Title: Hideaway
Author: Penelope Douglas
Genre: Romance
Rating: 4/5

Kai refuses to rest until he finally puts an end to Damon once and for all. His actions can’t go unpunished. While enacting his plan, Kai comes face to face with the girl who turned his world upside down in high school, Banks. Banks is attracted to Kai’s mysterious side, however she has a secret of her own that she is hiding. The two must decide what is more important, being with the person you love, or letting your secrets go.

“You make me feel driven. You make me hungry and on fire and wanting to slow down time instead of wanting to rush through it. It’s you I look for when I walk in the doors in the morning. Not her. You.”

This book is the second book in the Corrupt series. Hideaway follows the same characters (Michael, Rika, Kai, Will, and Damon) with Kai being the protagonist. The book was nowhere near as good as the first one, Corrupt, but it was still entertaining. Kai was one of my favorite characters in the first book so I was excited to see how his story played out.

“The less you know, the more you fear, so go learn more.”

One of the biggest strengths of this book was its ability to tell a mystery and keep the readers guessing. From the start of the book, you are trying to figure out where Damon is and when he will show up in the story. There were several suspenseful moments that I thought he would turn up and didn’t. Penelope Douglas created an interesting mystery that helped the readers feel the unease that Kai and the others were feeling. 

I also really liked the fact that Penelope Douglas made Banks out to be a tough girl who hid in boys clothing. This changed up her usual narrative of the girly girl playing as one of the main characters. It also made the romance between Banks and Kai more exciting because I was sort of waiting for that Cinderella moment where she walks down the stairs and everyone is shocked at her transformation. Everyone loves a good glow up story.

“He protected me. Took me away from my mother, kept my father away from me. And if anyone ever try to hurt me he hurt them worse.”

The only weakness that this book holds is that the mystery that Kai is hiding ends up being pretty lackluster. With all the build up and suspense, I was preparing for an earth shattering twist but was left disappointed. However, the rest of the book was flawless as I would expect from a Penelope Douglas book.