A Hidden Fire by Elizabeth Hunter

Description:

"No secret stays hidden forever."

A phone call from an old friend sets Dr. Giovanni Vecchio back on the path of a mystery he'd abandoned years before. He never expected a young librarian could hold the key to the search, nor could he have expected the danger she would attract. Now he and Beatrice De Novo will follow a twisted maze that leads from the archives of a university library, through the fires of Renaissance Florence, and toward a confrontation they never could have predicted.

Review:

A Hidden Fire by Elizabeth Hunter

5 out of 5

So a fellow blogger and close friend suggested that I read this series about a year and a half ago… She gushed and raved about how good this series was, and how I had to read it.  Unfortunately, I didn’t listen to her, and waited almost 2 years later to read them.  Boy do I feel stupid for not listening to her about how good these books are.  I mean, I loved this book, and I can’t really see anything wrong with it, it was so good.

So what did I love?       

The Main Characters:

Beatrice

She is one strong character.  Even after losing both her parents and her grandfather, she still has the strength and determination to keep going.  I loved that about her.  

I love how she doesn’t appear to be your average librarian.  Nose piercings, combat boots, and a thing for handsome & extremely old vampires aren’t things that scream librarian to me.  Definitely unique. 

Giovanni

Yummy!  I love vampires, I love Italians, I love men who love books, and I love historians, so I definitely loved Giovanni!  It was inevitable. 

He seems to hold so much back about a lot of stuff.  But I would guess if you had been alone for 500+ years, you would be pretty slow to share information.  But him holding stuff back helps to add to the delicious mystery known as Giovanni.

The Amazing Secondary Characters:

Caspar

I loved him!  He is absolutely hilarious and balances out Gio’s seriousness. 

Now, I will admit that I was a bit confused on whether Caspar was gay or not… Him talking about fashion was just too hilarious!

I would have like to get more of a back story between Caspar and Gio… I know there is one, but what hints we were given is so slight.

Carwyn

He is a priest, a lover of Hawaiian shirts, and a man with a wicked sense of humor.  Then you find out that he is Welsh, and all I can hear is a deep voice in that marvelous Welsh accent (Kind of like Sean Connery, but not quite...)… Yummy!

Other things to tell you!

I loved Carwyn’s & Gio’s “historical relevance of pro wrestling”, and comparing it to the ancient Greeks debating… Really?  I don’t think they have it right, but as a justification, I think it is hilarious!

Lorenzo is the epitome of the creepy ass villain.  He is horribly creepy, and you really want him to loose… Or die.  One or the other. 

Just a warning…

Now, I must warn you, I had no idea what was going on in the book for the first couple of chapters, but don’t let that stop you!  Once I got going (and finally figured out what was going on), I couldn’t put the book down!

Overall:

Overall, this is one amazing book.  It is one of those great, amazing, and necessary-to-live-a-complete-life books!  Highly recommend!

Happy Reading!

Cana