Bonnie Rose Leigh

Elizabeth Winters is being hunted, but not by a human. A vampire wants her dead, but she doesn't know why, and she doesn't care. Survival is the most important thing at the moment so she goes into hiding.

Samuel Woods is trying to reunite the members of his nearly extinct race, the Loup-garou, who are scattered all over the place in hiding - hunted by ruthless, sadistic vampires determined to become the most powerful creatures to roam the earth. When he finds out that an author has written a book with too many details and too much knowledge about his kind to be a coincidence, he sets out to find her. What he doesn't expect is to find his one true mate. The only problem is trying to convince her to trust (in) him. She's lived alone for a very long time, and the last thing she's willing to do is to give up her independence to an arrogant alpha male. But with evil closing in on their heels, she'll find out that maybe it's not such a bad thing to ask for a little help and to lose herself to the lust and passion that flares between them.

I've been sitting on this review for about a week. I was a little stumped about how I felt about this story. I really enjoyed the plot, so that wasn't the problem. I had a bit of difficulty making sense of a few things, so I decided to go ahead and start on the second book, [b:The Protector's Jewel|7509055|The Protector's Jewel (The Protector, #2)|Bonnie Rose Leigh|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1263987646s/7509055.jpg|9699371], thinking maybe some questions I had would be answered as the series went on. While I'm liking the sequel more, it also highlights a few discrepancies from the first book. But I'll get to those in my second review.

The aspect of destined mates should prepare you for the H/H falling pretty hard and fast – at least that's what I've always come to expect, therefore one can't really complain about the characters not knowing each other long enough to fall into bed and in love so quickly. It's biological, not logical. With that said, Elizabeth does the exact opposite. Being a loner, she has come to rely only on herself and doesn't want to bond so deeply with someone who could get ripped away from her at any moment, so the barriers come up and stay up for the majority of the story. Sam, as the alpha male, could push her but he shows a lot of restraint, understanding and patience. Sam spends most of the story injured so I couldn't really form a bond with his character. Elizabeth's indecisiveness about her feelings made her a little annoying for me to root for her. Her first verbal acknowledgement of love felt like it came out of nowhere. One minute she's afraid, then she's not. That was somewhat frustrating. She does have some redeeming qualities though - when the story reaches its peak, her courage made me forget about why I didn't like her in the beginning, and when she's fully immersed in her fate, her fierce protectiveness of her mate and her people make her shine.

I'm giving this three stars because even after a satisfying ending to this book, I can't say that I came to care for the characters or their fate. There was that extra "oompf" missing to make me say that this is a keeper and I'd read it again and again.… (mais)

Twila is a single mom and shape shifter whose mate abandoned her ten years ago without realizing that she was pregnant. Her daughter Emily has inherited her father's ability to see into the future, and Twila that the child in in danger.Damian has been waiting for his chance to return Twila. He left her because his visions told him that he had another man, a man whom he had to find in order to be whole. Damian doesn't know about his daughter, but he and his vampire lover Antonio sense that it's time to claim Twila as their third.I read the other novellas in this series, and I enjoyed them. They were quick, easy reads with characters I liked. I believe that I gave them all three stars. This story was different. It was much shorter, and I cannot say that I liked the characters. I have serious problems with Damian, Antonio, and Twila. First of all, if Damian had visions of the future, it doesn't seem logical that he wouldn't have visions of his daughter until she was almost ten years old. The other element in this book that really bothered me was the sex. Don't get me wrong, I love erotica. If you know me, you know that I'll never complain about a good sex scene, but how can I like three characters who spend the night having sex while other people are out searching for their lost child who is slated to be a demon's sacrifice? The scenes didn't even come across as comfort sex--the lovemaking that occurs when a character is distraught and needs intimacy. No, it wasn't that way at all. It made me feel as if Twila forgot her daughter as soon as the opportunity for sex arose (pun intended).… (mais)