TANNER’S SCHEME: FELINE BREEDS by Lora Leigh

Publisher Berkley Sensation
Date published August 2007
ISBN 978 0425216613
Genre
Mass Market paperback
Reviewed by Pam



For years, Tanner has watched her and waited for his opportunity. When it finally comes, he wastes no time in confronting her–his enemy Scheme, the daughter of General Tallent, a man who has committed numerous atrocities against the Breeds race. He believes Scheme was a party to at least some of them because her signature is on orders to kill. There is no question of her guilt. The time has come for her to pay for her crimes, and Tanner is determined she will do so at his hands.

To the outsiders she seems to be the devoted follower of her father, while in secret she has been working for Jonas, the Breeds Security Leader, for the last eight years. Scheme has learned something so important that she must personally get it to Jonas. Now her father has realized she’s working against him and orders her death.

When Tanner is faced with the beautiful woman nothing adds up. His eyes and ears tell him one thing, but her scent tells a different story. And scents never lie, not to a Bengal Breed, whose olfactory senses are more highly developed than any other Breed. When Tallent's assassin attempts a hit on Scheme, Tanner realizes there is more to the story than meets the eye. He is determined to uncover every last one of Scheme's secrets, no matter what he has to do to get them and the only way to save her from Breed Law is if he can mate with her.

From the first moment this reviewer began to read this Breed book, it was fascinating. Tanner was captivating, witty, charming, especially when he wanted something and also very sexy. The Breed playboy endeared himself, as tigers are so beautiful.

Ms. Leigh set up the members of the Breed race brilliantly. She then proceeded to delve into what lay beneath Tanner. His darker, more dangerous and serious side was revealed; how he is inexplicably drawn to the one woman he should not want. It is a part which lives up to his legacy as a Tiger Breed. Scheme also had a dark side after her years of growing up with an evil father. She’s complex and the plot reveals both sides of her.

They are both eaten up by desire, which twists and writhes inside of them unseen it eats away at Tanner’s heart and his soul, while Scheme is scared of what her father would do. The premise follows many threads before learning the truth about Scheme’s sacrifices. Despite torture by her own father, she continues her work without thought for her own welfare. General Tallent is the kind of villain that makes it a little harder to sleep at night. The sexual conflict is high as neither fully trusts the other, but makes the story very interesting. The depth in this story made the ending seem a lot happier and ultimately this makes the book a lot better.