Sandy M’s review of Caged in Winter by Brighton Walsh
Contemporary Romance published by Penguin Group 4 Nov 14
At first I wasn’t sure I was going to like Winter in this story. She’s very hard and rough around the edges. But the more I got to know her, the more I began to understand her. Instead, she’s determined. She’s focused. She’s had a difficult life and she’s going to now succeed, with college graduation only a number of months away. Life, however, has a different view of what’s going to happen for Winter.
That just so happens to be Cade. This man is also focused and determined. He has a sister and niece to help and a graduation of his own coming up. The difference between the two is Cade has been loved throughout his life. Winter, on the other hand, has gone without that useless emotion all of hers. Doing what he thinks is a good deed for a saloon waitress one night backfires in one way. Winter blasts him a good one for interfering. In another way, this one little event begins them on a journey they don’t have time for or need. At least that’s what they think.
Winter is getting back to her life after that lousy night, when Cade shows up again. And again. And again. The man won’t leave her alone. Little by little he wheedles his way in, garnering a bit of a smile and finally a date. But for each step they take forward, Winter eventually pushes them two steps back, and Cade has to start again. It’s a wonderful venture to see Winter melt under the warmth of Cade’s love, fun, and honor – all things she’s never really experienced before. She becomes the young woman she’s always meant to be, if life hadn’t thrown a curve or ten at her from day one.
Cade himself is a dichotomy – a big guy with tattoos who rides a motorcycle and he’s going to culinary school. He’s a total sweetheart. You feel the love he has for his sister and young niece, who he’d do anything for. Then there’s the man who wants Winter with everything in him. When she finally succumbs to him. they both give in and come into their own. Their loving is intense, sweet, and sincere.
Of course, when things begin to go wrong, it pours on these two until they break. Cade has the chance of a lifetime to work as a sous chef after his graduation – in a different city. With Winter on her own again, letting her know what’s happening is proving unsuccessful. She’s gotten her life in pretty good order without Cade. But will all of this make them happy without the other?
Grade: B
Summary:
Aspiring chef Cade Maxwell is immediately, viscerally attracted to Winter Jacobson. But it’s not her mouthwatering curves he’s drawn to–it’s the strange emptiness in her eyes. When Cade saves her from a drunken customer with grabby hands, he’s shocked at her response…
Winter doesn’t need Cade’s help. After a lifetime of getting by on her own, she’s happy to rely on herself. She’s exactly seventy-six days away from graduating college, and if she can hold it together that long, she’ll finally be able to rise above the crappy hand she was dealt.
But now, every time she turns around, Cade is there, ready to push her, smile at her, distract her from her plans. Winter knows she can’t afford to open up–especially to a man she’s terrified to actually want…
No excerpt available.
