These Things Hidden in Once Upon a Twilight blog

Jan 06, 2011 Cynthia Lopez rated it really liked it

After reading the synopsis for These Things Hidden I knew I wanted to read it, it was intriguing, and sounded very intense. I thought it was going to be a young adult novel which is pretty much all I ever read but it wasn't, it was more of an adult novel or a much older YA. When I figured out that it wasn't YA I immediately thought I wouldn't like it because I haven't read adult novels in quite a while, but I was wrong, because this book captured my attention from the first fifty pages.

The stor After reading the synopsis for These Things Hidden I knew I wanted to read it, it was intriguing, and sounded very intense. I thought it was going to be a young adult novel which is pretty much all I ever read but it wasn't, it was more of an adult novel or a much older YA. When I figured out that it wasn't YA I immediately thought I wouldn't like it because I haven't read adult novels in quite a while, but I was wrong, because this book captured my attention from the first fifty pages.

The story focuses on the lives of four different women, three of them are college age and one is an older woman but they are all connected somehow and the reader doesn't really know the connection at the beginning, except for the two sisters. The book starts off with Allison Glenn being released from jail after serving five years for a horrible crime that she committed while she was still in high school. Allison has a sister name Brynn who is trying to live a normal life but filled with guilt and bitterness over what happened with her sister five years ago. Then we have Charm, another 20 year old who has a connection to Claire a book owner that has an adopted son, and I won't say much more on that so I won't spoil it for you. The book is told from the point of view of these four women and they are all very different, so even if it wouldn't have the character's name on top of each chapter the reader would be able to notice the differences in their voices and who's point of view you're reading it from. These were very well written and well developed characters that the reader can relate to and feel a connection to at least one of them.

This story was shocking almost all the way through, I kept getting blown away when things just kept being revealed and just about everything that I thought I knew and had already predicted was wrong, because the story doesn't really unravel all of its secrets until the end. It was intense and emotional, I cried at least four times while reading it and just had a very hard time putting it down, to say it had me glued to its pages doesn't even begin to describe it, I just needed to know what was going on and what had really happened to these people five years ago. I just kept saying NO WAYS and OMGs the whole way through, that's how shocking, intense, and good this book was. It had me fooled until almost the end and had me in tears through most of the story. It was definitely a great contemporary novel about real life choices, sister relationships, family secrets, and motherhood. If I had to choose one adult novel to read this year this would have been it, I'm glad I read it as it's a painful but beautifully written story. ...more

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Jan 13, 2011 Once rated it liked it

This book without being graphic it is an emotional draining experience. The one action changes the life of 4 women and everyone around them. The murder of an infant is relived several times in the book, and it is one tough part to read. Little by little the truth is revealed bringing dire consequences to all the women involved.

The book is very intense and sad, I missed the entertainment part of it, instead it made me very emotional and gloomy. If you like to read current moral and serious issues ...more

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Feb 04, 2011 Crystal rated it it was amazing

I picked this up at around 2pm on Saturday and put it down when I was done around 7pm that night. The only time I put it down was to do some laundry, otherwise this book held my attention and I honestly could not put it down.

I knew from the blurb that it would be an interesting story, but I didn't realize how well Ms. Gudenkauf would weave the lives of these four women together and the twists and turns the book would take. It is amazing the emotions that I went through while reading this book. S I picked this up at around 2pm on Saturday and put it down when I was done around 7pm that night. The only time I put it down was to do some laundry, otherwise this book held my attention and I honestly could not put it down.

I knew from the blurb that it would be an interesting story, but I didn't realize how well Ms. Gudenkauf would weave the lives of these four women together and the twists and turns the book would take. It is amazing the emotions that I went through while reading this book. Sometimes disgust, sometimes pity, sometimes happy, and sometimes the tears fell. I think I went through most of the my emotions during those 5 hours. The story comes alive, sucks you in and doesn't let you go until Ms. Gudenkauf is done telling the story and even then I wanted more even though the story does come to an end.

The characters are each fascinating, the good-girl gone wrong, her little sister, a girl living with her dying step-father and just trying to get through school and taking care of him and a mother of a beautiful 5-year-old boy. At times they couldn't seem more different but what ties them together brings them together. It's one of those novels that you just gasp when something major happens. Then you stop and think about it. I'm still pondering this book three days later. It deals with heady subjects but it's handled in a beautiful way. I think Ms. Gudenkauf really brought home to me the importance of the Safe Haven laws and how there are still flaws in the system. And she did this with characters that I felt like I could have known or been.

The book will really hit home with women, but I believe it would appeal to both genders. While following the plot there is a general suspense plot that keeps you guessing right up until the end. It's subtle but it's there and while the characters and their growth and changes and effects on each other truly drive the book, the suspense adds to the wonderful characters to make this a well-rounded book.

I don't know that I can express how much this book touched me. I was in tears at the end, mainly from reading Ms. Gudenkauf's Afterword and thinking back over the book. I am sure this book will not leave my thoughts any time soon. It's just one of those books you revisit from time-to-time and ponder the events of and marvel at how well the book was put together and how it just felt so real. I think that is the key to Ms. Gudenkauf's books - she can immerse you completely in her world and you feel like you are right there with the characters, talking to them and watching their lives unfold. It's a magnificent skill and I can't wait until her next book. Her first two have been real winners for me.

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Aug 28, 2011 Coral Duran rated it really liked it

Wow! This book was a roller coaster. Just when you thought the story was leaning one way, the author hits with another curveball and the story goes in a different direction. I did cry at one part, was like reliving my life and took me bk to my grandfathers last days of life! Well written!!

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