Caught in Amber

When girl confronts demonic citadel, who wins?

Fae awakens without memories, locked in a deserted castle. Who she is and where she comes from—all gone.

By day, beauty from the ages graces the castle—medieval towers, renaissance columns, and gothic vaults—but a miasma of malice and mockery tarnishes its splendor. Once darkness falls, unseen and intangible foes inflict agonizing wounds on any still abroad in its halls.

Worse, Fae suspects that someone she trusted delivered her to this demon-hammered place.

As she hunts for food and water, subtle clues trigger cascades of memory—running races with her cousins, evading discipline from aunts and uncles. She realizes that her survival and theirs depends upon piecing together an elaborate puzzle, with escape its prize and unending imprisonment its penalty.

But unless Fae learns that the power to choose who she will be lies within her own heart, the true key to the mystery will elude her. And if one of her absent cousins grabs the wrong key first—magic or might—primordial chaos will erupt to destroy them all.

Caught in Amber is a mythic tale of family and betrayal with all the twists and moments of sheer joy that J.M. Ney-Grimm brings to epic fantasy.

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Praise for Caught in Amber

“The writing is atmospheric and lyrical...we're in myth/folktale territory...an excellent thoughtful read. One that combines mundane necessities...with a sense of myth and mystery. Very few writers can pull that off. Ney-Grimm did.” —E F T

“...a breath of fresh air in its originality.” —M. Pars


Excerpt from Caught in Amber

She'd been betrayed by someone she trusted.

It felt awful.

She snatched a pillow from the head of her bed and clutched it, muffling her mouth in its softness. Was she going to cry?

No, she decided. She wasn't. She'd hold out for more information. There was so much that she didn't know. More she didn't know than she did know. And knowledge was the key out of her prison, she felt more and more sure.

I'll go find out. I'll hunt down my answers.

She paused before the mirror of her dressing table.

Did she look like a girl who deserved to be betrayed?

Thick dark hair pulled back in a simple braid. Gray eyes, slightly reddened, even though she had not cried. Pointed chin, a little wobbly.

No, she didn't look like a girl who deserved betrayal. But she did look like a girl who wasn't getting enough to eat. Did she? Really? Chin a little pointier, cheeks a little thinner, eyes and temples a little stretched?

Maybe. Or maybe not. She felt hollow inside, and scared. Which made her face look scared too.

I'll figure something out. She'd figured out a lot already. I'm not giving up.

When young Fae awakens in a locked and deserted castle, she remembers nothing. Who she is, where she comes from, none of it.

Beauty from all the ages graces the castle—medieval towers, renaissance columns, and gothic vaults—but underneath the loveliness a lurking evil stirs.

Fae hates the loneliness and the sense of hidden malice oppressing her. Even more, she hates the feeling that just around some receding corner of lost memory lies the answer to her predicament—an answer just out of reach.

An answer essential to surviving this castle’s dangers—both subtle and not so subtle.

Somewhere in her forgotten past lies the key.

A mythic tale of family and betrayal told with all the twists and moments of sheer joy that J.M. Ney-Grimm brings to epic fantasy.

EXCERPT FROM CAUGHT IN AMBER

She'd been betrayed by someone she trusted.

It felt awful.

She snatched a pillow from the head of her bed and clutched it, muffling her mouth in its softness. Was she going to cry?

No, she decided. She wasn't. She'd hold out for more information. There was so much that she didn't know. More she didn't know than she did know. And knowledge was the key out of her prison, she felt more and more sure.

I'll go find out. I'll hunt down my answers.

She paused before the mirror of her dressing table.

Did she look like a girl who deserved to be betrayed?

Thick dark hair pulled back in a simple braid. Gray eyes, slightly reddened, even though she had not cried. Pointed chin, a little wobbly.

No, she didn't look like a girl who deserved betrayal. But she did look like a girl who wasn't getting enough to eat. Did she? Really? Chin a little pointier, cheeks a little thinner, eyes and temples a little stretched?

Maybe. Or maybe not. She felt hollow inside, and scared. Which made her face look scared too.

I'll figure something out. She'd figured out a lot already. I'm not giving up.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J.M. Ney-Grimm lives with her husband and children in Virginia, just east of the Blue Ridge Mountains.She's learning about permaculture gardening and debunking popular myths about food. The rest of the time she reads Robin McKinley, Diana Wynne Jones, and Lois McMaster Bujold, plays boardgames like Settlers of Catan, rears her twins, and writes stories set in her troll-infested North-lands.