Book Review | Hidden by Helen Frost

If you weren’t aware, Lost in Pages hasn’t always been Lost in Pages. Before Katie and I decided we wanted to blog together, this was Fictional Living, my own personal blog. As Katie and I hate to see reviews go to waste, we decided to start reposting some of my old reviews, to make sure they are still up for readers to view. So don’t be alarmed if it says you’ve already liked this post, or it seems like you’ve read it before. We are just pulling them from drafts with a new look. Enjoy!

“None of it was our fault.”

Hidden is one of the hundreds of books I have randomly put in my cart when BookOutlet was having a massive sale. It looked interesting and it was probably less than 2 dollars.

It’s also one of those books I picked up off my shelf as a palette cleanser, something to get me out of my post-ACOMAF funk.

I must say, Hidden was probably one of my better cheap and random choices. It’s short, taking just a couple hours to read it, and it’s interesting in a way that goes beyond plot.

Not to say the plot isn’t interesting. The storyline of a girl being accidentally kidnapped, escaping, and later meeting her kidnapper’s daughter at camp, is quite unique. But it’s Frost’s storytelling and stylization that really steals the show.

The book is told in alternating POV chapters between both girls, and the voices are so different between them. Beyond voices though, Frost gives each character their own style of writing. Wren is written in free verse and Darra has a unique writing style that Frost invented for this book, (which I will elaborate on in just a second).

Even if you aren’t one for alternating POV’s (let’s be honest, Divergent might have ruined that for a lot of us), Frost really created a distinction between each character that is undeniable. There isn’t much of a chance of getting them confused.

Now about that special writing style Frost created. In the back of the book is a “notes on form” page that gives light to this stylization. After reading the book (and I recommend reading it completely first) you can go back through Darra’s story and the “last words of the long lines, when reading down the right side of the page” tell their own story. So although you get more of Wren’s story in the plot, this little stylization gives you more of Darra that you might have been craving.

As I was writing this review I actually changed my rating from a 4.5 to a 5 because I was realizing just how brilliant Frost is. You don’t need a long novel to build a story. I think she created something beautiful. I wholeheartedly recommend this book. It will take you less than a day to read it, so pick it up. I feel like it needs more love.