Now with 2 Bonus scenes and completely re-edited
Fate hasn’t always been friends with Isabelle West. In fact, fate has been a downright bitch. Isabelle has learned the hard way how hard life can be when fate isn’t by your side. It can hand you dreams on silver platters, but it can snatch them right back and hand you nightmares. One thing Isabelle knew for sure fate was consistent with was taking away everything she ever loved. For the last two years Isabelle has been slowly clearing the clouds of her past. Happiness is finally on the horizon. She has a thriving business, great friends, and her life back. All she has to do is jump over the last hurdle…her ex-husband. When problems start causing her to fear her new life, and memories that are better left forgotten start rushing to the surface the last thing she needs is a ghost from her past to come knocking on her door. Axel never thought he would look into the eyes of Isabelle West again, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to now. He’s carried his anger for so long he isn’t sure he can just turn it off, but when he is faced with protecting her and an unexpected desire to have her again, life gets a little more complicated. How will Axel and Isabelle deal when all their cards are put on the table and everything they thought was true blows up in their faces?
Note from the author–This book is intended for a mature reading audience and isn’t suitable for younger readers.
Title: Cage (Corps Security #2)
Author: Harper Sloan
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Greg Cage was born to protect. While growing up, he was his mother and sister’s shield against the world… until he failed. For the last decade, he has carried that guilt and need for vengeance around… until it was stripped from him. Now, with his best friend getting married and no longer needing his protection, he is even more lost, completely adrift, and desperate for some control. All he has ever known was how to protect: his family, his friends, and his country. Can he go against everything he has ever known, and give up that control?
Melissa Larson will never let anyone hold the reins in her life. She has been the rock in her family for more years than she can remember, and the fight to keep them together is her main priority right now. She has always been fiercely independent and proud. The last thing she will ever do is ask for someone else’s help. But when that choice is out of her control, forcing her to rely on others to save her and her family, and pick up the pieces that are left, will she be able to let someone else be her strength?
The second Greg locks eyes with Meli, he knows that she is someone he needs. Someone he craves. Meli knew the second she met Greg that he would be nothing but trouble and heartache. Her life takes an unexpected turn, and that bitch Fate is back to wreak more havoc on another member of the Corps family.
All hell breaks loose, leaving Greg no choice but to call in a favor. He hooks back up with his old friend Braxxon Breaker from the Breakneck MC. Together, they make sure that nothing threatens anyone Greg loves again.
Title: Beck (Corps Security #3)
Author: Harper Sloan
Genre: Contemporary Romance
DEE
I’ve always been good at wearing masks. Not letting anyone see the real me. I’m content being the happy-go-lucky best friend. The strong willed boss. The independent woman who doesn’t need a man.
But the truth is I’m just as broken as the rest of you. I’m terrified that all it will take is one person to make all my carefully constructed walls crumble into fine dust. So I guard my heart with everything I have. Determined to never let anyone get close enough to hurt me again.
All is perfect until HE walks into my life. No… he doesn’t just walk. He struts his good-looking, sex-oozing self right into my space and demands that I see HIM. Making me want what I know I can’t have.
So I did the only thing I know how to do.
I run.
But he just won’t let me go.
BECK
The second I see her, I know she will be mine. I see past the gorgeous smiles and heart-stopping laughter. I see HER. She doesn’t want me to know her secrets or the past that haunts her, but I make it my mission to find out.
To make her mine.
She can run all she wants, but it will never be far enough to stop me from coming after her.
She’s it for me and she knows it.
She’s just too scared to admit it.
Title: Uncaged (Corps Security #3.5)
Author: Harper Sloan
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Greg Cage’s life is more fulfilling than he ever could have imagined. He’s married to the love of his life, has an amazing son, and in a few short months, his family will grow again with the birth of his twin girls.
The past year has been a tough one for the Cage family, but they are now on the road to healing by learning to let go of the past and looking forward to their future.
When situations beyond his control threaten to take away so much of what Greg holds close to his heart, he has to learn that he doesn’t always have the control he tries to maintain in their lives. Will he be able to handle the stress of knowing his wife and newborn daughters are beyond his protection?
Join the Cage family as they embark on yet another one of life’s journeys with a rambunctious four-year-old, pregnancy complications, and the fear of the unknown.
Will the love that Greg and Melissa share hold true as they fight to overcome the obstacles that face them?
UNCAGED is not a standalone. It is a continuation of CAGE. It is recommended that you read the first 3 books in the series before UNCAGED.
Title: Cooper (Corps Security #4)
Author: Harper Sloan
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Do you take me seriously? Because I don’t. I use my jokes and easygoing personality to hide the pain I’ve felt since he took his last breath. I’m adrift without my partner in crime, my best friend…my brother. I can taste the vengeance just within my grasp.
Until she barges into my life. Promising me happiness and a peace I’ve been craving for years. She is the sun to my darkness, the happy to my despair.
But she holds secrets. Just like I do. She holds hers close, where I just pray mine don’t rock the walls we’re trying to build.
Now I’m stuck at a crossroads between my desire for revenge and my craving for her and the life we could have together—and I have no idea which road I should travel.
All I know with crystal clear certainty is that the past has the power to destroy it all.
Axel by Harper Sloan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
*ARC Given to Blog for Honest Review*
4 “Princess” Kisses
I don’t know what took me so long to read this book…I really have no good excuse except there are never enough hours in the day. I read the prologue back a few months ago and was absolutely floored…I knew I needed to read it. But when I think about it, it has all the makings for a book I will love to pieces – hot alpha male? Check! Strong and brave heroine? Check! Super steamy sex? Check! And some surprises? Oh my…big time check!
Isabelle West has been through hell and back and then some. Tragedy and heartache have plagued her for the last twelve years and now she’s turning the big 3-0! And for anyone else that would be enough but her bday also happens to be the anniversary of the worst day of her life. Izzy is a fighter through and through and the fact that she is still living, albeit a less than ideal life, she is still a testament for a survivor and not letting life beat you down. That was one of the things I admired most about Izzy was her resilience and strength in the face of absolute despair. She could have given up, she could have let it change her into a shell of the person she was and not that her experiences didn’t affect her but she didn’t let them change who she was to her core. She considers herself weak…but I think that’s up for debate. It takes an incredibly strong woman to survive what she has and I admire her for it. She is lucky because has two AMAZING friends and of course, she still has hope…and then her world comings crashing down. Or maybe she crashes into him… 😉
‘I haven’t always been this weak person; this broken woman. I used to dream, and when I did, I dreamt big. I had plans, plans of a future so bright it would blind you. I can still remember the day those dreams, those grand plans, and that future as bright as the sun went poof.
I just didn’t know it at the time.’
Axel…Holt Axel Reid – hello! Seriously hot name! Ooooh my…he is one incredibly hot alpha…I mean, DAMN what that man can do to me! I don’t think he can help but ooze sex and manliness – it’s just a part of his DNA. He’s a former Marine and has the body (and attitude) to show for it…and speaking of body, can I lick him? Is that too much to ask? I really want to…all 6 foot FUCKING 6″ of him! And I would enjoy every second of it. (okay…maybe that was too much…) From his midnight black hair and his piercing emerald green eyes to that sinfully delicious body – from head to toe this man is just a super sex god. That’s not all he is…while that is enough for me…there is more that makes Axel amazing. He is incredibly loyal and caring…and Oh-em-gee that mouth and the things that come out of it, but what I loved the most was underneath all that sexy cave man exterior in a heart of gold and it beats for only one woman…Izzy.
“Fuck, baby…you feel so good in my arms again.” I look up into his eyes, trying to focus on his face long enough to make sense of his comment. The harshness that I have grown accustomed to seeing mar his beautifully handsome face is gone, and in its place is pure affection. He looks like the old Axel, the one so full of love for me that nothing else matters. In that moment, I can almost believe it, almost believe that we can get back there again and after all we just shared, I realize that I want that. I want Axel back. I want us and our love back. It has never felt like that before, not even with him. Time might not have been on our side the last few years, but right now…I can almost hope that fate decided to love me and give me some happiness for a change.’
Izzy and Axel are meant to be…they’re high school sweethearts, separated by time and circumstance and thru the conniving ways of an evil wench, but through all the heartbreak and pain and suffering, deep down…they’re meant to be. You hurt with them and for them as they work to get back to a place where they can even exist together. It’s a beautiful torture…because you just wanna smack both of their heads together and scream at them! A simple conversation…well not so simple in their case…but a very necessary conversation needs to take place and then they can begin the healing process and get back to being what they were always meant to be…Izzy and Axel. Aside from their absolutely undeniable connection, they’re just flat out hot…steamy…delicious…sinful…oh, should I stop? Well…I couldn’t get enough – I loved every panty-melting-heart-pounding-oops-I’m-drooling second of it – I’m not a self proclaimed dirty book lover for nothing and this book fed my DBL spirit!
“I know you felt it, baby. No way had something that fucking powerful skipped your attention. Hear me now, and understand me, we will talk but nothing you can say will change the fact that you and me are happening. I won’t let you go, Izzy. Never. You’re mine, you got that, Princess?”
Do I? Can I so easily give my heart back to this man knowing he has the power to destroy me? Yes. I can. If I walked away from him now, I might as well pull the trigger myself because I would be dead anyway.
“Yeah, I understand. But, Ax?”
“What baby?”
“I always have been yours, you know that, don’t you?”
And with a bright smile that reaches all the way to his beautiful eyes, he pulls me tighter and places a soft kiss to my shoulder, my neck, and my ear before whispering, “Oh yeah baby, I know.”
Alright…so Axel isn’t filled with one piece of juicy alpha man candy. No no no…we get not just one…not two…not three…yeah, I’m still counting here…4 other delectable drool worthy candidates for our reading pleasure. Greg Cage, Maddox Locke (Locke or Mad), John Beckett (Beck) and Zeke Cooper (Coop). Besides Axel, the two I got the most attached two are Greg and Mad and that’s because of their relationship to Iz. Greg is like the older brother Izzy never had. He’s very protective over her and gives her a sense strength and peace. They’ve connected and bonded over shared experiences and she needs him in her life…in a different way then she needs Axel and yet I appreciate and love their relationship as much as I did hers with Axel. Maddox and Izzy become close very fast…it’s really interesting the way Mad kind of attaches to her because it is very much out of his character, but he quickly forms a bond similar to what she has with Greg. It worked for me and I loved all the different dynamics and relationships that were throughout the book, but those two especially touched me. These men are easy to love…but you won’t see me complaining!
‘He trails off and leans down to capture my lips. This kiss is like nothing we have shared since coming back to us. This kiss is full of the sadness not of what we have lost but with the promise of what we will have. His lips make love to mine.
“Not one day went by Izzy that my heart didn’t belong to you. To this day there has only been one woman that has and will ever hold it. Fuck, baby but the love I have for you is so fucking strong sometimes, I wonder if it will crush me.”’
Speaking of other relationships…Dee, Izzy’s best friend – oh boy…do I have another addition to my Book Bestie list! Denise is magical! Dee and Iz have a unique and hilarious friendship. Isabelle is the dark night to Denise’s sunshine – they compliment each other brilliantly and their relationship is funny and sweet and so similar to the friendships I have with my girlfriends, which is obviously one of the many reasons I love it so much. Dee has been there for Izzy through it all. The ups and downs for the past 11 years, saving her when she was close to rock bottom and then again two years ago when she had no where else to go. I loved what these two did for each other and that extra quality that their friendship brought to the book. Not that I don’t love the men and my romance…but sometimes you need these moments to give books that little something extra.
‘“Even throught the anger of losing you – I still knew you were my angel. My light.”
Oh my God.
“I love you, Princess.”
“I love you, too.” I croak and fall into his arms.
In that moment, I knew whatever had been broken over the years was finally put back together.
I was whole.’
So if you haven’t already picked up on this fact, I loved the characters…the story line is engaging and has all the angsty moments I love so much. There are some hard to read parts…some parts that made me tear up…and then of course those oh so lovely hot-n-steamy moments – God bless Axel! I really did enjoy the writing, it had a good flow but (and unfortunately there is a ‘but’) I did catch a few editing and redundancy things. And please don’t get me wrong when I say this, I loved 99% of what came out of the mouths of those men, but there were a couple of lines that had me rolling my eyes a little bit. It didn’t happen too often, but I hated it when it did…because it took the realistic quality away and aside from that, this book did feel very genuine to me.
‘When you are with me I am free.
My strength. My heart. My everything.
Our love now continues forever.
Amor Vincit Omnia
‘Love Conquers All’, it is perfect. And it is us.’
And now I get to do my little happy dance because…Axel is part of a…SERIES!!! Squeee!!!! And Greg is next…yay! Oh my…Greg is going to be a fun little nut to crack. I know we have barely begun to understand his pain and anguish. I can’t lie, there isn’t one of these books that I can’t wait to read. These sexy alpha’s practically demand to be read. Sir, yes sir! 😉
Harper lives in small town Georgia just a short drive from her hometown of Peachtree City. She (and her 3 daughters) enjoy ruling the house they dubbed ‘Estrogen Ocean’, much to her husbands chagrin. Harper has a borderline unhealthy obsession with books; you can almost ALWAYS find her with her eReader attached. She enjoys bad reality TV and cheesy romantic flicks. Her favorite kind of hero–the super alpha kind!
Harper started using writing as a way to unwind when the house went to sleep at night; and with a house full of crazy it was the perfect way to just relax. It didn’t take long before a head full of very demanding alphas would stop at nothing to have their story told.
Thanks for the giveaway! I’m hoping I win a signed copy. Love this series (: