Hidden Away by Maya Banks (KGI #3)
Romantic Suspense
March 1, 2011
Paperback
Berkley

Julie from Yummy Men and Kick Ass Chicks is going three for three! Back again to review the third book in Maya Banks’ KGI series. Julie – take it away.

Favorite Quote: “He made her stupid. Completely and utterly stupid.”

Hidden Away is the third book in Maya Banks’ KGI series. This is Garrett’s book. In the first book, I loved Garrett. He was a total badass with a soft and sweet side. He was tender and loving towards his sister-in-law who had been kidnapped and left for dead. In the second book, Garrett was a bit of an arse. Okay, he was a total arse. I’ve been looking forward to his book so I could finally know who the real Garrett was. Well, it turns out he’s a little bit from column A and a little bit from column B.

Garrett is an ex-Marine who now works with his brothers at KGI, a family run military-type organization that handles hostage/kidnap victim recovery, intelligence gathering and other jobs the U.S. government can’t. He is the second oldest of six brothers, all military men. Garrett is the sour puss in the family. Six years ago, something happened to him while still a Marine and a man named Marcus Lattimer was responsible. As every story needs a very bad man, Lattimer takes on the role in Hidden Away. Garrett hates this guy and wants to take him down. So does the CIA. When the CIA gets a lead that could help capture said very bad man, they enlist Garrett to help since they know he wants this guy as badly as the government does. What’s the lead? Sarah Daniels – Lattimer’s half sister. *insert dramatic music*

Sarah witnessed a murder committed by her brother and is now on the run. The CIA has tracked her down and wants to use her to fish out Lattimer. Garrett is asked to watch her until that happens. Sounds like a pretty simple job right? But even though Sarah is completely green when it comes to running for her life and has been hurt greatly not that long ago, she ends up being more of a handful than anyone expected.

I quite enjoyed Sarah’s character. She’s pretty much your typical regular nice girl whose world has suddenly been turned upside down, only to accidentally get involved in her brother’s affairs turning her world inside out. She is doing her best to cope with what has been handed to her. She’s not Wonder Woman or MacGyver and I liked that. She’s very clever and smart, but now without her mistakes. She seemed real to me. I can’t say that I could relate to her because I’ve never been through what she’s been through, but I could definitely feel for her and I wanted her to find her happy ending. And thank goodness Garrett was there to help her there.

Garrett was wonderful with Sarah. He needed to be tough sometimes and he needed to be tender sometimes. He wasn’t all macho “look at my big guns…and my weapons are pretty impressive too”. That’s not what Sarah needed and he knew that. I’m telling you, that Ma Kelly sure did raise some pretty impressive sons!

I preferred how the plot was laid out this time around to how it was done in the second book. This time not all of the questions were answered at the very beginning. In fact, some answers only came on the second to last page in this book. It made for a much better flow and a more poignant climax. And speaking of climax *wink wink*

Even though Maya made us wait and wait and wait for Garrett and Sarah to hook up, it worked well with the story. Once you read it you’ll understand, but doing it any differently would have made Sarah’s struggles unimportant. But once they did get it on…very nice.

Now, have you ever read a book where you meet a character and thought “Huh, I’d like to know more about that guy”. Then you read them in the next book and you thought “OMG I want need to know everything about them now! I need his book like yesterday!!!” I had a few moments like that while reading Hidden Away with Donovan and PJ. I need his book and I need her book. The geeky Kelly brother with brains and muscles and the sniper chick who is a total mystery to almost everyone. Need. Their. Books.

(Just a quick little side note here…None of the chicks in this series have family. None. What’s with that?)

Hidden Away was a good continuation to the series. Garrett and Sarah worked well together. I was not disappointed. Up next is Nathan’s book. It will be called Whispers in the Dark and is scheduled to hit stores in February 2012. *sob* That is an awfully long time to wait for the next book. But I’ll wait because I love the family unit in this series and I love how the friendships are written too.

I’ll leave you with one more quote. This one had me giggling out loud and paints a perfect picture of Garrett:

“’I was trying not to be an asshole’ he grumbled.

"You break into my house. You take my gun away from me. Informed me you lied about pretty much everything when we were on the island. Then tell me I’m an idiot who’s trying to get herself killed. And you’re worried about being an asshole?"…more’ You break into my house. You take my gun away from me. Informed me you lied about pretty much everything when we were on the island. Then tell me I’m an idiot who’s trying to get herself killed. And you’re worried about being an asshole?’"

Rating: B

Recent Reviews:
Geeky Blogger’s Book Blog – 4.5/5
Fiction Vixen – 3/5
Books, According to Nicole – 4.5/5
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