{Review} Hideaway (Devil's Night #2) by Penelope Douglas (@PenDouglas)

DEVIL'S NIGHT is returning! Hiding places, chases, and all the games are back... 

BANKS

Buried in the shadows of the city, there’s a hotel called The Pope. Ailing, empty, and dark—it sits abandoned and surrounded by a forgotten mystery.

But you think it’s true, don’t you, Kai Mori? The story about the hidden twelfth floor. The mystery of the dark guest who never checked in and never checks out. You think I can help you find that secret hideaway and get to him, don’t you?

You and your friends can try to scare me. You can try to push me. Because even though I struggle to hide everything I feel when you look at me—and have ever since I was a girl—I think maybe what you seek is so much closer than you’ll ever realize.

I will never betray him.

So sit tight.

On Devil’s Night, the hunt will be coming to you.

KAI

You have no idea what I seek, Little One. You don’t know what I had to become to survive three years in prison for a crime I would gladly commit again.

No one can know what I’ve turned into.

I want that hotel, I want to find him, and I want this over.

I want my life back.

But the more I’m around you, the more I realize this new me is exactly who I was meant to be.

So come on, kid. Don’t chicken out. My house is on the hill. So many ways in, and good luck finding your way out.

I’ve seen your hideaway. Time to see mine.

*Hideaway is a romantic suspense suitable for ages 18+. While the romance is a stand-alone, the plot is a continuation of events that began in CORRUPT (Devil's Night, #1). It is strongly recommended that you have read Corrupt prior to reading this.*

​Banks only wants to be known by her last name.  There’s only ever been two people who called her by her given name and one of those is Damon.
 
She hides behind baggy clothes so no one will ever mistake her for a victim and she can play hardball in business with the most feared men in the city, but there is one man who captured her heart years ago and even if she still can’t forget the feel of his hands on her, she’s going to protect her family no matter the cost.

​“So, what do you like to watch?” she asked.

“Huh?” She changed the subject again. She was moving a mile a minute, and I was having a hard time keeping up.

“In your confession, you said you like to watch. Watch what?”

I chewed the corner of my mouth, hesitant. “I think you know,” I replied, caging. “Figure it out, big girl.”

She laughed for the first time. It was this perfect, innocent sound, and my hands hummed with the urge to touch her all of a sudden.

“And what if I like to watch, too?” she teased. “Show me with your words.”

“I can’t.” I looked down, embarrassed despite myself.

“Please,” she asked again, her voice dropping to a whisper, and I swore I could feel the heat of her breath on my face. “Talk to me. Tell me what you don’t tell anyone else.”

​Kai Mori is the Horseman with a soul. Six years ago on Devil’s Night, a young girl caught a glimpse at the beauty that lies just under the surface and it changed both of their lives forever.
 
Now he’s playing a dangerous game of hide and seek where the stakes are dangerously high.  If he loses, he forfeits his freedom.  But if he wins, he takes it all – including her.

My face was starting to crack and my chin trembled, but I tightened every muscle I could muster, keeping the tears at bay.

“Look at me,” he whispered as Rika stood close but looked away. “Look at me.”

I didn’t.

“I like you,” he told me. “I want you in my house. I want to see you in my bed. I don’t want to not see you every day. Be with me tonight.”

But I couldn’t. I couldn’t be with him for anything more than stolen moments.
​
For one simple reason.

​Hideaway wasn’t at all what I expected it to be.  It was far more haunting to me than its predecessor. Although still raw and full of jagged edges, Penelope humanizes each of her characters in a way that speaks directly to the soul. 

​She never lets up and never lets go – not even in the end – and it’s that swooping feeling in the pit of my stomach that makes reading this series something extraordinary…

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