I shake my head, regretting the motion instantly. “No, no. I have to get to my new assignment.” “What?” “For my job. I’m supposed to be on the West End. Now.” Nick cocks his head, pondering me. I’m sure I look dreadful scary. He, on the other hand, is sexy as ever, something I’m not supposed to notice. Olive skin, wild dark hair, intense eyes, sharp cheekbones, and a distinctive nose. A strong face. Hard not to notice. Hard not to show you appreciate. But Katie’s already forgiven me once for flirting with her man, so I follow the rules. He grunts, a noncommittal sound. “I’ll take you up to Annalise. If Katie releases you, you can borrow one of our cars to get to work.” Estate Annalise is the name of the big-ass property he and Katie live on with three kids, six dogs, and his parents. It’s also the name of the teenage slave girl who’s been stuck there in limbo as a jumbie spirit for most of two hundred years. Don’t judge—we buy into voodoo here in the islands. You would, too, if you lived here. It’s as plainly true and hard not to notice as Nick’s sexiness. He steps away from me, brow furrowed, and pushes his hair back. It stands up a little. Katie says he’s a gypsy by his Hungarian heritage, but his wiry hair isn’t so different from mine. “I’ll call Rashidi. We’ll see what we can do about your truck. Sound okay to you?” Our mutual friend Rashidi and I are in a good place, so I say, “Irie.” Six months ago, I’d have said no— our breakup was too fresh. Rashidi’s forgiven me for not loving him, but no man takes that easy. My phone rings. Before I can stop him, Nick picks it up from the floorboard and hands it to me. I all but hold my breath, but he doesn’t look at caller ID. I do. It’s Collin, his brother-in-law, my secret. I take the phone, thinking as hard as I can in my condition. Nick climbs into the driver’s seat. I put the phone to my ear at the same time as I press the button to decline the call and send it straight to voicemail. “Hello? Hello?” I pause for a few seconds for effect, then put the phone down. “No one’s there.” But Nick doesn’t hear me. He’s already talking to
Rashidi.
Uncaged Review This is the first book in the Ava series, but it’s not the first book in the full set – this one is the beginning that focuses on Ava, who was in the previous books. It held up very well considering I had not read the others in the series first. It was easy to get fully immersed in this story, and the author does a great job keeping the reader on their toes, trying to figure out the murderer – and it took me until the end of the book to find out for sure. Ava is a character I enjoyed getting to know although the one thing that threw me a bit is how she slips from island dialect and slang back to “Yank” speech. Personally, I wasn’t a fan of the island slang. The story moves at a good pace, and when Ava’s friend is one of the victims, she vows she’s going to get answers. This book was a nice introduction to this author for me, and she’s definitely on my radar now.
Issue 23 | June 2018 |
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