REVIEW by @_Shoe_Girl_ : Caged (Caged Series #1) by Amber Lynn Natusch (@amberlnatusch)

“I stood in the middle of the room, unmoving – I barely breathed. My life had just become surreal, impossible, and one enormous lie. I needed to go, to run somewhere, anywhere to beat back the reality that was rapidly closing in around me. The image of him was burned into my retina, flashing over and over again like a warning. He was trapped somewhere between human and decidedly not, and I realized that was my new reality. I was too.”
After the death of her parents, Ruby awakens from a lifetime of shadows and finds herself alone, thrust into a world of lies, deceit, betrayal and the supernatural. As her quest for truth continues to come up short, she realizes that maybe some questions really are best left unanswered. When her true identity is finally unveiled, she is forced to choose between two of the mysterious men who continually seem to crop up in her life. She chooses poorly. Now abandoned, Ruby must learn to call on the darkness within to survive, or spend a hellish eternity imprisoned because of it.

Ok. I had been meaning to grab Caged for awhile now, hearing about how good it is from a couple of the girls over at PureTextuality, however, my “to be read” list is quite large, so I kept putting it off. Well….I won Caged and its sequel, Haunted from a giveaway! Since I had it sitting in my Kindle Fire now, I decided to read it ahead of the other books.
I would love to say Caged captivated me from the get-go, but it did not. I found it rather hard keeping my attention focused on the book. In all honesty, the only reason I kept on reading was because the author is from NH like me! I really wanted to support this local, indie author (visit her site here). Well. I am SO glad I kept on reading! Around chapter 18, the book really picked up. I know, I know….18 chapters in? In hindsight, all the parts that didn’t really “wow” me, were necessary set-up.
Anyways! Ruby is a sarcastic, shoe obsessed chic (hey, I can relate!), although she was a bit on the immature side (however, seeing how her parents raised her, it is justifiable). She is quickly thrown into an unknown world and has to figure out who she can trust and figure it out FAST, as her life literally depends on it. I had NO idea that this book was about werewolves, although I loved it! It was my first “werewolf” book and I was not disappointed.
I can’t wait to start Haunted to see what happens next!!
To the author: Amber, kudos on this book! Please, if you read this review, don’t be upset that I couldn’t get into the book right away…one of my FAV books ever, Isle of Palms, started out extremely BORING & I only kept reading because I literally didn’t have another book around. Now, Isle of Palms is a fav, as is the author (I’ve purchased ALL her books to date).