cover image Rule Breaker

Rule Breaker

Lora Leigh. Berkley, $25.95 (448p) ISBN 978-0-425-26545-1

Leigh%E2%80%99s long-running, once innovative Breeds paranormal romance series (Stygian%E2%80%99s Honor) is showing its age. While she still manages to create erotic romances for her long-suffering characters, she employs increasingly convoluted subplots to hide her reuse of elements from earlier works. Breeds leader Jonas Wyatt tasks Cmdr. Rule Breaker with discovering whether Gypsy McQuade is a mole for the Unknown, a shadowy Navajo organization whose members might have the cure for the illness afflicting Jonas%E2%80%99s adopted daughter%E2%80%99s. As the Mate Matcher, Jonas has ulterior motives, but Rule%E2%80%99s refusal to find his mate, along with some anomalies, blinds him to his compatibility with Gypsy. For her part, Gypsy believes she%E2%80%99s unworthy of love, and in their first intimate moment, Rule%E2%80%99s behavior only convinces her that she is damaged goods. The characters%E2%80%99 romance is as improbable as their names. Readers will be glad that Leigh concludes a riveting subplot begun in earlier books, but the primary feeling that arises while reading this one is d%C3%A9j%C3%A0 vu. (Feb.)