Cloaked in Secrets

Title: Cloaked in Secrets
Author: Chautona Havig
Series: Annals of Wynnewood, book 2
Major Themes: Unicorns, Fantasy
Synopsis: After Dove disappears in a storm and reappears with a secret she won’t tell Philip, the two get serious about capturing a unicorn for Lord Morgan.

Fantasy is not my favorite genre, by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, I can hardly stand it most of the time. Chautona Havig, however, can write fantasy that I really enjoy. That’s probably because, for the most part, the worlds she creates are mostly realistic with only a few fantastic elements thrown in. I am currently reading the Annals of Wynnewood series aloud to my school children, and they are thoroughly enjoying this series. It is set in roughly 13th-century England, but with a few unusual elements thrown in. I was delighted to find a mystery cleared up in Cloaked in Secrets that I hadn’t been able to figure out in Shadows and Secrets, the first book in the series.

Philip and Dove are still spending a lot of time together. Now they are on a quest together. They want to catch and train a unicorn to present to Lord Morgan. He had dreamed of having one of these reclusive creatures since he was a boy. His grandfather had one. As Dove and Philip begin their quest, a terrible blizzard hits Wynnewood. Dove disappears. Some people are relieved that “the creature” is gone. Philip is heartbroken and he goes to search for his little friend as soon as the storm is over. Dove is safe, and in a surprising place, with a group of people that no one imagined existed. Then, her secret is revealed and she is in great danger.

When Dove shows up again, she and Philip carry on with the quest as he continues to teach her the things he learned about the Bible from the village vicar. He struggles to know what his destiny should be in life, while Dove is forced to learn to get along with more people.

What a fun story! Mythical creatures, a real setting, a time in which it was a struggle to exist, let alone thrive, and conflict between men who love God and want to serve him alone, and the church with all its rules. All this makes quite an exciting story. We enjoyed Cloaked in Secrets and moved on quickly to the next book in the series, which I hope will make everything clear.

WARNING: In the fourth chapter, Bertha uses the word blasted. In the 11th chapter, Dove is called a demon. The 25th chapter describes a battle.

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Beneath the Cloak Shadows & Secrets Everard The Beggar’s Bible