Veena’s review of Beneath the Skin (De La Vega Cats, Book 3) by Lauren Dane
Paranormal Romance published by Samhain 3 Apr 12
Beneath the Skin by Lauren Dane is the continuing story of the De La Vega Cats, which is the spin-off from her highly popular Cascadia Wolves series. Gibson De La Vega is the Bringer or judge, jury and executioner; second to his brother Max (Revelation), who is the alpha of the Boston Jaguars. Mia Porter, an Iraq war veteran and recovering from a hate crime, rescues Gibson when he attacked and shot with silver. Attraction sizzles and sparks fly, but the contentious family history between their two families may derail their budding romance.
The Porter family has kept their distance from the community and the alpha family due to an incident involving Mia’s grandmother. Mia’s parents are not very receptive to Gibson due to this history, but her grandmother is ready to let bygones be bygone and allies with Mia and encourages the relationship openly and vocally.
Her relationship and rescue of Gibson propels Mia into the focus of the shooters and after she is attacked several times, Gibson moves her into his house and they set up housekeeping together. Alpha Gibson draws fire with his rough commanding nature, but, advised by his sisters-in-law, he’s able to salvage his relationship by making nice and apologizing.
Mia and Gibson complement each other on all fronts. As things heat up, they identify the perpetrators and mete out justice. Both Gibson and Mia are wonderful characters and make a great couple. It’s fun to be a part of the family dynamics between the brothers and see Mia fit in so well with the brothers and their wives as well as with their parents.
One of the fun things is how seamlessly Ms. Dane weaves in characters from her previous book so we can get updated on what’s happening in their lives. In this book we get to visit Cade and Grace Warden and get a glimpse into their busy life as the National alpha pair. We also catch up on Jack, Cade’s second, and his mates Galen De La Vega and Renee, whose romance and mating is told in Trinity. We briefly peek in on Templeton Mancini, the national alpha who resigned when he was injured during the wolf pack wars in Standoff.
All in all, this is a fun book. My only complaint about the books in this series is that they are very short and I feel there are still hooks from Revelation and Trinity that are still left hanging. I’m left wanting more when the book ends.
Grade: B+
Summary:
A whole world exists…beneath the skin.
Gibson de La Vega is the Bringer, one of the Alpha’s right-hand cats. It is his job to mete out justice and defend the law that holds their jamboree together.
After a contentious meeting with another jamboree, he’s shot—Mia stumbles onto the scene and saves his life. He’s immediately drawn to the female who dug three silver bullets from his body. Even after he discovers she’s a Porter, a family his own harmed grievously half a century before.
Mia has enough in her life. She’s recovering from a vicious hate crime—an attack using silver has affected her ability to do what she loves most. The last thing she needs is a bossy alpha cat like Gibson. A de La Vega no less.
Despite the myriad reasons to stay away, even as they continue to hunt down the would-be killers, their attraction deepens into something else entirely.
The answers they find bring that threat far closer to home than anyone could have imagined and it’ll be up to Gibson to end the mess once and for all. And up to Mia to stand at his side, even as he risks his life…
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
