Honestly, this book simply was not for me. Although there were aspects of the book that I liked, I found quite a bit of it cringy and just not my cup of tea.

First line: I was okay until they started lowering my mom’s casket into the ground.

Summary: Maren is sent to live with the grandparents she has never met in Scotland after the tragic death of her mother. She feels alone but when she receives a box of her mother’s papers she finds that there were secrets that she never knew about her family. Also with the appearance of a beautiful young man she feels like her life has been turned upside down. What did her mother mean with her cryptic messages? And who is this mysterious stranger she is so attracted to?

My Thoughts: This book was ridiculous. It was basically Twilight with angels. I rolled my eyes so hard and laughed at the silliness of the characters throughout the book. Instant love, girl with an unknown past and special abilities, a secret society. So many YA tropes all thrown into one book. I finished the book just to have something to listen to at work but it was just silly. I requested this years ago from Netgalley but never got around to reading it. It was fine and fun at parts but just not a great story. It seemed like so many other books in this genre.

FYI: Demons and death.

TOWARD A SECRET SKY by Heather Maclean is a young adult paranormal fantasy novel set in Scotland. After 17-year-old Maren's mother mysteriously dies, Maren is sent off to live with the paternal grandparents that she's never met. Maren soon learns that her parents were involved in a secret, international organization, and she is in immediate danger. What follows is an entertaining story involving angels, demons, and a lot of teenage angst.

Unfortunately, TOWARD A SECRET SKY did not live up to my expectations. While the author does a great job at writing a fast-paced and intriguing story that kept me reading, that's where my compliments end. The rest of this review may include spoilers so that I can point out some of the problematic elements of this book.

I want to first point out the role that religion plays in this book. The blurb does not mention that this book is primarily about the battle between angels and demons. I thought I would be getting a high-stakes treasure hunt novel, but it's more about heavenly creatures striking down the satanic demons. This wouldn't be a problem, except the author assumes all readers are Christian. If I knew this would nearly be a Christian fiction novel replete with comments about prayer and people being in heaven, I would not have read it.

Moreover, I was shocked at the love story in this book. Maren meets Gavin when she first moves to Scotland. The day she meets him, she mentions how she has never liked a boy in her entire life. Yet she immediately becomes obsessed with Gavin, and a few days later she already, "fell just a little bit deeper in love with him," (Ebook at 28%). Not only does this book contain the worst case of insta-love that I've ever read, but Maren is 17 and Gavin is 283. You read that correctly. Yes, Gavin looks like he's Maren's age, but this age gap is disturbing. This is especially true when you consider that the angels purposefully make themselves outwardly appear in a way that is found attractive to humans. For all these reasons, I could not support this romance.

Trigger warning for sexual assault for this paragraph. Another shocking moment in this book is a date rape scene. Maren goes to a birthday party for the popular boy in school. He ends up drugging her, and he attempts to rape her before another boy interrupts. Not only does Maren not tell a single person about this assault, but she mentions feeling embarrassed and that she feels like she is at fault for this happening. While these may be normal reactions, I thought it was extremely problematic that this young adult novel did not resolve this scene at all. Maren never gets any help for this assault, and she goes on believing she should have prevented the attack. It's upsetting to think that young readers of this book may follow in Maren's footsteps and blame themselves if they get assaulted. What's more confusing is the author recommends this book for 7th and 8th graders, and in a Goodreads Q&A states: "No sex, drugs, or cursing." Maren is drugged and sexually assaulted, so I'm not sure how she answered in this way.

The remainder of the book contains action that feels quite disjointed and unnecessary. For example, Maren's best friend is randomly killed for shock value so the demon could upset Maren. The author also throws in a problematic quote making fun of people with disabilities. To top everything off, the book ends with a set-up to a second novel that has yet to happen (and probably won't seeing as this was published five years ago in 2017).

Thus, while I appreciate the interesting plot line and secret society aspect, this book fell flat for me. There were too many cringey elements that prevented me from truly enjoying the book. I would not recommend picking up TOWARD A SECRET SKY, as it's not the treasure hunt novel it's advertised to be.

While i DNF-ed this title back in 2017, I do think there is an audience for this book, which is why I am giving it a 3. This book just was not suited for my tastes, and you cannot help that.

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC of Toward a Secret Sky by Heather Maclean.

Maren is a seventeen year old who just lost both of her parents, and is now forced to move all the way to Scotland to live with her grandparents. But after finding a journal from her mother, she quickly realizes that her parents didn't die from just a car crash, it was much darker and secret than that.

In the meantime, Maren keeps bumping into mysterious, grumpy, and achingly handsome Gavin. And while Gavin continues to warn her to stay away from him, they constantly find themselves together. But Gavin is also not who he seems, and perhaps he is connected to what happened to Maren's parents...

Uuuuuuuuguhgkjsahgdj. That's me, feeling duped into reading TWILIGHT again. The author even admits that she wrote this after watching Twilight. It had all of the nauseating elements of Meyer's books too. A seventeen year old who acts...seventeen. An old immortal demigod who for some reason has a thing for said seventeen year old. Peril and danger accompanied with totally juvenile romance and I just CAAAAANNOT.

Unfortunately this book was archived before I was even able to download it. I'm looking forward to picking it up from the library, though. It sounds really interesting!

This was a very mediocre addition to the growing young adult genre and I can't say that I would recommend it. However, the author's plot was original and I think she does have talent, so perhaps future books will be better.

This book was extremely promising but unfortunately, it fell short. I felt like the story did not develop the things the synopsis said that it would. The only positive was that the setting was done really well and made me imagine the world better.

DNF at 47%

I feel like Toward a Secret Sky leaned too heavily on popular tropes of the YA fantasy/paranormal genre. New to town? Check. Becomes involved in a supernatural conflict she's never heard of? Check. Horrid love triangle? Check. Personality reliant on the guys/love interests? Check.

All the elements grew real old real fast. I was initially intrigued by a story set in Scotland and, don't get me wrong, I love a good paranormal romance. But this was generic at best and I didn't care about the characters enough to bother reading further, unfortunately.

This book is not at all what I expected. I understood that it was a mystery YA novel that took place in Scotland, I did not expect it to be about angels and demons. The world building is excellent, Scotland is a great setting for fantasy, it just seems so mystical and romantic. Again, as a YA book, I expected some romantic element, but it seemed a little much for a 17 year old character. Maybe I'm just old, but the love aspect just struck me as way too much, way too quickly. Instant head over heels in love is never really believable and makes you doubt the characters.
This book is recommended for fans of Dan Brown. I question that comparison. The only similarity I see between this book and Dan Brown is the title of Angels & Demons, but there weren't even angels or demons in that book, sooooo. Overall, not for me. I just wish there was more character development, the author assumed that the young adults reading this book would want this Edward and Bella love but never took the time to make the reader want them to succeed and make build the characters.

This book took a really long time to get going, and once it did it wasn't my type of book. I can see how this might appeal to people, but the characters were so underdeveloped, and all of them did such strange things that it was hard to tell what was happening. It took me way too long to know the differences between Graham and Gavin, and Maren had no personality whatsoever. Just nothing going on in her head.

I was so excited to read Toward a Secret Sky, but I just couldn't get into it. It sounded appealing because of Maren's journey to live in Scotland after a terrible loss and the discovery of another world of good forces fighting evil. I thought it would be similar to Carrier of the Mark or Fractured Light, and it was to an extent. I just thought Maren was too wrapped up in trying to get a boyfriend than save her friends. Even for a teen novel, she was very immature and I saw no growth in her actions.

The novel warmed up to the action very slowly so even before all the players were on the board, I found myself losing interest in it. Overall, I just think the story wasn't what I expected or was looking for, but I think readers who want a paranormal, clean read will enjoy it.
*ARC provided in consideration for review*

DNF. Unfortunately just didn't end up being the book for. Apologies for not being able to deliver a proper review.

It just tried too hard. There was nothing effortless about this story or it's writing. It was definitely just trying wayyyy too hard to be new or different or something *else* when in truth it just is the same old same old, masquerading as something new. I still enjoyed the story but I really had to force myself to just check out and read for the story not the writing.

Took me awhile to finish it because I had to keep on stopping to roll my eyes. A typical YA novel: a "special" girl and a passive-aggressive, stoic but hunky romantic interest.

It started off pretty cool, Maren having to move to Scotland after her mother's death. I feel like the author could have gone more in depth with her transition as she became accustomed to the culture rather than throw her in a typical high-school mean-girl setting. Like, c'mon Scotland. Don't you want to sight-see and try new things?

The plot became very obvious after she discovers that her parents were part of this ultra secret society of angels. Maybe because a lot of book of recent have the same story-line but everything seemed so obvious and just plain ol silly.

And the dialogue between Maren and Michael were just too much. She was blushing and stammering every five seconds and I just couldn't take it. Like I get it, you're a teenage girl but this guy is immoral and probably is rolling his eyes too. I would be nervous too but c'mon.

My daughter liked this book, I, on the other hand, found it to be similar to other things I have read. Which isn't a bad thing but I think I was just not in the mood to read something similar. Characters were great, the plot was okay. took me a while to figure out what it was about but it was actually a smart move on the author's part.

Seventeen-year-old Maren Hamilton's world comes crashing down when her mother tragically dies. She is sent to Scotland to live with her deceased father's parents, who she never met. A mysterious box from her mother contains clues about the secret society she worked for, and their mysteries might prove deadly. With the help of a mysterious, handsome warrior and some awesome new friends, Maren must uncover the clues before the worst happens and another person dies.

This book was all over the place! Hidden tunnels, secret societies, supernatural beings, riddles, mysterious artifacts, portals, prophetic dreams. It's like a combination of supernatural fantasy, spy mystery, star-crossed romance, high school drama, and cultural/historical fiction. Kind of crazy. But I liked it.

Dare I give away one of the "big reveals" that characterizes the majority of the book? (hint, hint: That's my spoiler warning.) There were angels. They were at the heart of the secret society whose goal it was to protect humanity from the demons. It was pretty interesting. I'm not sure how I feel about the angel-human romance going on. I mean, it helps that the angel can become human (forever) in order to be with a human, but it still strikes me as a little wrong. Although I do like the couple together! Also, despite the angels, I'm not sure I would quantify this book as "Christian" per se. God was barely mentioned, even though He was the one the angels worked for. The characters almost never spoke of Him as being involved personally in the affairs, much less the characters having a personal relationship with Him. It seems more like the author liked the idea of angels as powerful, beautiful beings than as them working for a larger purpose and God.

**End Spoiler**

Anyway, I did like the story as a whole. The stakes were high, the adventurous story combinations were unique, and the settings were pretty cool. I liked the friendships Maren made and the relationship with her grandparents. And I liked Maren's spunky attitude.

Still, there were things I didn't like about the story. The "love at first sight with the perfect, hot, unavailable guy." A little stereotypical, don't you think? I also didn't like that there was so much slightly inappropriate stuff, like the almost-incident with the date-rape drug, the inappropriate teen talk, the parties with alcohol, and the Incubus (the term definition will tell you all you need to know). There was a lot of insinuation and some sensuous kisses, but no on or off-screen sex happened. Just, for a supposedly young-teen, maybe-even-Christian novel, did there have to be so much inappropriate stuff?

I did enjoy this YA fantasy novel and am highly anticipating the second book. But maybe make sure you know what's in it before you read it/purchase it for your teens?

I received a complementary copy of this book from the publisher. All opinions expressed are my own, and I did not receive compensation for sharing them.

First of all, I really liked the cover of this book. It’s the thing that caught my attention in the first place. I loved the colours used in the sky, but the font was a little hard to read on top of them.

The plot looked interesting enough. Very same-ish to many of the other books already out there. Lots of insta-love, love triangle and a young female thrown into fighting a big bad clichés. But! I kind of liked it. I don’t mind clichés too much, they generally help me settle into a book. The clichés here are very much like that.

I liked how much Heather tried to bring Scotland to us readers at home, but I struggled with much of it. It felt like she was being quite.. i can’t think of the word right now, but it’s not positive.. about the scottish people and their ways.

I felt characters needed a little work. They weren’t all that believable. Maren is pretty judgemental and rude, and in this case I hated her with both of the love interests. The whole love interest thing bothered me. I mean, come on, a guy in his late 20s suddenly fixating on a young, technically vulnerable, female… If I hadn’t already known that Heather was inspired by Twilight, I would have stopped right there.

As someone with a long list of mental health issues, I got a little angry at the free use of the things such as calling people ‘crazy’ and jokes about insane asylums and special ed people. This hurt me quite a lot and I just don’t think I can forgive it.

This book had so much potential and I really wanted to love it, but I couldn’t.

2 out of 5 stars.

Toward a Secret Sky
Review by Dawn Thomas

384 Pages
Publisher Blink / Harper Collins Publishing

Fiction, Mystery, Fantasy, YA

Maren just lost the most important person in her life—her mother. She never knew her father since he died before she was born. Now the only family she has, her paternal grandparents, lives across the Atlantic in Scotland and meets Jo, a teenager her age. She has nightmares that turn into reality. They are premonitions of death. She discovers her mother worked for a clandestine organization known as The Abbey. Her mother referred to it as TA and said they conducted research.

Maren meets Michael, an angel. At first, she does not believe what he tells her about the world of angels and demons. Before she knows it, she meets a demon family. She loses more people in her life before she has the fight of her life. She must do everything in her power to win.

The book is written in third person and in present tense. This a coming of age story. The reader can connect with the feeling of loss and friendship. I look forward to reading more stories by this author.

This one was slow to start for me, but as soon as things picked up, I couldn't get enough!