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Uncaged Review – Silver Clouds Dirty Sky by Orlando A. Sanchez

By
Cyrene Olson
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Silver Clouds Dirty Sky
Orlando A. Sanchez
Urban Fantasy

London Bridge is falling…but it’s not their fault…mostly.

Montague and Strong have left the building-in fact, they’ve left the continent.

When a teleportation circle sends them to London, The Penumbra Consortium-and older, darker version of the Dark Council requests Montague & Strong look into the murder of the leading demonologist, Mage Nigel Warrenton. There are a few complications-Tristan is being hunted by Golden Circle magistrates, Michiko must return to take her seat on the Council, before her brother is challenged, and demons are roaming the streets of London.

Now, with the help of Thomas Rafael-a mage who doesn’t believe in magic, they must avoid the magistrates, return Michiko to the Dark Council, and stop London from becoming a demon breeding ground.

What could possibly go wrong?

Montague & Strong dive into another thrilling adventure as they face off against demons, dark powers, and disasters as they try to save London from annihilation!

Uncaged Review: Whenever I get in a reading funk, all I have to do is pick up one of the urban fantasy favorites and dig in. It will pull me out every time, and this world and series is one I hate to leave whenever I get to the end and yanks me right out of any book hangover.

Jumping right in after the end of book 3, we are tossed into the action from the first pages. Landing in London from the teleportation link, but Tristan is still be hunted and there is a mad man on the loose summoning demons, letting them loose on the city. The tests on Simon’s immortality curse will be tested – and he doesn’t like to die.

I can’t recommend this series enough. If you like urban fantasy, this is a great one. From the seriousness of Tristan, the smart-ass dialog from Simon, and Peaches – the Hellhound with a bottomless pit of a stomach and all the supporting cast, you will be on a wild, original and thoroughly engaging ride that will have you strapped in from the first pages to the end. I’m catching up with you, Mr. Sanchez. Just two words for you: “write faster,” the next one is already on my Kindle. 🙂 Reviewed by Cyrene

5 Stars

Uncaged Review – Love Me Love Me Knot by Deb Lee

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Love Me Love Me Knot
Deb Lee
Romantic Comedy

YouTube me once, shame on you. YouTube me twice, shame on me.

After her humiliating breakup goes viral, Sophie Dougherty must nurse a broken heart while attending a mandatory company training for work, which is taking place aboard a luxury cruise ship. For most, this sounds like a dream, but for Sophie, it quickly turns into a nightmare when . . .  Sports journalist Ryan Pike, San Antonio’s “Golden Boy,” and Sophie’s ex, is suddenly charged with spearheading the training. Even a massive ship in the great Pacific isn’t enough space to keep Sophie’s heart from drowning at the sight of those Caribbean-blue eyes.

Ryan may have betrayed Sophie years ago when she was certain he was the one, but if she can keep her head above water amidst all her problems long enough to trust Ryan, 2.0, she may be able to let her guard down just enough to love again, or risk losing the only man she’s truly ever loved.

Uncaged Review: After her boss tells Sophie that her and her co-workers are all going on a team building event. She becomes overwhelmed after she hears the news that her ex is hosting this team building event. Sophie and him have some unfinished business to sort out. I liked this book it wasn’t you’re typical romance book. Sophie battles some health issues in this book and I think the author done a great job bringing them to attention. I would definitely read more by this author in the future. Reviewed by Jennifer

4 Stars

Uncaged Review – The Dragon of New Orleans by Genevieve Jack

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

The Dragon of New Orleans
Genevieve Jack
Urban Fantasy

New Orleans: city of intrigue, supernatural secrets, and one enigmatic dragon. 

A deadly curse….
For 300 years, Gabriel Blakemore has survived in New Orleans after a coup in his native realm of Paragon scattered him and his dragon siblings across the globe. Now a voodoo curse threatens to end his immortal existence. His only hope is to find an antidote, one that may rest in a mortal woman.

A lifesaving gift…
After five years of unsuccessful treatment for her brain cancer, death is a welcome end for Raven Tanglewood. Her illness has become a prison her adventurous spirit cannot abide. Salvation comes in the form of Gabriel, who uses dragon magic to save her.

A harrowing price…
To Raven, the bond that results from Gabriel’s gift is another kind of captivity. Can Gabriel win Raven’s love and trust in time to awaken the life-saving magic within her? Or will his fiery personality and possessive ways drive her from his side and seal his fate?

Uncaged Review: Raven is dying from cancer – and her time is almost up when Gabriel visits her hospital room and pulls a tooth from his mouth and has a dying Raven swallow it – unknowingly bonding herself to a dragon. When she starts getting miraculously better, she thinks it was a dream. When he requests that she work for him, she agrees to help him.

I loved this romance and I loved Gabriel and Raven. The romance burns slowly, and the suspense on if Raven can help save Gabriel will keep you glued to the pages. The author did a great job with not only the main characters, but with the secondary characters also. A few good twists that start in the back half of the book may surprise you. This is a series that I’ll be looking forward to reading more of. Reviewed by Cyrene

5 Stars

Uncaged Review – Maybe This Time by Susan B. James

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Maybe This Time
Susan B. James
Time Travel Romance

A Second Chance Romance

Their Happily-Ever-After is over before it begins unless they can change time. 

Forty-nine-year-old actress Jennifer Knight would rather eat worms than face her first husband. But when her niece Kat accidentally time travels them to 1988, she needs his help.

Lance Davies is more comfortable with computers than people. He never knew how to handle his beloved, mercurial Jen. But now her future self is here in front of him and he wants another chance.

Jen finds herself torn. Her traitorous body insists that home is in Lance’s arms, but her heart has trust issues. 

Can two people whose timelines are thirteen years apart find a future where they can be together?

Uncaged Review: A second chance romance features Jen Knight. An actress who is about to get a birthday present from her niece Kat that will leave her in a spin. This book was very enjoyable to read even with the whole time travel concept. I could see a little of Jen in myself. Plus there was a lot of funny one liners that made laugh out loud. Reviewed by Jennifer

4 Stars

Uncaged Review – Silver Tongue by Shayne Silvers

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Silver Tongue
Shayne Silvers
Urban Fantasy

Fairy Tales are very literal survival guides. Ignore them at your peril…

Nate Temple has gotten away with a lot in recent years: cow-tipping the Minotaur, decimating a gang of weredragons, sucker-punching Angels, and eating pancakes with the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. He’s kidnapped one of the most powerful wizards on the planet and slaughtered the Brothers Grimm. Lady Luck has been very good to Nate Temple…

Until now.

Nate’s good fortune has turned, catching the attention of a recruiter—the kind of person who offers jobs that can’t be refused…

The kind of job that comes with perks like selling your soul to your new employer. That’s when a wizard tastes real fear—when he learns that all the biggest, baddest monsters actually work for the same guy—and they do so against their will.

Silver Tongue…The nightmare everyone both knows, and doesn’t know…

Lady Luck better have one more good toss of the dice for Nate, or this will be the last game he ever plays. Unless…he can find a way to cheat the House.

Uncaged Review: This time out in Nate Temple’s world, it seems like a whole lot of bad-ass people are looking for the same thing, and they think Nate has it. If Nate thinks that his life is going to slow down and give him a breather, I think he’d better rethink those plans.

This is a non-stop action urban fantasy that is smart, roller coaster ride with great characters and witty dialog. Mr. Silvers brings the mix of the supernatural and all the old fairy tales to life within the pages, but don’t be thinking of the Disney versions. I once said in another review, that these would make a perfect TV series or movies – but I’m not sure that they can get it right – but I’d be first to watch if they did. I’m going to hang out in Nate Temple’s world as long as Mr. Silvers keeps writing them. Reviewed by Cyrene

5 Stars

Uncaged Review – Phaze by S.C. Mitchell

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Phaze
S.C. Mitchell
SciFi

When Kayla Armstrong is attacked in her lab, she falls into a chemical stew. Now she’s walking through walls and falling through floors.

As the leader of Xi Force, Joel Weisberg is always looking for new superheroes for his team. What he wasn’t looking for was sexy Kayla Armstrong falling through the ceiling of his apartment right into his bed. Still he isn’t complaining when the event finds him a new Xi Force member and a new love. Now she just needs some training and some time.

But when an old enemy comes back with new powers and captures Joel, it’s up to Kayla to lead the Xi Force against her. But can they rescue Joel before he’s murdered . . . again?

Uncaged Review: The XI Force team are back with a vengeance with Joel being their new leader this time. But an old threat is starting trouble again. Someone Joel thought was out of his life for good. Just as he thought he was happy with lab worker Kayla, things go boom. This book can be read as a standalone book or as part of the series. Filled to the brim with SciFi gadgets and cool costumes this book packs a punch. Great action and there are wolves. What more could you ask for? This series is becoming increasingly more exciting to read. Reviewed by Jennifer

5 Stars

Uncaged Review – Raking the Ashes by Kait Gamble

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Raking the Ashes
Kait Gamble
Contemporary Romance

Tamara Roberts only wanted to live her life and write her novels. After living hard and fast in her youth, life now happens almost exclusively on the page for Tamara. Her carefully constructed life is torn apart when her long estranged husband makes an appearance on her doorstep looking too sexy for comfort.

Peter Worthington has one request before they part ways for good—that Tamara comes to make peace with his dying father. But the simple request comes with a huge tangle of complications. He never expected devastating revelations to be uncovered or for the chemistry between them to still be explosive.

But will the truth bring them back together or tear them apart?

Uncaged Review: This is one of those books that drew me in, and that is normally not what I do with contemporary romances, but I really enjoyed this book. Tamara is an author with a past…a past that includes a husband she is still married to but hasn’t seen in years. When he walks back into her life, all the old feelings of hurt threaten to pull her down. And almost as soon as I read that, I decided I was not putting down this book until I found out what happened. When the truth does come out, will it matter, or has too much time passed to make it right?

The author kept a good pace without bogging down the story. I liked the fact that she let the characters play out naturally and didn’t force them too quickly or hurry any of the story. Definitely an entertaining read that will quench your romance urges. Reviewed by Cyrene

4.5 Stars

Uncaged Review – Pearls of Fire by Meara Platt

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Pearls of Fire
Meara Platt
Historical Victorian/Regency

Do the mysterious pearls with the red-gold color of the burning sun hold the key to love… or to a curse?

Emma Langdon’s life was changed by a kiss that never happened. Hugh Le Brecque, the handsome viscount meant to do the kissing never showed up, and Emma has been trying to forget him ever since. But when thieves break into her elegant home to steal a family heirloom known as the Pearls of Fire, a necklace she believes is cursed, Emma knows she must turn to Hugh for help. Her father, driven mad with grief, has run off after the thieves and Emma fears his life is now in danger. Can she trust Hugh to find her father? Or will he betray her for those mysterious pearls that shine with the brilliance of a red-gold flame and seem to hold a dark power over men?

Hugh Le Brecque, once a respected privateer in service of the Crown and English peer known as Viscount Brixham, is now a convicted pirate with no intention of hanging for a crime he did not commit. He has already made plans to seek revenge on the men who framed him when Emma Langdon storms back into his life, entering his cell and offering a bargain he cannot refuse – take her to the East Indies to help her find her father, and she will use her powerful connections to see his conviction overturned. A two hundred year old journal written by Emma’s ancestor who first acquired the Pearls of Fire is the only clue to her father’s whereabouts. 

Will Hugh fall under the spell of these mysterious pearls? Or is Emma’s enchanting innocence the greater danger to his heart?

Uncaged Review: I love a good pirate book and love a good high seas adventure. Emma’s father has gone missing after her mother was murdered over a family treasure – the Pearls of Fire. Hugh, is a convicted pirate, convicted of crimes he didn’t commit, but languishing in a prison. With her money, she goes to Hugh to strike a deal. Help her find her father, and she’ll get him out of prison and get his ship out of impoundment. Hugh, once a respected man and former Viscount and heir to an earldom wants to prove his innocence – and he finds that Emma may be the one to help him. But it may not be as easy as he thinks to keep her at arms length, Emma being the woman he fell in love with, before he was a convicted criminal.
Emma is strong, stubborn and perfectly suited to take on Hugh.
The villians are truly despicable and the cast of supporting characters are worth remembering. A story with danger, secrets, laughter and intrigue, all in a well-paced story that will keep the reader turning the pages. A great addition to the Pirates of Britannia shared world. Reviewed by Cyrene

5 Stars

Uncaged Review – Ian by Lily Baldwin

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Ian
Lily Baldwin
Historical Romance/Highlands

To escape imminent danger, Scottish lady Jocelyn Ferguson, flees her home and the comforts of her station to live as an English commoner. She knows not who hunts her or why, only that she must trust no one.

Ian MacVie belongs to a network of secret rebels, and is on a mission for Scotland when he encounters a peasant girl, Jo, traveling alone. She refuses his offer of escort, but Scotland’s ‘gentle giant’ cannot allow a woman to traverse war-torn lands alone. He vows to protect her…even from herself.

What neither of them realize is that Jo may be the key to ridding Scotland of English tyranny once and for all.

Uncaged Review: In this 6th book of the series, our hero for this story for this Highland Outlaw is Ian, the youngest of the MacVie brothers. Belonging to a secret group of Scottish rebels, Ian is the last of his brothers whose identity has not be revealed. Lady Josselyn and her mother flee their home as their home comes under attack, making their way to England to scrape out lives as weavers, knowing they can’t return home.
With an accidental meeting with Ian, her whole world will change.

Danger, action, treachery, loyalty and love are steadfast in this story. The author does a brilliant job with some grand twists that actually caught me by surprise. I loved Jo, she is strong, smart and brave – even when she doesn’t think so. She may be one of my favorite heroines in a long time. This is a book that I’ll be thinking of for quite a while, and the epilogue is full of wonderful moments, and if you haven’t read the other books in the series, this does well as a standalone, but the epilogue will be that much better if you have. Reviewed by Cyrene

5 Stars

Uncaged Review – Stella of Akrotiri: Deminon by Linda Rae Sande

By
Cyrene Olson
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0

Stella of Akrotiri: Deminon
Linda Rae Sande
Historical Fantasy/Greek & Roman

Love can last a thousand lifetimes when you’re an Immortal… or so they thought.


What’s become of the Immortal Darius? His wife, Stella, worries about his fate as she rules over their city-state of Deminon, especially when she learns he’s been the victim of treachery. She’ll do anything to get him back. 

Enslaved as a traitor to Rome, Darius is forced to fight gladiators as part of the funeral rites of powerful Romans. His years of experience on the battlefield serve him well in the arena—until he’s forced to fight Marcus—a younger, stronger gladiator who is unaware of his own immortality. 

Sure he’s about to suffer a defeat by the hand of Marcus, Darius is forced to make a decision that will change his future and Stella’s—preserve his essence by allowing his body to die so that he can live on in Marcus. His two-thousand years of memories and life experiences should be powerful enough to overcome the essence of the untested Immortal. Allow him to return to Stella and resume their life together, even if she won’t immediately recognize him.

But Marcus isn’t giving up so easily. Especially when he meets Stella. 

Will Marcus help Darius take revenge on the one whose deceit led to his arrest on charges of treason? Or will Darius’ essence slowly be subsumed, the memories of his nearly two-thousand-year lifespan—and of Stella—fading away in the mind of Marcus? 

These Immortals once had all the time in the world. Now it’s suddenly of the essence.

Uncaged Review: This is a slow burner – as I read along, I never even realized that the book ensnared me and when I looked up at the clock, I was surprised so much time had passed, I was that engrossed in the story. I’ve read books from this author before, but this is a totally different style. The world was described so well, that I was able to picture the story as I read along.

Stella and Darius are immortals, along with a handful of others, meaning they really can’t die. Stella and Darius have been together for hundreds of years, but when Darius is set up to be named a traitor, he is sent off to be a gladiator. When he allows his body to die, his essence is transferred into a younger immortal – who he fought in the ring, Marcus. But will the two minds become one and he be able to return to Stella, or will Marcus prevail and Darius be lost to Stella forever?

There are a few really good twists in this that I didn’t see coming, and it was a world that I would happily go back to. There is a lot of sex and some violence that is true to the time period, but there is also friendship, love, honor and loyalty. Reviewed by Cyrene

5 Stars

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