As Spicy as Promised

I just finished Lora Leigh's steamy paranormal romance, Mercury's War, and I thought this book might be a good one to test out a review format I've been toying with. Tell me what you think--Is it helpful? Are there other things you think I should include?

Mercury's War

Synopsis: Someone has been slipping the Sanctuary’s secure information to a pharmaceutical company. Now it’s up to Ria Rodriguez to pose as a clerk and uncover the leak. Yet she has no idea of the danger she’s about to encounter—or the passion she’s about to ignite in one of the greatest Breeds ever created

General Fiction Rating: 3 stars (out of 5)

Genre-specific Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Characters: Both main characters had the same two inner issues to overcome--finding a place to belong and learning to accept themselves for who they are. They're unique, fun, and full-bodied, believeable despite Mercury being genetically enhanced with lion's DNA.

Plot: I loved how much action (in the bedroom and elsewhere) that Leigh packed into this novel. I liked how she explored both the themes (the character's inner struggles), making the opposite one easy and hard for Ria and Mercury. What I didn't like was the surprise reveal of a major character detail more than three-fourths of the way through the novel. I won't give it away, because it changes a lot of the story. It was one of those moments when I had to reread the last few pages to see if I'd missed anything. I hadn't. There were, when I thought back through what I'd read, some minor foreshadowing moments that could easily have been nothing that perhaps were supposed to clue me into the character's true nature. Either I'm dense, or it wasn't well done.

There were also some minor annoyances throughout the novel--inconsistencies in time, inconsistencies in the way characters were referenced, which added unnecessary confusion--but like I said, these were minor.

To Recommend or Not to Recommend: Despite that character twist and those minor discrepancies, I would still recommend this novel to lovers of paranormal romances. As Angela Knight says best on the cover of the novel, "When I'm in the mood for a steamy romance, I read Lora Leigh." I recommend the same of you.