My first book by this author, and my first book similar to this & I AM HOOKED! Like hook line and suckerrrrr! This book is an amazing read!!

I absolutely loved this book. The characters were very developed and I was invested from the beginning.

I think that the plot began quite slowly and I struggled going back and forth to the flashbacks to 1881, but as I got further into the story I did appreciate the plot and character building Shalini Boland provided.

Present timeline we follow Maddy, Maddy is your typical angsty teen. She does come with trauma and baggage. She feels like nothing is going right in her life, that is until one day everything changes.

Then there is Alexandre from Paris in 1881, he was younger, single and handsome. We follow him as he embarks on an expedition to dig up and discover cursed accident catacombs.

I believe I’m a bit older than the target demographic of the book, while it has a nice slow romance and vampire fantasy.

Due to the main character's age and the way she behaves and dialogue I had a hard time staying with the story but as a young adult that this is aimed towards I would say it has the teen drama and angst and feel the writing is perfect for its aimed audience.

Would I recommend this book? Yes, I would. It is a great read and enjoyable if you are the target audience or you don’t mind the teen angst and drama.

This is something new from Shalini Poland that I've really enjoyed reading; it hooks you in and keeps you there. I enjoyed the dual timeline and the aspect of the foster/ family relationship and I would definitely recommend!!

This was quite a different take in the YA vampire romance novel.

While I think that readers who go into this seeking predominantly a romance story may be slightly disappointed (the romance arc itself happens quite late in the book, and I personally thought it could have used some more space to develop and build chemistry between the two leads), this book had a lot of intriguing things to keep you going. The choice to write this story in a dual timeline really helped getting to know the characters and their circumstances better, and particularly Alexandre's arc is fascinating, vivid and very-well described. I think the world-building is very thoughtful and there's a lot of commendable attention to detail.
Oh, and that ending was very well done, quite unexpected!

Wow this was brilliant. A complete departure from what I usually read however I loved Twilight so had to give this a go and I am really happy I did. Absolutely brilliant!

Sixteen year old Maddie and her brother, 12 year old Ben Greene, have known instability ever since their mum died when they were younger and they both ended up in the care system. The only saving grace is that Maddie has fought tooth and nail to make sure her and Ben are never split up, she tries her best to look after her little brother but struggles. On Maddie’s 17th birthday everything changes for her and Ben when a solicitor seeks her out and informs her that a long-lost relative has left a very impressive inheritance for her and her brother. Maddie and Ben suddenly inherit 61 million pounds and their lives change for the better in seconds. The only clause to getting the money is that they both must move into the huge house in Gloucestershire and live there for 40 weeks of the year. Initially Maddie is reluctant to move but recognises that this is life changing and falls in love with the house the moment she sees it. Ben and her move in and start to explore and learn about the house however when Maddie ventures down in to the locked cellar she encounters 5 large crates and lots of artifacts from years gone by. Curiosity gets the better of her and when she opens one of the crates, she finds the most perfectly preserved young man, Alex. When Alex awakens, once again, everything Maddie thought she knew shifts and her and Ben are plunged into a very different and very deadly world.

Wow, wow WOW! This book broke my star rating!! Up until now my highest rating was 5 stars but this book has now earnt a 5 star + as I just felt 5 stars really wasn’t enough!

I was really nervous starting it as I had read the preview and I really wanted to enjoy this but I shouldn’t have worried as it was absolutely enthralling. I warmed to Maddie very early on and just wanted to give her a big hug, she is a brilliant character, feisty but also vulnerable and a great big sister but I also loved the character of Alex too and think they are perfect together. I was blown away by the descriptions of both Marchwood House and also Turkey/ Cappadocia, so detailed and really set the atmosphere well. I would definitely agree with the review I read that said this was like Twilight meets Dracula, there was horror around how Alex and his family became vampires and yet I couldn’t stop reading to find out what happened. However, I do feel the horror was nicely combined with some romance and also at times, comedy, especially from Maddie.

It really has been a very long while since a book has made me feel like how this book made me feel, the last one that made me feel like this was The Discovery of Witches back in 2018! I was fascinated and mesmerised with Hidden.

Overall, I devoured this book, I was captivated, entranced and a little bit horrified but would highly recommend this for anyone who likes the Twilight/ Dracula/ Discovery of Witches/ Vampire genre. I’m so excited to carry on my journey into Maddie, Alex and Ben’s lives. Wholly deserved 5+ stars, I can’t recommend this enough.

Thank you to NetGalley, Shalini Boland and Second Sky for my advanced reading copy. Out on the 21st March 2023.

I had to DNF at 50 pages, here are some of the reasons

- the FMC is unlikeable and honestly a brat from page 1
- none of the dialogue is believable
- the line ‘I consider anyone over the age of 20 to be old’
- 17 year old FMC suddenly comes into a lot of money from a relative that died over 100 years ago who had no living relatives to give the money to until her and her brother despite them being able to show her an extensive family tree.
- tries to force sympathy for FMC by making the adults outlandishly mean
- time jumps to 1881 Paris while the rest of the book is modern day England. The dialogue is not believable for that era and there are several things mentioned which were not present in that timeframe - things I checked with a 5 minute Google check
- FMC refers to her Scottish teacher as Haggis behind her back and this doesn’t sit right.

I honestly don’t know if I’m too old for the book but the fact this is a republish and this has been through editing twice is really something.

I think for me, this one is a mix of me being a bit older than the target demographic and the clunky, overbearing way this author has written the book.

Heavy, over descriptive monologues and paragraphs are shoved down our throats from the word go and they don’t ease up. Usually this can be saved by a dual POV, and while Alexander’s POV was refreshing in comparison to Madisons, the writing style just let it down for me.

And honestly, as a Scottish person, nicknaming someone Haggis behind their back isn’t an insult. It’s just stupid. Then again, the main character is a newly seventeen year old, so maturity wasn’t winning in this story anyway.

I was hoping for Vampire Academy vibes but this just didn’t deliver unfortunately.

Madison Greene and her brother Ben are two foster kids who inherit Marchwood House. Downstairs in the basement is a hidden locked door she discovers. She busts the door open and finds Alex, a centuries old vampire who is also the hottest guy she’s ever seen. Sparks fly and love is in the air but their romance is soon to be tested because men are hunting Alex.
This book was a really good read. It is the first book in a 3 book series. I can’t wait to read the others. Thanks NetGalley and Second Sky for this ARC that will be released March 21, 2023!

Thank you NetGalley and Second Sky for providing me with an eARC of Hidden in return for my honest opinion.

At first I thought that the plot started quite slow and I wasn't loving the flash backs to 1881, but as I got further into the story I actually really appreciated the character and story building Shalini Boland provides the reader. I love a dual POV so really enjoyed reading the story from Madison and Alexandre's perspective, I felt that it made me connect to them and their stories more as a ready. making them enjoyable, and at time relatable, characters.

It's been a moment since I've read a story with vampires and boy did this story through me back into my Twilight era. I quickly became pretty obsessed with the plot of this book and struggled to put it down.. Next minute it was 4am in the morning and I'd finished the book in less than 24 hours. I loved that it was not only a romance fantasy, but also "found family" for Madison and Ben. These two have been through so much in their short lives and it really add layers to the story and sets up the reader to be rooting for them to find their happy ending.

Hidden is a new take on Vampire romance fantasy and Boland just does not miss with this book. It kept me on the edge of my set, always wanting more and, at times, truly terrified! Cannot wait to read the rest of the Vampires of Marchwood book, Boland has me completely hooked!

Thank you to Net Galley and Shalini Boland for an ebook in exchange for an honest review!

Rating: 3/5

I enjoyed this book! It was different than other vampire books, and kept me on my toes. It was a tad confusing - but enjoyable nonetheless!

Hidden
In this book we follow 2 people in 2 different times like.
In the present we follow Maddy. Maddy is your typical moody teenager, but with a lot of baggage. She didn't trust him in and is always down on her luck, and oh yeah to add to it she's a foster kid. Her offer was going down hill, she just got expelled from school for a week, her foster parents are mad, and she feels like nothing is going right in her life, that is until one day everything changes.
We also follow Alexandre from Paris in 1881, he is a young and handsome bachelor, but his looks do land him in some trouble at times. We follow him as he goes on a family expedition to turkey to dig up and discover cursed accident catacombs which part was accidently found. The whole village there does not want to go anywhere near the sight, and talks of doom and bad things, but Alexandres family doesn't listen and want to discover this ancient site and what it has to offer.
The book was amazing, it kept me hooked, the dramatic twists and events that happened, and the romance and mystery, I loved every second of it, I can't wait to read the next too books and see where they take me

As a fan of vampire novels, I was intrigued by Shalini Bolan's Hidden. The story follows Madison Greene, an orphaned teenager who unexpectedly finds she has inherited a fortune. However, that fortune has one stipulation: she and her younger brother have to live in the mansion they also inherited. Luckily, the house is perfect, at least until Madison discovers a set of dusty boxes in the basement. Five of them, with beautiful people inside, one of whom bites her. Thus starts a classic vampire novel.

Throughout, the world-building is decent, but the characters could have been more complex. While I appreciated the lack of teenage angst that is often a part of this genre, I would have liked more relationship-building scenes between the two main characters.

In the long run, Hidden is a decent vampire novel that will appeal to fans of the genre.

Big thanks to NetGalley for the free Arc <3

Hidden brings you to two very different eras: the late 1800s where you follow Frenchman Alexandre and his family during an archeological expedition, and the 2020s where you’ll follow a rebellious 17 y.o. Madison, who lives with her brother at her foster parents’ house. As you can imagine, they will meet under the strangest circumstances 🧛‍♂️

This book surprised me! The characters may not be anything out of the ordinary, but they are realistic and come with enough layers to make them interesting. The same goes for how the story unfolds. As it is centered on a pretty girl encountering a handsome vampire in a teenager’s body, you’ll be right to think that you’ll get romance…
BUT in Hidden case, what S. Boland proposes goes beyond what you’d typically expect, with some hilarious scenes and quite a bit of action :)

The tale ends with a huge cliffhanger that definitely made me want more! I look forward to reading #2.

It’s been many years since I read a vampire romance novel and I had forgotten how much I enjoyed them. This is a light hearted love story between an orphaned young lady and a vampire awoken after being asleep for a hundred years.

This is the first of a series and the cast of characters, both human and vampire, is interesting and easy to read. Set in modern day and as an alternate timeline many years before in the late 1880’s.

Will be if interest to a YA audience and those who enjoy this genre.

Thanks to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

A different take on the genre.

Well written and quite enjoyable and yes, I wanted to see what would happen to the characters and would certainly read the next in the series.

Okay. First of all, publishers need to stop comparing bad books to great authors. This is not the first time they've done it to me, and it really ticks me off when they are absolutely nothing alike.

1.5 stars

I can't do it. I just can't. This book is terrible. I rounded up only because I barely made it to 40% before having to quit, and one star seemed a tad unfair. So this book gets the honor of being the second one I've ever given up on. I was bored of of my ever loving mind and I absolutely HATED the main character, Maddy. Seriously, this read like it was written by a teenager writing out her fantasies. Okay, that's not totally fair. What I had managed to get thru was actually written like two separate stories. Maddy's and Alexandre. Where Maddy's story was anger inducing in its unbelievable ridiculousness, Alex's was so overly detailed and exceedingly boring. I skimmed the hell out of his chapters and it didn't make a damn difference.

So yeah. Maddy is the reason I can't do this. While I don't know what kids in foster care go thru, her attitude really had me not giving a damn what happened to her. And I'll tell you why this read like some teenage fantasy to me. The day Maddy turns 17 this random dude shows up to tell her that her and her brother are the only beneficiaries of some uber rich dude that died a long time ago. They get more money than they'll ever spend, a ton of land, and a mansion that they must live in to claim. Then this random dude says that he'll pay off their foster parents so that the government won't know that these two minors are now living on their own. And Maddy won't have to go back to school either. One of the very first things Maddy does after moving is to throw an unbelievably huge party where she has no idea who most of the people are, and the majority of them are underage and getting drunk. I called a quits when she has her new friend in town take her shopping for a 4x4 vehicle despite the fact that, not only does she not have a license, but she's never driven ever before. I'm sorry, she's just too goddamn stupid for me to waste my time reading more of.

Honestly, I don't even care that I never made it to the point where the two stories meet because I can't see it making this any better. And maybe the next books are good, they do have a better rating than this one, but, again, I don't care. I really did try here, but the author failed and I'm not gonna waste any more of my time.

My name is Madison Greene. On my sixteenth birthday, I inherited an old mansion and wealth beyond my wildest dreams. I thought it was a joke, but as I step through the creaking door of the sprawling building, I realise my life in foster care is in the past. I’ve been chosen and my world has changed forever.

But I wasn’t told that Marchwood House hides a secret.

I'm not sure what I expected from this book but this was not it. I absolutely loved the first half with dual time periods and vastly different lifestyles. Then the story just slowed down and took awhile for anything exciting to take place. I was a little disappointed in Madison's character development but am hoping for redemption in book 2.

I do recommend for lovers of slow burn romance and vampires. I am fully committed to read the entire series.

Thank you to @netgalley and @secondskybooks for giving me the opportunity to give my honest review of this book.

Hidden by Shalini Boland.
Vampires of Marchwood Book 1.
My name is Madison Greene. On my sixteenth birthday, I inherited an old mansion and wealth beyond my wildest dreams. I thought it was a joke, but as I step through the creaking door of the sprawling building, I realise my life in foster care is in the past. I’ve been chosen and my world has changed forever.But I wasn’t told that Marchwood House hides a secret.
Omg. I loved it. Couldn't put it down. I did find it slow to begin with. But it soon became unputdownable. Can't wait for next book. 5*.

This book was a little hit and miss for me.
I really enjoyed the vampire storyline and I really liked Alexandre's character. I feel if the entire book was about him and his experiences, I would have devoured it and been hungry for more.
I really couldn't connect with Maddy's character and there was a lot about her storyline that just wasn't believable and that, for me, slowed the pace of the book and dampened the enjoyment overall.
The ending was good and completely unexpected and I may keep an eye out for the next book in the series for this reason, however, I wouldn't read this book again in the future.
I would recommend this book if you enjoy vampire books with teen angst but don't come looking for an apology when Madison annoys you too.
(Full review on Goodreads @ToriJaneReads)