing one plot line with well rounded characters.
Shame really, it was good while it lasted!

The product description is extremely misleading and bares no resemblence to the actual book. Just a couple of errors in the description; one: Not a virgin, two: kidnapped by breed slavers??? erm where did this happen?

I usually love Lora Leigh's breed stories but this just came across as rushed, characterisation was one dimensional and to be honest you could probably skip this book entirely as you don't learn anything new you're just introduced to a whole host of new characters....setting up later books perhaps??

So far this is the worst breed story i've ever read. It may just be time to move on to another series :-(