|
Life as Julia Haverstock knew it had come crashing down, literally. On a trip with her sister Chelly and brother-in-law to a missionary camp in Ethiopia, their plane had crashed somewhere in the Sudanese savannah. Julie was the sole survivor. Her sister and brother-in-law were among those who died on impact. There had been three others that survived the crash but the leopards had gotten them. Alone and seriously hurt, Julia finds herself in a remote city and the only English speaking person is Salvator DeMartiano. Unfortunately, instead of answering her prayers of getting home, meeting Sal gets her stuck in Africa and a lot of unanswered questions. For instance, how is her broken arm healed when the crash just happened days ago? There had been a snow white leopard hunting her, it had even bitten her, but why didn’t it kill her and why didn’t she have a scar?
Geneticist, Salvatore DeMartiano was in Africa to study a rare pack of leopards that were able to heal themselves. However, in what seems like a comic book hero in the making incident, an accident in the lab infuses him with infected leopard DNA that changes him into a snow white leopard. Finding Julie Haverstock may be just the break he needs to complete the serum that will eradicate the infected DNA from his body.
Julia’s priority is to go home and mourn her sister’s death with her family. Sal needs her to stay as long as possible. The longer Julia stays, the more Sal realizes he not only needs her blood to finish his serum, but also needs her love. Julia is so distracted by Sal, she doesn’t know up from down. One minute he’s making mad, animalistic love to her and the next he is keeping secrets and locking her in her room. Will Sal ever trust Julia enough with his secret? Once she finds out he’s the snow leopard, will she leave him…forever?
An erotic twist on a comic book type theme, LEGEND OF THE LEOPARD is a fast-paced, sexy story that will keep you entranced. I’ve heard some people say that romance isn’t a real genre, that there isn’t any real grit and emotion to them, but Melani Blazer proves them wrong. Her characters have real, tangible feelings and the paranormal aspect of the story only adds to its credibility as a fantastic book. Don’t miss this first book from Ms. Blazer! Oh, keep an eye out for the snow white leopard…he bites!
Reviewed by Tina Burns
for The Road to Romance
April 23, 2004
|
