Can’t Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by the lovely Wishful Endings! This is where bloggers discuss the books that they’re excited to read, as well as those that are not yet published. This meme is a great way to inform others of books that are yet to be released, and to hype the books up!
With the start of summer break, I have been looking for some new books to read and I thought that this one seemed quite intriguing. Hidden by Kelli Clare has just recently been published, and I have not seen it in my local bookstore as of yet, but look forward to hopefully finding it very soon. The following is a short excerpt of the novel from Goodreads:
“Small-town Connecticut art teacher Ellie James finds the intense connection she’s longing for when she meets Will Hastings, a seductive Englishman with an alluring darkness. But just days later, her sister and grandmother are murdered and she must confront the unthinkable: is Will a man she can trust, a killer—or both?
After surviving a near-fatal attempt on her life, Ellie makes a desperate move: she takes her young niece Lissie and runs to England with Will. There, fiery passion becomes possession, London paparazzi call her by another name, and assassins of a secret society close in after the stunning truth about Ellie’s family is exposed. When Will suddenly disappears after putting a ring on her finger, Ellie must find the strength to elude assassins, disentangle herself from the haunting lies she’s lived for twenty-seven years, and answer one pressing question: who is Ellie James?”
What do you all think of this one? I personally love mystery / crime novels, so this one definitely sparked my interest. Let me know what you think of Hidden and leave a link to your CWW post below.
I’ll start with the characters. Jonathan, the husband and father, is rather bland. He manages to develop throughout the book but not change at the same time, strangely enough. He’s just a boring old dad who is obsessed with his work and realizes this obsession too late. Olive has more depth. She’s the teenage daughter with an attitude that’s labelled “aggressive”, although I beg to differ. I can relate to Olive and her teenage struggles myself. She’s been through a lot more trauma than I have, however. Still, she is comparable to myself. Billie is more intriguing than Jonathan, and her POV is only shown in the prologue and monologue. Of course, she’s described in the book but, as I’m sure you can tell, I was quite disappointed in Jonathan’s character. He’s such a crucial character in this story and I feel as though an opportunity was wasted, just because his character rubs off as so pedestrian.
It is written from the alternating perspectives of Amy and Nick. Amy’s perspective is shown through her personal diary, which later becomes a part of the plot. Through these first-person perspectives, you can see the similarities and differences in their thoughts. Since this story is about a relationship gone haywire, you can see through their thoughts why they thought they were good for each other at first but not later. It’s a very personal telling of their inner feelings. Especially for Amy, as she writes down everything she is feeling. Nick’s perspective is told on the present. He is in the time when Amy first goes missing and it carries from there. Sometimes the things Amy and Nick think are downright psycho. And that’s what makes this book so intriguing.
Exclusory Style 