Caged (Caged #1) by Amber Lynn Natusch

From goodreads: 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.

Queue music: Hungry like a Wolf by Duran Duran (just go with it because I’m trying to set the mood).

I read this book knowing very little and was pleasantly surprised.
Oh how I love this book!!!I was hooked from the very first page and honestly, I didn’t know what to make of the prologue because I had so many questions and there was no one to ask!!! So I did the best thing possible…I kept reading!

While Ruby, the heroine of this story frustrated me on many occasions I did enjoy her sense of sarcasm and her poor attempt at humor during the most inappropriate times. She was a total bad-ass and I loved how fierce she really was!! Who she really is and what she’s capable of has been kept from her and the journey of her self-discovery kept me on edge the entire time.

A number of characters were introduced relatively quickly and the ones I thought were the good guys turned out, they weren’t and the ones I thought were suspicious weren’t. I didn’t know whether to slap Sean or beat him but I still loved him. What can I say…I have a weakness for mercurial fictional male characters! He was reserved to a fault and I had the most difficult time in trying to figure him out just as Ruby did. Let’s not forget about Eric. I’m not a fan and I can’t really comment on him too much for fear that I could give something away. And last but not least, Cooper. Sweet and adorable Cooper!!! He’s a mystery in itself but he plays a crucial part in the story.

The writing is solid with elements of humor and suspense, the characters are well-developed and the plot will hold your interest until the very end. If you are a fan of urban fantasy/pnr you will definitely enjoy this book as much as I did.

My final two cents: I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I can’t wait to continue on with the series!