Hideaway

[b:Hideaway 29082755 Hideaway (Devil's Night, #2) Penelope Douglas https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1495731109l/29082755.SX50.jpg 49314977]Hardcore Horsemen Fan Oh my, what a delicious ride Hideaway is. An epic dark romance, filled with surprises and suspense. This much anticipated next chapter to the consuming Devil's Night series was so worth the wait. Diving more into Kai's world, and the mystery of Banks, will have you up till late hours of the night, devouring this story, and for me, loving these books and this group of characters even more. Kai Mori never thought the threats from the past were buried, not with Damon still out there. He fears more than the others, that he will be back and that the Horseman and their closest friends need to watch out and be prepared for the darkness that is coming their way. If you have not read book one stop here and go read Corrupt Right NOW! When Kai tries to make a deal with the devil himself, Damon's father Gabriel, he never expected to run into Banks, the girl he could not get out of his mind from six years ago. Banks has also watched Kai from a far for years now, always wanting what she knew she could never have with him. Banks finds herself confused, pulled in two different directions. Her loyalty to Damon, which is all she knows. Finding him and keeping him safe is what she needs to do. But then there is Kai, who she tries to keep at a distant, and not give into temptation whenever he is near. He could ruin everything she is been working for. Kai is a bit of a mystery, a good guy, who does not see that about himself. Kai feels he must hide a lot of who he is, the darker parts, his needs and thoughts, things to dark, he feels, for some to handle if they saw the real him. Banks seems to be his beautiful compliment in a partner there is enough of dark and light to make a beautiful Ying-Yang.I enjoyed the first book and this follow-up kept me on my toes. Getting to know Kai and be introduced to Banks was a great addition to the storyline. Their history was bittersweet, and their eventual reunion and getting to finish what they started, was super-HOT!! Penelope Douglas's writing is addicting. Hideaway was intense, a perfect blend of scary, sexy, and it left me craving so much more in this wild world of the Horsemen. I am slowly becoming a Penelope Douglas super fan and I love every minute of it. I loved being able to get almost a behind the curtain look at Damon and Banks and their dynamic and I loved how the story progresses beautifully to a point making the reader beg for book three.

I definitely enjoyed this more than Corrupt, since I really dislike Michael and Rika as characters, and I was really interested in reading Kai's story. However, this ended up being more of a 3.5 star read for me - while I liked reading from Kai and Banks' perspectives a lot, and I did feel like the plot moved pretty quickly and was a fun read, there are a couple things holding me back from really loving the book.

While it makes sense considering Damon's relationship to Banks that a lot of her backstory involved him as well, a lot of the story, both past and present, just ended up feeling like it was setting up for the next book. Since I was excited to read Kai's story, I honestly felt like at times, that aspect took away from learning more about him and developing the romance. Considering that I didn't find that to be an issue at all in Corrupt (except for that scene in the sauna feeling quite random and obviously added to set up this book) I found it a bit frustrating that I barely felt like I knew Kai as a character by the end of this book. I also found that the romance wasn't super convincing a lot of the time (though there were a few scenes I really did like between them) and there was a lot of telling, but not showing, the connection between Kai and Banks.

I also found that the whole arranged marriage plot ended up feeling pretty rushed and unsatisfying IMO. There was so much build-up to that, and then we even got a hint that Kai might have been interested in Vanessa when she was introduced, and then the whole plot was just dropped almost immediately? There was also a weird offhand comment from Banks about Vanessa not being who Kai thinks she is, or something? It just felt like that plot thread was kinda left hanging, and I found it weird in terms of the pacing.

Despite all of that, I did breeze through the book, and still found it to be a really fun read! I've heard so many good things about Kill Switch, so I'm excited to continue the series.