I hope I am posting in the right place...  just got Lora Leigh's  Mercury's War and  and Eve Silver's  Demon's Hunger a yardsale.  Are these books that can be read alone, or part of a series where it is better to read the others first??

I have some of Eve Silver's books, but I haven't read them yet.  Mercury's war is one of Lora Leigh's Breeds books.  I've been reading them out of order, and I haven't had a huge problem.  I started with the mass markets and have been reading the earlier trades/e books as I can get them.  They do make somewhat more sense since I've read the earlier ones though, and I don't think I'd start the series with Mercury's War.  It is one of the most recent ones, and I think would be a confusing place to start.

I agree with Karen.  Read the first books by Ellora's Cave to get a feeling about how the breeds were created and then you will know the idea behind her Breed books.  I have loved every one of them!

I don't know anything about Eve Silver as I have never read any of her books.

Now I am confused.  Looked up Ellora's Cave and it seems to be an entirely different series and not by Lora Leigh. ??

Ellora's Cave is the publisher... if you go here (and I hope the link works)

you should be able to see all Lora's books :)

Edited to add: I think  Tempting the Beast is the first in the Breed's series, I haven't read them though, so I could be wrong.

I think Lora Leigh's Breed series is best read in order.  There is a continuing back story that advances with each book and some characters introduced earlier in the series eventually get their own book.  Also you may run into some spoilers for the earlier books when reading the later books first.  That said, each book is moderately stand alone - each one has their own hero and heroine who get their HEA at the end of the book, and can for the most part be understood on it's own without reference to the earlier books.

The reading order of the series (from Lora Leigh's website) is as follows:

1) Tempting the Beast
2) The Man Within
3) Elizabeth’s Wolf
4) Kiss of Heat
5) Soul Deep
6) The Breed Next Door (in Hot Spell anthology)
7) Megan’s Mark
8 ) Harmony’s Way
9) Tanner’s Scheme
10) Wolfe’s Hope
11) Jacob’s Faith
12) Aiden’s Charity
13) In a Wolf’s Embrace (in Beyond the Dark anthology)
14) Dawn’s Awakening
15) A Jaguar’s Kiss (in Shifter anthology)
16) Mercury’s War
17) Christmas Heat (The Magical Christmas Cat anthology)
18. Coyotes Mate.
19. Bengals Heart (August 4, 2009 release date)
20. Lions Heat  (release date not yet known)

I haven't read any of Eve Silver's books (though I have the first two in my TBR) so I can't comment on them.

I started the series with Megan's Mark, and read all the mass markets first and I was fine, but that's book 6.  I think starting with Mercury's War would be harder, since there is so much backstory by that point.  Also, I found that one of the more confusing novels for some reason.   The good news is tthat the earlier mass markets go on and off being WL and even when they have wishers the lines move fast.   I think I've now read the whole series, except for 2 of the short stories in the anthologies.  One is on my TBR and the other on my WL.

Thanks for everyone's imput...  If the book was the beginning of a series I would read it, but since it's the 16th of a series, I will probably just post it.

Still curious about  Eve Silver's  Demon's Hunger...

Demon's Hunger is the second and most recent of the series by Eve Silver.  The first is Demon's Kiss, which I enjoyed.  My favorite of her books so far.  FInally got a copy of DH recently so it's on the TBR.

If you enjoy erotica, the Breed series by Lora Leigh is great reading.  IIRC the first books were published by Ellora's Cave, and starting about Megan's Mark she's with a mainstream publisher.  Trying to remember if I still have a trade copy of book one.