I’ve read several of Lora Leigh’s short stories and a couple of her novels. I have come to the conclusion that I prefer her in small doses. Nauti Boy is burning hot, but pages and pages of sex don’t do much when the story is thin and you don’t care for the characters.

When Douglas “Rowdy” Mackay’s father Ray married Kelly Benton’s mother, Rowdy felt protective toward the feisty little girl and he beat up the bullies who tried to steal her hair ribbon. When Kelly began to mature, Rowdy began to get horny but he took out his lust for Kelly by having group sex with a willing older woman and his cousins Dawg and Natches. Finally Rowdy joined the Marines. Kelly was acting very flirtatious and Rowdy wasn’t ready to deal with it – but now he’s back and ready to make her his.

But Kelly has changed. She isn’t flitting around in tight jeans; instead she’s covered up from head to toe. While Rowdy was gone, Kelly was almost raped by someone who kept calling her his “good girl” and she is terrified. Rowdy is mad – burning mad – killing mad – and he decides to find the guy and make him pay. But first he wants to make Kelly his.

Kelly isn’t sure since Rowdy’s idea of making her his involves sharing her with Dawg and Natches (shades of Leigh’s Men of August series?). Sure they are both handsome as sin and she’s known and liked them forever, but she’s not sure about taking on three men. Plus she’s scared to death since her attacker is still out there. Rowdy wants to use her to lure her attacker out into the open and then he and his cousins will take care of matters. But before all that, he wants to make Kelly his.

Yawn. Nauti Boy broke down into two parts. For about 150 pages Rowdy obsessed about Kelly, dreamed about Kelly, wanted Kelly, needed Kelly, and went on and on about how he has marked her and will make her his. Then for the rest of the book…he does. He and Kelly have lots and lots and lots and lots of technical and frankly boring sex. Kelly is a virgin who turns out to be a slut at heart who loves pain. Since Rowdy doesn’t seem capable of tenderness, it’s a good thing they found one another. They argue a lot, but alpha male Rowdy almost always gets the upper hand. Finally, the bad guy comes out of nowhere, Kelly is in danger and then Rowdy rescues her. If I had liked them, I might have felt something – but I didn’t.

The more I read romance, the more I have come to feel that sex scenes are boring when divorced from the story. They are even more boring when the characters are as uninteresting a pair as Rowdy and Kelly. I much prefer sex scenes that add to the story and illuminate the characters – Linda Howard is a master at this. Nauti Boy was about as arousing as the sex scene between the puppets in Team America: World Police. I’ve come to the conclusion that Lora Leigh is just not my cup of tea. I know she has many many fans, but it looks like I’m not going to be one of them. If you like her style of writing, you will probably like this book. I don’t, at least not in large doses, and I didn’t.