I first learned about Bethany Atazadeh through her YouTube channel. She makes amazing content for authors, where she talks about self-publishing, creating covers, and even marketing books. After watching several of her videos, I decided that I had to read some of her work. I grabbed The Secret Gift on Kindle and began to read.
In the author’s dedication, she dedicates the book to “all the readers who know what it’s like to accidentally stay up reading until 2 AM.” This became reality for me; I stayed up until 1:30 reading. I got through The Secret Gift in one night!
Bethany Atazadeh is an indie author (an author who chose to self-publish rather than go through a traditional publishing house). Although there are many spectacular self-published stories, I’ve often found that indie novels struggle to provide well-formatted, smooth plotlines. The Secret Gift hit the jackpot on all levels; the story was engaging, fun, and well-written! This is what I love to see in self-published novels: authors who clearly care about their characters and their worlds and spend the time and effort to make sure they are fully developed before releasing them into the wilds of readers.
Let’s talk about the first book in The Queen’s Rise series, inspired by infamous fairy tale villains from stories like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Beauty and the Beast.
Jezebel’s newfound shapeshifting gift breaks every rule in Jinn.
She’s forced to keep it secret or risk having her ability stolen from her completely. When Jezebel’s friends discover a portal to the human world, she follows them into the strange place, unable to resist the temptation to explore her gift where no one will see.
Except someone does. Someone Jezebel thought she could trust.
One dark decision leads to another, until Jezebel stands to lose something she can’t live without—either her freedom, or her innocence.
Treasure Maps
For such a short novel (The Secret Gift is only 262 pages), this villain origin story has a lot of stuff going on! The plot is action-packed, and full of creative worldbuilding. The concept of Jinn, and the portals to the human world, is very interesting. Although the story does use concepts and items familiar to us (like apartment buildings), I found that they did not take me out of the world.
Jezebel is a complex character, and although I was aware of her ultimate destiny to become a villain, I found myself rooting for her and finding a level of understanding with her choices and decisions. She fell into the trap of the slippery slope; each poor decision led to another, progressively getting worse and worse. Although this did make her life more difficult, it certainly added some suspense to the story (and a lot of “no, don’t do that!” screams).
Another wonderful thing about this story is its ability to stand alone. I read this book not having read even one chapter of the preceding novels in the Stolen Kingdom world. (To clarify, having finished this book, I immediately went and read all four Stolen Kingdom books.) Despite my lack of knowledge on the world, I was able to understand and enjoy the entire story. In fact, reading this made me want to read the other novels! The style of writing is very inviting, like that friend who can make you picture events like you were there. It drew me in quickly and allowed for an uninterrupted session of reading.
I did feel like some of the character development was lacking. With The Secret Gift being such a short novel, certain characters’ development seemed rushed. This did not take away from the plot by any means, but I would have liked to learn more about the side characters. Backstory is like salt; the right amount is key to a good recipe. Jezebel’s friends, in particular, did not catch my attention. In moments where I felt like I was supposed to be shocked or sad, I felt nothing. I think a few more paragraphs would have served well to grow the main character’s friends with some backstory and complications. Because I enjoyed this story so much, I think I just wanted more!
Poisoned Apples:
This book has no profanity, no innuendo (aside from a few kisses), and mild fantasy violence. The main character, Jezebel, has an abusive father that throws things at her and grabs her upon occasion, but his main method of abuse is verbal. There is mention of a Jinn being attacked by humans. As a whole, this book is completely clean.
Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust
This book does not have any spiritual references. As far as I could tell, the Jinn do not have a deity they worship. Their worth is determined by the power of their gift. Many of Jezebel’s friends (herself included) felt worthless because they placed their value in how society viewed them and their gifts. This leads to a good Biblical takeaway; our worth is not in how others view us. Our worth is in the Lord. We are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).
The Frog Prince
Ultimately, The Secret Gift is a quick, easy read with a fun story and interesting characters. The writing flows nicely and sets a good scene for the novel. Although its length did mean truncated development for certain characters, most of the people in this story felt realistic and relatable… except for the magical abilities, of course! 😉 The Secret Gift is a wonderful tale that had me hooked on every page.
Bethany Atazadeh has written a great fairy tale retelling, one that rings of comforting picture books we all grew up with while simultaneously telling a completely new story that felt fresh. I definitely recommend it for anyone who loves fairy tales, magic, and Jinn!
You can buy The Secret Gift here.
𝑀𝒶𝓇𝒾𝑒