Review: Taken by Lora Leigh

#1 New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh has captivated millions with her sizzling tales. Here, together for the first time, in a short story collection:

Reno’s Chance

Ever since she was a girl, Raven has longed for her friend’s brother, Reno, a Navy SEAL. What she doesn’t realize is that his true mission is to get into her heart.

For Maggie’s Sake

Maggie is in custody with Joe’s SEALs team. Joe, her ex-lover, thinks Maggie is hiding information. He plans to seduce her to get it, but when an enemy captures Maggie, only Joe can save her.

Atlanta Heat

Em has wanted Macey forever. But as a SEAL under the command of her overprotective godfather, Macey is off-limits…until a kidnapping attempt forces them to share close quarters—and a forbidden desire.

Night Hawk

For three years, Travis “Black Jack” Caine and Lillian “Night Hawk” Belle have been meeting, late at night. No names given. But tonight is different. An enemy has returned, and Travis and Lillian may never meet again. Are they brave enough to give in to desire and stand together?

Cooper’s Fall

Former ranger Ethan never expected to get an eyeful of prim Sarah Fox from his window. But now his blood is on fire for her.

Sheila’s Passion

As an ex-Marine, Nick’s been through some hard things. But when it comes to Sheila, he has his biggest challenge yet. Sheila has sworn off love, but when Nick tempts her into becoming friends with benefits, he intends to make her his forever.

Series: Tempting SEALs, Wounded Warriors, Elite Ops
Release Date: July 22nd 2014
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Source: Publisher
Reviewer:Iris
Rating:

Buy the book at:

Reviewer’s Thoughts

Get a bit of a taste of three of Lora Leigh’s best series. Taken provides us with a sneak peek at the Wounded Warriors, Elite Ops and Tempting Seals series. As a fan of Lora Leigh, I couldn’t have been more excited to have the opportunity to read Taken. I hadn’t read many of the stories in this collection so this was an ideal read for me.

These men are warriors, whether still serving or discharged from service due to “handicaps” keeping them from performing at the rate they did in the past, these are men born to lead who take crap from no one. And God help whatever stands in their way when they decide a woman is theirs. These men are rough, tough and oh so sexy. Although the stories themselves are each only novella length, they are well worth the read.

Once I started reading I couldn’t put it down. Reno, a warrior who’s returned home to claim the woman he’s waited years for. Macey who continuously puts his career on the line for the only woman to ever get under his skin. Ethan, who’s tough exterior hides a heart of gold that makes him shy away from the only woman to make him think of forever because he feels she deserves better.

I have to admit the only ones that didn’t exactly make me jump for joy were Nighthawk and Sheila’s Passion, although for two completely different reason. Nighthawk is actually a prelude to Black Jack which is not featured in this compilation, so you’re left with a feeling of being cheated out of their story. Nighthawk is worth the read, however this is one that is best read if you have Black Jack handy to pick up immediately after. Otherwise you’ll be disappointed in the way it ends. Sheila’s Passion, however, was a completely different story. It was the heroine herself that just did not set the right tone for me. She’s too old for playing the “if you can’t figure out what the problem is then I’m not going to tell you” game. Yet she does… over and over and over again.

Much to my dismay I found my enjoyment in Taken being hampered by grammatical errors. Beginning at about the 3rd story in this collection, I started noticing grammatical errors that could easily have been picked up by any person reading the book. Normally I would ignore a few errors here and there; after all, no one is perfect. However, the further into the book I got the more obvious the errors. It is not in keeping with how meticulous Leigh’s books usually are. The most obvious of errors come in the form of consistency. How does a character go from wearing a short-sleeved denim shirt in one scene, he walks out the door after the heroine and suddenly he’s wearing a white dress shirt?

Aside from these errors that show an obvious lack of attention from whomever edited the book, I did manage to enjoy reading it and found myself unable to put it down for hours on end.