REVIEW: Cat’s Lair by Christine Feehan

Posted May 7th, 2015 by in Blog, Paranormal Romance, Review / 12 comments

In Cat’s Lair (Leopard People #7) by Christine Feehan, Catarina “Cat” Benoit had a grisly, horrific childhood Cats-Lairthat no one should ever have to endure. Her home was with an evil man who was into every underhanded business dealing there was. Finally free — for the time being — Cat has hidden herself in a location hundreds of miles away, but she knows Rafe will be looking for her. She intends to steer clear of emotional attachments until she meets Ridley Cromer. The intensity of their attraction surprises Cat and soon she’s in too deep to leave him behind as she should do, for his safety.

‘His eyes glowed like the leopard he was. Hot. Golden fire. Piercing her soul. He was hers, as wild and primitive as a man could be. A shifter. Dangerous and dark, but he loved her. And he could bring her to ecstasy.’

Ridley has never had the level of emotional and physical connection with a woman that he feels with Cat. He knows right away that he won’t be walking away from the petite dynamo anytime soon. So when Ridley figures out that Cat is hiding from someone, a man from her past who has no qualms about killing or torturing people, he steps up to protect her any way he can. Even if it means leaving out some of the details of his life.

‘Catarina Benoit would forever be his obsession. His love. He hadn’t known it was possible to feel the way she made him feel. He was totally at peace. He couldn’t remember a time…that he’d ever felt at peace.’

Cat’s Lair was a drama-filled paranormal romance that was actually quite erotic. With one seriously intense alpha male and a petite bayou woman who didn’t know how to back down, you just knew fireworks were going to fly between them.

This was my first foray into the Leopard People series, but not my first Christine Feehan book. I’ve enjoyed her easy writing style in the past and was rewarded with the same here. I liked that she had the same great flow to the dialogue that I look for in her stories, and that she paired up two dynamic characters. That created a lot of fun interactions with them verbally duking it out. And I loved that this was an extremely emotional journey for both Cat and Ridley. Those feelings, desires and fears were all conveyed very convincingly.

Cat and Ridley’s relationship was scorching hot, which led to lots and lots of love scenes. The level of intimacy and the way Ms. Feehan wrote those scenes, as I eluded to earlier, felt more like erotica. It was explicit, aggressive, and it worked perfectly for the characters and their personalities. It did seem like a big chunk of the middle of the book revolved around the bedroom which unfortunately meant the plot wasn’t really being developed. But Ridley and Cat were dealing with becoming shifter mates, so it did help advance their relationship. Either way, it was seriously hot!

Feel free to read this exciting and passionate romance even if you are new to the series. I think you will easily follow along with Ridley and Cat’s wild path to their HEA.

Book Info:

4SPublished May 5th 2015 by Jove

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Leopard’s Prey returns to the feral underworld of her astonishing Leopard novels in an arousing new romance of forbidden animal instincts…

Cat Benoit has finally escaped the past—and the man who was the source of her nightmares. She’s off the grid, underground but watchful, and creating a new life for herself in Texas, far from the torrid dangers of her native New Orleans. She’s safe. He’ll never find her this time. Cat has to believe that. It’s the only thing keeping her sane.

Yet she can’t escape the attention of Ridley Cromer, the instructor at the martial arts dojo where Cat takes lessons. She arouses the animal in Ridley—and something feral comes to life when their body heat rises. Cat is in no position to let her guard down with anyone, especially someone who could be endangered by her past. But Ridley has secrets of his own—secrets only Cat would understand. If she dares to trust him.

 

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12 Responses to “REVIEW: Cat’s Lair by Christine Feehan”

  3. lorih824

    I’m a fan of this author and have really enjoyed all her books thus far. Her Carpathian series is my fave with the Leopard Series a close second. I hope she includes more plot development with her next book in this series. Thanks for your review 🙂

    • Michele H

      Thanks, Lori! I’ve read some of her Leopard Series and loved it. But I’ll have to look into the Carpathian Series, too. This was still a really good story. Just LOTS of sexytime scenes! 😉

  5. marcyshuler

    Thanks for the review, Michele. I know I’m probably the only one, but I’ve never read anything by this author. LOL I am intrigued by that cover though. 😉

    • Michele H

      I was new to her writing until last year as well, Marcy. Everything so far has been really sensual yet very intelligently written. I know…that cover!! Whoo, boy! *fans face* I read a print copy, so I’ll admit I kept flipping to the cover every time Ridley was in a scene… 🙂

  6. LJR

    I appreciate your review and site, however I found this book to be a very disappointing read. It sets women back 100+ years..barefoot, pregnant, in the kitchen, literally. Rely on the strong male to be rescued, the “Do exactly as I say” theme is rampant, ..even one scene using rough sex to discipline the female, … and then blaming it on the “leopard” part of the personality. And this was the hero! There was hope in the beginning with a potentially good story-line of a strong heroine that went south fast. Initially, against all odds, she educated herself, fled a disastrous situation, set up her own life, was able to defend herself and then turned into a female who had to worry about whether her “husband” would let her work and had a rule to follow of kissing him or “blank” first thing in the morning when she woke before she did anything else or there would be repercussions…–and this was close to the end of the book! It appeared she had to become more manipulative than anything in order to survive in her relationship. Not to mention that she was completely happy that he would buy her everything, stove, pots, pans, boots, etc. This was portrayed as a positive in the story. Sex in a book is appealing but pages of repetitive sex scenes took over any other theme of the book. There was an attempt at intimacy involving sex, but even that fell short as it was portrayed as a “gift” apparently an exception to the rule”s”.

    I would still encourage reading the book. Whether there is agreement or disagreement with what I have written, any book can evoke some kind of thought process and discussion.

    If you’ve made it this far in reading this, thank you for your perseverance!.

    • Michele H

      Thank you, LJR, for your honesty in your comments/review. Author Christine Feehan does definitely like to push against the boundaries of what we consider a ‘modern’ relationship, with her alpha males taking over the reins for the most part. (Viper Game in her GhostWalkers series also showcases the type of relationship Cat & Ridley had.)

      I went in to this book pretty much knowing what I was getting into, where it was a shifter story: a wild, untamed, aggressive male protagonist and a determined female who would try to keep him in line. I can understand why it would not work for some readers, though, and that it might even seem like an old fashioned relationship. But, good or bad, that’s how a lot of the shifter romances are written, which mirrors how the animals typically act in nature: the male is dominant, the female is submissive.

      Based on the mixed reviews online, I knew this book would bring out a multitude of reactions. That’s the great thing about the reading community. We all come from different places, personally and even professionally, so we can bring so many different points of view to the table.

      Thanks again for weighing in on Cat’s Lair. We appreciate your thoughts and your time!