Background

Lora Leigh was born on March 6, 1965, in Ohio and raised in Martin County, Kentucky.

Career

Lora sent her first submission when she was 18 and was rejected until Zumaya Publications accepted Broken Wings. After going with Ellora's Cave, there was a period of two years there that New York rejected everything she sent them then as well. Leigh started publishing with electronic publisher Ellora's Cave in 2003. Critical reception for Leigh's books has been mixed over the years. Romantic Times reviewed Soul Deep (Breed Series) giving it two stars out of five for an overabundance of plot contrivances but giving Lion's Heat a four and a half star rating. Publishers Weekly has both praised (Maverick) and panned (Legally Hot) Leigh's work. Library Journal noticed the "unvarnished language of erotica" of Coyote's Mat.

Besides writing, Leigh also organizes various events to promote her work and connect with fans. She holds an annual Reader's Appreciation Weekend for her fans; the 2010 event in Huntington, West Virginia was her fourth. She also hosts discussion groups on her work.

Achievements

• Lora Leigh achieved to be one of the most known and well-read American novelists in the genre of romance novels. She is a member of the famous Celebrities list. Known best for her The Breeds series of racy romance novels, this popular author saw the nineteenth book in the series, Bengal’s Heart, reach the New York Times’ Best Sellers list in August of 2009. Her other romance series include Nauti Boys, Men of August, and Bound Hearts. She won the 2009 RT Award for erotica.

Works

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  • Rugged Texas Cowboy

    (Melina is one of two gorgeous twin daughters, the clever ...)

    2015
  • Cooper's Fall

    (Former ranger turned bar owner Ethan Cooper never expecte...)

    2009
  • Collision Point

    (As the daughter of a crime lord, Amara Resnova has endure...)

    2018
  • Marly's Choice

    (She’s loved him since she was a girl and now, as a woman,...)

    2003
  • Elizabeth's Wolf

    (Special-Forces solider Dash has all but given up his will...)

    2004
  • The Man Within

    (He had protected Roni when she was a child, filled all he...)

    2004
  • One Tough Cowboy

    (For as long as Samantha can remember, Hunter - a man as s...)

    2019
  • Hidden Agendas

    (Emily has loved Kell ever since her father, a prominent p...)

    2007
  • Bengal's Heart

    (Reporter Cassa Hawkins has always supported Breed rights-...)

    2009
  • Bengal's Quest

    (He was a shadow, ever-shifting and insinuating, able to b...)

    2015
  • Cross Breed

    (The Breeds are humans altered before conception with the ...)

    2018
  • For Maggie's Sake

    (Maggie Chavez is in protective custody with a member of h...)

    2007
  • Surrender

    (Tessa has run from Cole for years, uncertain of her abili...)

    2009
  • Harmony's Way

    (When the Breeds desire the passions of the flesh, they ca...)

    2006
  • Dangerous Games

    (Navy SEAL Clint "Iceman" McIntire earned his name by bein...)

    2007
  • Intense Pleasure

    (Her name is Summer, as beautiful and occasionally fierce ...)

    2017
  • Wake a Sleeping Tiger

    (Once, he was Judd - Bengal Breed and brother to the notor...)

    2017
  • Strong, Silent Cowboy

    (Jacob Donovan is making the most of the off-duty life on ...)

    2019
  • Rule Breaker

    (Lion Breed and enforcer Rule Breaker has just a few rules...)

    2014
  • Tanner's Scheme

    (After the Feline Breeds' main base is attacked, Tanner de...)

    2007
  • Dagger's Edge

    (Ivan Resnova wants nothing more than to escape his hard, ...)

    2018
  • Secret Pleasure

    (Sebastian and Shane De Loren were born to love Alyssa Ham...)

    2015
  • Lethal Nights

    (Ilya Dragonovich is no stranger to the dark side. As a sa...)

    2019
  • Erin's Kiss

    (Ex-Marine Turk has become Erin's sworn protector. The tar...)

    2015
  • Dirty Little Lies

    (Zack Richards knows he’s asking for trouble. Trying to pr...)

    2016
  • Kiss of Heat

    (They've waited a decade to come together. Long years fill...)

    2004
  • Jacob's Faith

    (They are a new breed, a new race. Engineered rather than ...)

    2004
  • Nauti Angel

    (Angel Calloway is no saint. But when the rough and reckle...)

    2017
  • Live Wire

    (Meet Captain Jordan Malone. For years he has been a silen...)

    2011
  • Tempting the Beast

    (He’s a genetic experiment. The merging of human and lion ...)

    2003

Views

Lora Leigh dreams in bright, vivid images of the characters’ intent on taking over her writing life, and fights a constant battle to put them on the hard drive of her computer before they can disappear as fast as they appeared.

Quotations: "There’s really no process of creating a character. Some days, I wish there was, I think that would make it easier. It’s a matter of sitting down, free handwriting, building a journal of sorts that belongs to that particular character and letting myself sink into who and what they are. The dreams help. They’ll get me started, but once I sit down to write, it’s all in whether or not the character is ready to open up to me, or if I have to fight for the information and for the story."

"Because the stories, the characters, and their lives follow me no matter what I’m doing or where I’m going. It’s like they’re always right behind me, shadowing me, waiting for me to give them the lives they’ve waited on. I may not always succeed as they, or as I, hoped, but I’m never very far from them. Not writing will make me crazy. I get moody, easily upset, and start pacing like a caged animal. And that’s the truth. I can feel this ‘something’ begging to be free, and then I’ll realize something has kept me from the computer and it’s time to get back. It’s time to let that story free. So it really is all three, and much more."

"My inspiration comes from everything, everyone, waking and asleep. Sometimes I dream the characters and the stories. Sometimes, an email, a new story or a chance comment overheard will slam the idea into my head. Sometimes, it just happens though. One minute you are breathing and relaxing, the next you hear a cry in your mind and see a story that has to be told. I love the evolution of the stories and the characters, I look forward to sleeping because I dream them, and waking up to write them. The whole process is as essential to me as air itself I think."

Personality

Lora said about her personality at the time when she was a child: "I was in the seventh grade. I was voracious reader, a daydreamer, I was always daydreaming, and always trying to find that next book to lose myself in. My English teacher at the time came into class and told us to just write a story. Whatever we wanted to write. I hadn’t thought to write any of the daydreams I’d had until he assigned it. I haven’t stopped writing. I don’t think a day has gone by that I haven’t been working on a story in some form, since that day."

Today, Lora’s family and her writing life coexist, if not in harmony, in relative peace with each other. Surrounded by a menagerie of pets (she has three dogs, three tropical birds), friends, and a son who keeps her quick wit engaged, Lora finds her life filled with joys, aided by her fans whose hearts remind her daily why she writes.

Interests

• pets, gardening

• Music & Bands

  Evanescence

Connections

Lora is happily married and raised a son and a daughter. Her husband takes care of the business and most of the promotional demands that come through, and he does all the cooking. Here is what she stated about her family: "My son moved. He’s twenty one now, and that’s been a major upheaval in my life. Letting the apron strings untie has been hard. He’s been very kind about it. He’s been very loving about it. But still, his determination to find his own way outweighed my reluctance to let him go I guess. So now I find myself looking at the door, wondering where he is and why he hasn’t stopped by the office to drag me out, and then I’ll remember… I miss him, but a part of me is proud of him. My daughter is thirty now, my granddaughter four, so there’s still a lot of traveling back and forth to Kentucky to see them as well. My granddaughter reminds me so much of my daughter when she was that age that it’s scary. So my life is still pretty full, but in different ways, as it changes and evolves as my children mature. It’s an adventure I guess, and one I think every mother would like to delay, even though we know it’s not possible."

References

• Lora Leigh Breeds Series Reading Order Checklist
  2019
• Author Lora Leigh's Official Website