Hidden

May 1, 2013
Angels bring bad tidings in this teen paranormal pastiche. Violet-eyed, luxurious-haired, horseback-riding, rich, home-schooled Ebony Hawkins has a hard time fitting into her Australian high school. Strict parents, new superpowers and an interdimensional war for her affection just make things more awkward. After Ebony runs into Jordan Blake at a nightclub, they find themselves inexplicably linked. Ebony begins to question her origins, while Jordan works to forget his hard-luck life and the friend who fatally stabs him shortly after his meeting with Ebony. When Thane, an angel from the world of Avena revives Jordan and recruits him to look for a long-missing girl, Ebony finds herself torn between Thane, Jordan and the dark Luca. Ebony's uniqueness and desirability is rooted in her foreseen power and magical potential rather than any inherent quality--though free will is prized, Ebony is a pawn. Beyond the unoriginal angelic element and trite romantic tension, the story suffers from inconsistent worldbuilding, arbitrary changes in superpowers, unbelievably dense characters and tin-eared dialogue. Narrative ping-ponging (in the present tense, natch) between Ebony and Jordan results in rehashed material and telegraphed plot points, with little resolution--with two more years to fight for Ebony's love, the boys will battle again during inevitable sequels. Another tempestuous supernatural romance for fans of Twilight-fare, but readers looking for an original or coherent story will have to seek elsewhere. (Paranormal romance. 12 & up)

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December 1, 2013

Gr 8 Up-In this romantic but predictable paranormal novel set in Australia, Ebony, 16, discovers that her whole life has been a lie. Being homeschooled and living in a remote valley, she hasn't realized how different she is until she enters a public high school. She stands out not only because of her violet eyes, but also because she's stronger and faster and has keener senses than her classmates. Also, she's developing strange bumps and little feathers on her shoulder blades. Her fate is tied to that of unlucky foster teen Jordan, also 16. Through their alternate narrations, readers learn her identity before she does. A memorable meeting between Jordan and Ebony at a party escalates into a fight between Jordan and his former best friend, Adam. Just as Jordan is about to die from a stab wound, Prince Thane and Isaac, angels from Avena, offer to save his life if he helps them find a kidnapped angel named Ebrielle, brought to Earth as an infant by their enemy, angel Luca, the Dark Prince. Jordan and Ebrielle were born at the same moment, making her his Guardian angel, and that's why they feel such a strong connection. But that's nothing compared to Ebony's weak-in-the-knees reaction to seeing Thane for the first time. Then there's the Dark Prince, who believes Ebony is destined to be his queen. It's not a love triangle, it's a love quadrilateral! The characters, with the exception of Jordan, are so underdeveloped and one-dimensional that it's hard to care about them and their problems, romantic or otherwise. The explanation for how she came to be adopted as a baby is so far-fetched, even Ebony calls it baloney, and that's true for other aspects of the story as well.-Sharon Rawlins, New Jersey State Library, Trenton

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