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Captured
"You can trust me," they said.
They lied.
...
Emerson has always had nightmares, but she didn’t ever believe she would be living in one, until she gets captured by the very people who murdered her mother and sent her father running far away.
After injecting herself with an amnesia serum in a desperate attempt to protect herself from her kidnappers, she forgets everything she’s ever known. But now she’s trapped in Calveron, the CSO’s highly guarded prison, being forced to share secrets she doesn’t have. What’s worse is that she’s being guarded by the annoyingly charming, Jasper Cunningham, who won’t seem to leave her alone, despite her futile attempts.
All Emerson knows is that if her nightmares have any connection to reality, she needs to get out of this place.
Right. Now.
They lied.
...
Emerson has always had nightmares, but she didn’t ever believe she would be living in one, until she gets captured by the very people who murdered her mother and sent her father running far away.
After injecting herself with an amnesia serum in a desperate attempt to protect herself from her kidnappers, she forgets everything she’s ever known. But now she’s trapped in Calveron, the CSO’s highly guarded prison, being forced to share secrets she doesn’t have. What’s worse is that she’s being guarded by the annoyingly charming, Jasper Cunningham, who won’t seem to leave her alone, despite her futile attempts.
All Emerson knows is that if her nightmares have any connection to reality, she needs to get out of this place.
Right. Now.
365 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 28, 2022
2 people are currently reading
79 people want to read
About the author
Makayla Jade
2 books28 followersHey there!
I'm Makayla and I'm a teen author who is also a MAJOR bookworm.
Go check out the link for more information and the links to my social media where you can interact with me :)
I'm Makayla and I'm a teen author who is also a MAJOR bookworm.
Go check out the link for more information and the links to my social media where you can interact with me :)
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 2, 2023
well...I might be a bit bias because I wrote the book, but I just read it and I'd highly recommend. It's pretty epic haha. There's very lovable characters, an epic dystopian plotline, unexpected plot twists, page-turning romance and so many more elements to love (also, there's waffles...and who DOESN'T love waffles).
If you are reading this review right now, you should 1000000% add this book to your TBR and buy it when you get the chance :)
(yes, I am shamelessly plugging my own book and no I don't care haha)
If you are reading this review right now, you should 1000000% add this book to your TBR and buy it when you get the chance :)
(yes, I am shamelessly plugging my own book and no I don't care haha)
November 9, 2022
Okay, so I just finished this book, and my emotions are everywhere! I LOVED this book! It very much reminds me of Divergent in a way. Emerson is such a fantastic main character! I love how she responded to certain things. The antagonists were cruel and evil as they should be! The author promised cinnamon roll characters, and she delivered! Now, there wasn't a whole bunch of action, but there's just enough. I feel that it would take away from the story if there was more. The ending is what made me round my rating up to 5 stars! Great job, friend!
May 7, 2023
I read this book back in january and absolutely loved it! The characters are amazing, the plot is intriguing, and the overall dystopian vibes is reminding me of my hunger games era. I adored the characters in this book. Makayla does such a good job writing relatable characters that have their own personalities. They are so many funny quotes and moments in Captured. I’m literally in love with all of the characters, their relationships are so cute I can’t stand it. This book has amazing found family, and enemies to friends/lovers to enemies too ??? ITS SO GOOD!!
4.5/5
4.5/5
July 25, 2022
I have had the absolute pleasure to beta read this novel a few months ago. If you’re a fan of lovable found families, dystopias, and plot twists, you’ll definitely love this book! The main character is funny and relatable. The world is clear and very well developed. I had to physically stop myself from reading it so I could do homework; I was on the edge of my seat every chapter.
Overall an amazing book! If I could give six stars I would.
Overall an amazing book! If I could give six stars I would.
October 31, 2022
I found this book through Instagram and since it was on KU I decided to give it a read! The concept and the tropes included I thought would be good, but overall it fell short for me. That being said, I think this was a book I would've loved when I was in high school, it just felt a little young for me now. It gave similar vibes to the Divergent series (specifically Insurgent)
January 30, 2023
I am obsessed. This book was an absolute treat and is easily a new favorite of mine. I have no words to describe how much I love this book. Everyone should read it.
May 9, 2023
I am absolutely delighted to have read this book after receiving it from my mum for Christmas. The whole plot of the book was as sneaky as the schemes of Emerson Clarke and Jasper Cunningham (the main characters of this delightfully devious book) How dare the author (Makayla jade) leave us gasping for air until the very end of this twisted tale. Hooked on every word laid out for us by the extraordinary cast of characters who were utterly loveable in my eyes. I am warning you don't go into this book expecting to be unharmed by the CSOs trickery and members of society...
You have been warned xxx
You have been warned xxx
August 26, 2022
The best book you'll pick up. You won't be bored that's for sure!!
November 18, 2022
loved this!!
such a good debut and jasper and emerson>>>>
the cliffhanger too!! excited for the sequel
such a good debut and jasper and emerson>>>>
the cliffhanger too!! excited for the sequel
February 24, 2024
Genre: YA dystopian
Rating: 4/5
Content warnings: Violence including murder (no gore), brief mentions of abuse and parental death. Very tame for a dystopian - I'd say it'd be suitable for most kids aged 11+
"Captured" is a teen dystopian - the first of a trilogy - in the style of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and other YA novels that were popular in the early '10s. Fans of those books will absolutely love this.
The writing style is perfectly suited for this type of book: it's easy to understand and concise, although maybe a little too concise, as I think it definitely could've done with more description in places. It also felt a little juvenile at times, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing given the target audience: I think readers around the ages of 11-16 would really enjoy it. For me, at twenty-one years old (although I'm still a big fan of YA and an author of it myself), it was a little difficult to get through in places, although I realise that's a me issue, rather than a problem with the book.
I had a few other issues with this book, although these were mostly minor, and I think a lot of them will be fixed in the sequel, Survived. Firstly, the world-building. What was explained of the world was intriguing - it takes place in a futuristic society shortly after a huge war, where people are segregated based on whether or not they have a certain gene which makes them violent - but I felt that none of this was explained in enough detail to make the setting much more than a generic dystopian city. So much of the action takes place inside a single building that very little description is included of the world outside it, although the description we got was very well-written, especially towards the end of the book (more on that later.) Another thing that I think was unfortunately lacking a little was the character development: of all the characters in this book (of which there were quite a lot), the only ones that really felt real to me were Emerson, the protagonist, and some side characters/villains such as Annabelle and Ophelia. Albert - - read as much younger than he actually was in his dialogue, which was also rather informal at times. This made his character seem less intimidating and powerful than I think he was supposed to be. Jasper was pretty much a stereotypical male YA love interest for the most part, although the very specific kind that comes from a bad family but is the "exception" and despises his parents for that- a slightly rarer character type, but still one I've seen quite a few times before. Having said that, though, I do think his character has the potential to become much more interesting in the last two books - again, more on that in a minute. There wasn't enough time dedicated to any member of the "gang" to allow those characters to be developed into anything more than stereotypes, although again, I think this is something that will be fixed in the later books of the series, as these characters get more time devoted to them - Aubrey in particular I think will prove very interesting. As for Hugo and Luna, those two were characters that I think were intriguing and pretty well developed, but would've benefited from being introduced maybe fifty or so pages earlier. One final negative point I have about this book was that I occasionally found the insertion of Emerson's flashbacks/nightmares to be slightly jarring and confusing: I think if Makayla ever publishes a second edition of this book, it would be a good idea to make the flashbacks more distinctly separate to the main, present day text - either by putting them in separate paragraphs, or in italic or bold text.
Now onto the good aspects of this book. Firstly, as mentioned earlier, this book is well-written and I think Makayla absolutely knows her target audience, who will love it as a result. There were a handful of grammar mistakes and typos, but they were easy enough to overlook. The book was medium paced - fairly slow at the beginning and much faster towards the end, although it never stood still and there was always something happening in every chapter, however minor. The character motivations and twists were a particularly interesting aspect of the story, and mostly unpredictable: even after finishing the book, I'm not sure which of the characters to trust and who the real villains are. There's definitely some pure evil in this book, but I'm not quite sure who the source is, which is very intriguing and also quite unique for a YA book. And then onto the last aspect of Captured which I loved, the part I loved the most: the ending. Wow. I'd seen quite a few people online discussing it, so I knew there was going to be something dramatic there, but it was so much better than I'd been expecting: it was so good, in fact, that my rating - which I was confident for most of the book was going to be a 3.5 - was increased to a four purely because of this last section, from when Luna appears onwards. The writing style and character development drastically improved at this point, the lighter tone that the book had before (which I wasn't a fan of) disappeared, and we got tension and world-building detail that was lacking in the rest of the book. Before this point, I was hesitant to continue this trilogy, but the ending has convinced me to do so: it sets up the second book, Survived, to be much more action-based and emotional, with more development for the gang, and Emerson fully becoming the badass leader we saw a few glimpses of in Captured.
Overall, I think Captured is a well-written novel which will be loved by its target audience: younger teens who are fans of the dystopian genre. Older readers may struggle with it at some points, but at the end of the day, it's a YA novel which is clean and appropriate for the children it's intended for: to mark it down for not appealing to adults would be nonsensical. I think the sequel and third book of this trilogy will be even better than Captured was, and I'm looking forward to reading them.
Rating: 4/5
Content warnings: Violence including murder (no gore), brief mentions of abuse and parental death. Very tame for a dystopian - I'd say it'd be suitable for most kids aged 11+
"Captured" is a teen dystopian - the first of a trilogy - in the style of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and other YA novels that were popular in the early '10s. Fans of those books will absolutely love this.
The writing style is perfectly suited for this type of book: it's easy to understand and concise, although maybe a little too concise, as I think it definitely could've done with more description in places. It also felt a little juvenile at times, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing given the target audience: I think readers around the ages of 11-16 would really enjoy it. For me, at twenty-one years old (although I'm still a big fan of YA and an author of it myself), it was a little difficult to get through in places, although I realise that's a me issue, rather than a problem with the book.
I had a few other issues with this book, although these were mostly minor, and I think a lot of them will be fixed in the sequel, Survived. Firstly, the world-building. What was explained of the world was intriguing - it takes place in a futuristic society shortly after a huge war, where people are segregated based on whether or not they have a certain gene which makes them violent - but I felt that none of this was explained in enough detail to make the setting much more than a generic dystopian city. So much of the action takes place inside a single building that very little description is included of the world outside it, although the description we got was very well-written, especially towards the end of the book (more on that later.) Another thing that I think was unfortunately lacking a little was the character development: of all the characters in this book (of which there were quite a lot), the only ones that really felt real to me were Emerson, the protagonist, and some side characters/villains such as Annabelle and Ophelia. Albert - - read as much younger than he actually was in his dialogue, which was also rather informal at times. This made his character seem less intimidating and powerful than I think he was supposed to be. Jasper was pretty much a stereotypical male YA love interest for the most part, although the very specific kind that comes from a bad family but is the "exception" and despises his parents for that- a slightly rarer character type, but still one I've seen quite a few times before. Having said that, though, I do think his character has the potential to become much more interesting in the last two books - again, more on that in a minute. There wasn't enough time dedicated to any member of the "gang" to allow those characters to be developed into anything more than stereotypes, although again, I think this is something that will be fixed in the later books of the series, as these characters get more time devoted to them - Aubrey in particular I think will prove very interesting. As for Hugo and Luna, those two were characters that I think were intriguing and pretty well developed, but would've benefited from being introduced maybe fifty or so pages earlier. One final negative point I have about this book was that I occasionally found the insertion of Emerson's flashbacks/nightmares to be slightly jarring and confusing: I think if Makayla ever publishes a second edition of this book, it would be a good idea to make the flashbacks more distinctly separate to the main, present day text - either by putting them in separate paragraphs, or in italic or bold text.
Now onto the good aspects of this book. Firstly, as mentioned earlier, this book is well-written and I think Makayla absolutely knows her target audience, who will love it as a result. There were a handful of grammar mistakes and typos, but they were easy enough to overlook. The book was medium paced - fairly slow at the beginning and much faster towards the end, although it never stood still and there was always something happening in every chapter, however minor. The character motivations and twists were a particularly interesting aspect of the story, and mostly unpredictable: even after finishing the book, I'm not sure which of the characters to trust and who the real villains are. There's definitely some pure evil in this book, but I'm not quite sure who the source is, which is very intriguing and also quite unique for a YA book. And then onto the last aspect of Captured which I loved, the part I loved the most: the ending. Wow. I'd seen quite a few people online discussing it, so I knew there was going to be something dramatic there, but it was so much better than I'd been expecting: it was so good, in fact, that my rating - which I was confident for most of the book was going to be a 3.5 - was increased to a four purely because of this last section, from when Luna appears onwards. The writing style and character development drastically improved at this point, the lighter tone that the book had before (which I wasn't a fan of) disappeared, and we got tension and world-building detail that was lacking in the rest of the book. Before this point, I was hesitant to continue this trilogy, but the ending has convinced me to do so: it sets up the second book, Survived, to be much more action-based and emotional, with more development for the gang, and Emerson fully becoming the badass leader we saw a few glimpses of in Captured.
Overall, I think Captured is a well-written novel which will be loved by its target audience: younger teens who are fans of the dystopian genre. Older readers may struggle with it at some points, but at the end of the day, it's a YA novel which is clean and appropriate for the children it's intended for: to mark it down for not appealing to adults would be nonsensical. I think the sequel and third book of this trilogy will be even better than Captured was, and I'm looking forward to reading them.
December 28, 2023
Where do I even start. I usually NEVER leave reviews for books but I had to for Captured.
This book is my current favorite book. The pacing of it was amazing. The relationship each character had with one another was amazing. The found family that The Gang had was my favorite thing ever. While there was some dark stuff it was leveled out with jokes and cute moments between Jasper and Emerson.
Speaking of them, Jasper is my favorite fictional man ever. When you got to his POV. Oh. my. god. The way he decsribed how Emerson made him feel was so adorable. And him calling her Waffles?? It was so cute and unserious.
There were plo twists that made me close the book and walk around my room so I could comprehend what just happened. I may or may not have gotten whiplash from one of the plot twists because I had to rant about it with my sister and I looked really quickly at her.
Overall this book is amazing. I would read it again at any given day and it is my whole personality. I am trying to write a dysyopian novel and Captured has definetly given me motiviation to write it because it's in thr same genre.
I FORGOT ABOUT THIS BUT THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. THERE IS A TABLE OF CONTENTS IN CAPTURED. And I love love love when books have tables of contents because it is so aesthetic and very helpful.
ONE MORE THING! The scene where Jasper is teaching Emerson is my roman empire. Jasper is so adorable. When Emerson asks if he is alright and he's like "now I am." AKKDJFKDMD
Last thing I swear. Luna and her obbsession with origami roses is so freaking cute🎀🎀😭 JK IM NOT DONE BC CHAPTER 35 IS MY ROMAN EMPIRE. I ALMOST CRIED BC JASPER WAS MAKING PLANS FOR HIM AND EMERSON?!?!?! AND SHE WAS PLANNING ON LEAVING WITHOUT HIM!?!??!! BROOOO
Never mind. Jasper is on my bad side. CHAPTER 38 IS MAKING ME SCREAM AND THROW MY BOOK AND UGHHHH
I started crying at chapter 39. Omg Luna deserved so much better. At leasts eh got to see the moon.
This book is my current favorite book. The pacing of it was amazing. The relationship each character had with one another was amazing. The found family that The Gang had was my favorite thing ever. While there was some dark stuff it was leveled out with jokes and cute moments between Jasper and Emerson.
Speaking of them, Jasper is my favorite fictional man ever. When you got to his POV. Oh. my. god. The way he decsribed how Emerson made him feel was so adorable. And him calling her Waffles?? It was so cute and unserious.
There were plo twists that made me close the book and walk around my room so I could comprehend what just happened. I may or may not have gotten whiplash from one of the plot twists because I had to rant about it with my sister and I looked really quickly at her.
Overall this book is amazing. I would read it again at any given day and it is my whole personality. I am trying to write a dysyopian novel and Captured has definetly given me motiviation to write it because it's in thr same genre.
I FORGOT ABOUT THIS BUT THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. THERE IS A TABLE OF CONTENTS IN CAPTURED. And I love love love when books have tables of contents because it is so aesthetic and very helpful.
ONE MORE THING! The scene where Jasper is teaching Emerson is my roman empire. Jasper is so adorable. When Emerson asks if he is alright and he's like "now I am." AKKDJFKDMD
Last thing I swear. Luna and her obbsession with origami roses is so freaking cute🎀🎀😭 JK IM NOT DONE BC CHAPTER 35 IS MY ROMAN EMPIRE. I ALMOST CRIED BC JASPER WAS MAKING PLANS FOR HIM AND EMERSON?!?!?! AND SHE WAS PLANNING ON LEAVING WITHOUT HIM!?!??!! BROOOO
Never mind. Jasper is on my bad side. CHAPTER 38 IS MAKING ME SCREAM AND THROW MY BOOK AND UGHHHH
I started crying at chapter 39. Omg Luna deserved so much better. At leasts eh got to see the moon.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 28, 2023
Captured is a must-read for anyone who enjoys high-stakes dystopian thrillers! It's filled to the brim with lovable characters, shocking twists, waffles and suspense— all of which I am personally a huge fan of.
While mostly being a suspenseful dystopian thriller, it has elements of romance and found family, both of which are done fantastically. You'll find yourself screaming at Emerson and Jasper to just GET TOGETHER ALREADY! Every mention of Emerson's little family is heartwearming. Captured does a great job of showing that a found family can be just as good as, if not better than, a biological family. As put by a character in the book: "Family isn't who you're born with. It's who you'd die for."
At several points in the book, I found myself going back to re-read sentences. Not because I didn't understand them, but because I WASN'T PREPARED FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO HAPPEN! And that's said in the best way possible. The twists are fantastic. Unpredictable, but they don't break the verisimilitude of the book.
The final chapters will have you on the edge of your seat. It was impossible to put the book down until I had finished it.
Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone. It was a glorious read.
While mostly being a suspenseful dystopian thriller, it has elements of romance and found family, both of which are done fantastically. You'll find yourself screaming at Emerson and Jasper to just GET TOGETHER ALREADY! Every mention of Emerson's little family is heartwearming. Captured does a great job of showing that a found family can be just as good as, if not better than, a biological family. As put by a character in the book: "Family isn't who you're born with. It's who you'd die for."
At several points in the book, I found myself going back to re-read sentences. Not because I didn't understand them, but because I WASN'T PREPARED FOR WHAT HAPPENED TO HAPPEN! And that's said in the best way possible. The twists are fantastic. Unpredictable, but they don't break the verisimilitude of the book.
The final chapters will have you on the edge of your seat. It was impossible to put the book down until I had finished it.
Overall, I'd recommend this book to anyone. It was a glorious read.
January 21, 2024
I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TIME IN THE DAY TO TELL YOU WHY I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH.
the characters were so amazing, and i fell in love with so many of them. the main couple is adorable, and i love reading the two of them being cute. the writing is fantastic, and the plot is so in depth and amazing. i'm so proud of makayla for all she's done, keep up your good work and SEND ME A SIGNED COPY OF SURVIVED GRRRRR <333
the characters were so amazing, and i fell in love with so many of them. the main couple is adorable, and i love reading the two of them being cute. the writing is fantastic, and the plot is so in depth and amazing. i'm so proud of makayla for all she's done, keep up your good work and SEND ME A SIGNED COPY OF SURVIVED GRRRRR <333
March 22, 2023
Captured es un libro que me regresó a las épocas de distopias trayendo a una fuerte protagonista yendo en contra de un gobierno corrupto.
Emerson trae una nueva energía como protagonista siendo una narradora poco confiable que explica como está conformado el mundo; sin embargo, al tener amnesia de muchas cosas siempre quedan misterios por resolver y todos los personajes se vuelven poco confiables. Sin embargo, incluso en los personajes que parece que puedes confiar, te dan una sorpresa enorme al final.
La historia va algo rápida en momentos, pero se aprecia cada parte que se quiere contar, aunque sí hay escenas que me dejan más confundida que nada.
El final es un cierre exacto de todos los acontecimientos, algo que se espera que ocurra, pero sorprende a su manera. Aunque no me gustan los finales abiertos, lo desarrolla bastante bien y causa duda para el siguiente libro.
Emerson trae una nueva energía como protagonista siendo una narradora poco confiable que explica como está conformado el mundo; sin embargo, al tener amnesia de muchas cosas siempre quedan misterios por resolver y todos los personajes se vuelven poco confiables. Sin embargo, incluso en los personajes que parece que puedes confiar, te dan una sorpresa enorme al final.
La historia va algo rápida en momentos, pero se aprecia cada parte que se quiere contar, aunque sí hay escenas que me dejan más confundida que nada.
El final es un cierre exacto de todos los acontecimientos, algo que se espera que ocurra, pero sorprende a su manera. Aunque no me gustan los finales abiertos, lo desarrolla bastante bien y causa duda para el siguiente libro.
June 4, 2023
"Family isn’t who you’re born with. It’s who you’d die for."
If you like Hunger Games, Maze Runner, and Divergent, you will LOVE Captured! It reminded me of my young teenage years where I was obsessed with dystopian books. This book was quick-paced in the best way. The characters were intriguing and loveable (hellooo, Hayden *wink*). And don't get me started on the last few chapters (MAKAYLA WHY???). The enemies to friends/almost lovers(?) was so good. Also, just Jasper's nickname for Emerson (Waffles).
Why I gave it four stars? While this is an absolutely amazing story with interesting plot twists and characters, some scenes felt like they weren't fully fleshed out due to lack of description. But really, everything else makes up for it!
I cannot wait for book two (Survived)!
If you like Hunger Games, Maze Runner, and Divergent, you will LOVE Captured! It reminded me of my young teenage years where I was obsessed with dystopian books. This book was quick-paced in the best way. The characters were intriguing and loveable (hellooo, Hayden *wink*). And don't get me started on the last few chapters (MAKAYLA WHY???). The enemies to friends/almost lovers(?) was so good. Also, just Jasper's nickname for Emerson (Waffles).
Why I gave it four stars? While this is an absolutely amazing story with interesting plot twists and characters, some scenes felt like they weren't fully fleshed out due to lack of description. But really, everything else makes up for it!
I cannot wait for book two (Survived)!
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