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.

Sadly had to DNF this one at about 30%

I loved the premise, but the writing was a bit too YA for me, and I found myself very frustrated with the main character. Will potentially try again later, but for now this was not it for me!

I received this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I wanted to love this but I didn't. It was hard to be immersed in. Maybe I'm not the target audience.

Loved this book and Cate a lot . The shy girl who acts all heroic . Also, cate’s talk about her anxiety intrigued me as I have the same symptoms.
The dragon descriptions gave me eragon vibes .

A taught action packed thriller set in England, complete with a love triangle and Alice in Wonderland vibes? What could be better? I loved this story and the concept of it. Hidden prophecies and journeys are some of my favorite tropes in books. The writing was great, the action and romance sizzled, and the locations added to the overall experience of this book.

Woof. DNF @ 20%. The pacing of this novel moved incredibly fast and is one of the poorest introductions to a fantasy that I’ve ever read. I find it VERY hard to believe an 18-year-old girl would trust two upperclassmen boys to lead her away from other people and be alone with her (to go for a HIKE with a boy you JUST MET?? Come on. No woman would ever), as well as take them for their word when they say they and she are from a parallel universe and she’s meant to save them all. And then she calls her parents who go “Well, yes” and without any further hesitation, she says “this is what I was meant to do.” Girl your entire world just flipped on its head and you don’t have one single question?? I’m out. Thank you NetGalley and Aethon for the arc

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Unfortunately I will be Dnfing this one. The plot feels very cliché and the characters aren't interesting enough.

Also what's with the instalove? I thought we were past the 2012 YA novel formula but apparently not.

I understand this might be a case of me not being the right demographic tho.

I have a special place in my heart for YA fantasy novels with the “chosen one” trope. This academia setting was interesting and enthralling, right from the jump the plot captivated me and I couldn’t help but turn the pages. Cate was so human and very relatable. This book was filled with tropes; so much so that I thought it was a bit much. Overall, SK Horton did a great job with this story. I am excited to read more of her work.