Toward a Secret Sky

Written by Heather Maclean

Narrated by Emily Ellet

Toward a Secret Sky by New York Times bestselling author Heather Maclean is a new breed of YA novel: an intelligent adventure-quest crossed with a sweeping, forbidden love story. A mix of reality and possibility, this fast-paced thriller will appeal to fans of Stephenie Meyer and Dan Brown as it leads the reader on a breathless flight through the highlands of Scotland, the secret city under London, and history itself.

Shortly after 17-year-old Maren Hamilton is orphaned and sent to live with grandparents she’s never met in Scotland, she receives an encrypted journal from her dead mother that makes her and everyone around her a target. It confirms that her parents were employed by a secret, international organization that’s now intent on recruiting her. As Maren works to unravel the clues left behind by her mother, a murderous madness sweeps through the local population, terrorizing her small town. Maren must decide if she’ll continue her parents’ fight or stay behind to save her friends.

With the help of Gavin, an otherworldly mercenary she’s not supposed to fall in love with, and Graham, a charming aristocrat who is entranced with her, Maren races against the clock and around the country from palatial estates with twisted labyrinths to famous cathedrals with booby-trapped subterranean crypts to stay ahead of the enemy and find a cure. Along the way, she discovers the great truth of love: that laying down your life for another isn’t as hard as watching them sacrifice everything for you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Blink
• Release date: Jan 12, 2021
• ISBN: 9780310751625

Heather Maclean

Heather Maclean is a Princeton graduate and the New York Times bestselling author and editor of fifteen books. Named one of the “16 Best Entrepreneurs in America” by Sir Richard Branson, she accompanied the adventurous business legend on a 50,000-mile trip around the world, alternately helping improve the lives of others (designing sustainable development initiatives in South Africa) and fearing for her own life (rappelling out of a Black Hawk helicopter in a Moroccan sandstorm). Heather began her career at Disney, where she had the distinction of being the first person ever to answer Mickey Mouse’s email. When not castle hunting in her husband’s native Scotland, she and her clan of three kids happily reside in Michigan.

Reviews for Toward a Secret Sky

[jessika.c · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Maren’s mother has died and with her father long dead she’s shipped off to Scotland to live with her father’s parents whom she’s never met before. When she gets there she meets a spunky girl named Jo, a really hot guy named Gavin and a rich kid named Graham. Something else that reaches her in this new land is a box of her mothers items which included a necklace, some cryptic notes and a warning from her mother to not trust anyone. Soon Maren is introduced to The Abbey a society formed to fight the forces of evil. And she discovers that the ridiculously delicious guy of her dreams is an angel, explaining why he’s got her so entranced. Oh boy, I had to seriously force myself to finish this one. I chalk it up to the campy teenager writing. It felt like reading a twilight fanfic. I was kind of disappointed.Like this on page 12:”I was kissing the hottest guy ever. He was so hot, even his hair was red. We were lounging in the long grass, kissing deeply, like it was our new way of breathing.“It was hot outside, and the kissing was making me even hotter. Everywhere he touched me, my skin burned. I’d never kissed anyone before, and certainly not like this.” there’s another two paragraphs of badly described passion. I was laughing you guys, I should be wagging my eyebrows or at the very least smirking seductively while I lived vicariously through Maren as she was kissing said hot guy.Every time I had to read about how hot Maren thought Gavin was I was ready to burn the book. I get the explanation it gave for the instalove but it somehow made the fact the whole thing had to be explained worse. Oh and their first kiss was literally a paragraph long. Described as a blink or you’ll miss it moment.I should’ve known this book wasn’t going to be for me the second I opened it up and saw a big font being used. The story takes up 378 pages, I should’ve spent an entire evening reading it but before I knew it I finally reached the ending. I had to force myself to finish yet it was a quicker read than I had thought. THE LENGTH OF THE STORY FELT LONG BECAUSE THE BOOK IS SO BULKY. I was not pleased, hence the half star rating.I feel bad for the author because she obviously wanted to create someone a little braver than Bella Swan but it just didn’t happen. Sure Maren was actually tasked with something important but she was just as bland and just as plain. Her introduction to Gavin was really boring and if I remember correctly it was almost the same as Bella and Ed’s first conversation. But hey at least Maren actually had friends before they were killed off, its not a spoiler since its literally on the back of the book cover. Ugh the freaking epilogue is on the back of the the book jacket. While it may be just what Stephanie Meyer fans are looking for I’m kicking myself for not realizing (aka reading other summaries that said the very same thing) this fact before I bought the book.but it had such a pretty cover she whispers as she tosses the disappointing book into the donate pile.

[deborahjade · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I could tell from page one the type of book it was.... lots of insta-love between the two main characters...Ended up scan-reading it.