2026 Reading Challenge discussion

This thread is to discuss Hide by Kiersten White.

Pages: 240 pages

Length: 1 month (August)

Participants: SarahKat, TerryJane

Everyone reads at their own pace during a Buddy Read. Because participants can be at different parts of the book at different times, it is extremely important to mark spoilers so that the book is not ruined for someone who is not as far along as others!!!

Mark spoilers by placing {spoiler} before the text and {/spoiler} after the text but use the < and > instead of the { and }.

Here are some questions to help get the conversation started! Feel free to look up discussion questions specific to this book or come up with your own. Just make sure any questions that contain spoilers are under spoiler tags.
Discussion questions are not required but may be a fun way to talk about the book and get to know each other!

Prior to starting:
What prompted you to join this buddy read?
Have you read this author before? What do you think of their other books?

Mid-read:
What character or ideas do you relate to the most and why?
Do you have any favorite quotes or scenes?

After reading:
What was enjoyable or not-so-enjoyable about this book?
Did this book change your perception about anything, either within the book (character development) or in real life?

I had not heard of this book until you suggested it, SarahKat, but it sounds intriguing. I read another book by this author a few years ago. I rated The Dark Descent of Elizabeth Frankenstein 4 stars. I hope this one is just as good.

I don't remember how I heard of this book. It's been sitting on my TBR forever!
I haven't read this author before at all. I may start this weekend on a short road trip with my husband.

SarahKat wrote: "I don't remember how I heard of this book. It's been sitting on my TBR forever!
I haven't read this author before at all. I may start this weekend on a short road trip with my husband."

I'm starting today because it's my next book due back on Libby. I'll be listening to the audio.

I'm done.

(view spoiler)[I'm feeling rather meh about this one. Too many characters to start with, and the ones who stayed around didn't get developed enough. I expect the extraneous red-shirt types to be glossed over, but I still don't know enough about Mack and Ava.

I appreciated the chapters from the past that explained how the covenant started, and how the Amazement Park came into it, but I must have missed how the resulting family prosperity was distributed. Was it only for those family members who lived on in Asterion? Mack's family certainly didn't prosper.

The ending seemed awfully abrupt. I don't see any indication of future installments, but it reads almost like she left room to come back and deal with the monster in Asterion, or the rescue of LeGrand's sister.

2.5 stars, rounded up to three for the competitive hide and seek idea. (hide spoiler)]

Finished!

(view spoiler)[I completely agree with all your points. Flat characters, not a well-enough fleshed-out plot.
I never really felt any of the thrill or intrigue I should have for a book about a demon hunting people in an old amusement park.

Was Mack the one who couldn't see it? Whoever that was apparently wasn't actually part of the special families.

The ending was very abrupt. I think it's meant to be open-ended, but I didn't like that choice. (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[No, Mack was the MC whose father killed the rest of the family. The one who couldn't see the monster was Mack's veteran love interest, Ava (other Ava, not beautiful Ava).

I'm left thinking, Don't trust blurbs. It sounded like such a great premise. *sigh* (hide spoiler)]