The Book Gourmet

This book was one heck of a ride. There's always conflict in Leigh's books, especially Breeds, they just scream conflict, but there's never been so much of it as in Coyote's Mate. The two protagonists never seemed to be on the same page and they pretty much dragged everybody else along with them. Drama, drama, drama.

I loved Del-Rey for the first part of the book, while I just wanted to slap Anya silly. He's put it nicely, she was acting like a child and she knew it, she even confirmed it. But did she try to change. No way, Jose. Let's just torture the poor Coyote, because there's nothing interesting to do around Base today. Argh. Frustrating.
When they finally patched things up - for about three pages, just long enough to have steamy sex - he's the one to turn all arrogant, moronic, idiotic Alpha on her. So for the second part of the book I loved Anya and just wanted to kick the shit out of the cretin Coyote. Okay, so he had a justification - a stupid one, even a child could see it - but he thought he was right. Because men usually do.
And it took, as usual, a life-or-death situation to make him see reason. Why must men be so thick?

Sorry, I needed to get that off my chest.

Yes, this was a really, really great read. Lora Leigh just keeps getting better and better.
The characters were well-developped, yet still growing before the reader's eyes, still evolving, changing. Despite everything (see above), I loved the relationship between Anya and Del-Rey. They weren't likable at times, they were far from perfect, but they were perfect for each other. I could almost see them sitting somewhere in those caves they called home, going "You complete me"...Ooh, sugar rush. ;)
The plot was gripping, the action scenes nicely intertwined with the romance and angst, mixing to (an almost) perfection. The supporting cast was great, as usual, with the welcome reappearance of previous couples (it was nice seeing more of Wolfe and Hope, since their original story was so short), and a few of the new ones' matchmaking attempts to make the two dolts "see the light" provided a nice respite in the drama section of the story.
And the race to the finish...Whew. Intense stuff.

A definitely recommended read not only for the Breed fans, but fans of paranormals in general. The past events weren't mentioned many times, so it should be quite easy to follow even if you're not that familiar with the Breed history and universe. Great book...I think I'm gonna read it again today, to freshen my memory. *big grin*