The Curvy Bookworm

I had never heard of Sheridan Anne before coming across a clip about Hide and Seek on Instagram, but I was immediately intrigued.

I started reading it at around nine o’clock one evening and fully intended to read a few chapters before going to sleep.

That did not happen.

Instead, I sacrificed a perfectly good night’s rest because I needed to know what was going on. Was the stalker real, or was everything happening inside the main character’s head?

Obviously, I’m not going to give away the answer, but the mystery was more than enough to keep me reading.

A quick content warning

Hide and Seek is a dark adult romance with explicit sexual content, stalking themes and a taboo step-uncle and step-niece relationship.

It also explores emotionally difficult family dynamics and contains situations that may be uncomfortable for some readers.

This is definitely one to check the full trigger warnings for before starting.

My thoughts

The opening of this book had me completely hooked.

There is an immediate sense that something is wrong, but it is difficult to tell what is real, what might be imagined and who can actually be trusted.

That uncertainty worked really well. It created enough tension that even when the story began to drag slightly towards the end, I still needed to finish it.

The mystery surrounding the stalker was easily the strongest part of the book for me. I kept changing my mind about what was happening, and I wanted answers badly enough to keep reading long past the point when I should have been asleep.

A confident main character

One thing I really liked was how confident the main character is in herself and her sexuality.

There is a lot of sex in this book, and she is very open about enjoying it. She knows what she wants and does not spend the story feeling ashamed of herself for wanting it.

It was refreshing to read about a headstrong woman who is comfortable in her own skin and capable of making her own decisions.

Her confidence also helps balance some of the darker elements of the story. She does not feel passive, even when the situation around her becomes increasingly frightening.

I think there’s one scene that many people will enjoy which is when she catches her step-uncle in the shower and he’s *ahem* taking care of himself. She chooses to keep watching rather than immediately look away. When he realises she is there, he steps out and tells her to kneel.

It is bold, tense and completely unapologetic. The scene captures both her confidence and the power dynamic between them, while making it very clear what kind of spice level readers should expect from the rest of the book.

The step-uncle and step-niece trope

The step-uncle and step-niece dynamic is another trope I never expected to find particularly interesting.

Honestly, I don’t think it added much to the story for me.

I can understand why it was included, because it gives the two characters a reason to be around each other and adds an extra layer of secrecy and taboo to their relationship.

However, I kept thinking that he could simply have been a detective assigned to her case instead. That would still have brought him into her life without needing the family connection.

The trope did not ruin the book for me, but it was not something that made the romance more appealing either.

The family drama

Her mother annoyed me almost immediately.

I struggled to understand why she behaved the way she did at the beginning, particularly when her daughter was clearly going through something serious. Some of her decisions felt so frustrating that I wanted to reach into the book and shake her.

I did appreciate the moment when the brother finally stood up for his sister.

However, it probably would have felt more powerful if the main character had still been there to hear it. By the time he said what needed to be said, she had already left the scene, which slightly reduced the impact for me.

Still, after spending so long being frustrated by the family dynamic, it was satisfying to see somebody finally defend her.

Where the pacing struggled

Although I was hooked for most of the book, it did begin to drag slightly towards the end.

There are sections with a lot of description and internal thought, and I found myself skipping over some of the text to get back to the action.

I also noticed one chapter where a paragraph begins with something like “the door started to open”, followed by the main character’s thoughts, only for the next paragraph to begin with “the door started to open” again.

It was probably just an editing oversight, but it distracted me.

The door could not realistically keep opening throughout the entirety of her inner monologue. At some point, somebody needed to finish walking through it.

It is a small detail, but once I noticed it, I could not unnotice it.

That ending

I am not a huge fan of cliffhangers.

I understand why authors use them, particularly in a series, but there is something deeply frustrating about reaching the end of a book only to realise you have been left with even more questions.

That said, the ending absolutely worked on me.

I will definitely be reading the next book because I need to know what happens. Thankfully, the next instalment is already available online, because I would have been considerably less forgiving if I had been left waiting months for it.

My final verdict

Hide and Seek was addictive, spicy and full of enough uncertainty to keep me reading until far too late at night.

I loved the central mystery and the confidence of the main character, and I was genuinely invested in discovering whether the threat against her was real.

The book did drag in places, and the amount of description occasionally slowed the story down. The taboo family trope also did not add much for me personally.

However, it still delivered a gripping reading experience and ended in a way that made continuing the series feel unavoidable.

My verdict: An addictive and extremely spicy dark romance with a gripping mystery, a confident heroine and a cliffhanger designed to ruin your sleep.