Overall Grade: 4.5 ⭐️
“She’d taken my life and my heart by storm.”
Oh, Catherine. What do you do to your heroines? Having just left your newest release, Hidden Waters, I’m astounded by the journeys you take someone like Addie on. I’ve been waiting for this story because Addie’s background is horrific, and this usually means the most ambitious and beautiful of happy endings. Hidden Waters does not disappoint in that way. In fact, there is absolutely nothing disappointing about Hidden Waters other than the ending of the story and having to step away from Beckett and Addie’s gorgeous love story. Thus far, Hidden Waters, Falling Embers, and Tattered Stars are truly stories that are “tattered & torn,” and Cowles has more in this pipeline to torture her readers. If the preview of Shattered Sea at the end is any indication, keep stocking up on tissues because Cowles is superb at keeping us in tears.
What did I love the most about Hidden Waters?
- For one, Beckett is a revelation of a hero. In the first two books of the series, he’s there in name only, a nebulous figure haunting the pages. In Hidden Waters, he is clear and takes up space on the page and in Addie’s life. He is the perfect foe to her past: he’s protective and possessive, and inspires Addie to grow and choose herself. His own journey through forgiving himself mirrors Addie’s journey toward healing the trauma of her past. Beckett is your prototypical Cowles hero, and I adored him.
- I had been waiting for Addie’s story. I simply needed this young woman who had endured so much pain to find a love that exceeds her past, and Cowles writes her beautifully. She is a tortured heroine who finds the “big love” to heal her pain. Yet through all of it, her gentle capacity to endure steals your heart. There is so much healing in this story inspired by Addie’s own healing.
- The continued storyline picks up pace, and it enthralls you. There were moments when I held my breath, relying on the knowledge that Hidden Waters is a romance and a happy ending is my due. But Cowles makes her readers work for it with Beckett and Addie’s story. She continues to keep us living on the edge of our seats through Hidden Waters.
- And once again, Cowles’s capacity for drawing words weaves together to wring out every drop of romance from Beckett and Addie’s story.
“Life isn’t black and white. It’s not just shades of gray, either. It’s an endless array of colors. Some dark, some light, and everything in between. We have to hold space for all of it.”
Catherine Cowles’s Hidden Water is the perfect weekend read if you love a bit of romantic suspense and a story of anguish finding resolution through the deep, soulful love of an adoring, protective hero and a persevering heroine. There is much more to come in this Tattered & Torn world, and my soul can’t wait.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 