Hidden by PC and Kristin Cast

GoodReads
320 pages, YA Paranormal Fantasy
House of Night Series #10

Synopsis

At last, Zoey has what she wanted: the truth is out. Neferet's evil has been exposed, and the High Council is no longer on her side -- but she's far from done wreaking havoc in the vampyre world. First, a mysterious fire ravages the stables. Then, Neferet makes a devastating move that will test them all.
With the seeds of distrust sown and Darkness breeding chaos at the House of Night, everyone must band together -- but that's proving to be more difficult than ever before. The twins are barely speaking and the House of Night's former enemy, Kalona, has now become their warrior, pushing their trust to the limit. To top it off, Zoey is pretty darn sure she might be losing her mind. She saw something when she looked at Aurox through the Seer Stone that she can hardly explain to herself, let alone her friends. Is it possible that Heath has come back in a different form? Is that why Zoey's so intrigued by Aurox, when it's so obvious that he's dangerous? And who would believe her if she told them? Zoey knows that following her instinct about Aurox might be just what they need to defeat evil . . . but if she's wrong, it could cause the destruction of those closest to her.
With the tension at a breaking point and friendships on the line, can the nerd herd come together to stop the spread of Darkness before it's too late?

My 2 cents:

I have been dreading sitting down and doing this review that last few days.  First of all, let me say, I have a real love/hate relationship with this book.  Love--Its House of Night (been a fan forever), Zoey is finally getting the upper hand and what she wants in this book, and hello?-STARK!  Hate--this series is just getting too long I think.  

First of all, the characters are still fabulous, which is the only thing that's keeping me reading.  I know I lot of other people have given up on this series.  But I just can't.  There seems to no longer be a plot.  The last few books have not had a lot happening in them until the very end.  It seems like a few scenes stretched way out.  And for all that, we are not even getting great detail.  The things that seem to be discussed the most are: How evil Neferet is (talk about kicking a dead horse), what they are snacking on (food or blood) and Zoey's obsession with brown pop, and what a B---- Aphrodite is.  And whatever Zoey's latest crisis is.  

In this book, I wanted to know more about the whole Erin and Shawnee split.  We get one small scene where Shawnee sees Erin doing something terrible-- and some discussion between Zoey's team on the issue--but this could have been explored a lot more and made the book really interesting.  And what about Stevie Rae, Rephraim, and Kalona?  Kalona was discussed some, but Rephraim and Stevie Rae were almost nonexistent.  I just think these books could be great, if we get away from the current formula the books have taken.

Then for all this nonsense, something really tragic and exciting happens at the end.  Obviously, the best part of the book.  These scenes are usually pretty amazing, with big twists.  And this one was no exception.  But the biggest twist of all?  (this is not a spoiler if you've read the last few books!) Aurox is revealed to be Heath.  But we already knew this!  Obviously, the characters didn't--but I really wish we hadn't known either.  It made one of the best twists in the series so not much of a twist!  This was really frustrating to me.

And the last part of the book...the cliffhanger.  Just when the action is getting good, its cut short--really short in this book, the end felt really rushed.  And then we have to wait a year to find out what happens.  I'm all for a good cliffhanger--but we need a little more substance first!

So what did I think overall? Hard to say.  I love the characters, and most of the basic story.  But I think this series needs to end soon.  I would be happy if the next book was the last, but they make it 3 times the normal length and make an epic read tying up the loose ends.  Not too hopeful on that, though!  Ended up giving it 3 stars.  To anyone else who has read this series and book, what do you think?