Review: Unveiled by Jacklyn Daher

Unveiled

Chronicles of Luxor Everstone #1

Author: Jacklyn Daher

Published: June 6th 2020

Number of pages: 578

Format: eARC

Source: Provided by the author

Purchase: Amazon

From Goodreads

What if your entire life was a lie?

Sixteen-year-old Luxor Everstone had the idyllic life — wealthy, popular and beautiful. Until in a fit of rage, she almost killed her best friend. And herself.

Waking up from a coma she senses everything is different. She is different. A darkness lingers deep inside laced with rage, further fuelled by a faceless man who haunts her.

Exiled to a sleepy town for a new start and to attend a juvenile rehabilitation centre, all she wants is a clean slate. Except the universe has other plans as crimson eyed people reeking of sulphur throw her life into peril at every turn.

Encountering Hunter is a surprise in more ways than one. Enigmatic and antagonistic, against her will a strong electric connection draws her to him. But Hunter's curious nature and innate ability to know Luxor's thoughts keep her on edge, so does his offer of helping her uncover the lies.

Torn between attraction and her instincts to flee, will she put herself at risk for answers?

Or will the truth heal, or taint her soul?

My Review

Unveiled was the first paranormal that I read after a long time. I was intrigued by the whole concept and by the darkness of the premise. But if I reread the synopsis, I am even more convinced that the main themes mentioned, were not well explored.

As soon as you start the book, you're introduced to a protagonist who has a great deal going on in her life: an attempt murder to her best friend, an uncontrolled rage that threatens to burst at any time, a forced move to another city and terrible nightmares that haunt her every night. Since all these themes have been presented from the start, I would have expected the rest of the book to be more of an insight on what was going on, but I was surprised to see that often, all paranormal phenomena were put aside to leave space to some "high-school drama". I can't tell you my feelings about this choice, because if from a side I was a bit annoyed by the lack of answers, I was also growing fond of the characters thanks to the great amount of space given to several minor episodes and minor characters. For example, I was really drawn into the whole Luxor - Hunter parade: Hunter being a sexy, arrogant, spooky presence. Their love-hate relationship is what I usually like in a love story, but what I didn't like was how rushed looked their growing closer in the end, and how much and how sudden Hunter's character seems to change.

Speaking of Luxor, instead, almost 80% into the book and we have a protagonist who has seen possessed, red-eyed people walking, people entering a no-exit shop and never coming back, her body magically healing from all traumas.. and still, she's infuriatingly oblivious to all. I found it annoying how Luxor doesn't really care about what's happening to her, despite having the answer of what she might be right in front of her. I hated how by the end of the book she still acted like dumb, and refused to accept the truth...it didn't help at all in creating a bond between me and her!

All answers are given around the last 15% of the book and I was absolutely not satisfied by the space dedicated to what looks to be a really complicated story. A lot of elements and paranormal figures are introduced in what was a rushed and unbalanced conclusion and I had serious problems in understanding what was happening - to the point that I often needed to reread some passages for a couple of times! So what was my main problem with this book? Simple, I would have loved for the paranormal component to be more explored, to be a constant in the story and not just some background.

Still, the fact that you get a taste of this new world just at the end of the book, leaves me with a feeling of discontent that does not prevent me from reading book 2. My curiosity remains, my time with the characters was still pleasant, so I'm having hopes for book 2 to be more engaging than the first one!

Rated 2.75!