Review: Really great book and can't wait for the rest!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 3, 2013
This will be the 2nd book by Amber Lynn Natusch that I am reviewing.  However, she wrote it along with Shannon Morton so it has an added voice to it.  This story is about a young girl named Aspen, who was orphaned and raised by nuns in a convent.  She turns 18 and decides to venture out on her own.  She has no one and virtually nothing, until she meets Julian.  He takes her under his wing and offers her a place to stay as well as a job at his parents cafe.  Then things start getting weird.  Strangers come up to her and start spouting about the end of the world.  She has dreams about her dead parents.  She also meets a strange guy named Merrick who seems to show up all the time, almost as if he is stalking her.  But, does Merrick have the answers to what is happening to her?  What about Julian?  Is he someone that she can trust or is he working with the forces that are trying to make her think she's lost her mind?  This story is left on a cliffhanger so we will have to wait for the next book Tried by Fire to know the answers to those questions.This is a really good story and it is really well written.  It is labeled as YA, but I think anyone any age will enjoy this book.  It took a little while for me to get into it, but once the messages & creepy people got weirder and Merrick became involved more in the story, I got really hooked.  Because you don't know what is happening in the story until close to the end, it is very gripping.  Plus, the writing style is such that it sucks you in and you find yourself reading and saying "I'm going to go to sleep as soon as I finish this chapter." And then the chapter ends and you go "Well, maybe 1 more."  And then you get to the end of that chapter and the cycle just keeps going!  I really cannot wait for the 2nd book to find out what is going to happen to Aspen, Julian and Merrick.  I'm assuming the world does not end because there is a 3rd book, but knowing how these two ladies write, book 2 could be a total cliffhanger on that point.  I will be impatiently waiting the release of Tried by Fire!!