Review: Navarro's Promise By Lora Leigh

Like with all my other reviews about a series, I am going to start saying that this review is full of spoilers, and Navarro’s Promise –being the 24^th book of the Breed Series – is a book that has to be read only by those who have followed the whole story, otherwise you are going to be feeling like you are missing out on half of the plot –which you are-. So, consider yourself warned.

Personally, I see the Lora Leigh’s Breed Series as a TV show in which each episode is focused on the development of a couple -sort of like Lost and its characters-. These “episodes” –in this case, books- are just a chapter in the whole story, and with every new one we discover a new layer in the complicated and well-explained plot.

The story about the Breeds grew on me really slowly. It wasn’t until Elizabeth’s Wolf that I started enjoying the story and grasping what it was about; the reason for this is that the plot of these books is constructed to be solved in millions of books –or at least you feel like it is-. That is the first thing that I have to say about Navarro’s Promise, we have been dragging so many things (the concern about what’s going to happen to Jonas’s child, Cassie and this strange man that was sent to kill her so many books ago, Dr Ely and her struggle with what happened to her and so on) that you kind of expect to have some of this old plots solved; however, Lora introduces us to yet another couple with characters that you barely knew or remembered, and that keeps everything more entangled.  So, if you thought that any of these issues (and many more) were going to be dealt in this book, I can tell you right now that you are going to be disappointed.

The good news is that the dissapoinment is not going to last much, even when you don’t really know the characters, the story will grab you and keep you entertained through the whole book.

In this 24^th chapter, we met Navarro, a Breed with wolf recessives genes whose encounter with the danger that has fallen upon his mate is waking up his animal. On the other hand we have Mica, a woman that we met almost 20 books ago when she was a little girl. Mica is Cassie’s best friend (Cassie the Wolf/Coyote hybrid) and has been dealing with breeds since forever, so she knows all the secrets that the Breeds are trying to keep from going public; one of then the mating heat.

Mica is one of the nicest heroines in the pasts books, she is fighting what she knows is almost inevitable in order to save herself. She believes that succumbing to the mating heat is going to make her a different person and is going to steal her will, so she fights her feelings. Navarro, dealing with his past, does not give her the comfort that Mica needs. All this leads to a new discovering concerning the mating hormone that is going rise some concern within the breed community.

This book is full of angst, I don’t want to say too much about the reasons because I don’t want to spoil the plot, but be prepared to read about internal struggles ad nauseum. Yeah, the sex scenes are exxxtremely steamy, so that is something that has not been lost in the series; but again I strongly believe that the series is being stretched out unnecessary longer that it was supposed to be. I am dying to read about Cassie and her mystery man and many other characters that are better know, but Lora keeps us waiting and waiting.

There are serious timeframe mistakes in this book and I think that it needs some proofreading (and the fact that even me, the Queen of mistakes, noticed it says a lot); I have nothing good to say about the cover, I’m just going to tell you that I try to keep it covered so I never have to see it (yeah, I hate it that much).  If you are one of the fans that have been following this series for a long time, even when disappointed, you are going to give it another shot in the following books. This one for me is a no go, however I’m still loyal to Lora and the Breed Series and I’m looking forward to the next episode.

Review by Marie 

Grade: 1.5

Sensuality: McBurning

Synopsis

The Breeds guaranteed that no harm would come to Micah Toler, but they never allowed for her sensual fascination with Navarro Blaine. Aloof, cool and mysterious, he draws her in as no man ever has. But Micah never wanted this. She has her own dreams, her own desires - and being stalked and seduced by a Wolf Breed isn't part of the plan. Now she knows her life is in danger. What Navarro knows is that she's his mate and that the breeding and train that created him is being peeled away in his desperation to claim a woman who refuses to be claimed.

Navarro's Promise (Breeds) By Lora Leigh

Penguin Group; April, 5th 2011