Concealed

Concealed
By: Sang Kromah
Genre: Teens & YA

Publishers Summary:

When sixteen year-old Bijou Fitzroy and her nomadic grandmother leave New York City to live in a home in the sleepy town of Sykesville, Maryland, Bijou thinks she will finally be able to live a normal life and be like everyone else. This move will be permanent, and Bijou cannot be anymore thrilled. After years of being shut away by her grandmother, Bijou will finally able to interact with peers, make friends, go to school, and live like a normal teenager.

Moving around and being home schooled definitely made it difficult to make friends, but there are other reasons for Bijou’s solitude. With eyes that constantly change from gray to green to a honey-coated shade of brown and an ability to feel exactly what other people are feeling, the concept of obtaining closeness is more of a fable than a reality. Although her eyes are beautiful, their constant shift in color instills a sense of fear within other people and causes them to look away. Bijou’s premonitions, blackouts, and semi-prophetic dreams of a faceless boy don’t help her social musings either. Regardless, she decides to attend the local high school. Bijou is immediately introduced to Sebastian Sinjin, a quirky and unusually beautiful boy who doesn’t seem to belong in a high school in nowhere Maryland. Sebastian is also special. Instead of looking away from Bijou, he makes direct eye contact with her. And when he shakes Bijou’s hand something dark and familiar to awaken within her as an electric shock surges through her body. Bijou soon finds herself deeply attracted to Sebastian, who remains aloof and often acts like Bijou doesn’t exist. Despite the pains of having her first real crush, Bijou makes friends quickly and excels in all of her classes…well, all except for Mythology with Mr. Jennings.

Mr. Jennings’ class starts off great with endless discussions of  Djinn and how they conceal themselves from the human eye, but things soon take a turn for the worse when the stories of the mythical creatures begin to take shape in Bijou’s life.

My Review:

I received this book free from the publisher for an honest review and I must say, though I like the idea of the Djinn and being mixed myself, seeing a mixed heroine was a nice turn for me, but the story itself was all over the place just like Sebastian’s mood and reactions. Right from the beginning it felt like the author wasn’t in touch with her inner teen self. I felt awkward reading some points of the story because it didn’t feel genuine, but rather forced. While the story as a whole was not bad, I couldn’t bring myself to love it and I wanted to so badly! The book had so much promise. The lore of the Djinn and how it was incorporated with the other creatures was great, but not enough to bring me back for more unfortunately.