By Anne Elisabeth Stengl
Bethany House, $14.99, 394 pages

Rose Red lives a solitary life from everyone other than her father, her nanny goat and her imaginary friend until she meets Leo, a young boy visiting his family for the summer. Hiding her secret of birth with a veil, she runs from people until she meets Leo. Together they become fast friends and troll the mountain looking to hunt a mysterious monster of legend. As their friendship grows, their destinies become more entwined than they realize and set in motion events that will have lasting consequences for them and their land.

Veiled Rose is the second novel in the Tales of Goldstone Wood series by the talented Anne Elisabeth Stengl. She weaves an absorbing tale that manages to feel both mythic and focused on the personal journeys of the main characters.  As both Rose Red and Leo follow their separate paths, they are shown coming to a crossroads and being forced to make painful choices. The author nicely reveals the true nature of the characters in the choices that they make. The world created is also completely enthralling – this is a hard book to put down.

Reviewed by Barbara Cothern

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