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A review by koistyfishy
Hideaway by Penelope Douglas
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
2 Confession Booth Stars⭐
Spicy Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
I was so excited to read this after I loved Corrupt but all I got was one hell of a frustrating book that just left me grumpy and confused. I was incredibly tempted to DNF this at 80% since the story at that point seemed to have lost the plot (literally) but since this was a buddy read with the gorgeous Ri 🖤 (and she had already finished it), I decided to grin my damn teeth together and finish whatever the eff this was.
I wanted this book to feel like a car crash I couldn't look away from, and it was a crash all right.
This is book two in the Devil's Night series and needs to be read after the first book, Corrupt, even though it is a new couple... Kai and Banks.
So let's start off with Kai as a character, because he was THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS BOOK that I actually liked. He had depth to him. He had some emotional baggage, but he could work through that. You could see that he had this innate sense of loyalty that he wanted to impress his family, but he also had this tie to his friends. He genuinely cared about the people around him and eventually Banks. It also became very clear, very quickly that he had been infatuated with Banks for years.
Banks ultimately "saw him" for who he truly was, so he was basically enamoured and obsessed with her and could not keep his mind off this enigmatic person. He just couldn't seem to pin down or understand why she was so attached to Damon and why she was so obsessed with him...
Then we have Banks who, quite frankly, has the most split personality I have ever read about. She is more topsy-turvy than that Katy Perry song as she would be saying something and then would say something completely out of the blue in the next sentence. Any time she would get close to having a real conversation with Kai or you were shown some depth to her personality, it would be pushed aside and the two would have sex. Being a person who LOVES to see character development, it annoyed the crap out of me to see this deflected... I wanted her to struggle through her demons ON PAGE WITH ME. ANY TIME it was close, there goes the panties...
I felt like I don't know her at all and that she was almost one dimensional (in her split personality) as she would be meek one minute and then hard ass another and her inner dialogue was the same thought over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. She's constantly indecisive. Constantly. Like in this weird "I hate you, but I love you". "I need to be near you. But I can't stand to be near you". I have no idea who she is. And yes, it might be because she grew up in basically a cage and was fed scraps by everybody around her, but she just did not do it for me....
Then this book was filled with nothing but plot holes, illogical decisions and, aspects that just made no sense. The ending was even more so... Everything was culminating in this big thing that was over in about 2 seconds flat. Nothing was really resolved. Nothing really comes to a close, except she now has 9 dogs and 2 snakes...and a husband
There's also something about the way Penelope Douglas writes... that ALSO frustrated me. It was present in Corrupt but way more prevalent in this book as I wasn't enjoying this one. And that is she purposefully has characters make decisions off-page because you're not in their POV and when you catch up to them (mostly with the characters whose POV you are in), that decision or action is NEVER explained. You are just meant to accept it and move on with the plot. If I'm just getting the plot thrown at me and nothing's really developing, I end up frustrated.
Everyone in this book needs therapy. They are messed up and some are just stupid. Half the conflict in this could have been solved by talking to people...
Will I pick up the next book?
Yes. Because it's Damon's Story. And what we've seen about it in this book as he is a very prevalent side character in this book, intrigued me that I want to find out what is going on in his fucked up mind. But I'm not sure when because right now, Hide Away has left a sour taste in my mouth.
Spicy Level: 🌶️🌶️🌶️/5
I was so excited to read this after I loved Corrupt but all I got was one hell of a frustrating book that just left me grumpy and confused. I was incredibly tempted to DNF this at 80% since the story at that point seemed to have lost the plot (literally) but since this was a buddy read with the gorgeous Ri 🖤 (and she had already finished it), I decided to grin my damn teeth together and finish whatever the eff this was.
I wanted this book to feel like a car crash I couldn't look away from, and it was a crash all right.
This is book two in the Devil's Night series and needs to be read after the first book, Corrupt, even though it is a new couple... Kai and Banks.
So let's start off with Kai as a character, because he was THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS BOOK that I actually liked. He had depth to him. He had some emotional baggage, but he could work through that. You could see that he had this innate sense of loyalty that he wanted to impress his family, but he also had this tie to his friends. He genuinely cared about the people around him and eventually Banks. It also became very clear, very quickly that he had been infatuated with Banks for years.
Banks ultimately "saw him" for who he truly was, so he was basically enamoured and obsessed with her and could not keep his mind off this enigmatic person. He just couldn't seem to pin down or understand why she was so attached to Damon and why she was so obsessed with him...
Then we have Banks who, quite frankly, has the most split personality I have ever read about. She is more topsy-turvy than that Katy Perry song as she would be saying something and then would say something completely out of the blue in the next sentence. Any time she would get close to having a real conversation with Kai or you were shown some depth to her personality, it would be pushed aside and the two would have sex. Being a person who LOVES to see character development, it annoyed the crap out of me to see this deflected... I wanted her to struggle through her demons ON PAGE WITH ME. ANY TIME it was close, there goes the panties...
I felt like I don't know her at all and that she was almost one dimensional (in her split personality) as she would be meek one minute and then hard ass another and her inner dialogue was the same thought over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. She's constantly indecisive. Constantly. Like in this weird "I hate you, but I love you". "I need to be near you. But I can't stand to be near you". I have no idea who she is. And yes, it might be because she grew up in basically a cage and was fed scraps by everybody around her, but she just did not do it for me....
Then this book was filled with nothing but plot holes, illogical decisions and, aspects that just made no sense. The ending was even more so... Everything was culminating in this big thing that was over in about 2 seconds flat. Nothing was really resolved. Nothing really comes to a close, except she now has 9 dogs and 2 snakes...
There's also something about the way Penelope Douglas writes... that ALSO frustrated me. It was present in Corrupt but way more prevalent in this book as I wasn't enjoying this one. And that is she purposefully has characters make decisions off-page because you're not in their POV and when you catch up to them (mostly with the characters whose POV you are in), that decision or action is NEVER explained. You are just meant to accept it and move on with the plot. If I'm just getting the plot thrown at me and nothing's really developing, I end up frustrated.
Everyone in this book needs therapy. They are messed up and some are just stupid. Half the conflict in this could have been solved by talking to people...
Will I pick up the next book?
Yes. Because it's Damon's Story. And what we've seen about it in this book as he is a very prevalent side character in this book, intrigued me that I want to find out what is going on in his fucked up mind. But I'm not sure when because right now, Hide Away has left a sour taste in my mouth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault
Minor: Animal cruelty