4 stars!
Title: Concealed Destiny by S.K. Horton - A Review

In "Concealed Destiny" by S.K. Horton, readers are transported from the familiar landscapes of Oregon to the enchanting realms of England and beyond. The story revolves around Cate, whose journey from mundane college life to a destiny filled with magic, prophecy, and love is as captivating as it is unpredictable.

From the outset, Horton deftly weaves a narrative that blends the ordinary with the extraordinary. Cate's relatable struggles with university life take a sharp turn when she discovers a hidden prophecy that casts her as the key to defeating a formidable enemy in a magical land. This revelation sets the stage for a whirlwind adventure filled with mystery, danger, and unexpected romance.

What sets "Concealed Destiny" apart is its seamless fusion of genres. At its core, it's a young adult romantic fantasy, but it also incorporates elements of mystery, adventure, and court intrigue. Horton masterfully balances these various threads, keeping readers engaged and eager to uncover the secrets lurking within the pages.

The characters in "Concealed Destiny" are another highlight of the book. Cate is a relatable protagonist whose journey of self-discovery is both compelling and empowering. The supporting cast, including the charming boys who assist her on her quest, adds depth and complexity to the story, ensuring that every interaction crackles with tension and emotion.

Furthermore, Horton's world-building is immersive and richly detailed. From the bustling campus of Staton University to the fantastical realms beyond the portal, each setting is vividly rendered, allowing readers to lose themselves in the story's magical landscapes.

At its heart, "Concealed Destiny" is a tale of courage, friendship, and the power of destiny. As Cate navigates the challenges that lie ahead, she must confront not only external threats but also the internal doubts and fears that threaten to hold her back. It's a journey that will resonate with readers of all ages, reminding them that sometimes, the greatest adventures begin with a single step into the unknown.

In conclusion, "Concealed Destiny" is a spellbinding debut from S.K. Horton that seamlessly blends romance, fantasy, and adventure. With its engaging characters, intricate plot, and immersive world-building, it's a must-read for fans of young adult fiction and lovers of fantastical tales.

I would like to thank NetGalley and the author for sending me this Advanced Readers Copy of The Concealed!

When Cate leaves home to go to college in England, she is expecting her life to change. But when strange things start happening to her around campus, the people closest to her reveal that she is the fulfillment of a prophecy in a magical land that she must return to. With all of this new information, Cate has to decide if she is strong enough to leave the life she has always known in the human world to create peace in the world she belongs in.


While the plot of this book is good, I think there were a lot of elements of the book that made me struggle with it.
The first real struggle I had was with the timing of the book.
This book is fast paced and slow paced at the same time and I think a lot of that comes down to the writing style. There are moments where details and internal dialogue drag out the scene for pages and pages, letting the reader get lost in the fantasy world that has been created. But in the very next sentence the author has skipped days of activities and fills the reader in on what happened in a single sentence. When I first read this, I thought it would be a one off situation, but I continued to see it over and over again. As a reader, the whiplash of finally getting lost in the book just to be taken out of it with a time jump in the next sentence was really hard to recover from. I struggled to stay present in the book because I was waiting for the gaps in the timeline to show up and confuse me.
The second thing I struggled with was the main character.
This book is supposed to follow an 18 year old girl who is going to college. While there are times when the main character reads as the age she is intended to be, I struggled with her most of the book because she came off as very young. There were moments in the book where I forgot the age of Cate because of her actions and reactions to those around her. She was very very quick to fly off the handle and pout about situations that she was warned about or against. When it came to the love triangle, I feel like she felt a lot of guilt and very little connection to either Daniel or Lucas, which made the love triangle less effective. When it came to her father, she was very quick to write him off while acting like she was the one in the right when she very clearly was holding a grudge over something she knew nothing about.
I really struggled to connect with her character through most of the book, and at the end, she suddenly decided to mature without really pursuing any sort of growth throughout the rest of the book.

All in all, this is a very good beginners fantasy. The world that was created is easy to get into and connect to. Love triangles make the stakes higher in any situation. The conflict between the three people groups is engaging and their elemental magic is consistent and fun. I am excited to see where this series goes from here and I wish the author the best of luck as she continues writing!

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book! While the plot is fairly straightforward, the characters are witty and well written and I enjoyed getting to know the world. I will definitely keep an eye out for a sequel announcement.

The plot follows Catherine (Cate) as she moved across the world from Oregon to England, and after some sketchy situations learns that everything, including herself, is not as it appears. We then follow along as Cate, led by Lucas and Daniel, makes her way through a portal to her kingdom.

I felt like this was a fantastic beginning but because it is shorter than a lot of fantasy books I have read, left me wanting more. I’m not sure what the author has planned in expanding the story, but it is a very promising start!

The Concealed is a YA book about Cate who recently traveled to England to go to college. She finds out that she is a princess in another realm and that she is in danger. I personally really loved this book and can't wait to continue to explore this fantasy world and story. I recommend reading this book if you love dragons, magic, love triangles, or prophecy books.

Stars: 4/5

Thank you to SK Horton, Aethon Books, and NetGalley for allowing me to read an ARC in exchange for an
honest review.

"When Cate travels from Oregon to university in England, she expects her gravest dilemma to be finding coffee instead of tea, but she’s got bigger problems—much bigger. At Staton University, nothing is quite what it seems. Unbeknownst to Cate, a prophecy deems her as destined to defeat a ruthless enemy in a magical land, placing a target squarely on her back. Now, someone on campus is stalking her, and a narrow escape sends her through a mysterious portal, assisted by two irresistible boys. "

I feel the main character was a bit boring. She saw herself as a bit of a wallflower and she ended up coming off like that.

I did not enjoy the romance; I just feel that sometimes characters prioritise romance over what realistically they would be prioritising...like the impending threat to their life. Additionally, I'm a bit over the cliche of always choosing the dark, mysterious brooding one over the wholesome one.

The world building was exciting, we got to learn alongside the main character. The worlds were so beautifully described but I do feel this book ended a bit too soon and it felt like a weird end point.

Okay...so Cate is the center of a prophecy, but she is certainly not really treated as such, she gets treated more like an inconvenient object. But once again i return to the fact she doesn't seem all that concerned about the prophecy, she seems more interested in getting a boy to like her and dealing with those problems.

Also, for something that seems to have an impending kind of threat to everyone in this world, seems kinda bizarre that Cate's training feels super slow, inconsistent and not really prioritised. Which unfortunately doesn't bring any kind of feelings of urgency to the book.

Lucas was by far my favourite character; he brought this vibe of joy and sunshine to the page whenever he was present. I also really enjoyed the awkwardness of an estranged father and daughter trying to find common ground and learning to like each other.

I would recommend this book for young adults and up who enjoy romantic fantasy books. Unfortunately, I didn't overly love this book. I found the Cate boring, and just wanted her to develop a bit more, I also found Daniel a bit boring. For me I just can't stand the pick me vibes of "I'm plain old jane" and then having everyone immediately in love with you. I think playing into more of that love triangle might have made it more interesting. I do think it has a lot of potential and I do believe it will only expand and become more interesting as the series continues.

A cute YA story with a lot of classic tropes. Cate goes from Oregon to England to attend her dream college. Upon getting there, she is sucked into the magical world where, it turns out, she was born. No one knows what Cate’s magic is, only that she is the subject of a prophecy that claims she will save the kingdoms of this realm. I found it a bit predictable with all of the tropes you would expect in a YA romantasy, and Cate was a bit naive, but overall this was an enjoyable read.

I am so excited for the next book in the Heir of Earth and Sky series. I desperately want to see Cate learn more about herself and the world she has found herself in. I adored the character relationships and found myself multiple times unsure of who would be a friend, and who would be a foe. I am hopeful that Cate will be able to build more stable alliances and find her place as the series progresses. This story did drag a little at the start, asking more questions than it was answering, but once the pace picked up I couldn't get enough! I loved the world building and am excited to see more of Terra and Caelum as well as the magic of this world. Overall, this is a really good book, and sets up beautifully for the next book, with questions being answered, and even more being asked!

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I wanted to like this book based on the description, but I had a really hard time with it primarily because the main character is supposed to be in university, but she sounds like she’s in middle school. It just didn’t seem to mesh with the overall genre and brought down the book for me.

The premise of this book is very cool and I did really love the characters. However, the pacing is something I struggled with. It would have benefitted to have the relationships fleshed out a little bit more. It felt like the FMC gave her trust away too quickly at times. Otherwise, the world is cool and the idea behind the story is quite fun!

Si esto lo hubiera leído en mi adolescencia lo habría disfrutado más.

Ojalá se centrara menos en el romance y más en la profecía, en Cate aprendiendo y entrenando sus poderes.

¿Qué fue ese final? No me queda claro si fue un final abierto o habrá continuación.

No le puse calificación más baja porque si bien el libro es malo, me transporto a mi adolescencia en donde me encantaban este tipo de libros. Pero siendo objetiva los protagonistas son unos inmaduros, no hay desarrollo del mundo, quedaron muchas cosas sin resolver, el romance es muy pobre, no sé como Cate no murió.

Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley and Aethon Books for this advanced copy.

This YA fantasy was a quick and easy read that gave a vibe that I can only explain as Harry Potter-type school meets Alice in Wonderland. I felt as though the author's writing style was well done and the book was interesting enough, although I may not be the target audience.

The Concealed is about Cate, a student, who is originally from the US but moves to England to attend college, where she finds out more about herself than she may have planned to.

While reading, I felt as though some parts of the book were a tad rushed or not thoroughly developed. I would have liked to see more time spent building the relationships between characters so that their, "I trust you with my life", relationship felt more believable. I also would have loved if the beginning of the journey to the world had been longer -- with fantasy, I find very rarely that too much detail is a bad thing.

Although, I may not be the main target audience for this novel, I think it will be well liked by it's target audience of young adults!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would like to thank the author, publisher, and NetGalley for sending me this ARC!
This is probably one of my favorite examples of a modern girl being placed into a society that is less acquainted with modern technology. I found how the author dealt with this to be interesting and funny.
All in all, I think it's a great coming-of-age story with a very likeable FMC. I also enjoyed that her struggle with anxiety was mentioned, as so often I feel like the FMC is always tough and never admits any kind of weakness. Definitely a refreshing read!

Thank you for letting me read this ARC!

I really enjoyed diving into this new fantasy world. It was a great book for lovers of romantasy, love triangles, and “chosen ones”. I flew through this book, though I did feel like it stalled out in the middle for me. I enjoyed experiencing the new world with Cate as she tried to find her place. I also found it hard to choose between the two main love interests.

One of my biggest wishes was that Cate’s anxiety played more of a role. In the first part of the book, I really related to the way her anxiety played a role in her life and how she dealt with things. However, I feel like once she entered this new world, her anxiety sort of disappeared. A situation that I feel like she probably would have had a lot of anxiety in. Because I related so much to it and felt like it was depicted so realistically, I was sad that it seemed like an afterthought for the last 2/3rds of the book.

What an absolutely lovely coming of age story. I loved the idea of a modern woman being plopped into a fantasy world. The author really took time thinking about how one might feel to go from jeans, hoodies and WiFi to court, corsets, and sword play. The world building was perfect for a young adult fantasy. Complex enough to be interesting while easy to follow and understand. Additionally, I found myself really enjoying the author’s word choices and prose also really loved the varying cast of characters and how they help Cate, the FMC on her journey of self-discovery. Excited for this series to continue.

Highlights
✨Modern x Fantasy
✨Love Triangle
✨Young Adult Fantast
✨Dragons
✨Loyal Determined FMC

Favorite Quotes: “How prosaic: the evil mother trying to insert her equally terrible spawn onto the throne. If only this was a fairytale instead of my life.”

“I must have looked like a creature from another land - which was sort of true - in my now-torn jeans and green-and-yellow Oregon hoodie.”

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and Aethon Books for this advanced copy. My opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this YA romantasy.

We meet the MC Cate who is embarking on the adventure of a lifetime by going to university right outside of London. She has never left her home in Oregon before so this is exciting yet scary.

Cate starts to learn really big hidden things about herself and where she really comes from. It doesn't seem random that she ended up at this exact school across the pond from where she lives. She meets a couple handsome young lads who immediately become her friends and protectors, but do they already know her?

This story kept me captivated and had beautiful magical world building. I'm sad the magical world isn't a place I could visit. The description was so vivid and detailed I could truly picture what the world must look like.

I would definitely read the next book in the series.

I ultimately don't think I'm the target demographic for this book. The romance aspect of it seems really rushed, with I think has to do with how quickly the plot moves as well. I think the love triangle could have had a really interesting dynamic to it but there's a repeated motif of the fmc 'choosing' daniel over lucas, but I don't think she or we as the reader get any real insight into that decision. I think with some tweaking to the pacing this could be a really good book for a YA demographic as the overall idea of it is really fun.

DNF at 10%, If you were a big fan of Wattpad circa 2013, you'll probably enjoy this book. I was not, so I did not. The Concealed follows Cate, a college freshman from the US who goes to a Hogwarts-esque university in England, where she doesn't fit in because she's poor, but everyone wants her regardless. Upon her arrival, she is nearly kidnapped by a rogue taxi-driver. Her roommates are immediately charmed by her. One of her neighbors is sweet yet withholding and will certainly be a love interest. At a party, where she doesn't fit in, because she's not like other people, she meets another young man who is cold and dark and mysterious, and who the sweet one warns her away from. They have some sort of history. Then she almost gets kidnapped again.
Based on the description, she's the magical chosen one I guess, but I was so disengaged that I have no desire to see where it goes, and if she chooses the sweet blond one or the mysterious dark-haired bad boy (it will almost certainly be the latter).

I was not aware that this was YA fantasy, which was pretty clear right from the start! I found the tropes to be pretty predictable, but I also understand that I am not the target audience here. I'm sure appropriate audiences will enjoy this one!

It seems to have had a good story but in all honesty it didn’t keep my attention. I think maybe I just wasn’t the targeted audience for this book.

A fun, relatively short YA read that will leave readers hungry for the continuation in the next book.

A felt that the characters were interesting and developed well enough for this book. Cate is off to college in a new country - and that is all the adventure she thinks she will be having. Little does she know that her true identity is about to be revealed and her world will be tipped upside down.

Fun. Entertaining. A relatively short and easy read. Well written for the target YA audience with good world-building, plot development and likable/relatable characters.

Received a free review copy in exchange for an honest review.