Shrouded Secrets Review

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Title: Shrouded Secrets
Author: Joel McGrath
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: December 2, 2010
Genre: YA, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Pages: 400
Source: Author
When a teenage brother and sister inherit secret metaphysical powers, they are unknowingly hunted by a group of clandestine immortals. While one of the siblings will reluctantly choose the path of righteousness, the other will defiantly dabble with the promise of true power and the darkness that accompanies it. As David James begins his freshman year of high school, he learns that his older sister Danielle's popularity isn't genetic. However, their lives change dramatically with the discovery that they possess power which grants them vast unearthly abilities.

The more they strive for reasonable normality, the more unstable their powers become when combined with the stresses of high school teenage life. While jealously, love, and anger unhinge their once typical lives, temptations to abuse their newfound gifts are manipulated by a shrouded and unyielding adversary who seeks to cast earth into a modern dark age. Soon secrets will injure the ones they love as the burden of true power begins to isolate them. Not even the ominous prospect of a crumbling world matters when each of them finds that they are helpless to control their own desires.
David and Danielle James are your average, ordinary, everyday teenage brother and sister, or so they thought. They soon discover an incredible secret though, and it’s deadly. The two have an extraordinary amount of powers, leaving them either destined for a path of greatness or one of destruction. Desperate to learn the source of their power and their new destiny, David and Danielle have enough on their plate without a new force entering, hell-bent on acquiring their abilities. Can David and Danielle find balance when their world begins to fall apart, or will they go down with it?

How many of you have heard of Shrouded Secrets? Nobody? I’m not surprised, to be honest. There is pretty much zero hype surrounding the book, and when the author, Joel McGrath, asked if I’d be interested in reading and reviewing his book, I decided I had to do my research first. Shrouded Secrets is your classic untimely superhero story with a brother/sister twist, sending you on a journey with two teenage siblings as they try to comprehend the meaning of their lives, and their powers. Part superhero saga, part comic relief, Shrouded Secrets is a bit of a hidden gem in a sea of stories about uncommon heroes.

Shrouded Secrets was a bit of a wild ride, to be honest. The story kicks off in the first few pages, hooking you and connecting you with David and his sister, Danielle. You can feel David’s quirkiness and it resonates, balancing Danielle’s superiority and popularity. The introduction of powers feels perfectly untimely, if you catch my drift, throwing a wrench into the plot and propelling it forward. The great characters mesh well with a well-rounded plot, giving the reader something to immerse themselves in. I will admit, however, the plot did have a series of lulls and highs though, and there were a good amount of punctuation errors scattered throughout. However, they didn’t really detract from the overall story of Shrouded Secrets.

All in all, Shrouded Secrets is a nice start to a new superhero series, and I was pleased with the outcome – especially because there is a definite lead in to the next book without leaving us with an absurd cliffhanger. I give Shrouded Secrets a high 3.5 out of 5, and I’d recommend it to fans of YA, especially those who enjoy a rich blend of fantasy and sci-fi, and those who enjoyed the Percy Jackson series.


I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

27 comments:

  1. Thanks for your review Melissa !! I hadn't heard of this book before so thanks !!!

    By the way, have you received Rules of Attraction ?

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  2. Awesome review. And you're right, before today I'd never heard of it.

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  3. I don't know about you, but I like when I review a book that is off the radar; of course, it's easy to say that when you end up liking the book, and can honestly post a good review, lol.

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  4. I had never heard of it before! I have not read Percy Jackson series but my sister says it's amazing. So Shrouded Secrets is now on my TBR. Thanks for the review!

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  5. I have only seen the Percy movie but hey it did have some promise :)
    And I do like superheroes

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  6. You are correct, I haven't heard of this one:) I love that it's a brother/sister story though, there are so many YA books where there's no family interaction at all, so I'm excited at the fact that this has a family foundation. Great review as always Melissa, I'll keep this one in mind!

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  7. I also haven't heard of this one and it sounds really nice - I think I might be tempted! Anyway it lands on my TBR pile - thanks a lot for a splendid review! The author chose well sending you the book!

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  8. Thanks for putting a new book on my radar, sounds like a good one!

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  9. Awesome review Melissa! I'm a percy jackson fan so I hope I might enjoy this:) Happy reading!
    -Danna

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  10. Yep. Haven't heard of it, but my eyes are now peeled.

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  11. I hadn't heard of this one either! Sounds promising, although I am not so big on Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

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  12. Great review. Nope, not heard of it, but it sounds interesting. I don't mind highs and lows as long as you are still involved in the story.

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  13. Great review. I'm not a big sci-fi fan but I'm sure those who are will enjoy it.

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  14. Hmm...I've never heard of this, but I think I'm going to add it to the TBR list. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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  15. Hmm, this one sounds interesting! I'll have to look into it, and I love that it doesn't have an absurd cliffhanger. Aren't those always the worst?

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  16. That sounds pretty good. Too bad about the punctuation errors - that really bugs me. I'm glad it generally wraps up the story, though. I absolutely hate cliffhangers.

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  17. yeah - this is the first I hear of it. But it sounds interesting. Il'm glad you reviewed it; I'll have to look into it now.

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  18. I came across this book recently and thought it was pretty good and unique, which is more than I can say for most literature out there. I didn't think there were any major punctuation problems, at least none that prevented me from enjoying the story.

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  19. Great review Melissa. Haven't heard of it either. Sounds interesting though :)

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  20. This sounds like a cool book! Terrific review. I haven't heard of it either. I'm going to definitely check it out. I like that the characters are superhero siblings.

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  21. Nope, never heard of it. :|

    Though I'm happy to hear there is no evil chiffy, I'm not sure about the superhero thing.

    Glad you enjoyed it, Melissa.

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  22. You're right, I'd never heard of it before. I do love my superhero stories though! And superhero siblings sounds even better.

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  23. This one sounds like a pretty interesting book. I'll have to check it out when I get the time because midterms are killing me right now :(

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  24. This really does sound like a really good read. :) Thank you for the review. I think I might have to add this to my want list. :)

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  25. I hadn't heard of this one before, but I think I'll add it to my wishlist! Thanks for the review!

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  26. This sounds really good. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

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  27. I have never heard of this book, but it sounds like something my brother might like. The superhero aspect would really rope him in. I'm not exactly sure it's a book I would be enthralled by, but nice review regardless.

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