22 December 2014

The Hidden Women Series by Stella Knightley

Hey everyone,


This will be my last post before Christmas and as such I have decided to make it my virtual Christmas gift to anyone who has read this post and others from my blog over the last few months. I'm amazed how many of you, and from so many different countries have actually tuned in and read my rambling words about my favourite book genre in the world. Thank you.

I'm going to keep it short and sweet as I know this is an incredibly busy time for people around the world, and for those of you who don't celebrate Christmas just think of this as a lovely December gift from me to you.

Well I hope you all think it's lovely, if you don't just do the fake smile and quickly move onto a better gift trick, I'll pretend not to notice don't worry!

My gift is in the form of a reccomendation but instead of a single novel I offer you a whole series to enjoy over the Christmas period. The Hidden Women Series by Stella Knightley is potentially my favourite series read this year and I would highly, highly recommend it! For a start the covers are simply beautiful


Each books in the series follows Sarah Thomson a historian who appears to focus on the forgotten women in history. The ordinary women in history who lived extraordinary lives. In each book she is based in a different city for research purposes; first Venice, then Paris and finally Berlin. The cities are almost a character in themselves and become such an integral part of the story both past and present.

I say both past and present because this is a dual story. Split between the perspective of the contemporary Sarah Thomson and the historical (I assume fictional) females she is researching. In the course of three books we are given four different love stories as we follow the romantic ups and downs of four women in history and the men they love.


Although this series was advertise as a Fifty Shades alternative to me it far outstripped that trilogy. Yes it has a lot of sex in, and some of it is fairly risqué but this wasn't the reason I loved this series. I loved it for its intelligence, for the compassion and bravery of characters, for the romance between Sarah and Marco, for the brilliant and beautiful writing of Stella Knightley.

In this series the reader is transported to Venice, Paris and Berlin and honestly each book made me want to visit these cities all over again. Stella Knightley did a fantastic job showcasing the unique characteristic of each city both past and present. I love how she interwove details from the past into the Sarah present be it through a physical object, a place or event.

I will be upfront and say that only one in four of the stories has a HEA, which did leave me in tears at the end of each book but it was worth it for the happy ending we were given. Some of the things that happen in this books are slightly beyond the realm of belief but the emotion and heart in each and every book more than made up for the slightly unrealistic coincidences that did happen.


If you're going to give yourself just one treat this Christmas it should be The Hidden Women Series, and on that note I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, Hanukkah and December (delete as appropriate)

My rating:
Happy reading everyone and see you soon!

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