To understand why Lora Leigh's* romances are so well loved by readers comfortable with erotic imagery at its earthiest, you've simply got to get right with the fact that some women dig their sexual fantasy laden with overbearing-alpha male beastliness.
Now, beastly is as beastly does, and in the case of Leigh's extraordinarily popular Breed series about shapeshifting humans altered genetically so they retain characteristics of predatory animals, beastly does aggressive dominance and seemingly animalistic sexuality well - and taming of the wild heart with intimacy and commitment even better.
Yet Leigh's skill with the alpha goes beyond the actual animal to the appealing "animal within" we apply to the often bellicose hero who keeps his emotions, sexuality and anger - generally over social or emotional injustice of some kind -- "tightly leashed." She captures those qualities beautifully in the heroes of her non-paranormal novels, like her Elite Ops series featuring agents from MI-5, SEALs, the Mossad and other international hot guy-fantasy teams - and her all-American Nauti Boys .
The Nauti Boys tap into some down-n-dirty fantasy surrounding a clan of gorgeous Navy men. These good-ol'-playboys who share and share alike when it comes to chicks -- also who seem to have wicked preoccupations with keeping their women safe from villains and, well, really smokin' anal sex.
The latter has become very popular fantasy stuff with romance readers, showing up even in mainstream "sensual" romance. But Leigh doesn't push-the-envelope to ride the band wagon; she's helped drive the thing, writing sexually intense love stories for women since back when the reads mostly could be found only in e-books.
Check out Leigh's Breed series for super romantic suspense -- and a little some-somethin' called "mating heat." Then, take a look at the rest of Leigh's novels to get hip to some of the finest examples of that sexy beast called erotic romance.
What's your take on why women find appealing in romance heroes aggressive attributes they'd never be attracted to in real life? Why do you think paranormal "shapeshifter" romances lend themselves so well to highly erotic scenarios and themes? Which Lora Leigh novels do you most highly recommend?
*Lora Leigh visits BN.com Center Stage this week! Click here to swap comments and ask nauti questions to your (Bengal's Heart )'s content.
Check out what's hot in romance fiction with Michelle at BN.com's "Heart to Heart" romance blog. Michelle also writes about romance fiction daily at Romance: B(u)y the Book.
