A.J. Mortimer’s Secrets Burn by A.J. Mortimer is a YA fantasy that follows the fractured life of Eliora, an Irish teenager who struggles with amnesia and is plagued by nightmares. She discovers on the final day of school that she is not human but a faerie from Kenor, a world brimming with elemental magic, hidden from ordinary people. She also discovers that she is the long-lost Water Luminary whose return might be the only thing to end the war waged by Caitria. When she is whisked back to her world, she finds it divided; while some are happy to see her return, others see her as a traitor who abandoned her people. As her memories return in violent fragments, she begins to understand how much power she has and her true origins. But she must master her magic quickly, and what will it cost her to save Kenor?

Secrets Burn is told in a first-person narrative voice that is vivid and infused with Gothic undertones; the voice grounds the story in Eliora’s perspective. Reading this book felt like being transported into the deepest recesses of her mind, places where pain has held her captive and where her power originates. The characters are well-imagined and expertly written, and other characters like General Cael, Brigh, and the caustic healer, Ruby, reflect the author’s imagination in making them real and believable. Eliora is flawed by virtue of her humanity and loss of memory, yet inspiring through her magical transformation. A.J. Mortimer creates a liminal world where school settings quickly give way to crystalline lochs and sentient forests, skillfully blending high-fantasy elements with Irish folklore. This book is simply transporting for fans of fantasy.

In A.J. Mortimer's Secrets Burn, at Forest Valley High School, Eliora believes she is a human girl recovering from amnesia after an accident until shadowy figures begin following her through classrooms. Florence, the woman who raised Eliora as her grandchild, reveals that Eliora was hidden from Kenor, a fae realm at war. General Cael returns her through a veil to Doman, where Caitria’s soldiers hunt her for a curse linked to Niru, the lost water kingdom Eliora once ruled. As spells fade, Eliora must recover her missing memories before Caitria reaches her. Cael’s protection cannot keep every secret as the return of Eliora’s power draws her closer to the truth behind the poison spreading through Kenor and the life she forgot while the enemy closes in from every side.

Secrets Burn by A.J. Mortimer is a wonderful fantasy, and its female lead, Eliora, the Water Luminary raised as a human, is easy to connect with. Mortimer fully fleshes her out, and gives that very same treatment even to ancillary characters. I absolutely love Brigh, the fire faerie assigned to guard Eliora. She protects Eliora’s identity and gives her a sword that knows her body before Eliora's memory does. The world-building is excellent, and the prose paints pictures, the standout being Tallu, a partly submerged water faerie citadel in abandoned Niru, complete with angel statues and a memory spring that rises through a ruined church below. Well written and immersive, fantasy readers who enjoy a heroine-led fae story with a side of war and a multifaceted world will adore this book, as I have. Very highly recommended.