Today I’m excited to participate in the Release Day Blitz
of ‘The Gilded Cage’ by Lauren Smith. This is the second book in the Surrender
series. ‘The Gilded Cage’ is a contemporary romance novel and is available
NOW!!

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 . . .

This book is available at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon CA, Amazon AU, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo and Google Books. 

The bull charged down the metal rail-lined run and into
the narrow chute. Fenn Smith gripped the rusted railing and pushed his hat down
harder on his head as he studied the beast.

Tabasco. A black bull with the temper of the devil
himself. Just the sort of brute that would give him one hell of a wicked ride.
The crowds in the stadium shouted and hollered encouragement as he maneuvered
over the top rail and onto the beast. The stadium lights created a glare over
the tan sand and heated Fenn’s body despite the cool weather. Sliding himself
down over the bull, he carefully settled on its back. It kicked and fidgeted,
but there wasn’t enough room to buck.

Fenn tightened his gloves on his hands and wiped away a
fresh line of sweat off his brow. The beast between his legs tensed, every raw
bit of muscle rippling and tightening as it waited for the moment the gate
would spring open and it could toss him.

“Give him hell, Smith!” One of several bull riders
hanging on the side of the chute called out to him.

He laughed and smacked his hand on the bull’s neck. He
planned to do just that. If there was one thing he could do, it was ride bulls.

Fenn gripped the braided bull-rope that was wrapped
around Tabasco’s flanks. The resin-treated rope would be easier to grip the
more heated it became during the stress of the ride. A good thing because
Tabasco was a notorious head-down spinner. Like a whirling dervish, he threw
more men off in any given rodeo season in the state of Colorado. Men traveled from
all over the country to ride him. Some bulls bucked straight ahead, others spun
in circles. The key was to watch a bull a few weeks before you planned to ride
him and get a feel for his style. Fenn had spent the last two months studying
Tabasco. He couldn’t afford to make a mistake tonight, not when everything
depended on this ride.

Shifting his weight, he kept his dominant hand in an
underneath grip on the bull rope and sat as close as he could to his hands. He
leaned forward so that his chest was almost over the bull’s shoulders.

“Riding now is Fenn Smith, a Walnut Springs native. He’s
competing for the grand prize, a cash award of fifty thousand dollars. The bull
is Tabasco, rated by our rodeo staff as one of the tougher rides here tonight.”

Fenn ignored the announcer’s opening speech and focused
on the ride. The scents of cheap beer, hay, and manure, aromas he’d grown up
with, were strong yet comforting. This was his town, his stadium. He could do
this. He had to do this. Visualizing the ride, he pictured the way he’d have to
read the bull’s body language to stay on for eight seconds. Just eight seconds.

Fifty thousand dollars. It was enough to reinstate the
mortgage loan on Jim and Callie Taylor’s Broken Spur Ranch. He wouldn’t have
risked his neck on this bull for any other reason. Old Jim was in his fifties
and his twenty-year-old daughter Callie needed to be looked after. They were
his family and he’d risk his neck if that’s what it took to help them. He
licked his lips, rolling his hips as Tabasco shuddered and huffed.

“The gate opens in five…” The announcer began the
countdown.

Almost instantly, an awful creeping sensation rippled
over his skin, like beetles were scuttling over his flesh. With a roll of his
shoulders he tried to shake off the unsettling feeling.

“Four, three…”

The bull shuddered beneath him.

“Two, one…”

The gate flew open and the bull shot out. Fenn scrambled
to stay on top of the bull as it ducked its head, preparing to tilt-a-whirl.
The uncomfortable flank strap infuriated the beast and it would do anything to
kick it off. Tabasco’s front feet came up off the ground and Fenn leaned
forward, squeezing his legs and maintaining a tight grip. If he could keep his
hips square and centered…

A woman’s scream penetrated his mind, tearing through his
skull like a knife. Flashes…strong and powerful images flickered like broken
fragments on an old film reel. Cracked columns broken by moonlight cutting
through shattered glass windows. Ivy crept along a staircase that led to the
floor of a mansion that had long since crumbled to the ground below. A deep
baritone laugh, the explosion of bullets, a sound from his deepest nightmares…

In February I read ‘The Gilded Cuff’, the first book in
the Surrender series by Lauren Smith. I’ve read almost all of Lauren Smith
books, and I really love her books. And boy did I love ‘The Gilded Cuff’. This
book was amazing and I couldn’t stop reading. So when I saw the sign-up for a
review for the Release Day Blitz of ‘The Gilded Cage’, the second book in the
Surrender series, I signed up as fast as I could.

In ‘The Gilded’ Cage we meet Fenn Lockwood, a handsome
thirty three year old who lives on a ranch in Colorado, and enjoys bull riding.
Hayden Thorne is twenty three and the daughter of one of the richest families
on the Long Island Gold Coast. Hayden has come to the little town of Walnut
Springs, to save Fenn, tell him the truth about his past and to prove to the
outside world that she is more than only a rich girl. But what Hayden didn’t
expect was to feel this deep connection to Fenn, from the moment they laid eyes
on each other.

Hayden has been searching for someone she could trust
enough to completely give up control, but she never found him. That is until
the day she meets Fenn. Fenn is a hardworking dominating guy with a dark past,
and all he wants is to show Hayden what he can make her feel. But although they
both are completely compelled by one another, there is someone trying to kill
Fenn and soon everyone he cares about is in danger and they are forced to
react.

I was really looking forward to reading this book. I was
so excited and really wanted to find out how the story of the Lockwood’s
continued. So when I started reading, I just couldn’t stop and read it in just
one day. This book and the Surrender series in general are just so good. This
book is filled with romance and passion, but there’s also a lot of action and
there are some really thrilling and terrifying moments. I honestly don’t think
you can write this book down under one genre.

The romance in this book is wonderful. The characters
Fenn and Hayden are really good and Lauren was able to immediately make me love
them. Fenn is this alpha male, but with a lot of kindness. And although he was
very dominating, especially in the bedroom I loved his character.

Hayden tries to show the world she is tough and that she
can take care of herself, but she also is very vulnerable and just wants to
make something of herself.

Just like in the first book of the Surrender series, this
book had some BDSM stuff in it, but it is very mellow and
even sweeter than in the first book. It really isn’t the main element in this
book, and because it is so mellow I found it very romantic.

I honestly can’t find one thing I
didn’t like about this book. There are many romantic, fun but also terrifying
moments. Lauren Smith makes sure you feel every emotion out there while reading
this book. I loved it and can’t wait to read the third book in this series. 

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. 

This book is available at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon CA, Amazon AU, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo and Google Books. 

Read my review of ‘The Gilded Cuff’ here.

This book is available at This book can be pre- ordered
on Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon CA, Amazon AU, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Kobo
and Google Books.

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 Shelly Award. Lauren loves hearing from readers and can be reached
through her website www.laurensmithbooks.com.

For more information about Lauren Smith and her books
please visit her website, blog, Facebook Author Page, Facebook Friend Page,
Twitter, Google+, Amazon and Goodreads. Or email Lauren on ldsmith1818@gmail.com, sign up for her
newsletter and join Lauren’s Street Team.

a Rafflecopter giveaway This event was organized by Book Partners in Crime Promotions.