Review: Nowhere to Hide is the perfect followup to Nowhere to Run.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 17, 2013
"Stephanie's like a hurricane. She leaves a path of destruction in her wake. I used to joke she sucked people up with her energy and never looked back at the carnage she left behind.  I never thought anyone would be able to tame her, but then she met Dom. While he didn't tame her, he contained her. She's still like a hurricane-beautiful, deadly, dangerous, and awe-inspiring until you get sucked up in her path."Oh my gosh, excuse me for a moment while I try to wrap my thoughts around everything that just went down!! Nowhere to Hide left me emotionally spent and heartbroken, quite a few times the tears falling down my face blurred my vision so much I could barely keep going. Book 2 is the perfect follow up to Nowhere to Run. I give this book 5 HUGE shiny stars as well as a spot on my must-reads shelf!! This book is not a standalone, to understand the characters and their back-story you must read Nowhere to Run. In addition, even if you aren't a huge fan of romantic suspense, I urge you to try this series. I promise you won't regret it. Nina will have you hooked before you even leave the first chapter.I was wicked excited to see where Ms. D'Angelo was going to take Stephanie and the gang, but I was also a bit nervous. I wondered how Nina was going to pull off the same subject matter without it coming off as rehashed. Nowhere to Hide begins three months after the devastation Rafe Mathias caused in Nowhere to Run. Surviving yet another serial killer Stephanie only wants to put the past behind her and move forward. Unfortunately for our leading lady there's another psycho out there planning to wreak havoc on those connected to her, no matter how inconsequential their connection may be. I'm not quite sure how she did it, but there was nothing rehashed about Nowhere to Hide, everything about it felt fresh and I was just as engaged as I was the first round."He'd never met a woman like her. Smart and sexy, she had a vulnerability about her, which was belied by her backbone of steel. She constantly hid behind a facade, but he managed to get past it. He'd seen her real emotions-the real her. Beneath her devil may care attitude she was deeply loyal to her friends and put every single one of then before her own needs. She pretended not to care. Many who didn't know her thought she was the reckless, selfish, self absorbed woman she sometimes portrayed herself to be. He knew differently."Stephanie Carovella's character is so darkly intense and all-consuming that the suspense and curse surrounding her presence took my breath away leaving me on the edge of my seat the entire time. I seriously could not get enough of the certified train wreck that made up the heroine's everyday life. If it could go wrong, it most certainly did, to say that Stephanie suffers from bad luck resulting in her survival being a complete and utter mind f*** is an understatement. Her life was blown apart on every imaginable level. I have no idea how she held it together portraying such an unlimited amount of strength on a daily basis. If it was me and I had to deal with as much devastating tragedy as she has endured, you would find me curled up into a withering pile of blubbering goo. Jase couldn't have put into any better words than the ones above. I also couldn't have described it any better. Just remember to keep an open mind when you meet Stephanie because she is more than meets the eye, what you see is definitely not what you get when it comes to Ms. Carovella. Don't let her hard-core attitude turn you off because beneath the surface she is a simmering pot of raging emotions. Stephanie Carovella keeps her walls standing a mile high seeing as she has had years of experience hiding her thoughts and feelings behind a perfectly built facade. Everyone thinks they've figured Stephanie out, but in actuality this heroine is one of the most vulnerable characters I have ever met. While she may seem so strong and disassociated on the outside, the reality is that on the inside, she is slowly breaking and it is only a matter of time before she falls so far down no one may be able to save her."She'd moved him in ways he never thought anyone would. He wanted her. Not just her body, but the woman herself. She intrigued him. She was fire and ice, passion and warfare. It was why she was so dangerous for him. He knew how easily he could fall in love with her, he had fallen in love with her."In Nowhere to Run, I was obsessed with the love triangle growing between Steph, Ben, and Jase. I won't lie, I am a huge fan of Ben, and as much as I loved Jase too, I rooted for a Ben and Carovella outcome. Now, I must eat my words...I am ALL about Jase and Stephanie. In fact my only complaint was there wasn't enough lovin' between the two of them. I wanted a little more schmexy time, but I totally get why the author gave it to us the way she did. These two were a force to be reckoned with. Their chemistry flew off the pages in this book; it was wicked easy to root for them. As sad as it made me, I can see why Ben just doesn't work for the heroine. His intensity doesn't come close to matching hers. Jase, well he is her better half. He was made perfectly for Stephanie, just as she was made perfectly for him. Therefore, from this point on, I am so totally team Jase and Stephanie, and I can't wait to read about Ben and Dominique. It's time for Ben to settle down with his HEA, except something tells me that Dominique is going to put this rocker through the wringer before she is ready to give in and settle down.Just a quick note, I totally LOVE Jake(Steph's best male friend). Sometimes his treatment of Steph irked me big time (he could be down right nasty), but in the end all that matters is that he stood by her as the rock she needed to get through this new torment. We saw bits of him in Nowhere to Run, but in Nowhere to Hide we get up close and personal with this bad boy. I am secretly hoping he gets his HEA with Gena if she ever pulls her head out of her butt."Some promises were meant to be broken, just as some secrets you didn't share, no matter how much you wanted to. Some secrets were so dark and deadly they threatened to suffocate you. Some secrets were better just left as that, secrets. "I'll admit even though I started to put the subtle clues together, the ending still left me reeling with a holy h*** did that really just happen. Did Nina seriously go there? Yes ladies and gents she did...and I think it is genius. Kinda explains why Stephanie is the sh** when it comes to profiling! Talk about the author hooking the bait and reeling in the reader. Stephanie's final revelation has left me so damn piqued; I am chomping at the bit to get my hands on the third like now.I absolutely love when an author and their story telling leaves me addicted to every word they have written. Nina D'Angelo is no exception, as she quickly climbs up my list of authors I would highly recommend. What captures my attention the most about this author is the way she writes her characters. In my opinion, they are always well developed and inviting. Since starting this series there hasn't been a time yet that her characters (main and secondary) haven't found a way to allure me in, leaving me totally absorbed in their reality.Thank you, Nina D'Angelo, for the opportunity to read and review Nowhere to Hide in exchange for my honest opinion.