Read Our Lips! Book Review Blog: Review: Hour of the Lion by Cherise Sinclair

As a dedicated covert ops agent, Victoria Morgan follows two rules: accomplish the mission and protect the innocent. When bitten by a werecat—yeah, that was a sucky day—she must investigate beings that shouldn't exist and are hard as hell to identify. Just how can she tell if a person is human--or an animal-shifter who enjoys Bambi-sized snacks?

During her investigation, she finds a real home and friends for the first time. Sweet, right? But there's a flip-side: the bad guys are waiting for her to turn into something four-legged with a tail, the shifters suspect her of spying, and she has fallen in love with a pair of Thumper-eating werecougar brothers

Her duty is to expose their existence. Or she could follow her heart and protect them with all of her deadly skills.

My Review:

As with all of Cherise Sinclair’s books, I loved Hour of The Lion. Her foray into the completely different shifter genre, is a world apart from the gold standard BDSM that we are used to seeing from Ms. Sinclair. This book makes it clear that the author could write any genre and it would be great.

We start off the book by meeting Victoria “Vicki” Morgan, a female covert special-ops agent. She’s tough, strong and has all the stuff good, likeable heroines are made of. Vicki starts out kidnapped and scratched by were-cougar Lachlan, who before he dies, gives Vic a gift by way of some spouted poetry and tells her to go back to his hometown of Cold Creek and seek out his grandfather.

Cold Creek is a town a little off the map, if you know what I mean. They have their own practices and traditions, almost like a really good Lifetime Movie. (Is there such a thing?) It’s there we meet Alec McGregor, a handsome, hot-as-hell town sheriff who tries to give Vic a hard time about breaking into her own rental to use the bathroom. Alec’s first encounter with her is electric. He notices everything about her; hands, breasts, hair, body, and that she’s bleeding from a scratch. “Abundant” is what he calls Vic. He has such a strong sexual reaction to her and one that he doesn’t understand. Alec is Daonain, a werecat, and Daonains don’t feel sexual attraction toward mere humans. But their flirty banter and sexual innuendo leads Vic to Alec’s brother’s tavern to borrow a book. While there, Vic sees a large man stealing money from a young girl. Vic, being the toughie that she is, goes after the guy and gets the money back.

This is where we meet Calum McGregor, darkly sexy widower, bar owner, daddy to Jamie, and leader of the Daonain. There is immediate heat between Calum and Vic. As far as Vic knows, both of the McGregor brothers are pursuing her independently, like some sort of sexual sibling rivalry. As the story progresses, Vic eventually learns about the Doanain, and what the scratch and the mumbo-jumbo Lachlan said in his poetic musings really means. Also that the McGregor brothers aren’t pursuing her separately at all, they want to share her! Turns out these brothers prefer ménage. Vic’s relationship with the McGregor clan grows, including Jamie and she starts to feel like she’s part of a family, something she never had growing up. Watching the relationships grow between Vic, the family and the town is very enjoyable. Plus, the sex is stellar. HOT!

I love Vicki’s strength and that Sinclair writes her as a maternal and sexual being. The writer gets it! The two are so intertwined. I also loved that Sinclair made Vic’s becoming a werecat a choice.

There's something about the two times Vic thinks, 'my cub' about Jamie in the book that really stayed with me. Maybe it's just a small summary of all the changes she goes through or maybe it’s that I'm a mama bear myself, one that finds it easy to feel that protective over a child that's not my own. Perhaps that's a common thread amongst mothers. I also love the joy that is infused by the brothers, in their ability to show her how wonderful her new life can be, if only she’d take the leap. But motherhood, borne by choice, made her decision for her. I just adore that.

Unfortunately, the kidnappers are still out there kidnapping unassuming werecats. Will Vic be one of them?

It’s a fantastic read! Hot, sexy and with a well-developed plot. Hour of the Lion is a recommended read.

What I loved about Hour of the Lion:

1. Vic is NO damsel in distress.
2. The McGregor brothers
3. Jamie’s sweetness and fierce love of her family
4. The townspeople
5. That Victoria is portrayed as a sexual AND maternal being. Mother earth defined.
6. That a scratch alone does not a shifter make. There is a choice involved. Let’s just say there might be some hot three way sex used as a tool of persuasion.
7. The entire world Sinclair created for this book. It’s phenomenal
8. That Vic loves to read. Hey! Me too!
9. When Vic gets swept up in the Gathering
10. The way the author took into account what it would be like to thrust into the shifter culture.
11. The three-way sex in the snow.
12. How Calum talks his daughter back to human from her first shift or “trawsfur”.
13. Vic finally gets a family
14. Alec likes to play “cop and prisoner” with her at the jail. Love it!
15. Vic’s first time with each of the brothers.
16. That love made Vic’s biggest choice for her, and for that, she has no regrets.
17. Cherise is working on a sequel about Zeb and it will be released soon.
18. There’s not a single page of this book where you could say Vic has even the slightest possibility of being a coward. It’s a great characteristic.

What I didn’t like about Hour of the Lion:

1. That the brothers can be a little controlling outside of the bedroom

The redheaded guy from the parking lot smiled at Vic. “So miss…” He leaned in and ran his hand over her butt.

Not a chance. She slapped his arm away and gave him a look that should have fried him in his shoes.

He shrugged. “Oh, well. Come on, Duke, let’s find one that’s interested.”

They walked away, leaving her standing alone by the door. A second later, she realized that a lot of men were looking at her. Assessingly. Oh, fuck. Time to leave.

Too unnerved to take her eyes from the room, she groped behind her for the door handle. A big hand closed on her fingers.

“A little out of your element, Ms. Waverly?” Alec slid a hard arm around her waist.

“Yeah. Very.” Thank you, Jesus. “I was walking and got dragged in here by a couple of guys. What’s going on?” She tried an innocent look, but as Alec pulled her closer, she gave it up. God, he felt good. Watching all the sexual displays was like…contagious…and now she was horny as hell. When Alec ran his hand up and down her back, every nerve fired, and each stroke made her skin more sensitive.

Unable to resist, she turned into him. His other arm went around her, and he curled his fingers under her butt, squeezing and pulling her up against his thick cock, lifting her slightly so her pelvis slid down against the hardness.

“Alec.” Her voice came out husky.

His face was flushed, and his eyelids heavy. “You really, really shouldn’t be here,” he said and took her mouth as if he’d been doing it for years.

Everything inside her burst into flame as his tongue swept in, dueled with hers. He leaned in, pinning her against the wall. As his broad chest crushed her breasts, she gripped his shoulders, reveling in the rock-hard muscles under her fingers.

“To hell with common sense,” he muttered. He slung her over his shoulder like some demented cave man.

“What the fuck?” She thumped him with her fist.

He made a chortling sound. One big hand squeezed the back of her lower thigh to hold her in place. His other hand slid high between her legs. She could feel the heat of his fingers so close to her sex, igniting a burn. His finger stroked over the crotch of her jeans, and she wiggled uncontrollably. He laughed.

As he climbed the stairs, people brushed past them. She heard husky laughs. When a man ran his hand down her leg, she felt rumbles under her stomach as Alec growled like an animal.

An animal? She stiffened. Wait.

He walked down the hall into a small room, bent, and dropped her. She fell onto softness. Pushing up, she realized that silky green cushions covered the floor. A fireplace sent out heat and enough light to see Alec’s expression.

Alec looked down at Vicki as she pushed to a sitting position. He hesitated. Sex with a human. Sex with a human during a Gathering. This was a bad idea. It shouldn’t even be happening, dammit. Daonain weren’t attracted to humans.

But as his head explained everything to him quite clearly, the scent of her arousal wrapped around him, heating his blood, and urging him to possess her, take her.Now.
He’d already had two females, but it didn’t make any difference. Not with his Vixen sitting like a prize, right here in front of him. His cock hardened until it pulsed with every heartbeat. Logic lost out to the animal inside him.

He dropped to one knee to take her mouth again, and her soft, full lips opened for him, her tongue twining with his. He took her breath in, gave her his, then pulled back long enough to kiss down her neck to the curve of her shoulder. By Herne, the little sounds she gave, deep in her throat, were going to kill him. Wanting—needing— more, he undid the top buttons of her jacket.

Her hands closed on his arms as if she wasn’t sure whether to pull him closer or push him away. Holding her gaze with his, he unhurriedly opened her jacket far enough so his fingers could trace the edge of her bra through her shirt.

Her breath hissed in, her eyes going unfocused. Her scent intensified, fragrant, compelling. Overwhelming. Hell with it. After shoving to his feet, he ripped his shirt off. A hail of buttons thudded against the wall. She inhaled sharply, but her golden gaze never wavered from his body. He flung his shoes and pants to one side and knelt beside her on the cushions.

She willingly moved into his arms, all female and fragrant. Her long hair spilled over his skin in a silken kiss. Oh, yes.

“Alec,” she whispered, “this isn’t wise.”

“I know,” he murmured, burying his face in the crook of her neck where her scent was strong and wild. He bit the muscle there, lightly, laved it with his tongue, bit again. “But right now, this minute, you’re mine.”