Captured by S.J. Harper

Title: Captured
Author: S.J. Harper
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Fallen Siren 0.5 

Ebook, 171 pages 

Publication: June 10, 2014 

Source: Free download

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*Still free as of today's post*

Emma Monroe is a Fallen Siren, cursed by the gods and banished to Earth for her failure to prevent the kidnapping of Persephone. She’s had many names and many lives, but only one mission: redemption. Now she works for the FBI and is on temporary assignment in Charleston. Solving this next missing persons case could be the key to ending her ancient curse—unless the temptation that’s her new partner gets in the way.

Zack Armstrong is a Werewolf. Tall, dark, and dangerous, he currently works for one of the bureau’s elite Child Abduction Rapid Deployment teams. In many respects the man is every bit as mysterious as his secret and perilous past. But there are two things he’s certain about, that he’s going to get his man and his woman.

When Zack finds himself suddenly shy a partner and a third child goes missing in Charleston, Emma goes from consultant to CARD team member in the space of a few hours. The abductions of the first two boys ended in murder, an outcome that neither Zack nor Emma can abide. As they race against time to track down the kidnapper and rescue the latest victim, they find themselves fighting something just as treacherous—a growing attraction that can’t be ignored or denied.

I have Cursed sitting in my ever expanding TBR pile. I’ve been meaning to read it when it first came out but never found the time.Then a couple of months ago the authors released Captured, a free prequel to Cursed. Fast-forward 2 months, and still I haven’t pick-up either books…till now. Since many of the readers that read Captured already read and loved Cursed…I thought I’d go in order and at the same time see if I’d enjoy the writing/story as I haven’t read any of the authors’ work. Two birds, one stone. I’m so glad I read Captured, while it was a quick read, the authors packed a lot of action, suspense and chemistry in the 171 pages!

For a Novella, I thought the authors did an incredible job with introducing readers to FBI Agents Emma and Zack and writing such a detailed plot. I don’t read many novellas but from the ones I did read, nothing comes close to Captured. The main murder/missing child case was well thought-out and written. Everything had a beginning, middle and end, and I thought it all wrapped up nicely with the problem solved. While reading this, I momentarily forgot it was even a novella, it felt more like a short book…unlike most of the novellas I’ve read which usually feel like tiny snippets to the world/characters of a novel…but never a full book. 

I enjoyed Captured, and am looking forward to starting Cursed soon. I haven’t read many books with Sirens as the main sup, but what little I’ve seen of Emma, I know I’ll enjoy her snarkiness a lot more once I start the first book!  Bottom line, Captured had great characters, great plot, and great writing…it can’t get better than that.  

*Side note: The main characters did a lot of grubbing in the novella…did anyone else get hungry from reading about all the times they stopped to eat? LOL.