Today I am part of the Caged blog tour! And this will be a long post filled with awesomeness (in my opinion at least). Okay so first I have my review for you followed by the buy link, then an excerpt from caged, after that a guest post written by the author about Brook (yay!) and then there still is an awesome tour wide giveaway and a giveaway of 1 e-copy for a follower of this blog!
Caged (A Holloway Pack Story #3)
by JA Belfield
Blurb from Goodreads: If the meek can become deadly, the strongest can be weak.
For Ethan Holloway, his mission to find a missing werewolf should be simple. Crack a few heads, bust a few chops and the solution always reveals itself. Always.
Not this time.
Ethan’s reputation precedes him, and because it does, someone is ready. Waiting. Unbeknownst to Ethan, he’s about to go down. Hard. Against a foe he never suspected and in a world he never imagined could be real.
What awaits Ethan is a fight not only for his reputation, but also his pack, his female, and his life. If he survives, damage control will become priority number one.
If he survives.
Because even Ethan’s not sure he’s strong enough to take on an entire race all by himself.
Especially one hell bent on exposing who and what he is in the name of sport.
My Review:
I got a copy in exchange for an honest review.
As soon as I got the e-mail with the ARC of Caged I knew it would be my next read. I just couldn’t wait to read what would happen. And I was especially curious because Caged is from a different point of view than the earlier books in this series.
At first I had some trouble adjusting to the new pov, I knew it would be from a different pov, but it was still weird. Soon I got a sense of who Ethan was and got used to his pov. The beginning of Caged was a bit slow, I knew there would be danger and someone would get captured so I just wanted that to happen already, I also saw danger in everything and it was a little bit frustrating the characters didn’t, but obviously they didn’t know there would be danger. Another problem I had was that I didn’t really feel the romance, only at the end of the book I actually began thinking they would make a good couple. I am not sure why I just didn’t feel their connection and it is explained they already knew each other, but the reader hasn’t read about this, so it stil felt a bit like insta love.
When the danger finally arrived I couldn’t stop reading and when I put the book down I just kept thinking about it and picked it up again. The middle part of the book is really good and had that keep-reading-feel. After that there is a slow patch again. There is also this escape scene and it felt like everything got so slowly and I just kept thinking hurry up! Escape already! The ending came with a nice surprise and it wrapped this storyline up nicely. The ending was really sweet and it made me sad it was over.
In this book we get to know different characters better than in the previous books. Because of the different pov I got a much better idea of who Ethan was and what kind of person he is. We also get more information about Josh and Nathan. And I liked seeing Jem from another perspective. There are also some new great characters we meet in this book, I really liked Lauren and Brook. Both are great characters and I instantly liked them.
This book also broadens the world again. New supernatural races are introduced and the danger ofcourse. I liked learning more about the world, but I would’ve liked learning even more. There are some loose ends that aren’t explained enough. And some background about some characters I would’ve liked learning more about. Also about some supernatural races and powers there isn’t much explanation, although it is understandeable from the pov, but still I would’ve liked learning more about them.
To conclude: I really enjoyed this book, but there were also some parts I didn’t like and some slow parts. I liked the different point of view, although it took me some time to adjust to the different pov. I liked seeing everything from Ethan’s point of view and meeting new characters. There are some awesome new characaters introduced in this book. I think the middle parts of this book is the best, I wanted to keep reading, but I didn’t really feel the romance. The world building is interesting, but I would’ve preferred more. All in all an enjoyable read. And I can’t wait to read where the author takes this series from here.
You can add Caged to your to-read list on Goodreads
You can buy it here:
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo
Haven’t read Blue Moon (Holloway Pack #2) yet? During the Caged blog tour Blue Moon will be on sale for $0.99! So grab your copy of Blue Moon here:
– Amazon
– B&N
– Kobo
Excerpt from Caged:
“… from the Shropshire area. Following Carly McDowd’s disappearance on the fourth, and Andrew Doherty’s on the seventh, this is the third incident this month …”I turned from the square-jawed newswoman on TV to Dad, where he sat in his corner armchair.
His attention remained on the screen, a frown across his brow.
“… the duo of friends were first reported missing late last night by their parents, after they discovered neither of the teenagers …” The newscaster’s voice infiltrated once more.
Images of a couple of lads flashed side by side on the screen. The one on the left had the appearance of any late teen, with shaggy overgrown hair and the twinkle of mischief in his expression.
From the other image, brilliant blue eyes stared out at me from beneath a shock of pale blond curls.
“Oh, shit!” I pushed to my feet, took a step forward. “That’s …”
“Nineteen year old Gabriel Lewis was believed by his mother to be staying at Colum Delaney’s since Friday evening, whilst Colum’s parents …”
Dad stood, his fingers retracting his mobile from his jeans pocket as I worked my own out. He paused, nodded to me. “Go on. You make the call, Ethan.”
Shelley Lewis’s number had been saved in my phone book since the beginning of the year, right after we met for the first time. I hit dial and paced to the window. September sunshine, of the early morning variety, blinded me as my phone rang.
It took only a few trills for her to answer. “Ethan?” Her voice held hope, as well as a heavy weariness and the thickness of tears.
“Is it true?” I’d promised to support her—a lone parent, a female no less, raising a werewolf son with no guidance. So far, I’d delivered on that promise.
The sob hitting my ear gave confirmation enough. “Oh, Ethan.”
“Hold tight, Shelley. I’m on my way.”
“I’ll come with you,” Dad said, as I hung up and spun to him. “Shout Sean, too—in case we need to do any scouting. I think I heard him stir upstairs.”
“What about Connor’s lot?” The Larsen’s made up the other half of our eight-wolf pack, but lived separately to us on the south side of the forest.
Dad shook his head. “I’ll update Connor whilst you deal with Sean—”
“And Jem?” I asked with a lifted eyebrow.
Dad’s lips twitched, but he continued as though he hadn’t noticed my reference to his buck-passing. “Just the three of us will go. Connor and his boys can spend the morning here and stay close to Jem and your mother unless we need them.”
Sounds great doens’t it? And I also have the Caged book trailer for you to see:
And now finally the time has come to show this awesome guest post!
Being a female shifter meant that Brook Nicholls didn’t get much privacy. Not when then the male shifters of the Coalition vastly outnumbered their potential Queens. Unfortunately, her circumstance led to ever-lurking Toms—though, whether for her protection or for the prospective opportunity of getting her alone and convincing her they’d make great mating material, she could never quite be sure.
On a good note, having a father who owned a chain of hotels, giving her free reign of the premises, provided the relief Brook needed from that. Even better, her being the owner’s daughter meant no one questioned her motives—ever.
Which was how she’d managed to meet Paul the past few times she had without even the Coalition getting wind of it.
Paul had been refreshing after the stifling attention of the Toms. His subtle interest in the slight lift of his eyes each time Brook had walked past him, the tiniest quirk of his lips. Those hints at his awareness of her had gone on over breakfast each morning, for days, before he seemed to battle with his confidence and actually speak.
From the moment he opened his mouth, he’d charmed her. Not by showering her with compliments, though, almost as though he correctly suspected that those kinds of words would never work. No, he entertained with small talk, the sharing of his quiet observations of the world around him—yet only in small moments, as if afraid to draw interest to them.
Perhaps that had been why he’d succeeded where others had failed. Because his below-the-radar influences had never been ‘loud’ enough to warrant investigation by her father’s goons.
By the end of the week, he had invited her to join him for a private breakfast one morning. In his room. A daring step for the gentleman, Brook thought. Yet, she couldn’t help the thrum of anticipation, once she’d accepted, or the buzz of excitement that she may actually achieve such a covert operation.
Of course, one successful secret meeting led to another—possibly because Paul always remained a gentleman. He never tried to woo her, to entice her to bed. Each entrance to his room led to coffee, a croissant, such random conversation that Brook never knew what they might be discussing next. He even threw in the occasional joke, making Brook laugh—something Brook didn’t experience anywhere near often enough.
Within two weeks, Brook had begun to crave her morning rendezvous’. She believed she’d found a common soul. One who didn’t need anything from her. One who only seemed to give and never to take. One for whom there were no expectations for her to live up to, no code to honour, no rules to follow—one who allowed her to just be herself.
Until that final day they met.
Brook had gone expecting her usual relaxed session. Instead, she’d been greeted by an unfamiliar male, and at her protest, the raising of a gun and a sharp sting to her thigh.
Those had been the last details she could remember.
Before waking up to surrounding bars—as well as the suspicion that her life would never be the same again.
About the Author:
One day, a character and scene popped into J. A. Belfield’s head, and she started controlling the little people inside her imagination, as though she were the puppet master and they her toys. Questions arose: What would happen if …? How would they react if …? Who would they meet if …?
Before she knew it, a singular scene had become an entire movie. The characters she controlled began to hold conversations. Their actions reflected the personalities she bestowed upon them. Within no time, they had a life, a lover, a foe, family … they had Become.
One day, she wrote down her thoughts. She’s yet to stop.
J. A. Belfield lives in Solihull, England, with her husband, two children, four cats and a dog. She writes paranormal romance, with a second love for urban fantasy.
She also book blogs over at Bookaroo-Ju.
You can find her here:
– Website
– Twitter
– Facebook
– Goodreads
And now on to the tour wide giveaway I mentioned!
Enter the rafflecopter below for a chance to win:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
And there is also a giveaway on my blog to win an e-copy of Caged!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Switching up the POV can add depth, but it can be hard to adjust to. Overall, this sounds like a win. Thanks for the lovely review.
-Dilettantish Reader
Thanks :). Yes in this case it took some adjusting, but it added depth and I would certainly consider it a win!
I haven’t read the previous books yet but the summary sounds interesting. Thanks for the review!
I would definitely recommmend picking up the first book in this series. This series get’s better with each book!
Thanks so much for hosting the opening tour stop for me, Lola.
And a big thanks to those who’ve stopped by to read, too. ♥
Thanks so much for letting me host the opening tour stop. For some reason the opening tour stop always feels a bit special :).
Thanks for sharing your review and the giveaways. I love werewolves and this series sounds great so I have added it to my TBR. evamillien at gmail dot com
If you love werewolves then you should definitely try out this series! I am a big werewolf fan myself too :).