Tuesday, July 14, 2015

The Gilded Cuff & The Gilded Cage by Lauren Smith Readalong


Hey guys, Ethan here, excited to host a stop on the read-along tour for The Gilded Cuff & The Gilded Cage by Lauren Smith. Before we get to the guest post, here's a bit about the novels and the author!

Every passion has its price . . .

Journalist Sophie Ryder has been following Emery Lockwood’s story since she was a little girl. There has always been something in his haunted eyes that she couldn’t resist and now, when she’s certain he holds the key to solving a string of kidnappings, she’ll do anything to speak to him. Even if it means venturing deep into the seductive world of the Gilded Cuff, a luxurious BDSM club on Long Island’s Gold Coast and Emery’s personal playground.

From the moment Sophie enters his shadowy, sensual domain, Emery Lockwood knows this tantalizing new little sub was meant to belong to him. However, Sophie wants more from Emery than just pleasure . . . she wants his past. And that is something he isn’t willing to give—no matter who is asking. But every moment he spends with Sophie, Emery feels his control slipping and he knows it’s only a matter of time before he surrenders to her heart, body, and soul.

     


Passion that takes no prisoners, and love that tests the limits of ecstasy . . .

Fenn Lockwood comes alive in the shadows. Though he might have physically survived the kidnapping that stole his childhood, the trauma and pain he lived through have marked him forever. Now the only place where Fenn can be himself is within the walls of his private BDSM world—a place of erotic obsession, where desire isn't just captured . . . it's bound.

Hayden Thorne knows that behind Fenn's hardened exterior is a man worth fighting for. Yet to save him from the past that still haunts him, Hayden will have to abandon every inhibition she's ever had and venture into Fenn's intoxicatingly sensual world. Each tantalizing second she spends in Fenn's searing embrace is more delicious than the last and soon Hayden begins to think that she may never want to leave such torturous bliss . . .


     


Lauren Smith Bio:

Amazon best-selling author Lauren Smith is an attorney by day, author by night, who pens adventurous and edgy romance stories by the light of her smart phone flashlight app. She’s a native Oklahoman who lives with her three pets—a feisty chinchilla, sophisticated cat and dapper little schnauzer. She's won multiple awards in several romance subgenres including being an Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award Quarter-Finalist and a Semi-Finalist for the Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley Award.


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The Gilded Cage Read Along Ch 9-12

Short Overview of Chapters:

In this set of chapters, Fenn Lockwood, the long lost kidnapped victim of twenty-five years ago has recently learned who he really is thanks to Hayden Thorne, the rich city girl and little sister of Fenn’s childhood friend Wes Thorne. Hayden came to Colorado to help convince Fenn of who he is and bring him home to Long Island to meet his twin brother Emery and his family. Hayden and Fenn have gone to a town for ranch supplies and when the assassin waiting to kill Fenn strikes out, it results in a car crash on a mountainside. Stranded there all night, Hayden and Fenn cling to each other and just before Fenn falls asleep he makes a connection mentally with his twin brother who hears it and is able to have them found and rescued. When Fenn and Hayden return back to his ranch, they no longer fight the intimacy between them because of the trust they had for each other on the mountain and they finally have mind-blowing sex. Fenn also decides it’s time to return to Long Island and help his brother stop whoever his trying to kill them.

Favorite Lines:
  •          “You are temptation—pure, sweet, sin.” The rich timbre of his voice melted her anxieties and fears of being controlled. Right now, she was a hot-blooded woman, he was a hot-blooded man, and the only thing that mattered was the heavy weight of sensual silence right before a kiss.
  •          Desire sang in her blood, a striking aria building on pure notes each time he changed the angle of his mouth or teased her lips with little nips. The part of her that was so tired of fighting the world was burned away, cast into a fire and forged into something new.
  •           They were going to die. If he didn’t find a way to save Hayden…His throat closed and he swallowed the old familiar lump of fear back down. He’d done this before. He’d had to save someone. The instinct was primal and powerful. It dragged his own fear down into the depths of a midnight sea, drowning it, keeping it from harming him.
  •           Kid. Even after all these years the nickname heated the inside of his chest and made him feel safe. Violence had taken so much from him, made him doubt himself, but Hans had brought his confidence back, taught him strength, discipline, and street smarts.
  •      Here’s the truth, Emery: I need to protect you as much as you need me to. When your father hired me, I was alone in this world. You and your parents became my family. I’ve never wanted anything else. So quit worrying, and go to sleep.”
  • -          “Your brother wants to speak to you.”
  • Fenn stared at the phone for a long moment, torn in two directions. If he didn’t take the phone, he could keep burying this supposed new truth. If he did take the phone, he’d be facing what scared him most, the past…and the future.
  • -          He dipped his head to hers, nuzzling her but not quite kissing her. Somehow this prelude to a kiss was the most incredible turn on she’d ever experienced.
  • Fun Facts and Writing challenges of these chapters:
  • -          One of my favorite parts of this set of chapters was writing the scene were Fenn finally gets to talk to his brother Emery for the first time in 25 years. After Fenn and Hayden are rescued on the mountain, Wes hands Fenn his phone because Emery wants to talk to Fenn. It’s a moment of great decision for Fenn, if he takes the phone he’s accepting his destiny and confronting his past and his future. And when he does, he finally hears his twin’s voice and it’s an emotionally charged scene.
  • -          Another favorite scene is when Emery, Fenn’s twin and the hero from The Gilded Cuff the first book in the series, talks to his loyal bodyguard Hans about the future. Once they’ve stopped the death threats on Emery and Fenn’s lives, Emery questions what Hans will do and feels bad that the bodyguard has missed out on living a life while protecting Emery since he was a little boy. It’s a very heartwarming scene when Hans tells Emery that he’s family to him and that he doesn’t regret a moment of the last 25 years of protecting Emery.
  • -          And last but certainly not least, is the love scene between Fenn and Hayden. I loved writing it because it was both emotional, tender and still off the charts sexy. They came together after a life-threatening incident and they connected not just on a physical level but an emotional one. Hayden finally discovers a Dom she can trust in bed and Fenn fully understands just how much Hayden trusts him to take care of her in bed and out. They become equal partners in every way and it was a satisfying scene to write.


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Alright readers, that's all I have for you on the topic of The Gilded Cuff and The Gilded Cage by Lauren Smith. Special thanks to InkSlinger PR and the author for allowing me to participate! Until next time, Happy Reading!

-Ethan

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