The story in 'Among the Hidden' kicks off with Luke Garner, this kid who’s basically been hidden his whole life because he’s a third child in a society that’s banned having more than two. The main plot is him discovering there are other ‘shadow children’ like him and getting involved with Jen, a girl from a richer family who’s planning a rally. It builds to this intense point where Jen’s protest goes horribly wrong, and Luke has to decide whether to keep hiding or take a huge risk by assuming a dead boy’s identity to join the outside world. It feels less like a grand adventure and more like a slow, claustrophobic crawl toward a terrifying choice. The ending leaves you hanging—Luke gets to leave his family’s farm, but he’s entering another kind of cage, one with different rules.
Honestly, I always thought the title 'Among the Hidden' was a bit more poetic than the actual book. The tension comes from tiny moments, like Luke watching the woods from his attic vent or the panic when a Government official visits. The real core is that feeling of being a secret, of your existence being illegal, and what that does to a person. I read it years ago, but the scene where Luke learns what happened to Jen still gets me. It’s not a happy book.
I think people sometimes miss that the central plot is really a mystery. Luke spends most of the book trying to figure out who the face in the window of the new house belongs to, and that leads him into a whole hidden network. It’s a kid detective story set against a dystopian backdrop. The rally and its aftermath are the big third-act turn, but the engine is Luke’s curiosity battling his fear.
What’s interesting is how the stakes feel personal, not world-saving. Luke isn’t trying to overthrow the Government; he’s just trying to exist, to have a friend, to see the sun. The plot mechanics of him taking on Lee Grant’s identity feel a bit convenient, but it works for the themes. It sets up the whole series, obviously, but the first book stands alone as this tight, paranoid little tale about the cost of being seen.
Main plot follows Luke, an illegal third child, who discovers another like him. Their friendship pulls him into a dangerous political protest that ends in tragedy, forcing Luke to choose between perpetual hiding or stealing a dead boy’s identity to survive. It’s a story about the price of a name and a place in the world. That final choice haunts me more than any action scene.
2026-07-21 18:35:17
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EMERGENCE: The Subnatural Chronicles
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In a war-torn world where supernatural beings known as "subnaturals" or "subs" have emerged from hiding, triggering a global conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, eighteen-year-old Lena Hargrove has spent the past six years as a ward of the state following her parents' deaths. Renowned as war heroes who sacrificed themselves to rescue their daughter from kidnappers, Lena's parents were largely absent throughout her childhood, leaving her with complicated feelings about their legacy and her own identity.
As Lena struggles to understand her newfound identity and the abilities that begin to manifest, she uncovers a web of secrets about her parents' true role in the war. They weren't just fighting for humanity; they were part of a hidden movement working toward peace between humans and subnaturals. More importantly, Lena learns she was kidnapped not by chance.
Hunted by extremists from both sides who either want to use her power or eliminate her entirely, Lena must navigate a dangerous landscape of political intrigue and ancient supernatural factions. Along the way, she assembles an unlikely group of allies—humans sympathetic to the sub cause, subs living in hiding among humans, and others like her caught between worlds.
As her powers grow and her understanding of both sides deepens, Lena realizes that ending the war might require more than diplomacy or combat—it might demand a fundamental reimagining of what it means to be human or supernatural in a world where the boundaries between the two are increasingly blurred.
But to fulfill her destiny, Lena must first confront the truth about her kidnapping, her parents' sacrifice, —a truth that will test her loyalty to both sides of her heritage and force her to decide what kind of world she wants to fight for.
Life comes hard and fast for Kendra and her family in a dystopian world that is struggling to recover from a nuclear war and is now under the rule of an alien government.
Unaware of the impending alien invasion, a group of scientists -which included Kendra's parents- were ordered to create a zombie virus and set it loose on Russia. The intention was to subdue Russia and then release the cure, but the alien attack took them unawares and the scientists and their cure disappeared, leaving the virus to run rampant. Having been inoculated against the virus, Kendra's aunt is one of these scientists who has kept her identity a secret for fear of being made a slave to the alien government. When a village that is connected to the people who moved underground for survival kidnaps Kendra in hopes that they can harvest any memories of her parents discussing the cure while she was a mere infant with the use of an experimental machine, her aunt must decide about coming forth with her identity. In the meantime, along with dealing with the ever-rising population of zombies, the alien regime -which considers humans a delicacy for their dinner table – sets out to correct and purify the human race from those who were mutated in some way by the nuclear explosions. Rex is one of those humans. He is also Kendra’s lover.
“Where Zombies Walk” is Book One of Kendra’s Journey in a world that offers steamy romance, nail biting peril, and thrills, and a paradise-like sanctuary within its core. All she has to do is make her way there.
Nadia Reeves has one rule:
If someone is dying, you help them.
She should have broken it.
Because the man she dragged back from death was Kane Volkov — a name powerful enough to make dangerous people disappear overnight.
Now Nadia is trapped inside a world that watches too closely, asks too many questions, and doesn't believe in coincidences. Especially not Kane.
He says keeping her close is for her protection.
But the longer Nadia stays around him, the more she realizes something far worse than his enemies is hiding beneath Kane's attention:
Suspicion.
And when old secrets about her father begin surfacing, Nadia starts to wonder if saving Kane Volkov was ever an accident at all.
Because in Kane's world, people don't get close without a reason.
And the most dangerous thing about Kane Volkov isn't what he might do to her.
It's how badly she wants him to stop looking at her like she's the enemy.
"Touch yourself for me,Blondie" His eyes were dark but determined as he watched me.
Everything felt so wrong,so dirty but yet i found my hands slipping back in between my pulsing pussy lips loving the way he looked at me like I was the only one who mattered in the whole world.
****
20 year old Audrey Casey Sullivan is a college nerd all about getting her degree, a good job and beautiful family but what she didn't expect was to be taken away from her life and her dreams just because of one late night in the library.
Dante De Luca is the Italian mafia's deadliest assassin, he has never missed a shot all his life, he never goes on a mission without returning successful, everyone calls him the 'The Dark One',it is believed he has no heart or human empathy hence why he is so good at his job...well that is until he is asked to protect a certain blonde, now his once dead heart is put to test as he realises that the girl he took captive has captured his heart.
Did I believe in love at first sight? No. never. I'd laugh at the idea. But you little hellion proved me wrong. You think you're vulnerable? I have changed up my entire game plan in the last 2 days just to get close to you."
That's it.
That's the moment that changed everything.
Three years—that's how long Braelyn has been hiding her true feelings for her best friend, Caesar.
Yes, she has been secretly in love with her best friend for three years and intends to keep it that way for the rest of her life. She can't let him know, or she might lose him forever.
But how long will she be able to suppress her true feelings? How long will she be able to hold back when all Caesar does is make her fall in love with him even more? Will she keep all the hurt and pain she feels whenever Caesar is with someone else? Will Braelyn still be able to keep her feelings a secret? Or will she finally confess and risk it all to finally be with Caesar?
I tried to get into 'At Risk' by Stella Rimington years ago, but I put it down halfway through—it just didn't click. The plot seemed to circle around a British intelligence analyst named Liz Carlyle looking into a potential insider threat tied to an extremist student group. The tension comes from her trying to figure out who's a genuine risk versus a pawn. It's very much a slow-burn, procedural vibe.
Honestly, my memory's fuzzy, but I recall it felt a bit dated even then, with a focus on the bureaucratic side of MI5 over high-stakes action. The concept was solid, but the execution felt stiff. I ended up borrowing a later book in the series from my dad's shelf instead, which moved a bit faster.
Tackling 'At Risk' means facing head-on how the book refuses to let its characters off easy. The central challenge for a family coping with a potential diagnosis isn't just a medical hurdle—it’s this pervasive, low-grade dread that seeps into every conversation, every silent car ride home from the doctor. The narrative threads this tension through the most mundane moments, like trying to have a normal dinner while everyone's mentally cataloging symptoms. What struck me was the portrayal of the siblings; their struggle isn't just about worry for their brother, but this awful, unspoken resentment over how the family’s entire emotional landscape has shifted, leaving them feeling both guilty and invisible.
That constant state of 'maybe' is the real antagonist here. The characters are grappling with a threat that hasn't fully materialized, which makes their fear so much harder to pin down and fight. You see them clinging to routines, trying to perform normalcy, while internally they’re already braced for a disaster that might never come. It’ s less about dramatic hospital scenes and more about the psychological toll of waiting, of Googling symptoms at 3 AM, of the way a simple headache becomes a portent of doom. The challenge becomes maintaining any sense of self or family unity when everything feels so fragile and conditional.
In 'At Risk', the main conflict is a harrowing battle between survival and moral decay in a world ravaged by a mysterious pandemic. The protagonist, a hardened epidemiologist, faces relentless pressure to develop a cure while navigating government conspiracies that prioritize control over human life.
Her personal struggle amplifies as she races against time to save her infected daughter, who symbolizes innocence amidst chaos. The novel masterfully intertwines societal collapse with visceral familial stakes, forcing readers to question the cost of survival when humanity itself is the first casualty. The tension is unyielding—each choice carries lethal consequences, blending scientific intrigue with raw emotional turmoil.