Discovery of a Brilliant Work Concealed in the Shadows!

I'm adding works from small publishing companies to the list of Tomes to seek for review.

This does not mean that they'll be considered for Treasured Tome status. I reserve that distinction for authors that fit the indie description.

What does that mean, exactly?

If an author happens to publish under their own company name, they still fit the indie author description. If their manuscript was sent out to a company they weren't previously affiliated with, however, they no longer fit into my view of an indie author, and will not be considered for Treasured Tome status.

That being said, we've got an ebook that could have been a Treasured Tome on our hands. This one is set in the not-so-distant future: the 2030s.

Cover art by Marya Heiman 

Concealed in the Shadows is written by Gabrielle Arrowsmith. This one isn't actually an indie book, as you've already figured out. Rather, Concealed in the Shadows is published by a very small publishing company known as Clean Teen Publishing, which means I kind of bent my original rules a bit. How'd that happen, you ask? 

Well...

It was an accident, I swear!

I didn't actually realize my mistake until I finished this ebook, and I just couldn't pass up reviewing it. You needed to hear about it. It's a book well worth reading, and since Clean Teen Publishing is a very small company, I figured it would be okay to bend the rules a little...

...and then I decided to re-write them.

I did this partially because I like the idea of small publishing companies being highlighted on the web, rather than the big publishing houses, but also because I really wanted you to hear about Concealed in the Shadows. Like I said, it's well worth the read.

So what's it about?

For some time now, Sydney Harter has been crossing the electrical barriers that surround Miles County, training herself to elude the authorities if the need ever arises. She's prepared to do anything to ensure her little sister Evvie's safety. On her eighteenth birthday, Sydney goes to court to legally request full guardianship of her sister. The request is granted, and Sydney at last seems to have the ability to protect Evvie from the dangers of Miles. But as she goes on a run across the barrier the following morning, Sydney is thrust into a strange new world. Her one thought? To protect her sister at all costs.

This ebook felt like a warning about what could happen in the future if we continue to live in our social media driven world without paying heed to what's happening all around us.

Of course, that could simply be because I'm a strong supporter of the Internet Defense League (Cat signal!), and believe we need to be careful to watch just what our government is doing at all times - regardless of political affiliation. So I could simply be drawing on my personal beliefs...

Which means the author made it personal!

Arrowsmith made me laugh, and she made me tear up... twice. I got angry at the characters, then forgave them. I longed to make them understand each other, and wanted to throttle them whenever they made dumb choices - especially the irrational choices that I would have made under the same circumstances.

The characters weren't just believable. They felt real. If I chose to read this aloud, I'd be able to do it smoothly and with proper inflection. Dialogue was perfect. I assume this has to do with Arrowsmith's experience with community/school acting - of which she has plenty. She understands the importance of vocalizing the dialogue she writes.

What about the flaws?

Honestly, there were very few. There were some clunky and mixed up sentences that caused me a bit of confusion, especially in the first four pages. There were also a few typos and incorrect word usages that caused me to raise my eyebrows a few times.

But that was it. 

Don't let those first few pages stop you from reading. Concealed in the Shadows kept my interest throughout. I didn't want to stop reading, and even lost a bit of sleep because I couldn't put it down. 

You can pick up Concealed in the Shadows on Kindle, Nook, and Smashwords.