AMOURA AWAKENED
The Veiled Flame Series: Book One
Amoura Renly didn't ask to set her classroom on fire. She definitely didn't ask to be a witch.
But for some, magic doesn't ask — it just arrives. Now Amoura is branded dangerous and given one way out: a place at Elderwood School for the Magically Inclined, hidden beneath the streets of San Francisco.
It should feel like a lifeline. It doesn't.
Because unlike every other witch at Elderwood, Amoura's magic doesn't come from the Elements of Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. It lives inside her — woven into her blood, her breath, her every cell. In a world policed by the Purity Champions, who hunt witches like her, that's not a gift. It's a death sentence.
The discovery of a dead woman's journal pulls her into a century of erased history. Slowly Amoura begins to understand why the most powerful witch alive has spent decades making sure girls like her never exist.
She can keep pretending. Keep hiding. Keep herself small enough to survive.
Or she can find out what she actually is — and what she'll burn to protect everyone she loves.
PRAISE FOR AMOuRA AWAKENED
STARRED REVIEW
Amoura Awakened: The Veiled Flame Series, Book One
Meg Kramer
Candid Crow Press, 425 pages, (paperback) $17.99, 9798988676607
(Reviewed: April, 2026)
Meg Kramer’s Amoura Awakened is a charming YA novel in the Harry Potter vein, in which a 16-year-old girl learns that she is a witch—and that tensions inside the magical world are on the rise.
Adopted as an infant, Amoura is a clever but lonely teen. As the story begins, she receives a postcard inviting her to take an entrance exam at “a school for the magically inclined.” Thinking it a joke, she pushes it out of her mind. But when a bully earns her ire at school and flames suddenly burst from her palms, causing an explosion that destroys the classroom, her magical abilities can’t be denied. She soon enrols at the Elderwood School for the Magically Inclined in San Francisco.
Amoura makes friends quickly, but she also attracts the enmity of Ingrid Mallory, scion of a prominent witch family who doesn’t think someone like Amoura belongs. Ingrid is also not happy that Amoura has attracted the interest of Kjell, a handsome older witch.
As she navigates friendships, magic, and her feelings for Kjell, Amoura learns that there’s division in this new world. History has been suppressed, and a secret group called the Champions means to keep it that way.
The world-building in Amoura Awakened is well-conceived and executed. Elderwood exists under the streets of San Francisco; it’s a place where scissors can fly across the classroom, students use magic to change each other’s hair styles, and the witching world has a complex history that Amoura gradually uncovers with the help of her new friends.
The story flows seamlessly, charting Amoura’s emerging skills and understanding of this world. Themes of acceptance, trust, and otherness are explored through authentic teenage relationships that readers will recognize from their human world. Kramer includes a storyline that features sexual assault that’s appropriate to the context and sensitively handled.
Overall, Amoura Awakened is an irresistible read that will enchant fans of magic, identity, and
coming-of-age stories.
Also available in hardcover and ebook.
MORE PRAISE FOR AMOuRA AWAKENED
June 9, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
In Kramer’s YA fantasy novel, an American teen harboring newfound magic uncovers secrets at her academy.
When 16-year-old Amoura Renly fights back against a belligerent bully, the situation literally turns explosive. Witches are a regular part of society in this novel’s world; Amoura, however, had no idea she was one. She’s invited to attend San Francisco’s Elderwood, a school for the “magically inclined.” This may be a place where she fits in, unlike back home in Portland, where she’d been a loner in school. Now, she has friends, and even the attention of a guy who turns most heads. Sadly, not everyone is a fan of Amoura’s, including a professor who’s tough on her from the beginning. But that may not be the worst of it: Why does it seem that someone is scrubbing “forbidden topics” from the witches’ history? And why has the corruption-rooting Purity Champion Program been arresting people? Amoura’s obsession with digging up answers may take precedence over her schoolwork—and honing the magic she has trouble controlling. There’s a lot brewing in Kramer’s tautly written story as Amoura dreams of a mysterious Woman in White who provides vague, ominous advice: “Learn the stories that go untold... You’ll find yourself within them.” The multilayered protagonist is a relatable teen struggling with “anger issues” as she investigates secrets about her relatively murky past. It’s perfectly understandable that this novel focuses on Amoura, who narrates, but readers learn very little about the nonetheless engaging supporting cast, including Amoura’s two doting fathers; her bubbly roommate, June Montgomery; and headmaestress Dr. Blackwood, whose stony demeanor can’t entirely hide her warmheartedness. Happily, these compelling characters, and the potential subplots Amoura stirs up, are now primed for sequels to expand upon.
A sympathetic young hero ignites this wholly absorbing tale of magic, intrigue, and adolescent drama.
EXCERPTING POLICIES
Please review Kirkus Media’s excerpting policies before publishing any portion of this review online or in print for any use. To learn about proper attribution and to ensure your use is in compliance with our guidelines, we invite you to visit:
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/indieexcerpts
Kirkus Indie, Kirkus Media LLC
2600 Via Fortuna Suite 130
Austin, TX 78746