Review: Hidden Pieces - Paula Stokes

Hidden Pieces
Paul Stokes
Series: n/a
Age/Genre: Young Adult, Suspense, Thriller
Publisher: HarperTeen
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Goodreads

Embry Woods has secrets. Small ones about her past. Bigger ones about her relationship with town hero Luke and her feelings for someone new. But the biggest secret she carries with her is about what happened that night at the Sea Cliff Inn. The fire. The homeless guy. Everyone thinks Embry is a hero, too, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Embry thinks she’ll have to take the secret to her grave, until she receives an anonymous note—someone else knows the truth. Next comes a series of threatening messages, asking Embry to make impossible choices, forcing her to put her loved ones at risk. Someone is playing a high stakes game where no one in Embry’s life is safe. And their last move...is murder.

I am always excited to read a Paula Stokes book for a myriad of reasons. First and foremost, she always entertains me. No matter what genre Stokes' story falls into, I find myself fully invested in it.

As I read Hidden Pieces, I recalled my very first Stokes book - Liars, Inc. This book had that same tangled-web, twisty sort of plot, but there was a lot more to it. The heart of the book was finding out who the blackmailer, "Unknown", was, but it was also about so many other things.

One theme, which played a big part in the book was honesty. Embry started keeping a lot of secrets, and though some were to protect people she loved, more were to protect herself. These secrets spawned lies, which multiplied into some serious trouble. Right there we have the idea of honesty in its simplest form, but then there were all the parts of herself that Embry kept locked away. A lot of that was because she could not be honest with herself. I liked the way Stokes worked with this theme, and thought it added an extra layer and depth to the story.

Embry intrigued me. She was really hard on herself, and though I would agree some of her choices were less than stellar, I thought she had a good heart. She showed this time and time again in the book via her actions. I knew it seemed as though some of her decisions were born out of guilt, but even guilty people wouldn't do some of the things she did, and I was glad she had Holden to help her see this.

Holden was someone, who really saw Embry. He saw all of her, and was one of the few people who was able to penetrate her walls. Their relationship was one of my favorite parts of the book. I am always up for a good romance featuring a guy as wonderful as Holden, and this one really made me happy.

Onto the plot! This was revenge type thriller, where an unknown assailant was blackmailing Embry. The threats were real and the stakes were high. "Unknown", as they are referred to in the book,  had Embry fraying at the edges and had me biting my nails. It got to a point where I felt like I couldn't trust ANYone. That's what a great job Stokes did pointing us in the direction of different characters and planting red herrings. I had three of my guesses blown to shreds, and will honestly admit, that I didn't realize who really did it, until they were practically unmasked. It was surprising, but once I knew, and backtracked, I could see how it was possible.

I will mention what I am seeing in other reviews. Yes, there was a little bit of cheating, BUT when you read the whole story, I think you will be able to forgive Embry. As for Embry's overseas Army "boyfriend", I will evoke the Ross and Rachel clause, and state - they were on a break. But don't worry, because although Stokes softens the blow, she does NOT let the characters get away with it. Embry suffers the consequences of her bad decisions over and over again in this book.

The biggest difference between Liars, Inc and Hidden Pieces was the ending. I was really surprised with what a wonderful ending Stokes gifted me in Hidden Pieces. I wasn't expecting that much, but was so overjoyed with it.

Overall: Another fantastic Paula Stokes book, which had me biting my nails and happy crying.

**ARC received in exchange for an honest review.

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