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!

Sadly I don't think my review will do this book justice, but more will shed a light on my reading preferences. I received an advance copy of this book, downloaded it, and every time I went to start it changed my mind and did something else. I have no logical reason as to why I did this because in theory this book is everything I look for in a novel...strong female lead, romance, fantasy, a story I haven't seen before, and yet it just didn't click with me. I skimmed and jumped ahead but nothing caught my interest. It got to the point where I didn't finish it and wasn't sure how to write the review. So here's my go at it:

If the back of the book summary intrigues you and you are the type of reader who likes teen fantasy, I'm going to recommend previewing this book on some book platform. It checked off every item on my list for a good read, except for an interest. Whatever the problem I couldn't get into the story. Looking online others have loved it so my advice would be to try a sample on go from there.

I'd like to thank the publisher and Netgalley for an eARC. Although I received an advance review copy, it in no way altered my opinion or review of the book.

I DNF'd this book after 11%. The character and storyline were not interesting to me. I knew this book wasn't for me when the main character was immediately attracted to the first two male characters she meets. All she does in the beginning of this book is complain about having to live in Ireland and then be immediately attracted to the first two male characters she meets.

this book was so much fun!
I loved that it was set in Scotland, so mystical and fascinating, which fit the atmosphere of the story perfectly. I loved all the little puzzles that Maren had to solve throughout.
This had all the markers of a great paranormal romance: Freaky accidents, gnarly demons, and forbidden love.
Can't wait for the sequel.

I enjoyed this book, but not as much as I thought I would. I thought this book was poorly written, and had a basic, seen-before plot. I quickly grew bored of the repetitive, Mary-Sue type protagonist, and the boring storyline. I would not read another book by this author again, and I am sorry that I read this one.

This is one of the best books I have read, with an intelligent storyline, a thought provoking ideal, and just enough action and mystery to keep you entranced until the end. I was wholly impressed with the story's world, following it was easy, yet, held a complication that kept my attention. I definitely suggest to those who loved the Hunger Games, Divergent, etc. to pick this up and read it. Hoping it continues into a series...

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"'There are a lot more demons than you might think. When Lucifer was cast out of heaven, he took a third of the angels with him.'
'A third?' I said. 'How? How did he convince them?'
'Evil is contagious,' she answered simply."
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I have commented before on how much I enjoy world-within-the-world books, and this was no exception. Heather Maclean's tale of angels and demons that walk among, yet somewhat apart from, us was a very enjoyable tale about how complicated life - and love - can be. I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and it sets up a new series nicely. But, funny thing, when I went to write the review I found that I didn't have all that much to say about the book...

There's absolutely nothing wrong with the story - no gaps or continuity issues, no flat characters or half-hearted developments. I read it quickly and without breaks when I needed other books. But I when I sat down a couple of days after finishing it and started writing this review, I found myself unable to remember many details - and some of those I thought I remembered were actually from similar, but different, books... I guess maybe the "good and evil are REALLY all around us" concept is playing itself out for me. This book was a fine addition to the genre, but wasn't so vastly different as to leave a lasting impression. That's not to say I didn't enjoy it, or that I won't look for the sequel - I did and I will. This is reading for fun - and that's a marvelous thing, it just doesn't make for the most exciting book reviews!

This was a perfectly pleasant story (well, not perfectly - poor protagonist Maren suffers WAY more than her share of grief, but you know what I mean), with well-drawn characters and an interesting and evenly paced plot. It isn't going to change your life, but it will be a thoroughly engaging read.

Firstly, I think this story did have a LOT of potential, and toward the end of the book, I was a little more involved in the story and what was happening. The landscape and the place where Gavin lives is such a neat idea, and the whole connection thing was also really cool.

However, one thing that put a wrench in my enjoyment was that it felt like the characters were more concerned with the romance of the story than the actual problem in the story. Like...creepy zombie demon people are coming after you, and you're worried about whether or not you're falling in love with this dude who clearly knows more about this situation than he is letting on!?! GET AHOLD OF YOURSELF, WOMAN! It felt rushed and kind of fake, and a little Edward Cullen-esque with the whole "Let me watch over you while you sleep, girl. But I have to be on your roof, because we can't fall in love and CLEARLY if I'm in the room while you sleep, that means we're gonna fall in love?"
Don't get me wrong. Once the actual action started and more of the mystery unraveled, I got more invested and involved with the story. The ending was probably my favorite part, because it set up some really interesting events to come in the next book.

Overall, I didn't love this book, but I thought there were some decent parts and I will probably read the next one to see what happens next!

The last time I was so engrossed in a book was Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games. I was pleasantly surprised by the sudden change in mood and emersion into Scottish culture--and the hilarious culture shock for the American protagonist Maren Hamilton, who unfortunately loses her mother in a car accident and is sent to live with her only known relatives.
There's so much mystery here. What did her mother really do for a living? How did her father die all those years ago, and why? Who is this beautiful, snarky young man she keeps meeting in the woods wearing a kilt? How is she connected to the other kids she meets at the new school? Did her grandparents hate her mother and why? The questions keep coming.
Here's the thing; All of this could have easily become convoluted and confused. They never did. And it was well organized and action packed enough to keep me interested. That's good writing.
I want to talk about her going to the other dimension, but that would be a huge spoiler. The only reason I bring it up at all is because it could have been cheesy, but it wasn't. Again...good writing.
It's a good book and you should read it.

I like the cover, so that got my attention first. Kudos to the cover designer. YA readable in good form, it's a clean read that works for me as well. It's strong on the romance scale, but interesting as well. I would love to see Scotland one day, this book is a virtual trip to see it through the author's and characters eyes. The love at first sight works for this book, as it has for a few others I have read. I'm hoping to read the sequels.

My copy came from Net Galley. I have left this review of my own free will, my thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you to Blink Publishing and Heather Maclean for the Granted Wish of a preview copy of Toward a Secret Sky for an honest review:


This book was a gorgeous and glorious throw back to an age of Angel & Demon YA that YA Literature hasn't seen in a good while now, possibly the better part of half a decade to a decade. In the glut of that time it still would have shone like a light, but right now, on that history and time, it's an, even more, sumptuous delight to get lost in this book.

The mystery of Maren's own history and the revelations about her parents, put me in the mind of The Shadowhunters, but this book went above and beyond with this idea. It played into a fast and grueling mystery of needing to solve the clues and puzzle pieces she found before others were definitely going to die.

I like that what the storyline shows a lot of is the fact Maren is definitely the quintessential teenager: she is certain she can take care of herself, but she needs people; she doesn't handle the death of her mother or her move well; she can be stubborn as all get out, and her thoughts aren't always rational, but she's endearing and she grows through her trials.

Best of all, this book has what I'm be saying YA needs forever: THERE IS NO LOVE TRIANGLE. I know the outset makes it sound like we're in for another YA triangle but it doesn't happen like that and for that alone, I want to give this book a hundred stars.

I will be ordering copies for the library. And looking forward to the second book.

Book was a bit bland. Characters were somewhat repetitive. I did like the idea and where it was going, but I think it was a bit poorly executed. But, angels and demons is always a cool thing to write about, YA can be tricky and this book had so much potential. It just seemed sorta lost.

It's a fun exploration of Scottish and British culture, as seen from a teenager's perspective, with touches of Indiana Jones-like puzzle-solving. MacLean's writing is, at times, quite illustrative. Consider this description:

"The last bubbles burped over the butter's muddy grave."

Or this one, of the house of one of her rich classmates:

"Hundreds of rose bushes hugged the hedge bottoms. I marveled at the luscious fruit trees, their branches heavy with the weight of snowball-sized blossoms, and the carved marble benches, their seats held high by miniature gargoyles. In the middle, a fountain corralled life-sized granite horses swimming among arcs of shooting water."

Or this:

"My first breaths in England's capital were heavy with anticipation."

The story is generally well-paced, perhaps even briskly so, with events unfolding when they should.


Heather MacLean
But ultimately, this story didn't pull me as much as other similar ones I've read (mentioned above), for various reasons. The main one is that some of the characters' actions and reactions seemed premature. Gavin reveals that he's an angel, and that he's tasked with protecting her, which makes him feel conflicted, pretty early in the tale. His and Maren's mutual attraction seems a bit rushed to me, as does Maren's willingness to risk her life for people she's barely met. Additionally, various instances of "telling" instead of "showing," pronoun slips, and out-of-the-blue or "off" details threw me out of the story a little bit.

For instance, when Maren goes to a party at her rich classmate's mansion, she says: "We learned that aside from the staff, there wasn't an adult anywhere in the building." It would have been stronger, more in-the-moment, for her to say something like: "I looked around for adults with uniforms or hawkish expressions, but saw none."

This sentence (at location 102) contains an example of a pronoun slip: "I discovered via an almost-accident that you had to pay money to unlock public restroom stalls, like a vending machine for pee." Not a big deal, but it would have been stronger, more in-Maren's-head if she'd said something like: "All of the restroom stall doors were locked, but coin slots next to each of their latches seemed to indicate that I had to pay to unlock one of them and pee."

And at location 1081, Maren talks about being in a forest just outside the angel village where Gavin lives, and a few paragraphs after, she's back in the village without having walked there.

Overall, though, I would still recommend it for young teenage girls looking for a "swoony" read.

I am always thrilled to receive advanced readers copies of books, hoping I get to be one of the lucky few who steer others towards their next great read. Unfortunately, once in a while, I have the unlucky task of writing a poor review. I know how hard the author must have worked to get a book published, so this is not something I do lightly. Toward A Secret Sky, by Heather MacLean, is just too full of cliches to be enjoyable, and has a main character who is so focused on a guy's attractiveness, that she seems blind to their faults. Furthermore, there is a truly offense joke toward the end of the book that I found extremely hurtful.

Cliches:
You already know the formula: a suddenly orphaned girl finds out her parents worked for a secret organization that fights demons. The girl meets a super hot guy who turns out is a warrior angel. Will she get into all sorts of dangerous situations where he (or another guy) arrives out of nowhere to save her? Will one of her new friends betray her? Will she and the angel fall in love? I think you can guess the answers to all of these questions.

Characters:
I found Maren to be extremely superficial when it came to boys. Even though she knows Anders (another hot guy at school) is a jerk, she seems all to willing to give him a chance because, after all, he is a lord, and rich, and gorgeous. She also doesn't seem to mind that Gavin is over 200 years old. Doesn't she find it creepy that he's hitting on her? Oh, no. It's okay because he's a hottie.

Although Maren's grandparents did seem like very kind and loving people, it didn't seem to phase them that their son, and his wife (Maren's parents) were secret agents. If they were so concerned for Maren's safety, I highly doubt they would be so nonchalant talking about it.

Troubling "Joke":
As if there weren't enough problems with this book, there is an extremely hurtful "joke" toward the end of the book.

"I don't know, " he said. "At least, I can't put my finger on it. I adore you, you know, but there's something else. Something special about you, Maren."
"Yeah, 'Special Ed'" I quipped.


What the heck?

As a special education teacher, I am seriously offended by this. The students I work with are kind, hard-working, and incredibly brave. They must face the world with challenges this character couldn't fathom. Making this joke is why parents often refuse support services for their kids. They don't want their child to have the 'Special Ed' label. Why perpetuate this stigma? This has no place in books, particularly from a main character the reader is supposed to admire.

I have contacted the publisher, and asked that they review this section of the book. I really hope they listen and take this out of further editions. It was unnecessary, and cruel.

Grief has framed Maren Hamilton’s seventeen years of life. Before she was born, her father died taking her mother to the hospital. Now her mother is dead, killed in a way that is baffling. Maren found the body. When the graveside service dissolved in a massive thunderstorm, only the actions of her mother’s coworkers stopped Maren from climbing into the coffin to embrace the corpse. Being sent to live with her paternal grandparents in Aviemore, Scotland, has kept Maren reeling. She knows nothing of them, nor they of her, never having had any contact. Mercifully, they are welcoming, if a bit stiff. And who wouldn’t be upset? Having a teenaged granddaughter thrust into their lives can hardly be what they thought would consume their “golden years.” Slowly, and reluctantly, with their encouragement, Maren makes friends and begins to adjust. But she is haunted by strange dreams. Visions and feelings of déjà vu dog her steps. Suddenly a beautiful boy appears, and the girl who had never felt the pull of passion is smitten with love at first sight. A package arrives with cryptic messages of warning, and it becomes apparent that mom and dad were involved in something much more dangerous than computer programming. Is Maren’s life also at risk?

Despite the fact that the plot of this story is hopelessly derivative of Meyer’s Twilight novels and gushingly romantic to boot, I could not stop myself from enjoying it. The pace is fast, twisty, intriguing and well written. Maren’s character seems entirely genuine and occasional details of life in Scotland are comic. Of course, the villains iconic and the hero strong and brave, but then Maren is plucky and courageous too.

It is a rare book that makes me want to reread it immediately after finishing the last page, but “Toward a Secret Sky” has that quality. One word of caution: If your name is Campbell don’t read this book.

My thanks to Blink Books and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader’s copy for this review.

I received an arc copy of this book for an open and honest review.

From the blurb I thought this was a supernatural book but I didn't realise it'd be an Angel and demons story, so that was a lovely surprise.
Contains Spoilers********************************
Issues - I'm going to get these out of the way.... I think the blurb is misleading and perhaps needs amending as it hints at a love triangle which isn't there isn't and also there are no booby-traps in the subterranean crypts........ Demons yes and personally I would have liked that beefed out more. I think Gavin and Maren fell in love a touch too quick but I liked the angst that was created.
Loved.......The rest was great, I loved it based in Scotland, I hope now Maren has joined the Abbey we'll have more puzzels and clues and secrets to uncover as I love things like that and I hope that coupled with her talents these will be fleshed out as I love this book, it kept me interested and wanting more,not wanting to stop which is a sign of an interesting and well written story.

Even the lush depictions of Scotland couldn’t bring me to fall in love with this book.
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This book had me torn when it came to actually decided whether or mother I liked it. The idea this book is centered on is pretty cool, what with there existing a secret organization to keep us lowly ones safe, as well as the promise of some code-breaking. But the “romance” (I cringe even thinking of it) is so ridiculous to me, that it played a large part in why I disliked this book.

Why don’t I first start with the good?

Call me cheesy, but I loved the idea of the American girl having to start over in a foreign country. Living with family she doesn’t know, maybe she’ll be able to find out more about the father she’d never known, and explore the Scottish countryside as well. And of course, she’ll fall for the handsome some of a Scottish laird, and the two will live happily ever after – once all conflicts and whatnot are cared for, of course.

The whole ‘secret codes and mysterious organization’ thing was an interesting part of the story, too. The former actually ended up playing only a small part unfortunately, but I did feel that it was well done and more clever than I could have been, attempting to crack a riddle-like code.
When it comes to the mysterious organization, we do get an explanation of its existence, as well as learning of some of its members, but again, those moments are seldom, and I wish we could’ve gone deeper into its missions or pretty much anything interesting, really.

So…now on to the bad/annoying.

I usually am the biggest sucker when it comes to romance, typically loving even the super cheesy stuff, but Maren‘s infatuation/instalove when it comes to Gavin is so ridiculous! When she first meets him, she swoons, falling to her knees because he’s so good-looking. Then, whenever she’s in his presence, all she can think about is how hot he is, yadda yadda. This goes on for pretty much the whole book, to the point where I was actually cringing at her excessive descriptions.
Honestly, the “romance” was one of the worst things I had to deal with when reading this book.

Finally, when the book seems close to having a satisfying wrap-up, we’re given more conflict, and something terrible happens in Maren’s life. This terrible thing bothered me because I didn’t really feel it had to have happened, and of course it leads to more terrible things and me hating the last 2o% of this book. I’m guessing that the way this book ended, there’s going to be a book 2, though I hadn’t seen anything listed on Goodreads. Seriously though, if there isn’t a book 2, I’m going to really hate this book even more in the future.

I’ll only recommend this if you can get past the annoying instalove and really would like to read a book that has mentions of secret organizations and codes