I was excited to read this short story after finding it more or less accidentally on the internet. It is available for free, and the story's summary was able to catch my interest. People turning into leopards? Sounds cool! So did I think before I read it. However, I didn't read a well-developed fantasy story with some elements of romance, as I initially thought. No, it was what felt like a porn story. Fortunately, the story was not too long and I have reached the last line after something like two hours.

First off, to say something positive about it, the atmosphere was wonderfully developed, and I felt like I was part of the rain forest, hearing the monkeys, feeling the leopard's presence, being surrounded by insects. Christine Feehan used a lot of words to describe the setting, which did not bother me at all.

However, I don't even know how to express my feelings about those two main protagonists. Maybe I should return to the story and count how many times the female protagonist's breasts were mentioned (fifty-one times) or how many times the male protagonist experienced an erection (ten times) - on not even fifty pages. Feehan included a lot of steamroller tactics in order to make the reader realize how much Maggie and Brandt are meant for each other.

He smiled at her, and a thousand butterfly wings brushed at the pit of her stomach.

As if that matter of fact would not have been obvious enough without this sentence.

Fascinated, she propped herself up on her elbows to watch his throat work as he swallowed the ice-cold liquid. He was so sexy, the simple act took her breath away. Just drinking water. And how had he managed to get her to trust him the way she did? She trusted everything he said with an instinct, a knowledge, that he was telling her the truth.

Wait ... what?

Girl, you don't even know him for twenty-four hours. *headdesk* As if this was not enough, she already felt sexual tension before even getting to know Brandt, just by the feeling of his presence, and during their first confrontation, as she feared he might want something bad for her, she did not try to run away or get help, no - she actually ached for relief and wanted to have sex with him. Seriously? Knowing him for something like five minutes and fearing he might be a danger to her, she wanted to have sex with him? I get that they seem to be connected by some paranormal phenomena, but it does not change the way I feel about the protagonist - that she is dumb, boring and one-dimensional. The story actually seemed to define its characters by their sexuality. It was fantasy, of course, telling a story about shapeshifters and a paranormal romance, but very, very weak fantasy used to write a more or less innovative story about erotism. ( )

Thinking I would give this author another shot even though I hated her vampire series.

The whole book is an handy excuse for gratitous sex.Wich is not sexy at all.

And the flimsisest of characterization and a weak plot.

Meh I say. ( )

While as usual this story would have been great it was longer it was a pretty good story and a great introduction into a new series. I am not going to be able to say much about the story without giving away the story. I loved Brandt Talbot very much. He is a caring, passionate, intelligent and dominant man. He wants to keep his home and people safe from all those that want to destroy the rain forest. He is very gentle and caring with Maggie Odessa. Overall he is a wonderful man that needs the mate that he has been searching for all over the world.

Maggie Odessa has been drawn to the rain forest and exotic animals all her life. She is caring, compassionate and very intelligent. Maggie is also very open minded and accepts what is happening to her every easily. I think she will be the perfect mate for Brandt. Maggie is also very brave and willing to jump in and save her mate at the end of the story.

This is a very quick read and I enjoyed it very much. If you like paranormal romances then you are going to enjoy this introduction the the Leopard series. ( )