Booke of the Hidden

This was a fantastic paranormal romance. Kylie is a fantastic lead, and I loved her snarky attitude. Her relationship with Erasmus is interesting and what will happen with the sheriff? What is Kylie's family's history? I look forward to getting to know the other characters as well. I found this book to be one of the best in this genre,

What would you do if you found a strange book hidden in the wall of your building that attracts plenty of interest from a strange, mysterious man, and the local wiccan community. But the first person to help provide history to this book is found dead soon after you spoke.
An enthralling read that kept me up late reading into the night. The storyline is captivating with mystery and magic and maybe the devil himself!

This book was a joy from beginning to end. It builds up the characters so that you really care what happens to them. There were twists and turns that you really don't see coming, especially at the end. Thank goodness it is the beginning of a series. I m really looking forward to what happens next.

Beware of things unseen!

This was so not what I expected. It was a crazy, wild ride and such a departure for Westerson.
(And to think she dreamt about the major elements of the story--amazing--ah the subconscious!)
A new entry into the urban paranormal genre complete with a mild mannered Wiccan group, a woman escaping a bad relationship who flees from California to Maine. Was she summoned or was it all just coincidence? Right!
What do you do when you break down a brick wall in your new abode and find a musty old book. You open it and summon ... things that go beyond the wildest imagination for Kylie Strange.
I loved the magical cross bow.
I loved the demon (not quite the daemon lover of Scottish fame) or whatever Mr. Erasmus Dark might be. The quips Kylie directs at him are hilarious.
I'm not sure about Sheriff Bradbury.
I loved the Wicca coven including the teenager who is a cross between Wynona Rider and Julia Stiles.
Suddenly, for the coven and Kylie, fighting demons, incubus and such us becomes the norm.
Then there's the coven dedicated to dark, and a different demon.
And let's not forget the sector of town who once upon a time, in the past, would have happily burnt all of the above at the stake, of which one member has hereditary links to Kylie.
A great start to a new series.

A NetGalley ARC
(October 2017)

Here is the link to our review http://kingsriverlife.com/10/07/booke-of-the-hidden-by-jeri-westerson/

A wonderful, fun book full of great and interesting characters. The setting of rural Maine in autumn is a perfect backdrop for this story. I am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series.

This book is not the type of book I usually read, but since Ms. Westerson wrote it, and I love everything else she's written that I've read (Crispin's medieval novels, etc.), I wanted to give this a shot, and I'm glad I did! It's full of action and intrigue, intensely scary parts and even some romance, which makes it all good. I love the tea shop idea - we don't have them where I live, and I can envision having a great cup of amazing tea there. I am looking forward to the 2nd book in this series, to read not only what Ms. Westerson has in store for us, but to see how the relationships progress.

Really loved this book; it promises to be a fantastic series!

So what’s this book about?
Booke of the Hidden is the first novel (approx 314 pages) in a new six book adult urban fantasy series set in the beautiful, rural village of Moody Bog, Maine, USA. Our key human characters include; our heroine, Kylie Strange, a local coven of Wiccans – retired doctor and part-time plasterer, Doc Boone, middle aged Seraphina, a bohemian free-spirit and ‘sensitive’, Nick Riley barista and Goth and sixteen year old Jolene Ayrs, researching whiz kid and budding Wiccan - Moody Bog’s Sheriff and hotty, Ed Bradbury and Ruth Russell, a descendent of Moody Bog’s founding families. At this early stage in the series, there is no set mythology (e.g. Norse, Christian, Egyptian, etc) to the paranormal elements of the tale, so the non-human species that we encounter, which includes the elusive and enigmatic Mr Erasmus Dark, are more of a generic amalgam rather than from a specific belief system.

So, what did I like about it?
Jeri Westerson is a new-to-me author; I found her writing style engaging, intelligent and easy to read. I loved the way Ms Westerson weaved her plot; it was complex enough to keep me intrigued without being convoluted. I felt that there was a good balance of humour, action, tension, mystery and romance and the pace of the plot felt just right.

I loved the way Ms Westerson crafted her world and its history; I found myself in the area of Moody Bog almost instantly, how she described the location, surrounded by wilderness and Moody Bog itself with its collection of small town, village style businesses just brought the place to life in my imagination.

I really liked our heroine, Kylie; she’s intelligent and has heaps of gumption (even if she does struggle a bit on the romantic front during this book). I also loved the fact that the secondary characters that Ms Westerson created to populate her world felt just as real as our leads and had strong, memorable personalities, they weren’t just filling the page; kind old Doc Boone, wise Reverend Howard Cleveland, Jolene who had definitely been ‘hiding her light under a bushel’ and who out there doesn’t know a person like Ruth Russell with her self-important air! I loved that Ms Westerson wrote her characters with the complexities that we’d see in those around us, that they had a good balance of strengths and insecurities to make them feel real, even the supernatural ones.

I love the fact that Booke of the Hidden kept me guessing what would happen next and had me holding my breath at times, on the edge of my seat. But fear not, good readers it’s not all tension and scares there are giggles and a good sprinkling of tummy tingling passion to balance it all out.

In short, I found myself desperate to find out what would happen next throughout this book, staying up late to finish just one more chapter - I was gripped!

So, ummm, was there anything I disliked about it?
Nope – loved everything about it!

Although, I will warn you, as Booke of the Hidden is the first book in a new six book series, not all of our questions or mysteries are resolved within these pages, however, I can happily confirm that there is no life or death cliff-hanger ending - you all know how much I detest those - thank you Ms Westerson! (Further brownie points earned! Lol!)

So, basically what I’m saying is...
I really loved this book; it promises to be a fantastic series. I have pre-ordered my own copy of Booke of the Hidden from Amazon and will be waiting with bated breath for book 2 “Deadly Rising.”

If you love well written tales of magic, curses, mystery and horror with a bit of romance I think you’d enjoy this book, I think it’s a perfect mix of scary, paranormal, mystery and adventure, however, I would just like to add that due to the explicit sexual nature of some of the scenes within these pages, I’d only recommend this book to adults who are not offended with this type of content.

DISCLAIMER ALL OPINIONS ARE MY OWN—- Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC

So Jeri is probably one of my new favourite authors!
Booke of the Hidden was the perfect mix of creepy, paranormal, mystery, and adventure. Kylie Strange (I actually really liked her name even if it was a little corny) has caused a world of destruction (albeit not exactly on purpose) when she discovers a book behind a wall and opens it. I mean who wouldn't open a book they found behind a wall? Could be historically relevant, could be a treasure map, or could release a succubus and a demon. Of course this is a paranormal book and so she opened it and released the latter of those options. Basically the rest of the book is spent trying to clean up the mess she accidentally caused with Erasmus Dark (you know the demon from the book) and a local Wiccan group she has befriended. I will say that I love books and I love to read but you are not getting me to join a knitting club thing just to commandeer something from someones library.

I was left with a few sort of uhhhh I don't think soooo's.

I mean the Wiccan group was really forth coming and I mean REALLY forth coming to someone they just met. Who for all they know could be mocking them or something.

Overall though I say go for it! It was enjoyable and a quick read for entertainment.


Character creation - 4- I did think that Kylie and Erasmus could have used a little more umpft and that some of the other characters were just really flat

Plot - 5 - There could have been a bit more explaination as to what line of mythology we were working with. Are we assuming that Erasmus is a Christian demon like you know demons and angels or more of a Daemon from other lines?

Addiction Level - 4 - I did put it down once to read something else when it got a little repetative.

Overall I'd say 4.5


https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2145473613

https://maxximumreads.tumblr.com/post/166115016898/disclaimer-all-opinions-are-my-own-thank-you

I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next book. For fans of Deborah Harkness.

Wonderful, creepy, fantastic adventure! First time with this author, so glad I got a review copy from netgally!

A good and interesting cozy urban fantasy. The murders are not bloody and gory. Doc Boone is my favorite character. I want to read the rest of the books in this series.

An exciting new series from a gifted storyteller. This one pulls you into the Booke, and doesn't let go.