Hudson Lane is a woman on the run from a bad situation. Her brother Dominic, the leader of a military-style group, has promised her in marriage to his second-in-command Knox and she is dead set against the idea. What makes CLAIMED a little different from your average "woman on the run" scenario is the setting of the story. CLAIMED takes place in a futuristic dystopian world where war has devastated most of the planet. The ensuing earthquakes have caused part of the Americas to drop into the sea, leaving Utah as the coastline. What is left of the people are the haves who live in the walled cities, and the have-nots, the nomads who eke out a living in the barren wilderness. This new world order is run by the Global Council, and peace is kept by an armed forces band called Enforcers. These enforcers sweep the wasteland in an attempt to keep the unruly survivors in check.

Hudson escapes the city, and leaves her oppressive world of luxury behind. She's taken in by a group of outlaws who live a violent lifestyle, surviving by their skills and the supplies they steal by attacking Enforcer outposts. This gang is led by a hard man named Connor, who rules his men with an iron fist. Connor has been devastated by loss caused by Dominic and his enforcers. It's not long, however, before Hudson makes herself useful to the group with her nursing skills, and wriggles her way underneath his hard shell. Connor, of course, has no idea who she really is, only that she is a runaway from the city.

CLAIMED is a quite interesting story. The futuristic storyline is intriguing and shows promise of greater depth as the series goes along. The worldbuilding is fairly well detailed, and the dystopian setting is fantastic. The characters have a free-wheeling lifestyle and live each day to the fullest. This attitude leads to quite a bit of sex in the book, however, which occasionally threatens to derail the plotline. The sex in the book is often voyeuristic, and there is some sexual sharing involved. Be forewarned if that is not to your taste in an erotic romance read. I do hold out hope, however, that the next books will expand the storyline and the dystopian setting a bit more, and show a little more originality from other stories in this genre.

CLAIMED is the first book in Elle Kennedy's new erotic romance Outlaws dystopian series. I really enjoy this kind of futuristic setting in a story. CLAIMED is a lot of fun to read, and I am looking forward to more in the series. There are several more men in the outlaw gang waiting to have their stories told. CLAIMED is a recommended read to those readers who also enjoy this kind of dystopian setting, barring the caveat stated above.