Review: Veiled (Concealed in Myths Series Book 1) by Ruby Smoke

Veiled by Ruby Smoke
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Filthy Fae Fun

I’d probably give this book 4.5 ⭐️ if I could.

I’m pretty sure this is the first book I’ve read by this author, and I chose it because a couple of people recommended the book in my Facebook groups. I’m so glad I decided to follow up the recommendations because this was a great book. I’d also like to say, what an amazing cover, because that thing is creepy and beautiful all at the same time, a little like the book.

Hudson is a magic user, whose father is a member of the council that rules over magic users. She has been schooled in the proprieties of her father’s position and forced into a neat little box all her life. But she doesn’t really fit into that box very well. She’s a little too loud, a little too brash and strong and she really hates her father’s choices on what she has to wear. She is now 20 and set to go off to university where she can finally make her own choices on what to wear and who to be. She gets sent to a magical college rather than the mortal one she wants to go to, but at least she is free of her father’s influence.

When Hudson arrives she finds her the man her father adopted when he was 15 years old and she was 10. He and his three best friends are now instructors at the college and she has to live in a house with them, and the sexual tension is supercharged, a bit like her powers seem to be. She doesn’t seem to be a usual magic-user and maybe her white hair isn’t just a sign of stress, but of something else, that SHE is something else.

This is a complex book with many moving parts. There are plots and conspiracies, with many people not being who you think they are.

There is lots of violence, snark and pop culture references, with many nods to the RH writing community. There is also a LOT of sex. The scenes are hot and spicy, with enough filth to make anyone blush, whilst turning the pages faster to keep up with the imagery. I will say that in case you really don’t enjoy it, there are some FF, MFM and MFMM scenes but no MM ones. All are equally hot.

Apart from snappy retorts and too cool for school MFC, there is actually a lot of substance to the book. The characters are all clearly delineated and distinct from one another, with enough to differentiate them in your head as you read (something that some RH authors seem to struggle with). However, you are aware that there is plenty of room for growth of each character and to expand on their histories, as they are clouded apart from in relation to Hudson’s shared past.

The world-building was interesting but a little fuzzy in places. There was plenty of mythology chucked at us, but in some places it didn’t make a great deal of sense. I feel that there will be a lot more world-building in the rest of the series. There was a lot crammed into this first book, and as is often the case with a first book, some things by necessity got left out. I’ll be interesting in reading the bits that fill in those gaps.

I really enjoyed this book. It kept me entertained on a day where I just couldn’t find ANYTHING that I wanted to read. It was a minor miracle I found this book in my saved samples on my Kindle and it jumped out of me because of that wonderful cover. As soon as I read the sample I was hooked, though the prologue was a bit wordy and ‘mysterious prophecy-tastic’. Once the book proper got started I was hooked.

I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next.

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