Customer Reviews

Wild Fire (Leopard People)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I tried to give Ms. Feehan the benefit of the doubt after the brutalization of the female lead in Hidden Currents and purchased Wild Fire, as I have been a longtime fan of her Drake Sisters and Carpathian series and her stand-alone titles. However, I was again disheartened by the vivid descriptions of abuse of women in this book.

Most of us read paranormal romance for a good story, chemistry between the leads and as a little romantic vacation away from everyday life. The last thing I want to read about is some guy slitting a woman's throat, while having sex with her in front of an audience, after having brutalized her with a whip. (I wish I was joking but this was actually described, rather casually, on page 276 of the paperback. I seriously thought I was going to lose my dinner on that one.) Sadly, this wasn't the only scene that was unnecessarily explicit. The female lead was later savagely beaten and had her "feminine mound" and breasts intentionally clawed up by a leopard shifter.

As readers, we all comprehend that there are bad people in the world, including sadists and serial killers. However, we definitely don't need to be beaten over the head with graphic details thrown for shock value into a book we have bought for entertainment and we don't need to pay for them. We can get all the free reality checks we could ever need and then some by just turning on the news.

When I purchased Wild Fire, I was looking for a little romantic escape, but what I got was a mediocre leopard shifter romance strongly overshadowed by brutality and violence. It was a big disappointment.

possible spoilers in this review

first I gave this 3 stars because its not bad..its just not great. I'm one of the few that actually liked Burning Wild. I think Feehan made the writing darker to represent the wild leopards so I was able to deal with and enjoy it. Wild Fire doesnt do that. Conner Vega is the leopard that spent time with Drake in the US. He has returned to the amazon for a mission from his acting boss Rio(the first leopard book.)Coming back to the amazon means Conner has to deal with the mate he left behind-Isabeau Chandler. He betrayed her for a mission and as a result she did not accept him.

Ok so thats the set up. Unfortunatly, the story then gets long winded and boring. There are descriptions of the amazon and wildlife that were there for setting but too much to be of interest to me. Rio is in charge of the unit since Drake is MIA getting his legs fixed and i loved seeing his character again and watching his relationship with Conner. Feehan does a great job showing their friendship and how much they mean to each other. This was odd to me at times though since Elijah is on the team as well but readers are rarely given any dialogue between Rio and Elijah.(Elijah is brother to Rachel who is Rio's mate) Another sore point is the lack of mention of Rachel almost until the very end. Rio is in this so much you would expect him to mention at least missing his mate. (Isabeau is described as having tawny hair and half way through has red hair.)

Isabeau and Conner's relationship for some reason also never seemed real to me or maybe I just didnt see the love develop between them. I felt it on Conner's part with the whole you are my mate but not much on Isabeau's behalf since she is about to go fertile. Her feelings came across more as sexual than anything. at points this was a frustrating read because while there was action at times, the story would then be weighed down by meaningless dialogue as the characters rehashed stuff verbally that had already been spelled out in detail with the narration. Just an ok read,another chapter in the leopard story but not really memorable.

Well, I have been a Christine Feehan fan for awhile and I have read all the books in all the series. I have been critical of the last couple of books in the Leopard, Drake Sisters and Game Series (Did not a lot of Burling Wild (Leopard Series #2) did not like the hero Jake Bannaconni ((However, Books #1 Wild Rain (Rio) & this Book #3 Wild Fire (Connor)-I liked!!!) and I absolutely did not like Hidden Currents (Drake Sisters #7). Game Series Book #8 Street Game, was just OK , also did not like the Hero, Mac. I love's me an Alpha Male, don't we all or we would not read these books, but they were not Alpha they were A$$es to me atleast, there is a difference. By the end of some books you grow to love or respect them (For example the de la Cruz brothers from the Dark series) for me that never happended with Jake and Mac from the other series.

The last few books in the (Carpathian) Dark Series have !Rocked! for me. Loved them they are my favorites in the long running series, you should check them out!!!

For Wild Fire, I thought Christine Feehan toned down the violence toward women (especially from their own men!!). What there was I thought was well written. The book was a little long due to descriptions of Rain Forest & yes, the fierce unblinking gaze of the leopard for the hundredth time, but I really liked the well written characters and their interactions together and seperate, the good guys and the villans (and dang they were really villians). What really made the book for me was the hero Conner and the heroine Isabeau. I liked their relationship and how it developed, they had already met and been together so they drew on that past experience but not so much it got boring, and the progression of them coming back together I liked how it unfolded. The action was great, and I like how the hero said at the end that it was a humbling experience, even though of course he won and the scenes where the Leopard Men had to help each other when in need were great, even when it was a kick in the rear for being stupid. Trying not to spoil the book for anyone, since there are so many spoilers in other reviews. This book will stand on its own and as a part of the series, and introduced characters I want to read about again and now cant wait for their books.

I am long time fan of Christine Feehan's and enjoyed her books very much...but this one was just plain horrible...I don't know what she was doing during she wrote that book, but you can tell she did not give her best (or second, third or any kind of best). This book should not have been published at all unless she wanted to get rid of her fans. Disappointing...

I am a fan of Christine Feehan but I have to say I'm just done with the same character descriptions, same sex scenes and same conversations. I really wanted this book to be great after the last ghostwalker book, that was just horrible but found I was skipping paragraphs/pages to get to the end of the story. The last quarter of the book was the best part and unlike some of the other reviewers I wasn't put off by the violence and 'bad' guys as they were very believable and made the book have a bit of an edge. I just can't get past the sameness that has become Christine's alpha males, we all love a good alpha but when they are the same from book to book right down to the words they use it gets to be too boring. I implore you Christine to take a different direction when you write Drake's book, don't use the word `honey' and cut back on the too long descriptions of rain forests and leopards eyes.

After being disappointed with Street Game, Hidden Currents and now this one I am not going to bother with Water Bound and I'm nervous about Dark Peril coming up in August and normally I buy the carpathian books straight away. Reviews in time will tell.

It has never taken me weeks to read a book. Wild Fire has that dubious honor. I have always enjoyed Feehan's Carpathian and Drake series, but I am still plowing though this one. The stilted dialog, the florid prose, the over the top descriptions of the jungle are more than I can take...But what really gets me are the names of the characters...These are natives in the jungle so to speak...You have Connor, Bradley,Jeremiah, a Borneo shifter named Isabeau Chandler...You throw in an occasional Artureo to make us think exotic/jungle/Hispanic...but these other names could easily have been thrown into an English romance novel...I won't even discuss the lack of believable emotion between the lead characters and I too am sick of the over-the-top descriptions of violence and abuse of women. Yes, they are bad, bad as they can be. This phenomenon, also seen in the recent Sherrilyn Kenyon books, is becoming way too common for my tastes.

Christine Feehan's books have largely been hit or miss, and this one is another miss, I'm afraid.

I never felt a "love connection" between Isabeau and Connor. I felt his regret over their previous encounter, and his gratitude that she was a willing student in the carnal arts, but I never felt he really loved her. Likewise, Isabeau was very sexually attracted to Connor, but other than a certainty that he would always take care of her (disturbing on more than one level!), she didn't even like him, much less love him.

I had a very hard time getting into the book, and when I finally put it down the first time, I realized we had not even covered 24 hours! Not a good omen. The entire book dragged that way for me. Too much repetition (enough about a leopard's eyes, already!) - even the dialogue was boring. I skipped the sex scenes - Feehan's all seem to blend together. Maybe I'm just done with the dominant male/submissive (but extremely intelligent and oh-so-capably independent) female scenario.

And really ... his sex organ was so huge it hurt when he crawled on the ground?!? Shades of another PNR author here, and not in a good way.

Save your money and borrow this one from your local public library.

I'm pretty much done with Feehan's formulaic hormonal laden characters and story fillers of descriptions of nothing that run on for pages. It's a jungle - we get it. It's very difficult to have any like or respect for our heroine Isabeau who has been romanced, betrayed by our hero Conner resulting in a broken heart and the death of her father, then abandoned with out any explanation. Isabeau tells our hero that she hates him while she's practically dry humping his leg on sight. Conner and the rest of the gang are just there. Kidnapped kids ghost along in the background with no emotional connection to anyone. Midway of the story, I could care less if any of them survived.

I know this is paranormal romance but if a story is going to be written about individual's emotions at least make the emotions and actions believable - make the characters work for it. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind sex or even brutality in a story if that's what it takes to make the story work but this was a joke - a bad one at that.

Any dangerous leopard female whose life was ripped apart by mercenaries killing her father even if he was a scumbag (which she wasn't totally convinced of at the time) and romancing her to make that happen, then dumping her while leaving her with an itch she can't scratch - she'd be out for blood. While untrained in her newly acquired leopard abilities those emotions would have been there, erratic as all her other emotions, but NO, all we see is hump along Isabeau. And Conner should have come up with the mother of all grovel scenes. He didn't even have to grovel - he just sniffed her hair a time or two and licked her neck once and she was spread out like Thanksgiving dinner.

As if the story isn't bad enough, while one of our badly injured and dying cohorts is taken to a doctor who just happens to be near by - let's get married! Dress - no problem doctor's wife happens to have designer gown for our heroine and the world famous designer just happens to live nearby and is coming to the wedding. Designer is bringing along her best bud who just happens to be a jewelry designer with a box of champagne diamonds to match the dress and a wedding ring our hero can give his bride. Holy crap! Feehan used to deliver a great story (Lair of the Lion, Dark Desire) and was an autobuy for me but looks like those days are over.

I have been pleasantly surprised by Christine Feehan's Leopard series. Now that I have read each installment that has been published so far, I don't know what took me so long to jump on board! I love Feehan's other series': the Carpathian, Ghost Walkers, and Sea Haven series', and the novels about the leopard-people are every bit as good.

Wild Fire is an exciting and interesting read. Despite being noticeably darker and with some difficult (and at times, down-right ugly) subject-matter, I fell in love with the main characters Conner and Isabeau. The chemistry between these two is explosive, and the emotional baggage they carry around around, heavy and desperate. I don't think either one could have made it much longer in life without the other one.

As with Feehan's other series, I find myself longing for another story - guessing and anticipating the direction she will take, and wishing for stories about some of the other leopards we have met along the way in this series. I will definitely be picking up the next book in the series just as soon as it becomes available. Christine Feehan's stories are guilty pleasures not to be missed!

This is a good read. The book is not as interesting at the beginning and has several dry spots. I think the story was good, definitely a must for anyone who follows Christine's works. I am most fond of the Ghost Walker series. I definitely recommend this book.