Review: The Gilded Cage (Surrender #2) by Lauren Smith

No-Brainer

Title:  The Gilded Cage
Author: Lauren Smith
Publisher/Year:  Hachette Book Group 6/9/15
Length:  368 pages
Series:  Surrender #2

Overview

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 . .

My Thoughts

I really like this series – where we were left after the Gilded Cuff was a place of tension and turmoil, and i think where we’ve continued is an even better place.  Emery and Sophie are in a great place and now it’s up to Hayden to save Fenn if she can and convince him of his true identity before someone kills him.

We’re reunited with this series when Hayden’s at the Rodeo that Fenn’s competing at, in the hopes of winning $50k to save The ranch that he’s been living at since his adopted family has been suffering from financial stress since the father had a heart attack.  Unfortunately though, Fenn’s been getting these weird senses or visions of sorts and one hits him at the wrong time and he’s knocked from the bull he’s riding before he’s able to even quality.  Its at that moment when a woman in a silky red dress tries to distract the charging bull from him and well, it works.  He’s saved, she’s saved and well, their paths have yet to truly cross yet.

From them on, we see that Hayden (the girl in the red dress) and Fenn are intertwined, their journey taking them hopefully back to Fenn’s past but hopefully to what seems like a steamy future.  It takes a bit of convincing, a few fights between Fenn and Wes (Hayden’s brother) but Fenn begins to believe what they are saying.

The question though is whether they can outsmart the assassin, and get back to Emery and take him down?  then at the same time, figure out who hired them to begin with 25 years ago and what was the motivation.  To be honest, it took me a short bit to sort it out but it was an obvious reason for it all.

Throughout this story, we get a lot of death and destruction – a lot of people getting hurt in the cross fire and a few people getting emotionally wounded.  You have to wonder who’s death is final and who’s going to make it through.  Broken hearts and all.

True to what we saw in the first installment, the scening is hot.  The passion that these 2 have is really nice to witness – they can’t stay away from one another and while Fenn may not be a true Dom in the sense of a BDSM club (at least i don’t think he is), he’s able to keep Hayden from ‘topping from the bottom’, and that’s something that few have been able to do.

The best bits though are what we get in the epilogue.  I think that where we see Wes going, and the emotional reactions from those involved makes you really interested to see what’s going to happen in book 3.  Can’t wait for it.  On that note – HAPPY NYE all and i’ll see you in 2016 for real this time!

Leave a Reply