Name: Savage Nature
Author: Christine Feehan
Published: April 26, 2011 by Jove
Purchased: Years ago in paperback, $7.99 on Kindle
☆☆☆☆☆/5
Blurb: When Saria Boudreaux finds a dead body in the Louisiana bayou near her home, her first instinct is to go to the police. But there’s a problem: it looks like the victim may have been killed by a big cat – and her brothers are all shape-shifting leopards.
Sent by the land’s owner to investigate, leopard-shifter Drake Donovan is ready for anything – except the insatiable hunger that rocks him when he meets Saria. Deep in his soul he knows that she is destined to be his mate. Torn between protecting her brothers and finding the truth, Saria treads warily around the powerful shifter. Yet as they venture deep into the mysterious bayou on a hunt for the killer, Saria finds herself longing for Drake’s touch and the sweet release of surrender…
Review: Savage Nature was an interesting read for me. I love Christine Feehans work, I own almost every book, but this was a different type of read.
I’ve always enjoyed a good mystery and I’ve loved every one of this authors mystery romances, this one is no different. I also really enjoyed actually getting to see and learn about an actual lair, even if it needed a new leadership and had gotten out of hand.
I know I said that Burning Wild and Wild Fire were tied for my favorite but reading this again, I have to say that this is my favorite. You’re instantly hooked by just the first sentence and it keeps you hooked.
The cover is so pretty and actually matches the description of Saria, as well as the male model on the inside really matches Drake. That’s not something I see all the time, the description doesn’t match the models in most cases.
The pace is very steady and matches the flow of the plot, even when it seemed like I was very close to the end, the author didn’t rush the climax of the mystery. I love Drake and Saria just seems like the perfect woman for him and I absolutely love that he didn’t try to stop her from doing what she does; unlike some other alpha males I know of.
Whereas in the other books, the female leads were really hesistant about having sex and it showed, Saria kind of hid it, of course being in a field full of Leopard’s Lover didn’t help either. This has to be one of my favorite Christine Feehan books, because the girl is so different, so independent and Drake actually doesn’t want to control her, he even encourages her independence except in matters of safety, which I completely understand.
Instead of having the female lead be stubborn to her mate yet couldn’t save herself, Saria surprised me. She was afraid, of course she would be, she’s drudging through the swamp, leading the team to see if there’s drug running, full of alligators, who wouldn’t be scared? She never hesitated though, she even thought to alter her steps a bit to see if the boys would follow, creating a little funny side to the otherwise somber situation.
Drake was different from the authors other male leads as well. When Saria’s leopard was basically making her crawl on the floor toward Drake, instead of leaping ontop of her and taking her right there in his room, he controlled himself and gently rejected her advances, though he made sure to make it not seem like that, he made sure to make it seem like what it was, he was saving her from himself. She was a virgin, she wasn’t ready for the coming together of the leopards.
I won’t ruin the ending, because I didn’t find out who the serial killer was until the end of the book and I’m sure there will be people who read the reviews to figure out the ending, so let me just say, it shocked me and made me sad for one of the sweetest people in the book.
I can’t wait until the other books come out although with how intense and dark her writing is getting, I’m scared and worried about Joshua and the others.
Thank you for reading my review.
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