It is rare that I don’t have plenty to say about a Bethany House-published book, but unfortunately that is the case with Tracie Peterson’s new release, and the first story in the “Golden Gate Secrets” series.

“In Places Hidden” sounded intriguing and unique, but for me it just fell a little flat. Certainly the story was compelling (and for the most part it was clean, despite opportunities for the opposite), but the characters didn’t seem real and their motivations and emotions felt contrived. For example, I’m really not sure what caused the hero and heroine to begin caring about each other, other than love at first sight.

One strong point for the novel was how it laid a foundation for future installments in the series, which I can tell are going to be closely connected. It also included some interesting, but also tragic, snippets of history that opened my eyes to the ways of life in San Francisco at the turn of the 20th century.

In the end, if you are a fan of Tracie Peterson you will most likely want to give her newest series a try. I have not read very many of her books and so I can’t tell whether this one is up to par with her past work, but for me the less-than-vivid characterization made “In Places Hidden” unable to shine.

“Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.”