Liese Schmetterling is a human computer geek with trust issues and a scarred heart.  Logan Steel is an almost four hundred-year-old vampire with rock hard abs and a deep-seated need to protect.  The two have nothing in common…except for amazing tech skills, frequent use of puns, red-hot desire for one another…

Okay, Liese and Logan actually have a lot in common, but when Logan walks into Meiers Corners’ Blood Center, all Liese can think of is another job slipping through her fingers.  Despite Logan’s assurances otherwise, past experiences have shown Liese than men can and will lie, cheat, and steal from her.

Logan has come to Meiers Corners to protect the Blood Center from rogue vampires who are out to take control of the blood.  With all that’s on his plate – vampire politics, personal responsibilities, and an old nemesis crossing his path once again – Logan can’t afford to be distracted.  Yet he can’t ignore Liese, or the heady mixture of lust and love she inspires in him.  When his enemy targets Liese, it’s not hard to convince Liese to trust him with her life.  The challenge will be getting her to trust him with her heart.

Mary Hughes proves that smart can be sexy in the wickedly delicious Biting Me Softly.  Logan is to-die-for (no pun intended).  He’s mouth-wateringly gorgeous, highly intelligent, fiercely protective, and incredibly giving.  In other words, he’s the kind of hero that makes me want to write Ms. Hughes and ask if she can make him somehow appear on my doorstep (though admittedly, I’ve had this urge regarding every hero of Ms. Hughes’s so far).  One would think as the object of so delicious a hero’s desires I’d be somewhat jealous of Liese (however irrational that might be).  Not so.  Liese is the perfect match for Logan.  She’s brilliant, but also quirky and, though pretty, isn’t drop-dead gorgeous.

Biting Me Softly shines the brightest during the action sequences – both of the erotic and violent variety.  Ms. Hughes knows how to heat up the page in a variety of ways and it’s easy to be swept away in the maelstrom.  If there was one thing I would wish for, however, it would be for fewer pop culture references.  With so many of them being used to make a point, I was pulled out of the story and it made me wonder, if I picked up the book again a few years from now, would the book have the same impact when the references were not as relevant?  I also continue to worry over the issue of having human heroines and immortal heroes, given there is no indication as of yet that the heroines’ life spans will change.  Still, even with those minor complaints, I thoroughly enjoyed Biting Me Softly.  It’s a solid installment in Ms. Hughes’s fantastic Biting Love series and it made me yearn to read what happens next.  Unfortunately, it also made me highly impatient for more characters to get their happily ever after (read: Luke).

Love, laughter, and lust wound together in a wonderfully-written story makes for the ultimate reading experience.  Every book in the Biting Love series has all of these things, including Biting Me Softly.  I adored Logan and Liese, both separately and as a pair.  I finished Biting Me Softly a well-satisfied reader and cannot for the next Biting Love novel.