EyebrarianPrize winnersGet the app

Books › Hideaway

Cover of Hideaway

Hideaway

Penelope Douglas

512 pages

A shadowy, high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse where danger and desire are inextricably linked.

Where to buyBooks like this

What it feels like

Reading this book feels like stepping into a dimly lit, abandoned building where every shadow hides a secret and the air hums with unresolved tension. It is a propulsive, gritty experience that thrives on the razor-thin line between fear and intense attraction. The narrative pulls you into a claustrophobic world of morally gray characters playing dangerous psychological games, making it impossible to look away. The prose is visceral and unapologetic, capturing the raw, jagged edges of trauma and the fierce desperation of survival. It is a story built for readers who crave dark romance with high stakes, where love is not soft or easy, but rather a fierce, consuming collision of broken souls finding their match in the dark.

Mood
  • claustrophobic
  • shadowy
  • tension-filled
  • seductive
Tone
  • intense
  • gritty
  • provocative
  • brooding
Pace
propulsive
Themes
hidden identities · trauma and survival · forbidden attraction · loyalty vs. betrayal
The writing
Visceral, urgent, and emotionally raw, leaning heavily into sensory details and psychological tension.
The arc
From guarded isolation and simmering resentment to explosive confrontation and fierce, unapologetic devotion.
Who it's for
Fans of dark, boundary-pushing romance who crave morally gray characters, high-stakes suspense, and intense enemies-to-lovers dynamics.
Content notes
  • abuse
  • confinement
  • violence
  • explicit sexual content
  • psychological manipulation

About the book

Buried in the shadows of the city, there’s a hotel called The Pope. Ailing, empty, and dark—it sits abandoned and surrounded by a forgotten mystery.

But you think it’s true, don’t you, Kai Mori? The story about the hidden twelfth floor. The mystery of the dark guest who never checked in and never checks out. You think I can help you find that secret hideaway and get to him, don’t you?

You and your friends can try to scare me. You can try to push me. Because even though I struggle to hide everything I feel when you look at me—and have ever since I was a girl—I think maybe what you seek is so much closer than you’ll ever realize.

I will never betray him.

On Devil’s Night, the hunt will be coming to you.

You have no idea what I seek, Little One. You don’t know what I had to become to survive three years in prison for a crime I would gladly commit again.

No one can know what I’ve turned into.

I want that hotel, I want to find him, and I want this over.

I want my life back.

But the more I’m around you, the more I realize this new me is exactly who I was meant to be.

So come on, kid. Don’t chicken out. My house is on the hill. So many ways in, and good luck finding your way out.

I’ve seen your hideaway. Time to see mine.

Description from Open Library.

Books like Hideaway

See why they match