**You can see this full review and more at Book Briefs: http://bookbriefs.net**
The Concealed is the first book in the young adult fantasy series, called The Lakewood Series, by Sarah Kleck. I loved The Concealed. I knew from the summary that it was going to be magical and mysterious and it totally delivered! Now, of course, the mysterious part completely blew my mind and excited me even more than I thought. I loved the direction that author Sarah Kleck took this story in, but it would be a completely spoiler for me to tell you. I will say this- it is one of my favorite sub-genres of fantasy & magic, and it was such a pleasant and unexpected surprise. (ok, heck- just click the spoiler box if you want to know more about the secret society alluded to in the summary)

The Concealed- and the entire Lakewood series is about Merlin and the Lady of the Lake! It is their romance story. I was super excited to see that the society had to do with protecting the descendants of Merlin, Arthur and others. What a cool idea!

Poor Evelyn starts the story out by losing her sister- her last remaining family member. And then only a scene or two later she is packing up all of her belongings and leaving her home town to go away to school at Oxford completely alone. My heart broke for her. I could feel her despair and loneliness. But soon she meets up with her own friends- Felix and Sally. Felix rubbed me the wrong way from the get-go. He was always in Evelyn's space. I just wanted to tell him to back off. But I was never too worried because Evelyn was completely taken with the mysterious Jared.

I thought The Concealed did an excellent job of giving you enough answers so you would never be frustrated, but keeping enough information out of the readers reach to keep you desperate for more. (at least I was.) I could not put this book down. I need the second book asap! And, as an aside- the romance was great too. It wasn't rushed, but when we finally did get to it it was super cute and wonderful. The Concealed put a big smile on my face. I can't wait for more from Author, Sarah Kleck.

This review was originally posted on Book Briefs