Sunday, November 17, 2024
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Uncaged Review: The Story Between Us by Darlene Deluca

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

The Story Between Us
Darlene Deluca
Sweet Contemporary Romance

Her agent warned her not to get attached to a fan. But children’s book author Kristen Hanover is about to break the rules. Kristen meets a young boy who is a victim of a tragic accident and is drawn into the heartbreaking situation.

Six years ago, Reed Armstrong never imagined he’d actually become guardian of his sister’s boy. Now he is, and most days he’s not sure he’s up to the task. When he and Dylan meet Kristen, Reed downplays his nephew’s crush on the author. But as their lives become unexpectedly intertwined, he finds himself captivated as well.

Trouble is, she sells stories for a living. Does she truly care about Dylan…and Reed, or is she using them for her own career advancement?

Uncaged Review: A nice feel good book that will
help you remember that there is good all around
us, we just have to be open to it. Reed was turned
into an insta-dad to his nephew, Dylan, and he
stumbles in his new role at times, but when the
two of them meet Kristen, a children’s author
and a favorite of Dylan’s, their lives will change
forever. Does Kristen really care about Reed and
Dylan, or is she looking for another story?

Set your tissue box close, there are some truly
heartbreaking moments, and also some of the
great moments that will keep you turning pages.
This is one of those books you’ll think of long
after you finish it.

5 Stars

Uncaged Review: Deception by Victoria Saccenti

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Deception
Victoria Saccenti
Contemporary Military Romance

Her submission is his sweet revenge…until the truth detonates his plans.

When Joe learns Hunter’s name, his inner Dom’s lust turns to black rage—he’s convinced it’s her fault a teammate committed combat suicide. He embarks on a plan to seduce her, but by the time her sweetness ensnares him, the truth threatens what could be the love of a lifetime.

Uncaged Review: I was pleasantly surprised by this
book – as when I picked it up and saw it was another
dom/sub genre, I almost groaned. The market has
been saturated with these since the Grey movies, but
this is a good read and not like many others just trying
to make a play on the genre.

When Joe believes that the waitress he meets, Hunter
is responsible for a teammate’s death, he sets out for
revenge by turning her into his submissive. But there
are enough twists and turns in this book, that you will
question many different scenerios before all the truths
are revealed. This is a good read for those who aren’t
shy of a bit of hot sex and a good suspense.

4 Stars

Uncaged Review: Carnival of Lies by Laura Greenwood

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Carnival of Lies
Laura Greenwood
Paranormal Fantasy

Trapped at the mysterious Carnival, witch-turned-vampire, Rina, knows there’s something not right about the way things are run.

Unable to do anything about it, she spends her time practising her lion taming act, hanging out with her best friend, and falling for her former sweetheart for the second time.

Carnival Of Lies is a prequel to the urban fantasy series, Carnival Of Blades, which includes a low heat m/f romantic sub-plot, vampires, and a sinister carnival.

Uncaged Review: This prequel introduces the Carnival
of Blades series and this book actually focuses
on one of the acts, Rina – a vampire who has a lion
taming act with lion shifters and how she finds and
falls back in love with her first love. Book one in this
series will come out in September 2021 and will focus
on Rina’s best friend Caoimhe who we also meet in
this prequel.
This is a good prequel, and it was a unique telling of
this world and a carnival that things just aren’t all as
they seem. The supernaturals that are here are stuck
here, they can never leave. Reminds me of Hotel
California. But when Rina has an assignment outside
the carnival grounds, will she take the opportunity to
leave?
Unfortunately, things don’t go well for Caoimhe – but
we will have to find out more in book one.

4 Stars

Uncaged Review: Hidden Gypsy Magic by Tena Stetler

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Hidden Gypsy Magic
Tena Stetler
Paranormal Romance

The Salem Wildlife Sanctuary is Gwen Taylor’s life work. Her Irish Gypsy heritage provides a hidden talent she uses to help the creatures under her care. But even her magical skills can’t help new rescues in dire need of veterinary care.
The opportunity of signing on as the vet for Gwen’s sanctuary dropped into Brock Scutter’s lap after he expanded his practice to include wildlife. The personal attraction he and Gwen experience is undeniable the more their professional and personal lives collide.
Touring the only “non-haunted” house in Salem they both feel a spark of magic. A trip to his family’s cabin uncovers a heritage he didn’t know existed. If they want a future together, it means facing the consequences of awakening hidden Gypsy magic and a race against the clock to correct past wrongs.

Uncaged Review: The third book in this series is
an enchanting story of love, laughter, magic and
family and my favorite so far. Some of the characters
from previous books are back, which is
always fun and holds the continuity of the series,
and the romance between Brock and Gwen is fun,
believable and sexy.
One of the things I love about this series, is that
the magic is not overdone as you see in so many
books. The magic is understated and the reader
can almost believe it’s true.
This author has a way of making her characters
realistic and likable, and you almost feel as if you
are there with them, or at least wanting to escape
into their world.

5 Stars

Uncaged Review: A Widow’s Guide to Scandal by Hallie Alexander

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

A Widow’s Guide to Scandal
Hallie Alexander
Historical Romance/Colonial

Henrietta Smith was fifteen when she stole a kiss from Marcus Hardwicke. Over a decade later, she’s still waiting to be kissed back …

Henrietta learned the hard way that when you get what you pay for you might end up with a British soldier quartering in your home threatening your friends, an enormous dog tracking mud through your house and stealing the chickens, and Marcus Hardwicke disrupting your uncomplicated life by trying to improve it. And to think she just wanted her roof fixed.

Marcus, wickedly handsome carpenter and rebel rogue, fell off Henrietta’s leaking roof. He can’t leave until his broken ankle heals, giving him plenty of time to consider his past mistakes, including Henrietta’s indelible kiss from a lifetime ago. But Henrietta could lose more than her home if she doesn’t encrypt British secrets, and the latest puts Marcus in the crosshairs.

Uncaged Review: This is a very enjoyable story
for a debut author, and I’m looking forward to
more of her work. Henrietta is a widow, who lost
not only her husband (not a great loss) but she
also lost her daughter to sickness. Able to stay in
the home she shared with her husband, only on
the good graces of her horrible Uncle-in-law who
is always threatening to toss her out without a
penny. Marcus, a man she knew from her childhood
(and her first crush), comes back into her
life – in a fun way. When he falls off her roof and
breaks an ankle, Hen will put him up in the attic.
All kinds of fun ensues.

This is a fun read, with some laughter, steam and
romance. This author is definitely one to watch
and the secondary characters were almost as
interesting as the main characters.

4 Stars

Uncaged Review: A Tracker’s Tale by Karen Avizur

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

A Tracker’s Tale
Karen Avizur
Paranormal Suspense

Welcome to the strange and perilous world of Katherine Colebrook: FBI special agent, Los Angeles… Trackers Division.

In Katherine’s world, werewolves, vampires, púcas, and other parasapien species – forced for centuries by human fear and prejudice to live at the fringes of society – have finally come out of hiding to demand their rightful place alongside us. Within the FBI’s unit that handles parasapien cases, the Trackers division, Katherine Colebrook is one of the best. Her psychic abilities made her a natural, allowing her to move between the parasapien and human worlds in ways that no other agent could. But Katherine’s calling hasn’t come without struggle and losses along the way.

As a single mother, she must contend with her teenage daughter, Alexandra, who not only shares Katherine’s psychic abilities, but seems determined to follow the same dangerous path as her mother. And so, when Katherine’s latest assignment threatens to bring that danger too close home, she finds herself faced with the toughest challenge of her career: Can she protect her daughter’s life, while battling a ruthless adversary who’ll stop at nothing to destroy her?

Uncaged Review: This book is a slow builder, and
it will get to the point where it’s hard to put down,
but the first part of the book is building the world and
introducing the characters. In this world, all types of
supernaturals exist and live among the human world
and an agent like Katherine, is a psychic who tracks
the cases that the human world can’t. Katherine’s
abilities give her an unique and rare gift to be able
to see what the people are thinking and seeing the
immediate future of their actions at times. Katherine
also is one of the few with the license to kill parasapiens
when needed.
There is not a large main arc running in this book,
it’s about a week or so in Katherine’s life, both with
her daughter and her foster child, and her work at the
agency. There is not any romance in this book, but it
didn’t need it here. One thing that is a bit confusing is
how the point of views are written, since it switches
off, sometimes I had to take a second to figure out
which character was narrating. Looking forward to
the next book.

4 Stars

Uncaged Review – Into the Streets by Charles Isaacs

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Into the Streets
Charles Isaacs
Political 20th Century Fiction

It’s the late 1960s. The Vietnam War, the Antiwar Movement and the Black Power Movement are rushing toward their explosive peaks. In the midst of this charged time, an inter-racial pair of young activists fall madly in love. Awaiting them are excitement, danger, heartache and redemption.

Into the Streets: An Antiwar Love Story chronicles those lovers’ challenging journey, their coming of age amidst an unpopular war; a racially polarized city; a hostile mayor and ever mounting threats, all while working through their own deep psychological issues. 1968 is marked by campus unrest, urban rebellions and assassinations, as well as political violence that thrusts the duo into clashes with Chicago’s police and the National Guard. The suspense builds breathlessly to a heartrending climax during the street protests surrounding that summer’s Democratic National Convention.

Uncaged Review: The late 60s was a time when I
was a very small child, so even though I did learn a
lot about the 60s later on, I was close enough to it that
it was a step back in time to read this book. Interracial
couples were frowned upon, being gay was a problem
that could be solved with the churches and therapy,
and it was also a time of violence, riots and protests
of the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement
along with the assassination of Martin Luther King,
Jr.
So the political times were tumultuous and divisive.
Funny how history repeats itself. This story is a
fictional love story between Steve and Cat, an interracial
couple within the authentic accounts of the real
history and their passion for their causes and for each
other. As our main characters navigate this political
turmoil, the reader will be drawn into the past on a
campus in Chicago – and all the unrest of the times,
deftly told by the author.

4 Stars

Uncaged Review: The Legend of Skinner Robeland by Rue Allyn

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

The Legend of Skinner Robeland
Rue Allyn
Historical Western

She’ll stop at nothing for revenge. He wants to save her from the gallows. When their past collides, will painful secrets end any chance for love?”

Elise Van Demer is determined on vengeance. Pampered and privileged then betrayed and disowned, she hides in plain sight and plots to kill the men who destroyed her life. She’s almost ready to spring her trap, when she encounters a man from her past. Boyd Alvarez could ruin everything, and the last thing she needs as a passion for a bull-headed, interfering man.

Because he failed to save his home and family from raiders, bounty hunter Boyd Alvarez’s closest companions are grief and guilt. Then an encounter with Elise has him thinking she’s determined to get herself killed. He must put aside his regrets in order to stop her.

Their reunion is as dangerous as it is passionate, but Elise can’t trust Boyd’s claim that he wants to help. To save her from certain disaster, Boyd travels with Elise, but he struggles to win her trust as she desperately tries to keep him off her trail.

A wandering man, a woman with secrets , , , enemies on all sides, can these two wounded souls stay alive long enough to learn to love?

Uncaged Review: This is the first book I’ve read
from this author, and I’m pretty sure it won’t be
the last. I like the way the author doesn’t gloss
over the wild west and over-romanticize it. The
true old west was brutal and dangerous and this
book plays out like a good film. After Elise is
betrayed and her ranch stolen from her which she
was meant to inherit, she plots revenge on those
that betrayed her. The only fly in this ointment is
Boyd, a bounty hunter that wants to protect her.
Elise finally lets Boyd help, but she makes it clear
that she doesn’t want or need his protection.

This is a good story, it starts a tad slow in the
beginning, but it’s not an overly long book, and
once you get past the first couple chapters, the
book picks up interest. I honestly could easily
see this play out well as a movie on one of the
streaming services. Boyd and Elise will need to
work together to win back Elise’s ranch, and just
maybe along the way, it will heal Boyd’s broken
heart.

4 Stars

Uncaged Review: License to Bite by Carrie Pulkinen

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

License to Bite
Carrie Pulkinen
Paranormal Romantic Comedy

It’s all fun and games….

…until someone wakes up dead.

Governor’s daughter Jane Anderson is used to getting what she wants. When a girls’ trip to Mardi Gras thrusts her into the arms—and fangs—of New Orleans’ hottest vampire, he gifts her with immortality, super strength, and a complexion to die for.

There’s only one tiny problem. Jane faints at the sight of blood.

When Ethan Devereaux meets Jane, his cold, lifeless heart learns to beat again. Convinced she’s his late fiancée reincarnated, he turns her, claiming her as his own. But when Jane wakes up dead in Ethan’s attic, she’s loud, sassy, and downright ornery. He doesn’t know if he should kiss her or stake her, but one thing’s for certain…

She is so not his long-lost love.

But Ethan turned her, so he’s stuck with her. Jane has three weeks to learn the ways of the vampire and get her license, or she’ll be staked. If Ethan can’t help her overcome her aversion to blood, his undead life might also be on the line.

Uncaged Review: This is a fun book, and in
times like today, fun is a good escape. This book
reminds me a bit of the early books in the Lynsay
Sands Argeneau series. Jane and her BFF Sophie
are in New Orleans around Mardi Gras, as Jane
is a travel blogger, and the daughter of the Texas
governor. After drinking too much one night, they
meet Ethan and Gaston – unknown to them in their
drunkenness that they are vampires. But Ethan
and Gaston get them home safe and sound. The
next day, Jane and Sophie are out again, but as
Jane is out taking selfies near a cool New Orleans
cemetery, she is hit by a car. Ethan gets to her, and
changes her into a vampire before she dies. But
when she wakes up the next evening, he’s wondering
if that was a mistake.
This has some really hilarious moments, and it is
fun to see the author compare Ethan to Edward
Cullen and Gaston to Jack Sparrow, since Gaston
likes to bite the drunk people and get drunk
himself, and Ethan is a broody, unhappy vampire.
Jane’s aversion to seeing blood makes it even funnier.
There are a lot of fun moments, a whole lot
of sass and the storyline was not overly deep and
suspenseful, but it was a light hearted read that
was welcomed in these darker days of winter.

5 Stars

Uncaged Review: Into the Lyon’s Den by Jade Lee

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Into the Lyon’s Den
Jade Lee
Historical Regency

Intrigue makes for strange bedfellows…

Elliott, Lord Byrn, often found himself in strange places, but none is more bizarre than the infamous Lyon’s Den gaming house in a tony part of London. The gambling doesn’t surprise him, nor the salacious things rumored to happen in the upstairs rooms. What shocks him is a slip of a girl jeweler/fence who bargains with him over a missing brooch. He needs her to refashion the thing before anyone else realizes it is missing and she drives a hard bargain.

Harder than he can imagine…

Amber Gohar lives her days in the gray world of a gambling hell, but she dreams of escaping into the vibrant world of the ton. When the opportunity arises for her to spend just one night at a society ball, she grabs it with both hands, never expecting that she would also be taking hold of a man who set her heart on fire. But once she realizes what she’s done, she won’t let go. She can’t. Happily ever after doesn’t come easily, or for free, in the world of The Lyon’s Den.

Uncaged Review: Another entry into the Lyon’s Den
connected world, and this one is quite intriguing. The
connected world is the same gaming hell in London,
which is owned by a matchmaker, Mrs. Dove Lyon.
So all the books will share that in common.
This book starts out with Lord Byrn going to find a
brooch that was pawned for money – and he tracks
the brooch to the gaming hell and a jeweler within.
Much to his surprise, is the designer of the jewelry
is a young woman, and he will need her to remake it.
Along the way, she befriends Lord Bryn’s sister, Diana,
who helps to give her a season in society, as long
as people don’t find out where she came from.
All in all, this is a nice story, but it didn’t knock my
socks off. It was a little slow, and some of the descriptions
of people or places or events went on too
long and really didn’t advance the story. I like the
Lyon’s Den connected world and have read a few of
them now and can recommend.

4 Stars

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