Cat's Lair

Leopard People #6

by Christine Feehan

The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Leopard’s Prey returns to the feral underworld of her astonishing Leopard novels in an arousing new romance of forbidden animal instincts…

Cat Benoit has finally escaped the past—and the man who was the source of her nightmares. She’s off the grid, underground but watchful, and creating a new life for herself in Texas, far from the torrid dangers of her native New Orleans. She’s safe. He’ll never find her this time. Cat has to believe that. It’s the only thing keeping her sane.

Yet she can’t escape the attention of Ridley Cromer, the instructor at the martial arts dojo where Cat takes lessons. She arouses the animal in Ridley—and something feral comes to life when their body heat rises. Cat is in no position to let her guard down with anyone, especially someone who could be endangered by her past. But Ridley has secrets of his own—secrets only Cat would understand. If she dares to trust him.

Genres: Paranormal, Paranormal Romance, Romance, Shapeshifters, Fantasy, Erotica, Contemporary

667 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2015

About the author

Christine Feehan is a #1 New York Times bestselling author multiple times over with her portfolio including over 100 published novels, including five series; Dark Series, GhostWalker Series, Leopard Series, Drake Sisters Series, the Sisters of the Heart Series, Shadow Riders, Torpedo Ink and her Romantic Suspense novels. All of her series have hit the #1 spot on the New York Times bestselling list as well. Her debut novel Dark Prince received 3 of the 9 Paranormal Excellence Awards in Romantic Literature (PEARL) in 1999. Since then she has been published by various publishing houses including Leisure Books, Pocket Books, and currently is writing for Berkley/Jove. She also has earned 7 more PEARL awards since Dark Prince.
Her series include:
The Dark Series - https://www.christinefeehan.com/darkb...
The GhostWalker series- https://www.christinefeehan.com/ghost...
The Leopard Series - https://www.christinefeehan.com/leopa...
The Shadow Series- https://www.christinefeehan.com/shado...
Torpedo Ink series- https://www.christinefeehan.com/torpe...




IN HER WORDS:
I've been a writer all of my life -- it is who I am. I write for myself and always have. The ability to create pictures and emotions with words is such a miracle to me. I read everything; I mean everything! All kinds of books, even encyclopedias. I am fascinated by the written word and I love storytellers. It is a great privilege to be counted one myself. (www.christinefeehan.com)

Reviews

[Val ⚓️ Shameless Handmaiden ⚓️ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 Stars

I've been waiting for some kind of mild inspiration to strike so I could tap out a review for this thing, but alas, the brain seems to be dead this week.

I have no idea why. I blame hormones.

Or the J-O-B. That asshole is always a good scapegoat.



Anyway, this book.

I'm not sure exactly what to say.

So I will just outline exactly what happened for about, oh, 300+ pages or so...



"You are so beautiful."

"Say you're mine."

"Say it!"

"Are you wet for me?"





"Gosh, I'm just not sure about this."

"I'm so fucking hot the men swarm and yet of course have NO idea I'm hot."

"Everyone just loves my coffee, tee hee."





"You are so beautiful."

"Say you're mine."

"This pussy is mine."

"Say it!"

"You're so wet for me."





"Gosh, I'm just still not sure. This is all so sudden."

"Would you like some beignets?"

"Everyone just loves my beignets, tee hee."



"You are so fucking beautiful."

"Say you're mine."

"This pussy is all mine."

"Fucking say it!"




"Fuck, you're so wet.

"This is all for me, right?"



"I can't let anyone too close."

"Kill for the golden clam they will."

"God I'm so hot, but I have NO idea I am so hot."

"Coffee with your beignets?"

"Oh my god, I'm so horny."




"Fuck, you are so beautiful."

"You're so wet for me."





Yeah.

So, I guess what I'm trying to say is...

Outside of the beginning and the very end, this thing was literally them fucking and going around in constant verbal circles.

NON-STOP fucking.

So much fucking I actually started to skim a bit.

*gasp*

Thankfully, the ending delivered some of the action we were promised - and which was held over our heads for upwards of 300 fucking (pun intended) pages - thus this getting 3 stars instead of the 2 stars I was originally going to give this.

Quite frankly, this read more like a Lora Leigh than a Christine Feehan, if that makes sense to those who read both.

Regardless, I enjoyed it well enough.
But I definitely won't re-read it.
And I'm glad I got it from the library.

Find me at:

[Alex is The Romance Fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really love Christine Feehan and though the Leopard Series is not my favorite….The Dark Series is the one for me….I have still enjoyed the books I have read about the leopard shifters. But Cat’s Lair was more than just disappointing…..it was beyond totally boring!!!!!

I was hoping that Cat Benoit’s story would be a good one!!! But what happened???
Starting with Cat hiding from her evil and violent Rafe Cordeau, to whom her mother had sold to when she was eleven years old, it continues with her working in a bookshop/café and meeting the mysterious Riley Cromer, who actually is Eli someone, a leopard shifter.

Then they have sex. She then discovers the truth about Eli. Then they have sex again. He rescues her. Then they have sex again. She makes great coffee for him in his hideaway home. Then they have sex again…..and so it goes on and on and on!!!!!

Its coffee, sex, open for me, I love your taste, you are mine, say you are mine, let go for me and so on and on and on…..
Okay, let me skim over some pages…..and some more pages…maybe there will be something interesting happening next!!!!

Well, apart from the part where we get to meet up with Jake Bannaconni and his wife, Emma and their kids from Burning Wild (Leopard People #3), and the other leopard shifters, nothing else happened that was of interest to me.

I was hoping that we would get some background info on Rafe Cordeau and who he was and why he did the things he did….but no……..absolutely nothing….he was just a bad guy and a rogue and gone mad shifter!!!! The end!!!!

I was so looking forward to this book but it just did not do it for me.

I am hoping that the next installment will get me back into this series!!!!

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Source: I received a paper copy of this book for free on a read-to-review basis. Thanks to Little Brown Book Group.)

This was an erotic paranormal romance, but I did have an issue with one of Eli’s rules.

It took me quite a while to warm to the characters in this book, as I just couldn’t seem to connect with them, but it was unfortunate the situation Cat found herself in, especially as she believed that no-one had ever loved her. Eli came across as a bit of a pig though with his constant ‘my woman’ talk, and general bossiness.

The storyline in this was about Eli rescuing Cat from Rafe, and their relationship from there onwards, which was pretty steamy! In fact it seemed like most of this book was just sex, sex, sex. That being said, I did have an issue with Eli’s little rule about what the first thing Cat should do in the morning…

“When we wake up, you’ve for two choices. Your mouth can be on mine, or it can be on my cock. It isn’t that difficult.”

Because every woman wants to be forced to perform oral sex as soon as she opens her eyes every morning! Not! He should think himself lucky that he didn’t get it bitten off!

The ending to this was okay, and it was nice to catch up with Jake and Emma, I just got a bit tired of the constant sex in this book though.



6 out of 10.

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took me a while to process my thoughts after reading this. I love Christine Feehan's books. She's got her quirks, for sure, but she is one of my autobuy authors for a reason. I liked this book, but I disliked some prominent aspects enough that I had to knock my rating down to 3.5 stars. I will try not to get too graphic in describing why, but I hope that no one is offended by any content in this review. I will refer to the hero as "the hero", because if I call him something else, it's a spoiler.

I am not an erotica fan when it comes to romance. This book has definitely crossed the line into erotica. In fact, some love scenes actually felt downright porny to me. There is actually too much sex in this book, and not because sex is not good or wrong, but it doesn't really add to the story after a certain point. Plus, some of the sex scenes were not appealing to my taste. Thankfully, there is no anal sex or content, but there were still some sex aspects I felt were not necessary in a romance novel. A lot of it ties into the hero's dominant proclivities. I know a lot of romance fans really like that D/s stuff, but I don't like it. I think it's counter to what I love about a deep, strong romantic bond. I like a mutual submission and I like that there's give and take and that both parties can be strong and gentle instead of one person always having the reins. I think that if a hero always wants control in the bedroom 100%, that says a lot about his personality as a partner, and that comes across loud and clear with the hero. I'm not for that in a relationship. If the author goes there, it needs to be well done, and so far, I don't think it's been done in a book to my satisfaction, not that I'm looking for that, because I'm not. In this book specifically, it was a big turnoff for me, more than anything else. Frankly, I love when the hero is all tough and lethal and growly, but the heroine has him wrapped around her little finger. That's really sexy to me. Not a hero who's always giving orders and wants control, even in the most intimate and safest of places, the bedroom. The bedroom needs to be a place of trust and absolute security. Not a place where the roles are so locked into place that it's all taking from one party (and I don't mean orgasms).

I have no problem with oral sex, but I don't like the forced/aggressive kind of aspect to it that has a certain name that won't go into on this review. There was another oral sex act that is straight out of a porno that I was like, "Not so much." I also don't like spanking used as punishment for a grown woman included in sex. Even if the heroine likes it, it feels wrong to me. Your mileage may vary.

I love stalkerific heroes like a house on fire. I like when the hero is crazy and even obsessed with the heroine. I find that highly appealing. But there is a limit to it in this way: I don't like when the hero is super-controlling or dominant. Especially in bed. And also in that he wants the heroine to live life according to his rules. I'm not against a hero who wants to protect the heroine and feels like he knows best. Especially if he does know more about keeping the heroine safe than she does. But he shouldn't feel like he has the right to administer corporal punishment if she fails to follow his instructions. I mean, Really???

I don't like that a hero always wants sex to be his way and feels like he has to train his heroine to accommodate his needs. In that sense the hero crosses the line with me. He made a point of saying that he was a rough man and he had certain needs. He had already determined that was his woman, and he would have to train her to his way of doing things. To me, that's not really showing love. Love is when you accept people for who they are essentially. You don't try to change them, making the assumption that they will like changing for you and doing things your way. He knew how Catarina grew up, but he didn't even try to gentle himself for her, considering that she had been in a controlling situation her whole life before him. While the hero did love Catarina, and he cared for her and made sure her needs were met, I felt their relationship was a 60/40 relationship, with the balance his way. Catarina is very young, and I can't help wondering if she's happy with the hero just because he's all she's known other than the life she ran away from. She loves that he focuses on her, compliments her and takes care of him, and is willing to accept his need for control. She loves what he does to her sexually, but how does she know she wouldn't like a more gentle lover? She doesn't. As she grows, I feel that she will eventually find that control to be a stranglehold on her. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am.

I loved Catarina. She was a cool heroine. I liked the aspect of her being a master chef and barista, and that she taught herself to read. I liked that she had found a home at the dojo and working in the cafe shop, her own life, what she deserved.. The hero frankly ruined that for her. I didn't mind that she was complaint and submissive. Truth be told, she was way too good for the hero. I think he needed to work harder to be worthy of her in my eyes. To clarify, I felt like she needed a different hero based on her past. The hero was a bit too much like the man she was running away from, and if that is the case, I think the resolution could have been stronger than how it occurred. There was one aspect I loved, because you could see how deeply the hero cared for the heroine at what happens near the end. I'm sorry that it took this, frankly. I think there needed to be more of a confrontation between the hero and Rafe, the man she was running away from. Instead, there was the big smack down but no words exchanged as humans. I would have loved seeing the hero hand the jerk the beating he deserved. I feel that Feehan always writes awesome heroines and I usually love her heroes, with rare exception. This hero is definitely an exception for me.

I always like the parts of this series where the hero and heroine run as big cats. I think that part was too short. I'm a cat fancier, and I always get a kick out of the H/h running free together. I would easily have sacrificed one or more love scene for more of this. It's one of the best aspects of this series. The animal nature is so integral to the characters, and it should be more of a plot element than making the hero require rough sex.

It was great to see Emma and Jake again. It made me want to reread Burning Wild again. I just might!

Despite its issues, this was a very readable book, and I couldn't hardly put it down. Feehan knows how to write paranormal romance and compelling stories. I think I expect a lot from her, so that's part of why I was disappointed with this book. I feel that the hero just didn't work for me, and the sex aspects were unnecessary and unappealing. I still have high hopes for Elijah's book. I have been wanting his story for a long, long time.

[Karen A. Livingston · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disappointed

I've never thought I would leave a bad review on one of Feehans books. But, this one was really not her best work. Watch too much aggressive sex by a too dominant man. Where was the balance between strong male and strong female characters? The climax took forever. I absolutely love Christine Feehan and usually read her books over and over. Not this one.

[AL · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disappointing book. It seems 85% of the book was just Eli and Cat talking about the same thing and doing each other. The rest of the book was just the beginning of the book and the last bit where the bad guy was slain. I skipped pages after pages, chapters after chapters that in the end I didn't bother to finish reading after the fight which was the only thing that was impressive. A lot of cheesy lines in this book. My honest opinion, this book was a complete waste. I don't know the purpose it served but Feehan is losing the most important thing about a book, which is the story. Without the story, the book is nothing. In this book, the story was forgotten or didn't exist. It was all about Eli and Cat talking and him ordering her around and in the end boinking her. There wasn't much at it at all.

[Darcy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the second Feehan book that I had the same issue with. The hero seemed too alpha, almost to the point of abuse. I didn't like how Eli deceived Cat at the start, but could sort of understand that. What I didn't care for is that Eli knew how Cat grew up, knew from studying her and from Cat's own words, yet time and time again he would go off on her about things, mostly revolving around sex. I did find myself laughing when Cat asked if he could tell her all the rules at once. She even realized how unreasonable some of the things were. This really detracted from the book for me, as I wanted to reach through the book and slap Eli.

[Erin Burns · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do you hear that shriek? That's the sound of being completely irked because you want to quit a series, but you're still waiting for one particular character's story.
Honestly, why do I do this to myself? It is usually not a good sign when you almost dread starting a book and when you keep putting that book off. But I really did enjoy Wild Rain, Burning Wild and Savage Nature, so I figured (hoped) I'd settle in after I started reading.

Maybe my reticence in reading this one, and my opinion of this book was colored by my opinion of Viper Game? Maybe it was that the character wasn't the one I was anticipating? (Small spoiler, it isn't Elijah Lospostos.) Whatever it was, I couldn't really get into this story. Were previous heroines as insipid and fawning as Catarina? I don't think they were, but now I fear going back and rereading them and not enjoying them anymore.

This book was literally more than half navel gazing on the parts of both Cat and Eli. Both before she found out he betrayed her and she didn't know who he really was, and afterward. And what wasn't naval gazing was some serious control freak stuff. Feehan has always edged into non-con, but this particular story wasn't just excessive dominance, it seemed more coercive and controlling to the point of being abusive. Cat never had her own foundation to stand on, and Eli did very little, except teaching her self-defense, to help her with that. It felt very Stockholm like, and I think the issue here is that this series has slid way over to the Twilight/50 Shades side when it comes to characterization and storytelling. Did E.L James work on this? I couldn't respect Cat, I could only pity her. She went from the hands of one sociopathic controlling monster, to one who merely wasn't a sociopath. But she was still a fairly blank slate and he trained and groomed her to be whom and what he wanted her to be. I mean that quite specifically, Eli literally thinks how lucky he is that no man has ever had her and that he can mold her into what he wants and needs. I found Eli fairly monstrous and nothing about his interactions did anything to make me see him in a different light. Part of the problem was the aforementioned navel gazing. Since there wasn't actually any plot, there wasn't anything for us to really see. Being in his head thinking how much he loved and needed her didn't help. This was all tell, no show, and irritating. It was very irritating. We never even really saw her training in self-defense, we were just told she did so.

What little development we saw of her as a person at the start was completely eclipsed by Eli when he first kidnapped her. She thinks of nothing but him. Not her friends, not her future. It is just the now and how Eli is shaping her.

I can sum this book up with a few simple words:

Coffee
Food
Mine
Tattoo
SexSexSexSexSexSexSex
Guilt/Shame
Control
Boots
Skirts

Sadly, this had the bones to be a fairly decent book. The first few chapters (asides from a bit too much naval gazing), a few interspersed spots in the middle, and then the last couple of chapters were fairly good. But either about 200 pages needed to be cut out, or completely rewritten to make it tolerable. I am assuming Feehan is chasing the 50 Shades crowd, which isn't surprising since she has always trended that direction. But for me at least, in doing so, she has lost the things that made me enjoy her works.

Really, at this point I have to ask myself more seriously, why do I keep doing this to myself? I have an enormous TBR shelf of things that don't fill me with dread. There innumerable books out there that I am sure to enjoy. I don't enjoy reading things I dislike. I don't enjoy leaving negative reviews. My goal isn't to excoriate anyone or anything. I don't enjoy wasting my time or my money as those are scarce resources. Probably the only reasonable answer is that I am a sucker and I am not a quitter and I have significant difficulty dealing with lack of closure. I don't hold out much hope for Elijah's book, but I'll likely read that too, hoping I can finally let go.

[Izy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating~ 2.5 stars
Please note: This is not a spoiler free review, infact I think it's literally filled with all sorts of spoilers.

I'm unsure as to how to rate this book, but I'm going to go with 2-2.5 stars. I do love Christine Feehan's books and I have reread quite a few and will continue to do so in the future. This one however was sadly disappointing.

On one hand, I enjoyed the plot (of what there was), maybe because it was different then the others in the series and at the same time had a similar setting to Jake's book Burning Wild, which is my favourite in the series. I was liking the book till we find out who Eli is and he takes Cat to his ranch to safe guard her. Before we find out that hero ( Eli Perez / Ridley Cromer ) is basically lying to her, we see Cat Benoit as strong woman who not only escaped a deranged-shifter-man but also hid from him for years and is learning self defence.

Now to what I didn't like; I just feel like in the last few books whether it was Christine Feehan's lastest Ghost hunters (which I still have yet to complete b/c I couldnt take all the jealousy and the creepy attraction thing) or this book, the woman isn't given a choice like at all . I get the mate stuff, I love that stuff when it's done right but this is a bit more than that. The woman here has literally no choice of who she mates with, in the book it could be either that psychopath she spend almost half her life with or it could be the DEA agent that lied to her because of who bit her. [spoiler]They both bite her.[/spoiler] .One of the things which bugged me a lot was the fact that the uncontroable attraction they (the women) seem have to the bad guy in the book because of the fact he bit her (this was also part of the fourth book of the series, Wild Rain and I only noticed it when I reread the book this year), here do we not only have that but we also have the fact that Cat spend her childhood with Rafe Cordero and for the lack of better word, was sympathetic towards him and blames herself for not being able to take care of him. Cat was a child, a illiterate orphan child who had no one to care for her and in other words I think it was stockholm syndrome more than anything so she's really conflicted about dealing with Rafe. Then lets talk about the hero, as Ridley Cromer; I really liked him, as Eli not so much. Eli lied to her about everything to gain her trust as a part of his job and later expects a second chance. The second chance showed aggressive behaviour along with wanting too much sex (which I skipped), oh almost forgot he also bought everything Cat wanted apart from her freedom ofcourse.

Cat seemed to really want her freedom especially after she finds out that Eli lied to her and took her to his ranch, this continued for a quite a while but then suddenly it was all happy families *_*.  She lost all her backbone and her character and she just sort of become a stepford wife with shifting abilities who was also getting taught self defence by Eli. There was also a lot cooking and coffee making involved which didn't really have a point apart from the fact that she's a great cook and Eli loves her cooking and she loves cooking for him...

I had high hopes for this one and now I have nothing more to add, expect I hope that the next book in the series Wild Cat will be better than this one.

[Julia's Book Haven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably more like 2.5 but I rounded up.

So let me run down how this book basically went. 5 maybe 7 pages of storyline and/or dialogue, and then 20 pages of sex, 5 more pages of storyline, 30 pages of sex. And that was how the whole book was. When you strip away all the sex scenes, there wasn't actually a very strong storyline. Which is surprising since Christine Feehan usually writes awesome action packed books. I don't know if she was rushed when she wrote this. Or she just wasn't feeling the story so stuck a bunch of sex in to try to distract her readers from the lack of anything actually going on for like 85% of the novel, then she shoved some fight scenes into the last 15% and called it a day. Definitely disappointed, plus for some reason my ebook didn't have the exert for Air Bound which I was really looking forward to reading so all a round a let down :/

[Keri · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were so many eye-rolling events in here, I had a headache after I finished the book. It wasn't the best shifter book I have ever read and it wasn't the worst, so I will settle in the middle. Cat was hard for me to connect to, because I couldn't buy in to her being as naïve as she was, even at her age.

[Shauni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Originally Reviewed For: Bodice Rippers, Femme Fatales and Fantasy

********Warning... I actually LIKED this book!! So this is a positive review***********************


A long time ago, I was on another author's website and we were talking about books to read. Plenty of really good books were suggested, including Christine Feehan's Carpathian Series. But then the author spoke up (not CF) and said, forget the Carpathians if you want steam??? Check out her Leopard Series, I did and a love affair was begun. I know I mention that aspect in every review but it's kind of fun to learn how people discovered a favorite series.. How did you discover the Leopards?

Cat's Lair reminds me of Burning Wild, it has that dark essence to it. Since Burning Wild was probably my favorite of the Leopard Series, I am good with the comparison. The thing with Feehan is she writes each book with a style that displays the characters rather than the series. There sometimes feels like a lack of continuity between the books but the stories themselves work for the individual characters. And Ridley Cromer/Eli Perez is all dark and dominant so this book seethes.. It pulses with a dark desire and sexual intensity but it also plays to the heart. Eli is less broody than Jake from Burning Wild but he has that same power.. so the sex scenes are just as steamy *grins* I still can't look at a desk without thinking of Jake and Emma *blushes*

Cat Benoit is something of a wiz kid, raised in a strange sort of innocence in the house of a crime lord, Cat was refused education, friends or any sort of independence. But she wasn't stupid and eventually found a means of escape. Living completely under the radar, Cat has managed to find a minimum of a life. She has self educated herself, learned self defense and has a good job. And now she's found a friend in Ridley Cromer, a nice guy who treats her like a lady but makes her heart go pitty pat. Only Ridley is not who she thinks he is.

Ridley Cromer/Eli Perez is a cat with the DEA. He and his team have been working to bring down Cat's former "guardian" for years. When Ridley manages to work his way into Cat's inner circle he thinks he may finally find a way to get the job done. Only the DEA has other plans and take Cat into custody.. Breaking Ridley's cover and the true man, Eli Perez emerges. Eli isn't calm, sweet or remotely zen like. He has dark passions and his leopard lives a little too close to the surface. But he's also the man for Cat, now he just needs to re earn her trust.

And that's where the true story begins.

Eli and Cat live on a ranch right next door to the Banconnis so we get to see them as well as Jacob and Elijah. That's always fun.

The fight or flight options of this book are rather excellent. Cat wants flight but Eli knows that eventually they must fight for her to be truly free. Intense emotions are sprung from Cat's growth as a woman and eventually a leopard.

I think this might be one of Ms. Feehan's better books.

Shauni

[Nareh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I wasn't really expecting much from this latest Christine Feehan novel. Don't get me wrong, I love her earlier works but these last few novels just seem to fall a little short.

This particular book revolves around Cat Benoit, our heroine, and Eli Perez aka Ridley Cromer, our hero. Cat is on the run from an evil shifter out to claim her as his mate when she bumps into Eli/Ridley. She has been taking self-defense classes where she first sees him. Then he just seems to keep popping up and won't take no for an answer. So she does what any sensible woman would do, she allows him into her house so he can set up a security system, including cameras, so that she is safe. Of course this is a logical next step for her seeing as she is running from a deranged madman who is intent on claiming her no matter who or what stands in his way. I certainly wouldn't have trust issues if I had a past like that. Then there is the fact that Ridley is lying to her about pretty much everything. Unbeknownst to her, Eli/Ridley is an undercover DEA agent out to catch the evil shifter and is using Cat to do it.

What really bothered me about this relationship, if you can even call it that, is that he seemed to acknowledge that he was wrong in lying to her and putting her life in danger from the same man she was running from by allowing his police buddies to break into her house, while he disabled the handy dandy security system he set up for her, and bring her in then leak the knowledge of her location to above mentioned madman in a bid to gain her as a witness never once taking into account the fact that every witness prior had been killed, but all he did was say that he would prove to her that he deserved a second chance. This, to me, wasn't sufficient to excuse his behavior and his treachery because he is the reason why she was almost captured by the same man who had purchased her from her stepmother when she was still a child.

Then we get to Cat's own behavior. She is supposed to be portrayed as the very strong, intelligent woman and she does come across that was in the beginning but then it just goes downhill from there. She becomes a walking doormat for Eli. She doesn't know how to stand up to him. Almost instantly after he abducts her and takes her to his home, she wants to make coffee the way he likes it and enjoys making him dinner, etc. Wait a second here...what just happened to the strong heroine we were first introduced to?

Plot-wise it was definitely lacking. There was such a large portion of the book dedicated to them getting it on, about 70% if not more, that it just detracted from the story. I wanted to know more about Cat's background and who her mother and father had been. I wanted to know more and it just wasn't there. It was all about them being intimate (which I don't have a problem with but there needs to be more plot), her making him lunch, coffee, etc. Or him being an absolute control freak who would get booted out the door in reality.

She didn't shout her answer back to him because she knew from experience that he detested that. When he called her, he wanted her. Right there. In front of him.

So she just does everything he wants because he wants her to? Is that what I'm understanding?

Yep, that about sums up this book. She does what he wants.

[Stephine · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

Cat’s Lair is the 7th book in Feehan’s Leopard series. Although I have not read any of the previous 6 novels, I had no trouble following the story or relating to the characters. However, it is possible that a reader already familiar with Feehan’s work would have picked up on nuances within the text or storyline that I missed.

Catarina Benoit has escaped a life of captivity and terror in New Orleans and is living off the grid in Texas. She is focused on learning to protect herself (via martial arts and shooting lessons), becoming independent, and making as few friends as possible since she is convinced that her captor will eventually come for her. She meets Ridley Cromer at the dojo where she is taking lessons and he begins appearing at the coffee shop where she works. The two begin a tenuous friendship, against Cat’s better judgement, and gradually their romance begins to blossom.
 
I really enjoyed the first 25% of this book (where Cat and Ridley meet and begin to establish a relationship) and the last 25% (where they confront and battle the “bad guys.”) Unfortunately, I was less fond of the middle 50% of the story. That part was focused almost solely on Cat and Ridely’s romantic relationship and consisted of multiple, lengthy internal dialogues and multiple, lengthy conversations between them about Cat’s inability to trust, Ridley’s need to protect, what they needed from each other, what they needed from themselves, etc. etc. It became pretty tedious and I had a difficult time not skipping pages. A major theme of the relationship seemed to be Ridley’s need to dominate Cat but this wasn’t consistent throughout the narrative and actually put me off quite a bit. I had a difficult time liking Ridley in several scenes and Cat’s feeling about being dominated were never fully explained or explored. Interspersed throughout this section of the novel were multiple erotic scenes and, although well written, they really seemed like overkill.
 
What I liked: The book was well-written and the author painted a vivid picture of characters, locations, and action; Cat was easy to like and her actions/choices made sense within the scope of the narrative; The main characters appeared to have real chemistry and the romantic/erotic parts of the story felt mostly believable.
 
What I didn’t like: The middle part of the book was too drawn-out and repetitive; The dominant-submissive aspects of the relationship/sex were inconsistent and felt jarring to the narrative; Ridley’s “alpha male” tendencies actually seemed more “jerk male” a lot of the time; There were few supportive characters in the narrative and the paranormal world building was minimal (although it is possible that was covered in previous books and I’m just unfamiliar with it.)
 
Final Verdict: I was sufficiently entertained while reading this and I wouldn’t say no to trying out another book by this author.
- Jessica

[Edwina " I LoveBooks" "Deb" · Rating 3 out of 5]

JUST SEX!!

I have such mixed feelings about Ca't Lair and almost gave it 2 stars, but I love the author and I have been a Christine Feehan fan since 1999 over 15years. This story doesn't feel like her writing. There is very little story an the villain Rafe Cordeau is not fleshed out. The whole story is very underdeveloped. The lead characters were good I liked Catarina Benoit. Maybe she was a little to submissive at times but that was because she just wanted someone to love her and think of her in high regard. She had lived with Rafe Cordeau since she was 11 he was a mean vicious drug dealer or so we are told in the story. He treated Cat with no love or respect. He was holding her prisoner until she stated the Hol Vol Don then he would mate her. Cat escaped before this happen and she takes a job as brew master in at Poetry Slam a coffee shop. She meets the hero Ridley Cromer aka Eli Perez at a dojo while being instructed in martial arts. This part of the story was good and the part when they meet up with Jake and Emma Bannaconni from" Burning Wild " we also re visit Joshua and Elijah characters from previous books. But I needed more story there. The story is 80% erotic sex which I don't mine but you need a story and there just wasn't much of one. I am sorry to have to write such a dismal review of a much beloved author. I really don't understand the lack of story telling in her last few books. It seems like a different person is writing her books. Christine Feehan is know for her big characters and layers upon layers of story development, with back story for new readers of her books. She writes erotic sex scenes with great story telling. So What Happen with Ca't Lair? and Viper Game GW seris? It certainly is a mystery to me. I hope Elijah's book Wild Cat is better or this might be the end of the line for me reading the Leopard Series. I hope CF gets her game together and soon.

[Christine · Rating 1 out of 5]

So basically she's on the run from a criminal overlord who also happens to be a leopard shape shifter. She runs into a cop working undercover who is also a leopard shape shifter and who is determined to protect her ... at least until he discovers that she's also a shifter. Then he's determined to have her, and he really doesn't care whether she likes it or not. Choose: Evil drug lord who kills for fun and who once made you put your hand into the guts of your friend who was bleeding out in order to teach you a lesson or me -- at least I won't do that to you.

Honestly, I just don't think I like this author's version of a shape shifter. She's basically got those angry, abusive men of 1980's romance except that every time they get out of line she blames their bad behavior or desires on their "inner leopard." There's a lot of sex. (A LOT of sex.) I like steamy, but I can't get into it if I feel this way about the characters. I was half paying attention as he explained to her how yes, he owned her and no, he wouldn't let her go but if she was ever unhappy with him she needed to be 100% honest with him so he could fix it. Because I guess that makes the first two things okay.

I'm sure there are plenty of people who will love a story like this. I, apparently, am not one of them!

[Ann Minton · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you like hard pornography this is the book for you

I have read many of this author's books and in the beginning I enjoyed them. I immediately snapped up any books with her name on it. No more! I have noticed more and more sex scenes recently but this book has little to no plot or characters development. It seemed the characters existed only to string together porno sex scenes that went on for pages. The descriptions for oral sex, bondage and the total control of the female character by the male character was more than I could stomach! His insistence she wear only his shirt no underwear, wake him with her lips on his lips or his cock and be spanked when she went outside without him was beyond belief. No matter how degrading each demand was the female immediately complied and If I never see the word cock again it won't be to soon. I tried but I couldn't find any redeeming qualities for this book. The author has sold out and apparently is going for the porno money. I wonder if she feels comfortable when her children or overhauled read this ongoing garbage.

[Yayita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sinceramente aunque me guste el cliché de súper alfa creo que hay límites, sobre todo cuando una heroína ha sufrido tanto. Lo único que Eli sabía decir era: Me gusta así. Sexo. Hazte un tatuaje. Haz lo que me gusta a mí. Cumplido. Me gusta un tatuaje en ti para mí. Te amo. Sexo. Yo. Y Cat tan dulce dice que sí a todo. Aunque Eli demostró su amor esas cosas fueron muy allá.
Con todo y eso fue un buen libro. Espero no encontrarme otro héroe así en otro libro de la señora Feehan pero tampoco voy a decir que lo odié.

[Krissys Bookshelf Reviews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a digital copy in exchange for an honest review from Berkley.


I really wanted to give Cat's Lair five stars, I really wanted to say that I loved it but it appears as time goes on Christine's work has sort of... I'm not sure of the right word... Slipped? It doesn't have the same feel, it doesn't evoke the same emotion from me that her previous works have always managed to bring out of me. It doesn't seem to have that old Christine Feehan flair.
I know everyone changes over time and her work is going to change along with her and the story is still enjoyable but over all I didn't feel that same connection to her that I used to feel.
It probably sounds odd but it didn't feel like she wrote it?
Cats Lair is interesting and the characters carry most of the weight, I guess I just miss that old fire that always accompanied her work and made it great. It sort of just feels like shes only writing more books of the same series just for the heck of it and not really for any particular purpose.

[Tori · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

The first half showed a lot of promise but soon the story morphed into classic Feehan with an offensively alpha hero and a heroine who is "trained" to please the hero. Meh. I did enjoy the conflict though hence the 1/2 star.

[Angie · Rating 1 out of 5]

"When we wake up, you've got two choices. Your mouth can be on mine, or it can be on my cock. It isn't that difficult."

“Don’t fucking lock that door again, you hear me?”

“Are you being a smart-ass right now? Do you think that’s really wise?”

"When he flipped her over, dragging her hips over the edge so her sweet little ass was pushed toward him, he smacked her harder than he intended, her buttocks flushing a deep red immediately."

"She pulled on a skirt, tugging it to her hips. The band was wide and comfortable, the material falling in graceful ruffles to her ankles. The skirt was one of her favourites, so soft and swingy, very feminine. She knew Eli liked it. He’d chosen it for her when they’d ordered clothes off one of her favourite Internet sites. She’d looked at it all the time, but she never actually ordered anything until Eli had encouraged her.

When everything with Rafe was finally settled, she wanted to get a job in town and make her own money so she wasn't reliant on Eli for funds. She knew instinctively that it would be a fight. Eli was a macho alpha male and he believed he should provide for his woman."

Christine Feehan's books used to have good storylines, characters you could relate to, men that weren't abusive and strong, independent women. The last few seem to be getting farther from those things and becoming stories about abuse. Even the sex scenes have a non-consent/rape vibe to them - and there's too many sex scenes. Rather than filling out the story, it feels like she's cramming in as many as she can.

Her characters feel less like they're individuals and more like she's using them to re-tell the same story over and over. The men are always the best, the strongest, the smartest. Her women are always ultra feminine (even if they don't start out that way), in need of protection and future mothers. In any society you encounter people who don't want kids - but instead of embracing it and allowing her characters to be individuals, Feehan always changes their minds - which isn't realistic.

“It doesn't work on shifters. You either get pregnant or you don’t.”
“Condoms?” She raised her eyebrow.
“You’ve seen me, babe, how I'm built, and we don’t just have sex. We have rough sex."I've never known condoms to work on a shifter either.” They make many sizes of condoms, then there's spermicide and yes - hormonal birth control works on animals.

“What is it about having babies that scares you, Kitten? Talk to me. Let me help with that.” As though Cat's broken or damaged for not wanting kids.

She refers to her men as "alpha" a term that's not even used with animals anymore. Their decision always goes, they know best, they make the decisions that matter and are always wealthy enough to support their women - which would be great, except they don't seem to give their women a choice about working or not. It's always stay home to manage the house and raise kids. It's a huge turn off - the women can decide what to eat, what to wear (within limits as it seems they're required to wear skirts), how to decorate the house, but beyond that their men get final say.

[Rgreader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Almost too much smexing. Much of the book was smexing. Skimmed thru them cause the story was good and all the smexing became a distraction and not a positive.

[Sandy S · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 stars--

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 5, 2015

Cat Benoit has finally escaped the past—and the man who was the source of her nightmares. She’s off the grid, underground but watchful, and creating a new life for herself in Texas, far from the torrid dangers of her native New Orleans. She’s safe. He’ll never find her this time. Cat has to believe that. It’s the only thing keeping her sane.

Yet she can’t escape the attention of Ridley Cromer, the instructor at the martial arts dojo where Cat takes lessons. She arouses the animal in Ridley—and something feral comes to life when their body heat rises. Cat is in no position to let her guard down with anyone, especially someone who could be endangered by her past. But Ridley has secrets of his own—secrets only Cat would understand. If she dares to trust him.

NOTE: If you haven’t read CAT’S LAIR, there is a slight spoiler in my review as it pertains to the true identity of our leading hero.

••••••••••••••••

REVIEW: 3.75 stars--CAT’S LAIR is the seventh installment in Christine Feehan’s adult, contemporary Leopard People paranormal romance series focusing on a species of Leopard shifters. This is leopard shifter/ DEA agent Eli Perez (aka Ridley Cromer) and female leopard shifter/barista Cat Benoit’s storyline. Cat’s Lair can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from previous storylines is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual third person perspectives CAT’S LAIR follows the building relationship between two leopard shifters –Eli Lopez and Cat Benoit. Cat is a female leopard shifter who is just entering the Han Vol Dan (leopard females first ‘turn’ and sexual maturity) and a woman in hiding; she is on the run and her whereabouts have been discovered by not only law enforcement and the DEA, but by a man who is determined to claim Cat as his own. Enter Ridley Cromer/Eli Lopez, a man who has promised Cat his protection but it comes at a cost.

The relationship between Cat and Eli is one of instant attraction but Eli was reluctant to reveal his true identity in the early stages of their romance. Cat has a difficult time trusting anyone, especially men, and in this Eli has reinforced Cat’s belief that no man can be trusted. The sexual side of their relationship is aggressive. Eli is a man who demands submission both in and out of the bedroom; he is a controlling and domineering alpha male bordering on abusive; there is very little humanity remaining in Eli’s persona. All of the Leopard males are dominant, and their sexual needs are over the top but Eli’s actions screamed emotionally damaging and dangerous. A majority of the storyline focuses on the sexual aspect of their relationship-very erotic in nature but not necessarily provocative and alluring. The threat against Cat was introduced in the early stages of the storyline than never materialized until near the end-in this, the main focus followed Eli’s need to control; his obsession with and dominance of Cat; their sexual relationship; and waiting for Cat’s first shift. There is plenty of ‘Kitten’ calling throughout the entire story.


We are re-introduced to Jake and Emma Bannaconni, and their children Kyle and Andrya (Burning Wild #3) as well as Leopard shifters Elijah Lospostos, Joshua Tegre and Trey. Cat’s coworkers and self defense teacher play a small role in Cat’s life-one that does not go unnoticed by the man on the hunt for Cat.

Speaking of characters and names, Christine Feehan has a habit of duplicating names between series and sometimes within the same series. Our leading man is Eli Lopez and earlier in the series ( and in Cat’s Lair) the reader was introduced to Elijah Lospostos-two very similar names that can lead to confusion for some. When I first read a small bit about CAT’S LAIR I had hoped it was Elijah’s story but discovered that not to be the case. I am happy that we have finally left the Bayou and Christine has returned to some of the earlier characters and locations. Elijah and Joshua need their own happily ever afters. Elijah’s story will be told next in WILD CAT –Leopard People #8-November 2015

CAT’S LAIR is a sexually aggressive, paranormal storyline. The premise, action and adventure, and the search for Cat’s ‘stalker’ take a backseat to Cat and Eli’s sexual relationship. In recent books, Christine Feehan appears to be focusing on the erotic nature of the relationships more than the building of a story; the storyline is almost forced into the background and secondary to the $ex, dominance and need to control.

If you are a fan of Christine Feehan’s LEOPARD PEOPLE series, you will enjoy CAT’S LAIR-especially revisiting some of her earlier characters like Jake and Emma.


Copy supplied by the publisher.

www.thereadingcafe.com

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cat’s Lair

The Characters

Catarina “Cat” Benoit
Eli Perez a.k.a. Ridley Cromer

The Story

The storyline was good. However it was overshadowed by constant repetitiveness and endless sex. Seriously if either of the characters went off in reflection about how much they love their mate again or if Cat brought up her lack of education one more time I would have screamed and possibly thrown things. Yes, I’m complaining about sex in this book. (I can’t believe it either.) It went on forever and really just stopped the story from moving on. The getting to know you, switch and climax of the book was great but I just wanted the author to get us there.

So now after 2 months of trudging through I can only leave with an “it was okay”. SN: I feel like I’ve been saying this about of lot of Feehan books lately. I’m not sure if she is changing as a writer or if I am changing as a reader but I’m enjoying her stories less and less. And it kills me because A) I am a fan. I was immediately drawn to her work after discovery. B) I know the general ideas are good. I do truly like the plots of the stories however the slow moving execution that is putting me off.

The Random Thoughts



2 Stars

[Erika · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not going to be an in-depth review. I just want to take the opportunity to air out a hugely distracting grievance with this novel, prepare yourselves for a shallow rant! The author uses the word "coffee" nearly 200 times in this book. She literally writes it 168 times. I found it so distracting after about the first 40 times I read it, wanted to stab the passages the next 100 times, and it still wasn't over. Granted to be fair the heroine works in a coffeehouse, but there is minimal time spent in that location and she is taken away pretty early on. It's like the two characters couldn't function without coffee. Without someone making it, someone drinking it, someone talking about it, comparing it to the coffee of others, etc. etc. It got so incredibly annoying with the redundancy. I realize how petty this must seem, but I read A LOT. Find a new word, change it up, hell tell me chai, cappuccino, or latte, but FOR THE LOVE OF PETE QUIT WRITING "COFFEE." It's not cute. It's filler because the two main characters are so void of any dynamic personality traits it needed to be used as a cheap device to try and give them some kind of cute quirk within their relationship!

[Lady Lioness]

This was a DNF for me. I might've stuck with it longer if the heroine hadn't known what she was, but when I found out that she definitely knew, I just couldn't invest in her anymore. If she knew, how could she be so naive about what that entailed? Why didn't she understand what was happening with the hero?

Also, while I don't have an issue with d/s, I felt like it came very close to rape fantasy at times, and that is not my cup of tea. There were definitely times where I felt like the heroine wasn't consenting and the hero used his dominance and manly charms to 'convince' her otherwise.

Both those things coupled together led to a rare DNF and my first DNF Feehan book. I haven't picked up a Carpathian book in ages, but I was still reading the Leopard books, which makes the DNF especially disappointing.

[Amy Jo Click · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not her best but I mostly enjoyed it.

The guy in this book is a dominating and controlling a hole, the weakness in this story. When he is pretending to be someone else, the story is better. The bad guy in it is truly diabolical. Cat or Caterina, is the heroine in the story. She is likable enough if a bit to emotionally needy. I'm not sure why most of the men Feehan rights are so controlling. It's not attractive. Sex scenes in the book are many and often repetitive. Eli uses sex to control her, and she likes it. One of the weaker tales in this series.

[Iris Hunter (InstagramREADS) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strong at 2/4 and the finish. To bad that the in between's felt like fillers. And not really added something to the main parts of the story.
Love this series tho.

Received a copy (e-arc) from the publisher

[Betwixt the Pages · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cat Benoit has finally escaped the past—and the man who was the source of her nightmares. She’s off the grid, underground but watchful, and creating a new life for herself in Texas, far from the torrid dangers of her native New Orleans. She’s safe. He’ll never find her this time. Cat has to believe that. It’s the only thing keeping her sane.

Yet she can’t escape the attention of Ridley Cromer, the instructor at the martial arts dojo where Cat takes lessons. She arouses the animal in Ridley—and something feral comes to life when their body heat rises. Cat is in no position to let her guard down with anyone, especially someone who could be endangered by her past. But Ridley has secrets of his own—secrets only Cat would understand. If she dares to trust him.

Rating: 2/5 Stars
Quick Reasons: Steamy romance scenes; an intriguing, dramatic beginning that peters out as the book goes; a handful of flat characters; not as good as other books from the same author

I feel as if I'm constantly repeating myself in reviews when it comes to the same series/authors. Christine Feehan, being a paranormal romance writer, is even more difficult to write unique reviews for--because her books tend to follow the same plot mountains/rules.

That being said, I've vowed to at least try--and there are a few things this book does that I'm not happy with. Christine Feehan is one of those authors I just can't put down. When I see a book from her I haven't read/is new, I immediately buy it. Now, you have to understand something: I don't read romance. In fact, I really only have two romance authors on my shelves (and I'm talking the hardcore romance genre here, not fluffy ya or novels with romance in them)--Christine Feehan and Sherilynn Kenyon. They're the only two in this genre I've found so far whose books I can't help but devour. I'm not sure why this is--except maybe because usually, they find a pretty level balance between the story, the characters, and the sexy times.

Cat's Lair started no differently than most of Christine Feehan's novels--one character, scared of or running from something/someone, meets another and, despite high levels of nerves and a lot of trust issues, falls into their bed (and in love) with him. Now, usually the plot has a little more to it than this--monsters, scary people, etc. USUALLY, Feehan's books walk the line between "just different enough" and "just another cookie cutter romance." Of course, authors sometimes fall out of their usual habits. Just this seems to have happened here.

About halfway through this book, I noticed two key things:

1. These characters--particularly Ridley/Eli--fall quite a bit flat compared to those from her other books (admittedly, Cat DOES have a very well-developed back story, but......this isn't nearly as much a part of the story as I feel it should have been);
2. There is a LOT of sex........and hardly nothing else happening.

Given this girl is running from her abusive, terrifying past--and the monster man from it--I expected a lot more "action" in the form of character growth, epic fight scenes, that sort of thing. The sort of thing almost ALL of Feehan's novels have, in fact. But lately, it seems the writing style has flip-flopped. Instead of sex being a well-paired side dish for the steamy, action-packed, plot-heavy awesomeness that are Feehan's books...sex is predominately dominating.

Don't get me wrong! Obviously romance novels are going to be full of naked, sweaty bodies. What sort of romance novel would it be if it weren't? But I love Feehan's writing for the effort she puts into making her stories MORE than sex--the buildup, the drama, the hero and heroine finding themselves and each other OUTSIDE of the bedroom. Feehan, somehow, seems to have lost grasp of this recently.

This was an okay read; I'm just very disappointed. While the emphasis on the carnal pleasure is not unexpected in this genre, I was expecting more from this author.

[Anne, Unfinished Woman · Rating 1 out of 5]

Warning: Readers may find some of this review too explicit. I don't think I am going to be giving away plot, because they really isn't much of one, but...

I was scrounging around looking for my "Leopard's Fury", and found this in my pile of Feehan books, a bookmark about a third of the way through, obviously having abandoned its reading. I now know why. I generally like Feehan's books, only skipping the Dark series, since I'm not into vampires. I keep up with Sea Haven and Sisters of the heart, and I have the first of the new series in my "to read". Some have been better than others, but this series is really a mixed bag. I don't know whether this is because there is only the one paranormal Leopard shifting trait, but the suspense factor is not as developed in these. However, I remember reading the early installments and liking them. I recently committed the cardinal sin for me, and read them out of sequence and had just finished "Wild Cat", when I found this.

With Cat's Lair, you have about one hundred pages of set up, reasonably written, and then Eli gets Catarina to his ranch. At which point you have several hundred pages of very explicit sex dialogue and scene description that is the same, over and over and over again. The same words, feelings, smells, tastes, demands... Let me be clear, I love a good explicit sex scene. I like it longer that a paragraph or a page. However, after 260 pages of repetition, repetition, repetition, it becomes of less interest and turn on, and just gets boring. There are a few pages/paragraphs of personal history, a brief visit to a neighboring ranch, a few references to gifts. Perhaps my indifference to the characters added to my boredom. These two, Eli and Catarina, were not sympathetic, for me. He's "bossy", demanding, has RULES (and a couple of them are doozies). She's frightened, whines she doesn't understand, retreats. So he gets mad, and she capitulates. He likes it rough, and "she likes it rough", really?! I don't think he was paying attention. I think the author went too far here, and the sex bordered on rape. Over and over and over. I skimmed, over and over and over again, wanting to get to the predictable end of squashing the bad leopards. The repeating gets boring, right?!

I liked the next two installments. They both had some substance, some plot. And this poor showing of the series will not keep me from continuing to follow the shifters. But really, there are a significant number of words for the male anatomy and I would enjoy the author's getting a thesaurus. Maybe even use the anatomically correct one occasionally.