Hideway - Penelope Douglas

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 book #2 in the Devil's Night series by author Penelope Douglas. It is a romantic suspense published in 2017, and a continuation of the events that began with Corrupt. It can also be read as a standalone but is much richer when read in order and with its fellow pre and sequels. Hideaway is also told in alternating POVs and recounts the story of Banks and Kai. As in the first installment, Hideaway's main characters have known each other since before jailtime happened. The story interweaves future and past events, through a series of flashbacks. Banks is a tomboy. Emotionally abused, with a need to prove herself and a grudge to hold. Kai is a fallen hero of japanese origins who holds honor and family above all and is struggling to regain one and keep the other safe.

She has feelings for Kai but her love for the other guy is binding. Kai is oblivious to why and jealous af. I feel like in some parts of the story the pacing is a little slow, but I like the depth of both characters. Banks has not had it easy and it's interesting to be inside her mind and see how she thinks everything through. I also liked the decisiveness of Kai. He knew what he wanted and he reached a point where he took no prisoners. Additionally, I liked that he cared about his parents and he struggled to reach their expectations, I feel like it's easy to relate to that. I think that, of all the Horsemen, he was the more mellow. He took things serious even when he needed that escape during Devil's Night. It was an impossible predicament they both found themselves in and I liked that it wasn't easy.

All in all, this kept building the playground for Damon's story. The energy, the chemistry, that uncomfortable pea beneath my bed when I read this... it was all there. As with the previous book, I also liked the relationships between all the characters and how Douglas managed to make them rough to start but built to endure. The story is full of suspense and thrill and loyalty issues. You know what I loved most, though? Those scenes in the confessional... talk about vulnerability and raw honesty. *swoon* The story keeps getting better with this Devil's Night series. I give this particular installment four inconspicuous stars.