BLOG TOUR: Review, Guest Post & Giveway! Caged In Winter by Brighton Walsh

CAGED IN WINTER

By: Brighton Walsh

Publication Date: November 4, 2014

In this emotional and sexy New Adult debut from Brighton Walsh, the only thing more frightening than commitment is hope…

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…

ABOUT BRIGHTON

Brighton Walshspent nearly a decade as a professional photographer before deciding to take her storytelling in a different direction and reconnect with writing. She lives in the Midwest with her husband and two children.

We were lucky enough to get picked to share some more information about Cade *swoon* with you all! We just happened to get our hands on his OkCupid Dating Profile and thought this was information you should all have!

Cade Maxwell

Appearance

Height: 6’4”

Body type: Athletic

Eyes: green

Hair:dark brown

Lifestyle

Smoke: no

Drink: Social Drinker

Occupation:student

Relationship: Never Married

Have kids: No

Wants kids: Someday

Ethnicity: White / Caucasian

Languages: English

Education: pursuing Bachelor’s degree

What I’m Doing With My Life

I’m currently in school at the Art Institute of Michigan pursuing a degree in Culinary Management My goal is to one day own my own restaurant.

I’m Really Good At

Creating recipes, meeting goals, getting my niece to laugh, math, chemistry

The First Things People Notice

About my appearance: size, tattoos, piercing.

About my personality: I take charge

The Six Things I Could Never Do Without:

a well used cast iron pan

my knives

creating

tea parties with my niece

motorcycle

family

I Spend A Lot Of Time Thinking About

New recipes I’d like to make or what it’d be like to run my own restaurant.

Typical Friday Night

At home studying or cooking or listening to my best friend bitch that I’m not out with him.

Most Private Thing I’m Willing To Admit

My niece can get me to wear a feather boa and a tea party hat just by batting her eyelashes.

Results of OKCupid’s Dating Persona Test:

The Bachelor Deliberate Gentle Sex Master (DGSM)

Straight-up. Studly. Congratulations, you are The Bachelor.

You’re an honest, good-thinking guy, and though you’re very sexually active, people don’t perceive you as a male-slut or man-whore or guy-dick-putter-inner or whatever. You have a sterling reputation.

You’re a careful person, perhaps too much so for your friends’ tastes, but girls like that in you. You probably don’t kiss & tell. And you definitely don’t brag. You know you don’t have to prove anything to anyone. It’s as if you believe in monogamy, so long as it’s with lots of different people.

Our guess is that you’ve got some kind of word-of-mouth going with the girls out there, and that in the future, your sex partners will get even more plentiful, and more attractive, too.

You will settle down eventually, and make an excellent husband. You seem like the type who is into the idea of making copies of yourself, so you’ll probably have kids. Bear in mind, meanwhile, this can get expensive.

Jaime’s Thoughts
Caged in Winter by Brighton Walsh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You guys… I may be biased, but this book is what I shall measure all my upcoming New Adult reads against.

“You’re the one with the key to your own cage. You’re the one keeping yourself locked up tight.”

Remember that time my BFF wrote a book and it was amazeballs?

Yeah, this is another one of those times. (Yes! Go read her other stuff too!)

I know, I know… you’re probably thinking if it was written by my BFF that I have to be exaggerating about how good it is. But I’m not. I’m absolutely not, and if you know me at all, you know I have exceptionally high standards for my New Adult books. This one exceeds everything I look for in a story.

Let’s start with the characters because I love it when I fall in love with characters and I absolutely fell in love with Cade and Winter. Winter is one of those girls who doesn’t need someone to take care of her or provide for her, she’s been the only person she could count on and she’s determined to keep it that way.

“I don’t want your goddamn sorries. Go hop on your horse, Prince Charming, and save some other girl. I don’t need your help.”

I think her strength and determination is admirable, but I also really love the layer of vulnerability that Walsh has given her. She lives one day at a time and she isn’t entirely sure what’s around the corner but she’s absolutely going to make it work.

And Cade. *fans self* holy shit you guys are going to go crazy for this guy. Picture this… ridiculously tall, broad shoulders, defined arms… barbell through his eyebrow, tattoos peeking out from under clothes. Oh… did I not mention what he’s going to school for? Chef… as in delicious food and oh, there’s definitely some cookie baking I’m just saying. But it’s not just his appearance that will have you falling for him, Cade is amazing. He’s spent his life taking care of the people he loves and he’s a protector, but he does this sometimes at the expense of his own goals and happiness and his selflessness just makes him all the more swoony.

“It’s time to start living your life for you.”

But the main characters aren’t the only ones that will have you wanting to know more. Walsh introduces some secondary characters that you can’t help but fall for as well. Jason is one of my favorites, and he doesn’t have a huge part in this story which makes his impact on me even more amazing. The second book in this series is his story and I’m so excited to read it!

The story itself is well-paced and incredibly written. The summary makes this story sound a bit like all the NA that is available out there, but that’s just not the case. Walsh has a way of making you connect on an emotional level with her characters and the drama here isn’t overdone or contrived which happens way too often lately. The emotions and reactions and feeling of these characters jump off the page and make perfect sense to me… the struggles they encounter are all too real and that is what makes this a powerful story.

If you’re looking for a new author to love in the New Adult genre, if you’re in the mood for an emotionally charged, sexy, romantic story then look no further. I’m telling you now, put Caged in Winter on your “to buy immediately upon release” list because I guarantee it’s going to jump to the top of your favorites after you read it.

Thank you to Berkley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest (unbiased) thoughts. I promise you guys… I’d be saying these exact words even if she wasn’t my BFF.