BookishFirst gives book-lovers the opportunity to preview excerpts from new books before they’re published, advance review copies or ARCs as they’re called. People who post their first impressions from the excerpts get entered in a raffle to win an ARC. Check out the 374 first impressions of The Hiding Girl, set for release on June 15, 2020. The Kindle version is available for preorder, but the paperback will be released the same day. [Update: check out full reviews that have come in.]
Here are some sample “first impressions” from the first twenty pages:
— I’m hooked and need to know! The use of language is beautiful, which is rare and lovely for a novel in this genre. I am left wanting more, feeling the ache to know what happens to this 12-year-old girl on the run, as her past lingers on her mind, and possibly a killer still following her as she tries to escape from place to place. I can’t wait to read more!
— Left Me Wanting More! This excerpt left me sitting on the edge of my seat. The plot was good with a definite promise of better to come. I loved the characters in the excerpt as well. This book will be very difficult to put down. Loved the cover as well. Can’t wait for the release.
— Hooked in 20 Pages This first impression must have set a record for me, it was only twenty pages long and hooked me. The idea of a twelve-year-old girl resourceful enough to survive a home invasion and be on the run from the killers pulled me in, so different from everything else I’ve read. … This feels like a book I won’t be able to put down once I get my hands on it!
— You Got Me I can say, the author has me. The writing style, the setting, and what little we’ve gotten to know about the main character, her personality and her current situation, have me hooked! I have to know how this story folds out!
— Riveting The details in the prologue of the first impression are so eerie and detailed that I couldn’t look away. The vignette that’s painted — a humdrum afternoon putting away groceries — is made incredibly, viscerally eerie through the descriptions.
— I NEED to Know What Happens Next In just a few pages, I was completely sucked into this story. I need to know what happened to her mom and little sister. I need to know how she has survived for a month on the run! The writing was engaging and interesting. I was grabbed from the first page.
— Trapped Me from the First Page The Hiding Girl is a story of a twelve-year-old girl who escapes near death and suffers a tragic loss. A young girl forced to turn her fear into bravery in order to navigate in a world she wasn’t expecting to be living in. This is a heartbreaking story of loss which is gripping from the first page. … I was immediately drawn to Emily.
Several of the first impressions note that the book seemed too dark and intense for their tastes, which is fair. It is both of those things, but it also has a lot of heart and even some lightness. Check out some of the advance reviews.