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kathydavie's review against another edition
2.0
Twelfth in the Leopard paranormal romance series and revolving around angry leopard shifters determined to get rid of the worst of the mobsters running crime syndicates. The couple focus is on Flambé Carver and Sevastyan Amurov and set in Texas. And it's quite erotic.
My Take
Amazingly enough, the series is getting worse with repetitive and choppy writing. When Feehan started this series, I really enjoyed it. Now…I must be a glutton for punishment.
Flambé?? Really?
I do like the visual of Flambé's garden designs. That arboreal trail sounds so perfect. Then there are the interior gardens she's created. Nice. I also like the rescue operation Flambé has going. It's sad that it's necessary.
It's really sad that people like those Russian Amurovs exist. Where did they ever get the idea that their behavior toward women is okay? I would like to understand why Sevastyan thinks he was born twisted. Sounds more like he was tortured into being that way.
Feehan does nothing to make me believe in Flambé as being a take-charge gal with her business. There's so little contrast between her submissive nature with Sevastyan and how she acts outside their sexual interactions. As for Sevastyan's flare-up with Mitya? Where'd that come from? There's been nothing to foreshadow this.
Feehan's reasoning for Flambé's appreciation for Sevastyan's shibari work does make sense. Her descriptions of the various knot patterns gave great visual. Fortunately. If only Feehan had been more imaginative in Flambé's and Sevastyan's thoughts, instead of whining on and on about the same thing. Padding much?
Why couldn't Feehan emphasize Sevastyan's jealousy about Cain more? Oh, geez, then the truth comes out about Flambé's father. What a jerk! Flambé was only seven when her dad kicked her out?? What kind of jerk does that?
Feehan uses a third person dual protagonist point-of-view from Flambé's and Sevastyan's perspectives. Each has a character arc within the story they fulfill, learning to understand their natures and dropping their preconceptions. Feehan does, eventually, explain why Sevastyan uses Cain's club as he does. All tell. Feehan would have created a more impressive scenario if Sevastyan had come close to losing it at least once to reinforce how necessary Flambé is.
Considering that Flambé is named after a dessert her chef mother made, wouldn't you think she'd know what the dessert was??
That Cain sounds quite the hypocrite. He'll compromise clients to protect other clients? Sevastyan is something of a hypocrite as well. He complains about Flambé using sex to avoid talking, but he does as well.
So, "Sevastyan resisted touching Flambé's face, tracing her high cheekbones..." I thought he was resisting touching her? At least Feehan made it more interesting with Flambé being cool towards Sevastyan when the two of them weren't in bed, so to speak.
There's plenty of action, mostly sex, with a number of battles. I gotta admit there was so much thinking about the sex and relationships that I got bored. The actual battles brought my brain to life. How sad is that? Yeah, it definitely affected the pace, at least because I got so bored...
I know the characters in Leopard Rage are the same as Leopard's Run, 10, and Leopard's Wrath, 11, but Leopard Rage sure doesn't read like it.
The Story
Sevastyan is a violent man with an equally violent leopard half. A rage he calms with sex and ropes. It's an attraction which intrigues Flambé, who feels a need for the harshness he displays.
Luckily for her, Sevastyan has already auditioned, while Flambé designs her Garden of Sin.
The Characters
Flambé Carver, a strawberry leopard, took over her father's, Leland Carver's, reputable landscaping business. She does have the credentials: a BA, Masters, and PhD in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. Yep, Dad was a shifter as well. Flamme is the name of Flambé's leopard. Her mother had been a chef at Baume, a renowned French restaurant in San Antonio.
The American Amurovs are...
...Amur leopards who escaped their Russian clan. Sevastyan Amurov is an enforcer, a bodyguard to his cousin, Mitya Amurov. Shturm is Sevastyan's leopard half. Ania Dover is Mitya's mate and a very experienced driver — she's designing a car from the ground up (Leopard's Wrath, 11); it's her family home that Sevastyan bought and is renovating. Zinoviy, Vikenti, Trey Sinclair, and Kyanite Boston (Bahadur is his leopard) are some of the bodyguards.
Fyodor Amurov is a cousin mated to Evangeline (Leopard's Fury, 8) who owns The Sweet Shoppe, a bakery. Ambroise Tregere, ex-Navy and an artist, and Christophe Tregere, a strategist with IT skills and a photographic memory, are Evangeline's brothers. I'm suspecting that Joshua is another brother (Leopard's Blood, 9). Gorya and Timur Amurov are more cousins. Ashe is Timur's mate (Leopard's Run 10).
Kirill Chernov and Matvei Bykov had been childhood friends who followed the Amurovs to America. Jeremiah Wheating is one of the youngest bodyguards and close to Ashe. Zakhar Kotov is loyal to Sevastyan; Istrebitel is his leopard. Miron and Rodion Galerkin had loose lips. Conrad had been a smart kid Sevastyan had rescued.
Flambé's company includes clients such as Jake Banniconni (Burning Wild, 2), Drake Donovan runs an international security business made up mostly of shifters (Savage Nature, 4), Eli Perez (Cat's Lair, 6), and Elijah Lospostos (Wild Cat, 7) are friends and part of the conspiracy.
Her employees include Rory and Etienne (who'd rather build things), more strawberry leopards. Blaise Brodeur is Flambé's foreman and interested in environmental landscaping. He's also very interested in Flambé. On the rescue side, Terry Orsan, Jet Vicks, Jack, and Lyndon are part of the extraction team.
Cain Dufort, another leopard shifter, runs a sex club. Shanty Jacobs is an African strawberry leopard/woman seeking to escape her abusive relationship with her mate, Reiner. Brent Shriver is one of Flambé's suppliers of exotic plants. Sasha Bogomolov is a shifter ally in Miami. Charisse Mercier is a talented woman in New Orleans.
Law enforcement
Detectives Ray Harding and Jeff Myers are investigating.
The Russian Amurovs are...
...bratya, Russian mobsters, who are so incredibly brutal with their children and worse with their females. Rolan Amurov, the vor, is Sevastyn's father who enjoys beating the children nearly to death; Diktator is Rolan's leopard. Tatiana had been Sevastyan's mother. Lazar Amurov had been Mitya's father and Rolan's brother. Patva had been another brother.
Oliver is a mercenary pinpointed by Conrad. Smerch is Conrad's leopard. Vagel is a sniper.
Franco Matherson is a leopard shifter with a huge sense of entitlement. His friend, Basil Andino, has the same issues. Karisa had been Andino's mate...until she was rescued. Luan and Arno are amazing trackers from Matherson's lair.
Strawberry leopards originated in South Africa.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a range of deep dark orange shadows through to a pale yellow highlight that shines through Flambé's red hair. Her face fills the top half of the cover and is in profile to us, her eyes closed. An epitaph in black is to the left of her forehead while the silhouette of a leopard climbing the branch of a tree angles from the center right up to the upper left corner in a gold foil. Crossing Flambé's chin is an info blurb in white with the author's first name immediately below it, also in white. The author's last name is below that in the same gold foil. The title is below that in white with the series information below that, also in white.
The title is a two-way street, with Flambé and Sevastyan both experiencing a Leopard's Rage.
My Take
Amazingly enough, the series is getting worse with repetitive and choppy writing. When Feehan started this series, I really enjoyed it. Now…I must be a glutton for punishment.
Flambé?? Really?
I do like the visual of Flambé's garden designs. That arboreal trail sounds so perfect. Then there are the interior gardens she's created. Nice. I also like the rescue operation Flambé has going. It's sad that it's necessary.
It's really sad that people like those Russian Amurovs exist. Where did they ever get the idea that their behavior toward women is okay? I would like to understand why Sevastyan thinks he was born twisted. Sounds more like he was tortured into being that way.
Feehan does nothing to make me believe in Flambé as being a take-charge gal with her business. There's so little contrast between her submissive nature with Sevastyan and how she acts outside their sexual interactions. As for Sevastyan's flare-up with Mitya? Where'd that come from? There's been nothing to foreshadow this.
Feehan's reasoning for Flambé's appreciation for Sevastyan's shibari work does make sense. Her descriptions of the various knot patterns gave great visual. Fortunately. If only Feehan had been more imaginative in Flambé's and Sevastyan's thoughts, instead of whining on and on about the same thing. Padding much?
Why couldn't Feehan emphasize Sevastyan's jealousy about Cain more? Oh, geez, then the truth comes out about Flambé's father. What a jerk! Flambé was only seven when her dad kicked her out?? What kind of jerk does that?
Feehan uses a third person dual protagonist point-of-view from Flambé's and Sevastyan's perspectives. Each has a character arc within the story they fulfill, learning to understand their natures and dropping their preconceptions. Feehan does, eventually, explain why Sevastyan uses Cain's club as he does. All tell. Feehan would have created a more impressive scenario if Sevastyan had come close to losing it at least once to reinforce how necessary Flambé is.
Considering that Flambé is named after a dessert her chef mother made, wouldn't you think she'd know what the dessert was??
That Cain sounds quite the hypocrite. He'll compromise clients to protect other clients? Sevastyan is something of a hypocrite as well. He complains about Flambé using sex to avoid talking, but he does as well.
So, "Sevastyan resisted touching Flambé's face, tracing her high cheekbones..." I thought he was resisting touching her? At least Feehan made it more interesting with Flambé being cool towards Sevastyan when the two of them weren't in bed, so to speak.
There's plenty of action, mostly sex, with a number of battles. I gotta admit there was so much thinking about the sex and relationships that I got bored. The actual battles brought my brain to life. How sad is that? Yeah, it definitely affected the pace, at least because I got so bored...
I know the characters in Leopard Rage are the same as Leopard's Run, 10, and Leopard's Wrath, 11, but Leopard Rage sure doesn't read like it.
The Story
Sevastyan is a violent man with an equally violent leopard half. A rage he calms with sex and ropes. It's an attraction which intrigues Flambé, who feels a need for the harshness he displays.
Luckily for her, Sevastyan has already auditioned, while Flambé designs her Garden of Sin.
The Characters
Flambé Carver, a strawberry leopard, took over her father's, Leland Carver's, reputable landscaping business. She does have the credentials: a BA, Masters, and PhD in Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. Yep, Dad was a shifter as well. Flamme is the name of Flambé's leopard. Her mother had been a chef at Baume, a renowned French restaurant in San Antonio.
The American Amurovs are...
...Amur leopards who escaped their Russian clan. Sevastyan Amurov is an enforcer, a bodyguard to his cousin, Mitya Amurov. Shturm is Sevastyan's leopard half. Ania Dover is Mitya's mate and a very experienced driver — she's designing a car from the ground up (Leopard's Wrath, 11); it's her family home that Sevastyan bought and is renovating. Zinoviy, Vikenti, Trey Sinclair, and Kyanite Boston (Bahadur is his leopard) are some of the bodyguards.
Fyodor Amurov is a cousin mated to Evangeline (Leopard's Fury, 8) who owns The Sweet Shoppe, a bakery. Ambroise Tregere, ex-Navy and an artist, and Christophe Tregere, a strategist with IT skills and a photographic memory, are Evangeline's brothers. I'm suspecting that Joshua is another brother (Leopard's Blood, 9). Gorya and Timur Amurov are more cousins. Ashe is Timur's mate (Leopard's Run 10).
Kirill Chernov and Matvei Bykov had been childhood friends who followed the Amurovs to America. Jeremiah Wheating is one of the youngest bodyguards and close to Ashe. Zakhar Kotov is loyal to Sevastyan; Istrebitel is his leopard. Miron and Rodion Galerkin had loose lips. Conrad had been a smart kid Sevastyan had rescued.
Flambé's company includes clients such as Jake Banniconni (Burning Wild, 2), Drake Donovan runs an international security business made up mostly of shifters (Savage Nature, 4), Eli Perez (Cat's Lair, 6), and Elijah Lospostos (Wild Cat, 7) are friends and part of the conspiracy.
Her employees include Rory and Etienne (who'd rather build things), more strawberry leopards. Blaise Brodeur is Flambé's foreman and interested in environmental landscaping. He's also very interested in Flambé. On the rescue side, Terry Orsan, Jet Vicks, Jack, and Lyndon are part of the extraction team.
Cain Dufort, another leopard shifter, runs a sex club. Shanty Jacobs is an African strawberry leopard/woman seeking to escape her abusive relationship with her mate, Reiner. Brent Shriver is one of Flambé's suppliers of exotic plants. Sasha Bogomolov is a shifter ally in Miami. Charisse Mercier is a talented woman in New Orleans.
Law enforcement
Detectives Ray Harding and Jeff Myers are investigating.
The Russian Amurovs are...
...bratya, Russian mobsters, who are so incredibly brutal with their children and worse with their females. Rolan Amurov, the vor, is Sevastyn's father who enjoys beating the children nearly to death; Diktator is Rolan's leopard. Tatiana had been Sevastyan's mother. Lazar Amurov had been Mitya's father and Rolan's brother. Patva had been another brother.
Oliver is a mercenary pinpointed by Conrad. Smerch is Conrad's leopard. Vagel is a sniper.
Franco Matherson is a leopard shifter with a huge sense of entitlement. His friend, Basil Andino, has the same issues. Karisa had been Andino's mate...until she was rescued. Luan and Arno are amazing trackers from Matherson's lair.
Strawberry leopards originated in South Africa.
The Cover and Title
The cover is a range of deep dark orange shadows through to a pale yellow highlight that shines through Flambé's red hair. Her face fills the top half of the cover and is in profile to us, her eyes closed. An epitaph in black is to the left of her forehead while the silhouette of a leopard climbing the branch of a tree angles from the center right up to the upper left corner in a gold foil. Crossing Flambé's chin is an info blurb in white with the author's first name immediately below it, also in white. The author's last name is below that in the same gold foil. The title is below that in white with the series information below that, also in white.
The title is a two-way street, with Flambé and Sevastyan both experiencing a Leopard's Rage.
lynguy1's review against another edition
3.0
Leopard’s Rage by Christine Feehan is the thirteenth book in the Leopard series. It combines paranormal romance and supernatural suspense in a contemporary setting near Austin, Texas. Leopard shifter Sevastyan Amurov is a bodyguard to Mitya Amurov, his cousin. Sevastyan has a deep anger inside of him and has to maintain control at all times. The reasons are many, but to understand one needs to read the book. Flambe Carver has her own landscaping company and is on her way to discuss a job at Sevastyan’s place when her stalker ambushes her. Sevastyan takes her under his protection and their lives are turned upside down.
This book follows the normal pattern of two very strong characters, lots of action, and plenty of passion and steamy, explicit scenes. Arrogance, respect, trust, and raw chemistry abound.
The plot is good and the characters are compelling and definitely have their own flaws and virtues. Their motivations are believable. However, you have to be able to read about a very dominant alpha male and a strong female lead that complements the alpha male and accepts his ways. It also contains a lot of danger and violence. I would have liked more time spent on the various
investigations and things that led to the set-up of the finale rather than quite so much detail in the steamy scenes. Some additional themes include crime, communication, child abuse, infidelity, murder, sport hunting, and betrayal.
Overall, this book had great potential, but came up somewhat short for me. There were too many dominance/submission rope bondage scenes and not enough of the dual suspense story lines.
Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.
This book follows the normal pattern of two very strong characters, lots of action, and plenty of passion and steamy, explicit scenes. Arrogance, respect, trust, and raw chemistry abound.
The plot is good and the characters are compelling and definitely have their own flaws and virtues. Their motivations are believable. However, you have to be able to read about a very dominant alpha male and a strong female lead that complements the alpha male and accepts his ways. It also contains a lot of danger and violence. I would have liked more time spent on the various
investigations and things that led to the set-up of the finale rather than quite so much detail in the steamy scenes. Some additional themes include crime, communication, child abuse, infidelity, murder, sport hunting, and betrayal.
Overall, this book had great potential, but came up somewhat short for me. There were too many dominance/submission rope bondage scenes and not enough of the dual suspense story lines.
Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way.
jaydavies's review against another edition
1.0
I am disappointed with how this series has changed into book regarding dominate and submissive relationships. The past 3 books in this series have almost no storyline except for kinky sex between the main characters.
Where is the strong female lead? Flambé is the weakest character Christine Feehan has written yet. I will not be continuing with this series. Such a disappointment but I’m not interested in reading a book where the characters don’t talk but just continue to have sex and never deal with the problem. There was no leopard scenes. Flambé had no control over her change. Sometimes the scenes felt almost like emotional abuse. Sevastyan was controlling her from the beginning and you can’t just claim that’s because his leopard was a dominant killer.
The author also repeats the same sentences time and time again. I only needed to be reminded once that because Sevastyan is into ropes that he can tell what his partner is feeling based on changes to breathing and facial expressions. Every third chapter had a paragraph reminding us this. Every time they did anything in the ropes we got reminded of how attentive he was. I would have preferred more growth between the characters instead of getting a run down on how he checks her pulse every time they have sex using ropes.
I hope the author stops writing this series. It’s sad to see such a good series become so misogynistic in its writing but that’s what has happened. If you want to read a good paranormal series where the women and men are equal read Nalini Singh Psy-Changeling series. Now she is an author that stays true to her writing.
Where is the strong female lead? Flambé is the weakest character Christine Feehan has written yet. I will not be continuing with this series. Such a disappointment but I’m not interested in reading a book where the characters don’t talk but just continue to have sex and never deal with the problem. There was no leopard scenes. Flambé had no control over her change. Sometimes the scenes felt almost like emotional abuse. Sevastyan was controlling her from the beginning and you can’t just claim that’s because his leopard was a dominant killer.
The author also repeats the same sentences time and time again. I only needed to be reminded once that because Sevastyan is into ropes that he can tell what his partner is feeling based on changes to breathing and facial expressions. Every third chapter had a paragraph reminding us this. Every time they did anything in the ropes we got reminded of how attentive he was. I would have preferred more growth between the characters instead of getting a run down on how he checks her pulse every time they have sex using ropes.
I hope the author stops writing this series. It’s sad to see such a good series become so misogynistic in its writing but that’s what has happened. If you want to read a good paranormal series where the women and men are equal read Nalini Singh Psy-Changeling series. Now she is an author that stays true to her writing.
boosmummy's review against another edition
2.0
Just couldn't get into this book in the series. Didn't care enough about the characters and plodded through it hoping it would somehow get better or I'd care.
romancejunkie1025's review
4.0
Wow that was a seriously intense and highly sexual relationship with a lot of issues for them both to work through. I liked Flambe but wish she'd been in the page sharing with us more before we had to get to know her along with Sev.
jazzrizz's review
3.0
This one was tough to get through. I love Sevastyan. He's a protector, and struggles with his cat. Flambe is so wishy-washy, and really has issues with Males in general. He bends over backwards to make things work with her, and she seems to have one foot out the door for the entire story. Although he definitely drops the ball at a crucial time for her.
In my opinion, he deserves better ... but in the end, she seems to make him happy. I spent most of the book feeling VERY frustrated with everything.
The conclusion with Mitya's father was less drama, that the baggage Flambe brought with her.
In my opinion, he deserves better ... but in the end, she seems to make him happy. I spent most of the book feeling VERY frustrated with everything.
The conclusion with Mitya's father was less drama, that the baggage Flambe brought with her.
mooncricketjp's review against another edition
3.0
Again, I enjoyed the story overall, but like the last one of this series, we had more “romance” scenes then we did story. I loved the plot, I wish it has been developed a little more…
claire_thebookreader's review
adventurous
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
arthur_pendrgn's review
1.0
Let's see--torture of, abuse, and horrific violence directed toward women and children; dominant male whose violent past excuses the damage he does; intelligent, independent, and strong female who betrays herself because the sex is so intriguing/astounding/fulfilling; overly-detailed-instruction-manual sex every few pages; men who say they cherish their women yet lock/trap/tie/intimidate them until they "understand" and agree to what the men want; inconsistencies/illogical situations; and repetition.
Yep, it's a Feehan book. How far this series has evolved from its origins. Not as large a disappointment as Shadow Flight, but this is my last Leopard book.
Yep, it's a Feehan book. How far this series has evolved from its origins. Not as large a disappointment as Shadow Flight, but this is my last Leopard book.