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Haunted By Shadows
Secrets Burn follows a troubled teen with amnesia and recurring visions, who learns that her human life has been carefully constructed to conceal her connection to the fae world of Kenor, a realm divided by war. What first inspired Eliora’s story and the world of Kenor?
Eliora’s story being haunted by shadows was inspired by a reoccurring nightmare I’ve had since I was young. I thought I’d see where it would take me.
I love the mythology around faeries since I was young and fascinated by questions about the after life they heavily influenced the direction the story went it.
I also realised at the time of writing I had never really come across a book that blended faerie mythology and angels specifically the way I wanted it to.
Overall there was just a lot of inspiration from things I’d been curious about and experienced over the years developed into kenor and its mythology from there.
Eliora worries that recovering her memories could erase the person she’s become. What interested you about that conflict?
Ive always struggled with the idea of finding who I am, rather than becoming the person other people wanted or expected me to be. That made me ask the question, what if I finally discovered who I was meant to be but I didn’t like the person I’d become?
For Eliora recovering her memories is t simply about find out who she is. It about questions whether the person she is now is still with holding on to. Putting her in the positions where she has to decided whether her past defines her.
Grief influences several characters in dramatically different ways. Why did you want loss to have such a significant role in the conflict?
I wanted loss to be realistic beyond simply being sad moments in a book. Everyone processes loss differently how I process it is very different to the way my sister does. Grief can change people and fear of change was what really influenced me when writing Secrets Burn.
Without revealing too much, which aspect of Eliora’s powers, relationships, or history are you most excited to explore next?
Definitely her history. There so much about Eliora’s past that we don’t know yet and there are pieces of her story the reader doesn’t fully understand until later.
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Until the past starts crawling back and something breaks through.
Eliora’s world begins to unravel. She is forced to face the truth: her life isn’t real. Her nightmares are memories. And the person she’s been pretending to be… never existed.
Taken to the fae realm of Kenor, she finds herself at the centre of a conflict she doesn’t remember but everyone else does. To some, Eliora is a long-awaited answer. To others, a reminder of what was taken.
But to Cael, the one tasked with protecting her, she’s something far more complicated. A duty. A risk. A past he won’t explain.
As Eliora’s magic awakens in dangerous, uncontrollable surges and fragments of her memories begin to surface, one thing becomes clear: whatever she did before she forgot still matters.
Because the war isn’t over.
And the closer she gets to the truth, the more it threatens to destroy everything.
Secrets Burn
A.J. Mortimer’s Secrets Burn is a young adult fantasy that blends Irish faerie lore, elemental magic, angelic mythology, and political conflict. Eliora begins as an isolated student in Ireland, troubled by amnesia and recurring visions, before learning that her human life has been carefully constructed to conceal her connection to Kenor, a realm divided by war. Her return transforms the novel into a dangerous journey through living sanctuaries, poisoned waterways, ruined citadels, and hostile territories. The accumulating revelations give the story an expansive scope while keeping its focus on Eliora’s search for identity.
The novel examines the relationship between memory and moral agency. Eliora fears that recovering her past will erase the person she has become, yet ignorance leaves her vulnerable to manipulation. Her declaration, “I can handle fear. I just can’t handle lies,” captures both her personal conflict and the wider culture of secrecy surrounding her. Mortimer also treats grief as a potent political force. Caitria turns bereavement into extremism, Acker allows hope to distort his loyalties, and Eliora’s losses repeatedly test whether sorrow will make her compassionate or destructive.
The first-person narration is emotionally immediate, with Eliora’s anxiety, anger, guilt, and dry humor shaping every encounter. Her friendships with Florence and Brigh provide the story’s emotional foundation, while her guarded attraction to Cael develops through shared danger and suppressed history. The elemental magic is closely tied to feeling, allowing internal conflict to alter the physical world in vivid ways. The prose favors rapid dialogue and frequent reversals, creating strong momentum, though repeated explanations of Eliora’s guilt and instability occasionally soften the impact of otherwise powerful scenes.
Secrets Burn becomes a story about choosing an identity. Eliora’s discovery that she is an angel and reaper complicates the familiar chosen-leader narrative, especially when she must reconcile her duty to preserve balance with her growing love for mortal lives. As Cael tells her, “It’s about what we choose, every day, and who we choose to stand with.” The ending resolves Caitria’s immediate reign while opening a broader conflict involving Ramiel and the horsemen, leaving Eliora changed, grieving, and newly purposeful. It’s an ambitious, emotionally driven fantasy whose strongest achievement is making power inseparable from responsibility.
Pages: 354 | ASIN : B0GHYYDS17
