Tracy’s review of Skin Heat (Skin #3) by Ava Gray.
More wild thing than man…
Zeke Noble has escaped from a secret facility; he has no idea why he was abducted, but the experiments were cruel, soul-killing, and they changed him forever. Now free, his natural affinity with animals has evolved into a dark and dangerous instinct, a curse that costs him too much of his humanity. But he has to rebuild his life, or his tormentors win. To that end, he goes looking for work and finds so much more.
Born to be wild…
Veterinarian Geneva Harper finds herself reluctantly drawn to the lean, mysterious young man to whom the wild is second nature, but she has troubles of her own. She’s the black sheep in an old moneyed Southern family, and she never had any interest in learning the family business, or being the good debutante daughter.
Though Zeke’s wanted Neva for as long as he can remember, their attraction can never go anywhere. They both know that for different reasons. But when a killer starts leaving behind a trail of victims, Zeke’s need to protect her is as fierce as his desire to claim her as his mate. And love may be the only thing that can save them both…
Zeke makes it back to his home after months of travel. He and his fellow captives were released from the secret facility that had him imprisoned and all he wanted was to go home and live his life as normally as possible. But Zeke knows that that’s not going to happen. First there’s the fact that his senses have intensified and he knows no normal human can hear things so far away, or see in the dark or run with the speed of a gazelle – all things he can now do. But he has to have money to fix his house. He heads out to find a job but no one is willing to give him a chance, except the veterinary clinic run by Neva Harper. It’s torture for Zeke to work there as he’s had a thing for Neva since he was 16 and was mowing the lawn of the mansion she lived in. But he realizes that those were teenage feelings – he’s a man now and he begins to have adult feelings for her.
Neva is determined to make her vet clinic a success. She loves animals and has always wanted to work with them. Unfortunately her parents just want her to live their lives and marry a rich politician – well that’s not gonna happen. Especially when she meets Zeke and she’s drawn to him in a way that she’s never been to any man before. When Neva’s apartment gets a case of water damage that makes the place unlivable she takes Zeke up on his offer to stay with him. That is the catalyst that takes their relationship from boss/employee to lovers.
But there’s a psycho that’s killing girls around town and the killings are getting closer and closer to Neva. Zeke is determined to keep her safe at all costs but what happens when they can’t be together all the time?
How do I tell you how much I enjoyed the book? Let me start off with the main characters…
Zeke – he was so wonderful. I can see how a lot of people would find his speech patterns annoying, and I did too in the beginning, but after reading a few chapters it kind of grew on me. He spoke in full sentences very rarely but when he needed to get the words out, he did. I found him charming even though his self-esteem was crap because of his imprisonment. For all of what he considered his flaws I saw a kind, considerate man who had been handed a bag of WTF and was dealing with it the best he knew how. He was definitely my favorite character in the book.
Neva – A strong heroine but not in-your-face about it. She was the type of person who did what needed to be done and most of the time she loved doing it. She had issues with her parents because of her career choice but she wasn’t bitter about them. She was also kind and caring and as she loved animals and Zeke was a bit animalistic I thought she was the perfect mate for him.
I must admit that as much as I liked the book it did start off rather slowly. Events were happening but the intensity of them didn’t pick up until about halfway through the book. I was confused at first with the detective and the psycho killer because I wasn’t sure how they would fit in to the story but Ms. Gray brought everything together so well I even enjoyed my confusion. Lol And I didn’t figure out who the killer was until quite far into the book which was quite refreshing.
I was so looking forward to Skin Heat after loving the first 2 books in the Skin series, and it didn’t disappoint. I can’t wait to read the next book in this series.
Rating: 4 out of 5
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place.
This book is available from Berkley Sensation. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
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