THE BLURB
Hidden (Marchwood Vampire Series) is a paranormal romance that spans the centuries from modern England to 19th century Paris and ancient Cappadocia. The novel begins in gritty urban reality, but soon descends into horror, romance and historical adventure.
Sixteen-year-old Madison Greene is in foster care until one day she inherits a fortune and a house with a cellar full of danger. Eighteen-year-old Alexandre Chevalier lives in 19th century Paris. On an archaeological expedition, he discovers a lost underground city where his life changes forever.
Their lives entwine, but someone is watching and waiting. The story ramps up to an explosive ending.
WHAT I THOUGHT
Phew, I’m glad I didn’t miss out on this one is what I thought.
I have not read many vampire books and admit they don’t hold a lot of appeal for me. However, I am so happy I accepted to review Shalini Boland’s excellent book Hidden and am grateful for this reading experience I may not have otherwise had.
What can I say? It wasn’t what I expected. I loved it. I was completely sucked in and didn’t want to put it down. One might say I was captivated.
Now, I have to be careful here not to give anything away – I won’t be getting too specific.
Shalini’s writing is such that I truly felt like I knew the characters. Wonderful writing filled the pages and really made an unreal story seem real, like it could be happening right next door and it wouldn’t surprise me at all. It was like Madison and Alexandre were my friends and they were brought to life by the descriptions given to them and how they spoke, the language they used, which was appropriate for their lives/time.
There was a sense of adventure about this book. I love the two different timelines and how they complement each other. Each chapter is a switch between Madison and Alexandre and present time and past time. At the end of each chapter something is left hanging and it made me feel quite torn. While reading a chapter I would be thinking about the other character’s story and how I couldn’t wait to get back to it but then I was still immensely enjoying the current story as well. Ah, what a dilemma!! Well no, not really a dilemma because the answer is easy – keep reading as much as you can and as fast as you can so you can finish the book and find out how it all ends.
This is the first in the Marchwood series and I will definitely be keeping my eyes out for upcoming books.
All in all, not much more to say apart from I loved it!!
Many thanks to Shalini for providing me with a copy of Hidden – thanks, Shalini!
Check out Shalini’s author profile by clicking here
