M. Lathan

3.5

Hidden has a great twist on the paranormal. Humans know about them, but believe there are no long any magic kind alive.

I liked Leah's character for the most part. The poor girl has always believed she's a monster. She has never had friends, and when she's thrown into a house with four other people, she's not sure how she's supposed to act. Leah seems to take everything in pretty well, besides being scared out of her mind that Lydia Shaw is going to find her. The only thing I didn't like abut Leah is she doesn't let anyone know what's going on with her. She always says she's going to tell the truth, but never does. That was the one flaw I found. Leah does act like normal teen girls. She's confused, and doesn't know what she's supposed to do. Especially when it comes to a certain boy. I also liked the other characters, but I would rather you form your own opinion about them. And anything I might say about them here could possibly tell some of the story.

The storyline was slow in some parts, but I think that has to do with helping Leah try to adjust to things. There are also some major plot twists. I'm usually pretty good at predicting what's going to happen or any twists there may be, and found myself with my jaw dropping at some parts. It's fun being put back into the life of a teenager with zero social experience. Okay, maybe not fun, maybe interesting to be put back in those awkward situations, and getting butterflies, and all that jazz.

If you're looking for a fun read, I definitely suggest this one. I'm interested to see how things go int sequel, Lost.… (més)

This is a fascinating tale of Leah (Christine) who is a orphan but has powers of a witch. She is bullied and taught that all the witches were destroyed. As she gets bullied, she prays that she doesn’t use her powers against them because she really wants to hurt her bullies. Leah is a shy anti-social young lady who has low self esteem and one day she is taken to houses that have other witches. Here she begins to come out of her shell. She starts to feel welcome and make friends even gets a boyfriend. Nathan is so swoonworthy and patient and kind to Leah.

Just as Leah starts to feel oriented and all is right we see that not everything is as it seems. The landscape of knowledge changes everytime Leah turns around and she doesn’t know what is real and what is not.

The book takes a while to really get you hooked and there are some areas that are blurry about what is happening but overall a wonderful read.… (més)

Find out why I gave this book an A- and more at PopCrunchBoom!

With Hidden by M. Lathan, I was anxiously awaiting to delve into Leah's story and find out what dangerous adventures she'd be getting into while on the run from these hunters. Although I was excited, I wasn't expecting this read to be as good as it was--a nice surprise for me!

The story did start of slow, a slight draw back for me as a reader. The first chapter had a lot of background information which could have been spread out a little bit more over the beginning chapters. It took me a few pages to fall into the main character's mindset with the first person narrative, but once I was there the story was smooth sailing. The story really picked up when Leah fled the orphanage.


Once Leah leaves, we are introduce to new characters that are a lot more interesting than the annoying girl group that harassed Leah while at the orphanage. With these new characters we find mystery and intrigue, a love interest, and more supernatural happenings. Leah begins to learn who she is (aka Christine), what she can do, and that she isn't alone in the exterminated-witch-world.


Lathan really creates a great group of sub-characters to help move along the plot. As a reader, I look for the chemistry between characters like a movie-critic looks for the chemistry between actors. If a supporting character is written well, it makes the story so much better. Each of these new supporting characters sheds light into a different piece of the puzzle; whether it be in helping Leah/Christine discover who she is, helping her come-out of her shell, or giving her an enemy to work off of.


As you can tell, Hidden is a novel of self-discovery and growth for the main character. We see her evolution into a stronger female lead as the story ends. But, the novel also has its twists. These supernatural twists are what drew me into loving this story. The mystery behind who Leah was and the sup-plot from her family history were great attention holders. The suspense of trying to stay hidden while hunters were after her and the added introduction to a new enemy also kept the action prevalent. Her budding romance with a certain supernatural male hottie didn't hurt either! (I am a sucker for YA romance after all). What I really thought Lathan pulled off well was the interwoven supernatural world with the "real" world. She made it believable and believablity is key!


Overall, I really enjoyed this YA paranormal novel. Lathan did a great job creating a mystery-filled supernatural story--one that I think has the potential to be quite popular. Her plot twists centered around who Leah's family history and supernatural talents made the story the unique and entertaining find that it was. I know I can't wait to delve into the second book of the series Lost!… (més)