Wolfe’s Hope by Lora Leigh

From Goodreads.com:

Hope believed Wolfe was dead, but he was only waiting for the right time to claim her. The scientist who created him, Hope's mother, has forced his hand. She wants her creation back, and she wants any children he may breed on her daughter.

He is a man whose DNA was altered, infused with the genetic code of the wolf. His unique genetic makeup has created a male unlike any other and will make itself known in the most surprising ways. Now Hope must convince her mate she hasn't betrayed him, and they must defeat the plans of a scientist gone mad.

This is one of Lora Leigh's early entries in her Breeds series, a short story published with Ellora's Cave. In the years since, the series has moved to mainstream publisher Berkley, and she has significantly expanded the world she has created.

I'm one of those people who really likes to read a series in order. This can become quite a stress when publication order and chronological order differ and I have to choose one or the other to follow. In this case, I'm working with the series chronology provided by Leigh on her website.

That makes this early story number 10 in the series and that's where I've read it. Sadly, it's a huge step down from the other Breed books I've read so far.

I realise that saying I read this series, which counts as erotic romance, for the worldbuilding probably sounds like claiming one reads Playboy for the articles. But it is true. I enjoy the romances and especially the wider developing story more than the sex scenes. Sure, I'm happy to read explicit sex scenes if that's what I'm in the mood for, but I want more than that.

In Wolfe's Hope that's really all that there is. There's a very cursory bit of backstory but mostly it's a case of a badly done I-hate-you, I-hate-you (but I can't help having sex with you), I-love-you story. Since that's a device that tends to annoy me unless it is done very well, this story didn't have a lot of a chance with me.

In its defence, it is a very short story, leaving very little space for plot if there needs to be explicit sex (and this was written for Ellora's Cave after all and is part of an erotic series). All the same, it really did nothing for me. There's no real story, no character development. It's just sex.

If you're reading the Breeds series and enjoying the characters and the Breeds' struggles to be accepted as being as much people as normal humans, give this one a miss. It doesn't have any of that at all.

Wolfe’s Hope
Lora Leigh
Breeds, Book 10
5/10
Read: 24-1-10 to 24-1-10

Breeds (in chronological order)

1. Tempting the Beast
2. The Man Within (Goodreads link)
3. Elizabeth’s Wolf
4. Kiss of Heat (Goodreads link)
5. Soul Deep
6. The Breed Next Door (in Hot Spell anthology) (Goodreads link)
7. Megan’s Mark
8. Harmony’s Way (Goodreads link)
9. Tanner’s Scheme (Goodreads link)
10. Wolfe’s Hope
11. Jacob’s Faith (Goodreads link)
12. Aiden’s Charity (Goodreads link)
13. In a Wolf’s Embrace (in Beyond the Dark anthology) (Goodreads link)
14. Dawn’s Awakening (Goodreads link)
15. A Jaguar’s Kiss (in Shifter anthology) (Goodreads link)
16. Mercury’s War (Goodreads link)
17. Christmas Heat (in The Magical Christmas Cat anthology) (Goodreads link)
18. Coyote’s Mate (Goodreads link)
19. Bengal’s Heart (Goodreads link)
20. A Christmas Kiss (in Hot for the Holidays anthology) (Goodreads link)
21. Lion’s Heat (to be published 6-4-10) (Goodreads link)