I liked the world building and was quite entertaining but I hate love-triangle with fierce passion so I can say it's not my cup of tea.
The Chosen-tropes is as ancient as fantasy but i appreciated how the author dealt with it.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

Thank you for this ARC!
Unfortunately I had to DNF around 25% due to lack of interest. I did find the genre to be more geared towards middle schoolers and I had a hard time getting through it.

3.5/5 stars

“The Concealed” is an action-packed YA romantasy book. It tells the story of Cate, a young woman whose journey from Oregon to study at Staton University sets her on a path to discover her magical lineage—& work towards a prophesy claiming she is destined to defeat a ruthless enemy in a magical land.

🌟 The great parts 🌟

- Daniel & Lucas were lovable MMCs
- Cate’s journey to discovering her confidence & inner strength was relatable & authentic
- Anxiety representation
- The world-building was engaging & not too overwhelming
- Some hilarious scenes & dialogue (did someone say ‘giant worm’? 😂)

☠️ The not-so-good parts ☠️

- The 1st chapter had more jokes than was probably necessary (almost DNF’d)
- Felt like I still knew basically nothing about Lucas & Daniel at the end of the book
- Some characters had near-identical personalities
- Tame & predictable plot (more chaos please)!

"The Concealed" is the action-packed first installment of a compelling fantasy series by S.K. Horton, featuring star-crossed romance, elemental warfare, and dragons soaring through the skies above.

At its heart, the plot takes the heroine on a perilous adventure fraught with treachery, love, war, and boundless magic. Packed with unpredictable twists, this book is a page-turner, keeping the reader hooked until the end.

Central to the story are a diverse array of characters with unique skills, ambitions, and allegiances. Cate emerges as a relatable protagonist navigating numerous setbacks, allowing potential for growth in subsequent installments.

The writing style is contemporary and notably fast-paced, ensuring an accessible, engaging read. The author neatly integrates world-building, lore of the land, and a magical system into the narrative, ensuring a natural flow.

Overall, "The Concealed" is a promising foundation for an enjoyable series, with ample room for further development and exploration as the story unfolds. Those who enjoy young adult fantasy romance are sure to find this an immersive, exciting debut novel.

First of all, thank you to NetGalley and Aethon Books for the opportunity to read this galley!

This book snuck up on me and quickly became one of the most outstanding fantasy books I have read this year. As an Oregonian myself, I was easily able to put myself in Cate's shoes. Plus, who doesn't wish to be sucked into a world out of fairytales! I am on the edge of my seat waiting for the second book.

A normal college girl's life gone astray by multiple kidnapping attempts while studying abroad in England! You'd think this was the premise of the book, but it's only the tip of the (magical) iceberg. This book had the potential to be great, but got quashed by the rapid pacing of the book. Because of the pacing issues, relationships fell flat, characters weren't fully developed, and many world building elements sounded half baked. I still had fun reading this, but it felt like watching a movie in 1.5x speed.

The story is a bit too young adult for my liking and the writing a little bit repetitive. DNF @30% I do think readers looking for fantasy YA will enjoy this much more than me.

Thank you to NetGalley and SK Horton for the complementary digital copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.

This is a good entry level romantasy and I think it will appeal to middle grade and teens and could be a good introduction to the genre. Having read quite a few myself, I felt The Concealed had a few issues. The premise is very interesting and I liked the fast pace and the fact that strange/eerie things start happening the minute Cate sets foot in England. But I would have liked a bit more emotional investment in regards to the debate between staying in the human world or going to the new realm, it does feel a bit rushed. As does the romance, I think. It all happens rather quickly and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that but I felt that there wasn't enough time or interactions to allow for such strong emotions or if indeed there is a mate bond thing going on, we don't get enough meat on that.
Overall, it was a fun and easy read and given that there is a second book coming, I'm wondering whether things will tie up nicely there.

thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my review copy, all opinions are my own.

Sometimes you just want a book where an American girl goes off to England to pursue higher education and ends up finding out she’s a princess from a magical realm who has to go back home to fulfil a prophecy and gets embroiled in a love triangle along the way. This is that book. It’s delightful and I’m very happy to have read it over the weekend - it felt like sitting with an old friend. There were a few bits that I felt were a bit off, but I think that’s simply because the tone is a bit lighter than the books I’ve been reading recently, which makes sense with the genre.

Thank You Netgalley, Aethon Books, and SK Horton for the advance copy. Out now and available in all formats. I purchased the Audio book narrated by Amanda Leigh Cobb who is one of my top narrators and they did a good job. However I did prefer reading the book with my eyes more. Honestly there wasn't anything new or special about the story and I know it's only book one and YA but it seems more middle grade-young YA. With that in mind I did like that Cate, although in the dark was willing to learn and fight. I will probably continue the series as there is room for growth and more story line. Everything seemed rushed in book 1 because Cate finally came of age where she could come home and fulfill the prophecy.

Unfortunately I have marked this as DNF at only 11%. I firmly believe you will know if you're going to enjoy a book within the first couple of chapters, and I had such high hopes for this one and really wanted to give it a chance. It gave me strong Ninth House but for teenagers vibes.
It just feels so rushed, there's no real build up or story setting, it's lacking that atmospheric tense style that I enjoy in these sorts of stories.
It is well written, and I do like Cate as a character, I just didn't like how easily she accepted the intensity of needing to be protected by a stranger she's just met. I think some relationship building, and a slower paced would have kept me reading.
I think for Middle Grade, it is good. But maybe not quite hitting the mark to compete with the YA world at present.

I wasn’t to like this one so much, I was intrigued when I first read the summary. About 25% into it, I lost interest. I’ll probably pick it back up soon, but for now it was a DNF for me.


📚 Tropes
Single POV
Love Triangle
Hidden Identities Revealed
Prophecy
Elemental magic

When I saw this book on NetGalley, I was intrigued. However, I quickly noticed a fundamental problem. Beyond the clichés that are abundant here and are used to advance a plot that otherwise would struggle to unfold over the various chapters, I found the writing extremely immature.

It is a true debut, and this is likely why there are so many points not at all covered by the story. Questions are raised, and information is given, but then they disappear into thin air as if they never reached the reader.

The plot itself is rather familiar: the protagonist is the classic girl who is different from the others and discovers she is special because she is the key to saving another world. It should be noted, however, that this is the first volume of a series, so some questions may be answered in the following volumes.

Still, it is probably a love story suitable for those who really appreciate the dynamic of the girl who is different from the rest of the world because, unbeknownst to her, she is part of another world, and thus readers are willing to look beyond the plot itself. For me, it was a bit of a disappointment. Initially, it seemed like a truly promising novel on multiple fronts...

📄 Coming soon on my blog a complete review, stay tuned!

It's been a bit since I've read a YA romantic fantasy book. I enjoyed how witty the characters were. This new fantasy world captivated me and made me want to jump right into the book. Exploring the new world with Cate as she sought her place was an enthralling experience. However, the portrayal of Cate's anxiety could have been more impactful and consistent throughout the entire story. The unique magic system in this book captivated me and set it apart from others I've read, keeping me completely engrossed. Overall, I enjoyed this book and would suggest it to YA readers.

Love Always, Catherine

Thank you, SK Horton and Netgalley, for my gifted copy.

This was a fun easy to read story. I found the characters were interesting though their romantic interaction somewhat forced and jarring. The story was written with a fast pace and some readers may not like that. Despite this I enjoyed the tale and think that many young adults would enjoy this.

Thank you so much to NetGalley for giving me this ARC in exchange for my honest review!

The Concealed by SK Horton was a 4/5 star read for me. The characters were fantastically written and I could relate to the female main character, Cate, quite a bit. What really tripped me up while reading this was that things seemed to happen in dramatic succession starting right on page one. There did not seem, to me, to be much down-time plot to the story. It seemed like there was a constant battle or running by the characters throughout the entirety of the book. Although there was some good character development through these battles, it seemed like the majority of personal character development came from the battles or the constant running from danger by the main characters. The relationship development between Cate and Lucas seemed consistently back and forth, which I do believe was the intent and it was written well, just a tad confusing.

There is something to be said about letting a mystery and a secret unravel on it's own and the premise of this book started strong with Cate being transported from the arguably unmagical realm of England and Oregon to a new world.

For a debut novel, I will say it's an honorable try but there are a lot of overly used tropes such as "the ordinary girl now being the chosen one" and portal to another realm, etc. was it fun? Sure. Was it imaginative? A bit. I think I could have enjoyed it more if I believed the characters were more at a middle grade level or early high school. I am not certain I fully buy the college age and/ or coming of age and moving into adulthood. I does feel more in the real of YA and tries to bounce back and forth between the age ranges.

Overall, I think it was a cute book and would love to see how the author develops more in their writing journey. I think the book could have done with another round of editing to smooth a few things over and be a bit less cliche but maybe that's what they were going for. I suppose I was just hoping for something a bit less cookie cutter and a bit more unique when it came to love interests, protagonists, and conflict.

I really enjoyed this book! It’s the first book in a young adult fantasy series. This book gave me Throne of Glass vibes!

I really love books where characters find out a secret about their identity. In this book, Cate believes she is a normal girl, growing up in Oregon, and then going to college in England. However when she gets to her university she finds out that she is not who she thinks she is - she is actually a princess from a magical world, who was hidden away because of a prophecy about her.

This book has a love triangle, and while I don’t normally enjoy love triangles, I thought it was very well done in this book, and I really enjoyed reading about it! I still don’t know which love interest is my favorite😂

I also appreciated how Cate’s anxiety was talked about throughout the book! Especially with the change of being in a new world and the pressure of having a prophecy about her, it makes so much sense that she would have anxiety, and was a really great example of anxiety representation in fantasy!

I definitely recommend reading this book if you like to read young adult romantasy!

Tropes:
- Portal to a magical world
- Rival kingdoms
- Found family
- Hidden identity
- Young/first love
- Love triangle

“Whenever I hold you, I never want to let go. When I’m not with you, it’s as if I’ve lost something.”

This portal fantasy has everything I look for in a fantasy read! 🩵

I couldn’t put this book down and devoured it, love the story and blend of the modern world with another realm. The MC’s give off Edward-Bella-Jacob vibes from Twilight series and I’m here for it!

I recommend this book for anyone who loves fantasy and Romantasy or even someone who is trying to get into fantasy reads.

Thanks to Aethon Books, SK Horton & Net Gallery for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

I really liked the way this one began, and was confounded as to why it didn't seem to have very good reviews. Unfortunately, after about 25% of the way in, I began to lose interest and started to see some of the shortcomings others had commented on... There's nothing wrong with it, per se, it just felt loosely tied together and somewhat repetitive. The characters and situations all felt like things I'd encountered in other novels, and just couldn't hold my attention. Ultimately this one wasn't a good fit for me.