“I’ve got one rule and it’s no women on board. Ever.”
When the youngest brother of the rough and tumble Smith family turned to smuggling, Fulton Smith knew he had to keep his operation simple to keep from being caught.
But the beautiful stowaway, Sophie, makes his life anything but easy. His smuggling self knows he ought to drop her at the nearest port and follow his own damn rules. It’s a dangerous business. The lord in him, however, can’t help but protect the fragile beauty who has demons of her own.
But when his past begins to haunt them too, danger lurks around every corner and not even his boat is fast enough to outrun it.
Keeping her safe will push him to the breaking point. Keeping his hands off her…
Uncaged Review: This is a fun story with a perfectly imperfect hero, and a woman who is the perfect combination of courage and grace. Sophie hides away on Fulton’s ship, trying to escape an arranged marriage with a cruel man and a loveless family, and Fulton is hunting a criminal who has terrorized his family. But things don’t always go to plan, and when Fulton discovers the daughter of the wine maker he purchased at one of their stops in the hold of the ship, he threatens to take her back to where she’s escaping from. But he has a hard time fighting his attraction to her.
This book has romance and danger, and secrets that will be revealed. Secondary characters are well developed, and I look forward to reading more in this series. Reviewed by Cyrene
Paige, a popular hard-charging television anchor, is handed a dismal new assignment to improve the station’s ratings. Her new job involves, of all things, sports. Gag. She hates sports, plus being on the road may put her career and her secret engagement to a rival news anchor in peril. Never mind that her fiancé constantly flirts with his so-called fans or the fact that her new male coworker may be after her job. What about the wedding? Hello? How can Paige possibly plan nuptials while constantly traveling to, ugh, games?
Emma, an overwhelmed single mother, is asked by her best friend to plan her wedding. Problem is, Emma has a thriving Etsy business making promotional items for authors, plus her energetic five-year-old daughter is beginning kindergarten. And little Lucy happens to have the hottest teacher on the planet. With a teenage-like crush, Emma can’t stop volunteering for every school activity imaginable. Always loyal, Emma agrees to help her BFF. Except her crazy schedule causes memory issues. Big ones.
Will Emma realize her mammoth blunder and race against time to create an unforgettable wedding for Paige, or is it too late? What if the wrong bride is getting married? Should they swap or forget the whole thing? Guilt is a powerful drug.
Uncaged Review: This book started out a bit slow for me as contemporary romance is a really not a go-to genre for me, but once I hit the halfway point, I couldn’t put it down. I “had” to read what happened next. After I read the Coconuts series by this author, I was intrigued of where she was going next, and this book doesn’t disappoint. Two unlikely best friends, totally different paths and the book narrates between the two of them, chapter by chapter. I was completely absorbed in their lives, and I was already choosing their partners. Paige is a regionally famous television news anchor who gets saddled with a sports job from her boss, a part of the news she has zero knowledge of. On top of that, she gets a partner – who seems too good to be true. She also is engaged to a rival station’s anchor, a cad of a man named Trent. Emma is a single mom with a charming daughter in kindergarten who is quickly falling for her daughter’s teacher.
This book is funny, it will make you laugh and cry, and have you cheering on the characters. There is a bit of a surprise toward the end, and if you’ve read the Coconut series, you will know what I mean. All I can say is there had better be a book two. Reviewed by Cyrene
Welcome to Uncaged! The Countess Caper released on October 24 th , (this will publish after the release) and is the second book in a series called The Dainty Devils. Can you tell us more about this book and the series?
Thank you so much! The Dainty Devils is my first historical romance series for Dragonblade’s Flame line, and it’s been such fun! It focuses on women outside of the usual restrictions of Regency Society… and the law. A Lady Smuggler, a Highwaywoman, and an Art Thief break all of the rules for love! (And it can be read out of order)
The Countess Caper focuses on Tessa who has bought a dilapidated house in the middle of nowhere and fills it with women who are hiding from Society. Tessa will do anything to keep them safe.
Even steal a carriage from Roarke Noble, the Earl of Dartmoor.
As her first foray into being a highwaywoman, it has mixed results. She gets her cousin to the midwife just in time. But she also gets a marriage proposal. Because Roarke needs a wife.
And with Tessa he gets more than he bargained for. She won’t tell him why she is fighting off housebreakers and stealing from earls and viscounts. Or why her disaster of a house is rigged with traps to discourage unwanted visitors.
But when those secrets put her life in danger, Roarke discovers he will do anything to save her.
What are you working on now that you can tell us about?
I’m currently working on The Husband Heist which is the third book in the series, about Lady Summer who pops up in the earlier books. She steals back an art collection for a friend…and ends us with secret spy information… and a handsome earl!
Read the rest of the interview in the November/December issue of Uncaged Book Reviews
Alyxandra Harvey is the author of The Cinderella Society, The Dainty Devils, The Drake Chronicles, The Witches of London, Haunting Violet and more!
She likes chai lattes, tattoos, and books. Sometimes fueled by literary rage.
Sometimes you have to break the rules to find your happily ever after.
The stern and proper Callum Winter, Duke of Tremaine, must marry. At least according to his mother.
Enter:The Duchess Games where ladies are invited to display their accomplishments in dancing, music and all social graces.
Caitriona Sparrow just wants to steal the duke’s signet ring to get her smuggling operation running and save the village from ruin. Options are scarce for a thirty-one-year-old spinster, her two younger siblings, four dogs, a cranky goat, and a one-eyed fox.
She might not have any pretty accomplishments, but she can sing sea shanties and debone a haddock in minutes. But between pianofortes and watercolors, Caitriona is shocked to discover that Callum remembers her from that passionate summer long ago and she has never forgotten him.
Cat might not be duchess material—but she’s the perfect woman to save Callum…and their happily ever after.
The only problem is that she has to betray him first.
Excerptfrom Chapter One
On the last Wednesday of September, Lady Tessa Kilkenny stole a man.
She didn’t mean to.
But she wasn’t giving him back.
At least, not yet. There simply wasn’t time. She needed his carriage, and he happened to be inside of it. That was his own bad luck and nothing to do with her.
Mostly.
Anyway, he would survive. Her cousin Dove might not.
And to think that this time last year she had been sitting down to another interminable tea, her ankles crossed, her gloves pristine, her smile polite and as sweet as the teacakes being served. She had told stories, played the pianoforte when asked, laughed when appropriate, murmured when necessary, her spine straight no matter how tired she was.
She’d survived it with another of those terrible smiles because it was meant to protect her, to make her family love her. She was a lark, always up for a laugh. It was meant to save her cousin Deirdre from ruin, and so much worse.
When it did neither, what, as a woman, was she to do?
Burn it all down.
Metaphorically, of course. She would never damage a three-hundred-year-old house with better bones and a better reputation than anyone in her life. Than herself, come to that. Her reputation had not improved. Not to mention Mayfair, with its cobbled stones and marble pillars, would be a bit of work to burn, to be honest.
Still, The Incident followed her.
A week later, a month later. A year later.
And she wasn’t the least bit sorry for it.
Lord Tewksbury got what he deserved. He deserved far worse, but she had acted on impulse with the tools at hand.
And now here she was.
Ruined. Banned from Society. Disdained.
And stuck in a thunderstorm with her cousin crouched in the mud, shouting obscenities.
As one of Tessa’s first forays into being a highwaywoman, it left something to be desired. But she could hardly be held responsible for Dove’s situation. Or the timing of babies deciding they were ready to fling themselves into the world. If she was, she’d have chosen a much warmer day, and a much closer proximity to a midwife. Any midwife, but preferably Noni from the village, which was an hour’s walk away.
She didn’t know the first thing about childbirth.
Neither did Dove, regrettably. She went by Marigold now, changing her name as they all did when moving to Magpie House. It was safer that way. Only Tessa kept her name because she was not in hiding. And no one was looking for her. Certainly, no one wanted to find her.
Sometimes you have to break the rules to find your happily ever after.
The stern and proper Callum Winter, Duke of Tremaine, must marry. At least according to his mother.
Enter:The Duchess Games where ladies are invited to display their accomplishments in dancing, music and all social graces.
Caitriona Sparrow just wants to steal the duke’s signet ring to get her smuggling operation running and save the village from ruin. Options are scarce for a thirty-one-year-old spinster, her two younger siblings, four dogs, a cranky goat, and a one-eyed fox.
She might not have any pretty accomplishments, but she can sing sea shanties and debone a haddock in minutes. But between pianofortes and watercolors, Caitriona is shocked to discover that Callum remembers her from that passionate summer long ago and she has never forgotten him.
Cat might not be duchess material—but she’s the perfect woman to save Callum…and their happily ever after.
The only problem is that she has to betray him first.
Uncaged Review: This is such a fun book, I read this quickly as I couldn’t put it down for long. I laughed so many times in this one and the cast of characters are well thought out. Caitriona is a fisherman’s daughter living in a poor village, and has nothing to do with society. She smuggles brandy and lace to help feed the village. Now she needs to steal the Duke’s signet ring to help get the smuggling business going, and to do that she finagles her way for her sister to compete in the Duchess Games, a contest of sorts set up by the Duke’s mother to try to marry him off and produce an heir with the potential debutantes. Callum, the new Duke, is put out by the silly games, but when Cat shows up, he remembers a passionate summer they shared years ago….and the woman that stole his heart.
This is a fun book, filled with laughter and animals and even a bit of danger. Even though Cat and her sister Viola were not born to be a Duchess, Callum will have a bit of trouble remembering that. The supporting cast is fun, even the backstabbing contestants. The ending was a little too fast, but this is a fun book and doesn’t disappoint. This is a first book for me by this author, and it definitely won’t be a last. Reviewed by Cyrene
EIGHTEEN MONTHS AGO, THE WORLD LEARNED THE UGLY TRUTH: GOD EXISTS. HE JUST DOESN’T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT US.
After a deadly virus wipes out most of the world’s population, those of us who survive are left as food for the Damned, the walking corpses ravaged by the infection.
Yet, something far more sinister stirs in the bowels of New York City. The Four Horsemen are prowling the streets, kidnapping young girls and dragging them back to their lair. And when a supply run becomes a rescue mission turned deadly, I’m left at the mercy of a sexy stranger.
Jax Constantine weaves himself into my life with blood tingling charisma and a smile that rekindles my hope in love. But a dark secret lurks beneath his penetrating gaze and sizzling touch. One he’s not willing to share, leading me to believe he might not be the man I thought.
Now, humanity’s last stand rests in my hands. To save a world consumed by evil, I must choose between stopping the Devil from claiming an already scorched Earth as his own or saving the man I love.
The same man destined to curse my soul.
Uncaged Review: This is a true good vs. evil in all sense of the word. In this dystopian world, the evil is Samuel (or the devil himself) trying to free himself from Hell so he can have dominion over earth. Survivors have to fight off the lesser demons that destroy everything in their path, and if you get scratched or bitten, you become a zombie-like creature and there is no cure. The devil’s Lieutenants are the Four Horsemen and they are kidnapping young girls to try to find a vessel who will carry the child that Samuel can take over.
A lot of twists and turns, it will make you laugh and cry, and still have hope for humanity. There is a lot of religious overtones which I expected with an angels vs. demons apocalyptic world, but it’s not preachy. Action packed with plenty of gory fight scenes and a few hard-hitting sex scenes. But this is book that has enough action and twists and turns to keep you turning pages. Excellent start to a new series. Reviewed by Cyrene
Up-and-coming supermodel Hailey Crewe can’t wait to escape the limelight and return to the modest, anonymous lifestyle she once led. Escaping literally? That was never part of her plan. But when an unwanted suitor — and her scheming mother/manager — go a step too far with a surprise Hawaii wedding, Hailey becomes a bride on the run. Before she knows it, she’s not only being hunted by a greedy oil tycoon, but by his creepy security force too. A good thing she bumps into her very own Lancelot at exactly the right time.
Bear shifter Timber Hoving is just another Special Forces vet slowly adjusting to island time. That is, until an irresistible stranger rushes into his meticulously organized world. Before Tim knows it, his human side is wrestling with temptation, and his bear is head over heels in love
But Hailey’s first encounter with shifters is a terrifying one, and Tim can’t reveal the truth about himself without losing her forever. Worse, sinister shifter forces are closing in, following a ruthless agenda of their own. They’ll stop at nothing to capture Tim’s destined mate — dead or alive.
Uncaged Review: The second book in this series and all our favorites from book one are here and this book focuses on Tim and Hailey. Hailey is a top model and is being manipulated by a man she wants to break up with, and her mother who is pushing her into him. When the two of them try to have a surprise wedding to undesirable Jonathan, Hailey flees and goes on the run. Coming to her rescue is Tim, a bear shifter.
There’s a lot more to this story, and as you read, you’ll find out why Hailey is being hunted by her ex-boyfriend and his security crew, it’s a much more devious plan afloat. Tim and the crew decide to get Hailey off the beaten path for awhile and help hide her until things die down. But there is danger, hot sex scenes and a great cast of characters. A great fantasy romance series. Reviewed by Cyrene
Welcome to Uncaged! Your newest book, A Tryst in Paris is a time traveler romance and is book one in The Carousel Time Traveler series. Can you tell readers more about this book? Will readers be able to read each one as a standalone?
A Tryst in Paris is about the adventures of Mirabelle Montgomery. While antique shopping for her ill mother in Paris, she is transported to 1900 Paris when she visits the Luxembourg Carousel. A mysterious time shifter has sent her to reset the fate of a man, and she is captive back in time until she accomplishes this mission. When she meets a sexy ex-police detective Jacques Thibaut, whose stellar career has been shattered by rumors he consorts with anarchists and assassins, Mirabelle believes she has found her man. Her determination to correct his life’s course by proving him innocent sparks passion between them. What happens in 1900 Paris, stays in 1900 Paris . . . or does it?
The Carousel Time Traveler trilogy has a closely connected story involving the characters introduced in Book One, but the reader can read them as standalones.
What are you working on now that you can tell us about?
I am working on Book Two of The Carousel Time Traveler, in which Mirabelle travels back to 1925 Paris.
I am also working on my second contemporary sweet Christmas romance because I love Hallmark Christmas movies (as corny and hokey as they are) and I enjoyed writing my first one, A Christmas Cannoli Kiss.
In addition, I am plotting a small-town romance series that will revolve around second chances at love.
What is the most difficult scene for you to write? What is the easiest?
The opening scene is always the hardest because you strive to hook the reader’s interest right away yet not divulge too much backstory. The easiest scene is two words: THE END.
Read the rest of this interview in the current issue of Uncaged Book Reviews
Anne Armistead is the award-winning author of love stories, past and present. She writes romances in multi-genres, including historical, fantasy, and contemporary. When she’s not conjuring tales to write, she’s reading those written by others.
When Mirabelle Montgomery visits the Luxembourg Carousel in Paris, a mysterious time shifter sweeps her into the Carousel’s time travel vortex and transports her to 1900 Paris. Her return will be allowed once she completes her mission to restore a man’s fate gone wrong. But whose?
Upon meeting dangerously sexy Jacques Thibaut, Mirabelle believes she has found her man. His life’s purpose as a stellar police detective has been derailed by accusations of his plotting with anarchists to overthrow the French government.
If she proves Jacques to be innocent, his life will be reset to its rightful providence. He will win back his job and those who once believed in him, including the woman he planned to marry.
Mirabelle’s determination to complete her mission kindles passion between them. But their falling in love will jeopardize everything, for his true destiny does not include her. Besides, even if her heart desires, she cannot remain in 1900 Paris . . . can she?
Join Mirabelle Montgomery and her adventures as a time traveler in Paris of the past. A Tryst in Paris is Book One of The Carousel Time Traveler series.
Excerpt
Chapter Six
Animated voices speaking French awakened Mira. She flipped onto her back and stretched long, wondering if Sylvie’s neighbors were having a row. When she opened her eyes, a spackled plaster ceiling greeted her instead of the canopy above her godmother’s guest bed.
Mira bolted upright, digging her fingers into the red woolen blanket covering her. Her sudden movement triggered a burst of pain behind her eyes. She swallowed against a surge of nausea. Her body ached as if she’d run a marathon.
The flimsy cotton nightgown she wore did little to dispel her chilled-to-the-bone shivering. The room’s small old-timey wall radiator provided little heat. The numbness of her hands caused her moonstone ring to turn loosely on her finger. Shivering, Mira tucked the woolen blanket tightly around herself. She saw only a brick wall from the window. The view provided no hint of her geographic location, but she assumed she was in Paris.
The set designer in her catalogued her surroundings. The room’s furnishings reminded her somewhat of the Van Gogh painting, “The Bedroom.” Lilac-painted walls. Dull-yellow-painted headboard and matching bureau. Orange wooden table holding a pitcher, basin, and vintage men’s toiletries. A wooden slatted-back chair, with a lady’s wide-brimmed hat adorned with plumage and gloves resting on its the seat and her cape folded over its back. In the other corner, an articulated dressing screen with butterflies flitting among vines painted on its panels. A skirt and bodice and undergarments hung from it. Boots belonging to a lady sat on the floor beside it.
The raised voices of a man and woman drew Mira’s attention once more. She recognized their names tossed back and forth: Jaco, Bébé. Jaco was insisting Bébé not mention taking “that woman” to Susette again.
I assume he is referring to me as “that woman” but who is Susette?
Mira pressed her fingertips to her pounding forehead. Memory fragments began sorting into place, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, until she accepted the unacceptable fact: Le Veille transported her to 1900 Paris to do his bidding.
Vanish into the past which holds your future. Return only if you right the wrong destiny that has befallen him.
A paradox. I hate paradoxes.
Her body trembled, not from the cold but from remembering Carolyn’s unfinished text: Mira, catch the next plane. Your mother has . . .
That’s why she had been searching for her phone. What did the rest of the text say? She closed her eyes tightly, and tears slid from them.
READ THE REST OF THE EXCERPT IN THE LATEST ISSUE OF UNCAGED BOOK REVIEWS
Coming from a long line of murderous witches hasn’t exactly been sunshine and rainbows for Vianna Roots. When she inherits the family’s haunted house after her mother dies, she decides flipping the rundown dump is her smartest move-but the ghosts that haunt her have a different plan.
When Vianna finds the ghost of her childhood friend Nancy, she’s drawn into the mystery surrounding her friend’s death. Her meddling attracts the attention of the oldest coven in Salem. In order to get her out of town, they make an offer on the house, but Vianna hesitates. She’s no longer sure she wants to abandon the demon familiar who possesses her home, the transgender outcast witch-who may just be the best friend she never knew she needed-and her high school crush, who now wants her in his life.
Vianna must find a way to solve the case of her murdered friend, stay out of the hands of the most powerful coven in Salem, and face the past she’s so desperately tried to run away from.
Uncaged Review: Vianna inherits her family’s haunted house and her initial plan is to get rid of it. When she starts meeting the ghosts that live in the house, the plan is turned upside down with a mystery, since her friend Nancy died in the home. This is a good creepy read that should go on everyone’s reading pile for spooky reads. Based in Salem, Massachusetts, this book does give a good history of the witches in history, but these are the true witches that society didn’t see, and they aren’t all fun and games.
This is a good book, it starts a bit slow but if you keep going it will pick up and grab your interest. The secondary characters are actually a bit of fun, so it levels out the creepiness. The local coven is not helpful and Vianna will have a few hurdles to get over to solve the mystery of her friend’s death. Reviewed by Cyrene
Based on ancient Mayan mythology comes a story of bloodlust, love and the horrors of coming of age.
In ancient Central America, the legend of the Camazotz: large, bat-like creatures that desire blood and terrorize the villages in search of prey. When the volcano, Masaya, erupts and kills the tribe from which the Camazotz are from, they discover a miracle ash in the ruins.
Years later in present-day eastern Idaho, 17-year-old Emilio Chavez lives in an isolated area near the lava rock cliffs of the American Falls reservoir. From birth, he has been different. After Emilio’s friend Clara falls victim to a terrible accident, suspicions about Emilio arise, and he discovers an astonishing secret about his past.
As a sinister force tightens its grip on Clara, can Milo save her from those searching for blood while keeping his own internal demons at bay?
Uncaged Review: A new take on a coming of age book and not your typical vampire book these days. This book is geared more toward the horror side of vampires, instead of the romanticized version we read so much of these days. The author does a great job building up the history and it’s intriguing, creepy and suspenseful at the same time. This book is the first I’ve read from this author, and I’m quite happy I did. I finished this book in one day, because it truly grabs a hold of the reader and is well researched and written.
I would definitely pick up more titles from this author and is a perfect creepy addition to your scary reads. Reviewed by Cyrene
He’s a risk she shouldn’t take. She’s a complication he can’t have. But when currents of desire run deep, can they resist the tide of passion?
Lilith Brooks was desperate to begin a quiet new life—one with her young daughter and without her narcissistic, gaslighting husband.
So, of course, when she fled to her childhood lake house, she promptly flooded her kitchen and was rescued by her handsome neighbor, Asher Crowley, when he removed a sex toy from her sink (yes, her sink. Get your mind out of the gutter and back into Lilith’s pipes.)
She’d love to avoid another run-in with her hot neighbor, but that’s easier said than done in a small town, especially when their daughters meet and become best friends.
It looked like she’d be seeing a lot more of Asher. Not that she was really complaining…
The single dad had always considered himself too busy raising her daughter and running his construction company for love. That was until his shy, sweet, and sexy neighbor flooded her kitchen and his life with laughter and pleasure. His new neighbor was everything he hadn’t realized he’d wanted.
Too bad she was in the middle of a messy divorce, and the last thing on her mind was dating her new best friend.
Or was it?
Uncaged Review: It’s been awhile since a book captured me right from the first chapter and kept me hooked throughout the book. This is a genre that I don’t read a ton of books in, but once in awhile, I find a book that really grabs my interest. Both Lilith and Asher have past events that get in the way of their blooming relationship, and both will need to come to terms with it before they can both truly move on. Lilith was married to a jerk of a husband and Asher needed to come clean about his past. Both characters have young daughters, who fortunately for them, become best friends. The kids are likeable, and the secondary characters are fun and interesting. There were times I laughed out loud, especially with Hope and Tate.
This is a good, steamy romance that goes at a good pace, and even though it’s a normal sized book, it felt like a quick read. Can’t beat that. Reviewed by Cyrene
