S. B. Niccum

My original Veiled audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Imagine a world before Earth’s creation – imagine a world where there is nothing but spirits dividing themselves into clans and bonding together under the watchful eyes of the Eternals. Imagine being given the choice of being a human and choosing to make a difference or not; taking the easy road or not; choosing to follow the First (Christ) or the Second (Lucifer).

All these decisions to make while also learning how to deal with various “gifts” such as the power of calming, discernment, reading auroras, mind reading, clairvoyance, wisdom, etc. Being a young spirit, Tess seeks her soul mate as well as finding her reason for being. She knows she’s different from everyone but she has no clue just how different or why one of the Second’s followers has it in for her specifically.

Tess has a mission and it is dangerous but in order to be a powerful angel she must overcome her fears, doubts and accept her training. Tess has one thing in her mind and that is finding her soul mate and hoping to find him yet again on earth should they choose to be born. Doubts are Tess’s worst enemy. Can Tess be strong enough to complete the mission before her? Make the right decisions? Be all that she needs to be for herself and her friends?

S.B. Niccum put a new spin on the fears, desires and doubts that face young adults. She has the story take place in a unique location and builds the world slowly but in great detail drawing the listener in deeply. She expresses the fears and doubts teenagers and young adults are faced with daily and brings them together significantly to prove that we’re not perfect, we all have doubts and fears.

I was impressed with Andrea Emmes, narrator. She moved through this book effortlessly owning each and every character she gave voice to. Her voice resonates with emotion and excitement as the story moves forward. She never missed a beat and spoke clearly and with passion. I loved listening to her.

The story itself was slow at first but then picked up momentum capturing the listener’s attention fully. Niccum is a masterful storyteller and creator of worlds. I enjoyed this story and look forward to hearing more in the series.

There were no issues with the production quality of this audiobook.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.… (mehr)

When I first learned of Veiled, I assumed it was just another supernatural young adult fiction book about ghosts. I was hesitant to start, wondering how many new types of ghost stories there could possibly be, but began reading anyway. And boy, am I glad I did.

Veiled is the story of Tess and her friends in a world like none I’ve seen before. Here, beings start out simply as intelligences and gradually evolve through the spirit stage before being born. That’s right, there is a whole life each experiences before they are ever even born into existence. Friends are made, soulmates are found, and gifts are discovered. The only problem is that when you are born, you are veiled from this previous life and everything you have ever learned. And that is exactly what Tess is afraid of.

When the world they have been waiting eons for is finally created, Earth, they begin training for their upcoming lives. This causes a rift in Tess’s group of friends as each gets sent to do different tasks and rarely sees the others. At the same time, a darker spirit has set out on their own tasks to stop the spirits from ever evolving to mortality. Does Tess ever become a human? You have to read to find out.

S.B. Niccum did a wonderful job on this story. With her wonderful descriptions, I was able to feel like I was right with the spirits no matter where they went on Earth or in the heavens. My favorite part of the story was getting to see what became of the different spirits. My only problem was getting to the end and still wondering what comes next. Once you read Veiled, you will be begging for a sequel just like me.… (mehr)