Rating: 4.25 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel

Sebastian Torres is a rare male midwife. He’s been working in a hospital for three years and has made quite a few friends. He also has a crush on ob/gyn Dr. Anthony Craig. Anthony returns Sebastian’s feelings, but as curious as they are about each other, they’re both shy. Eventually, Anthony asks Sebastian out, and Sebastian is happy to go. They have great chemistry and have no trouble getting to know each other after the initial awkwardness.

Meanwhile, in several states, pregnant women are turning up dead, and their fetuses have been taken right out of their bodies. Police think there is a serial killer, but when a rash of women in premature labor start showing up at their hospital, Sebastian begins to suspect there is something else at work here. Something evil. Sebastian is not only a midwife and healer, he’s descended from a long line of Filipino (good) witches, and he, himself, is very powerful.

Anthony and Sebastian are falling in love against the background of all the death and destruction. Anthony doesn’t exactly comprehend what’s going on, even when Sebastian’s aunt show up at their door ready to do battle against a terrible, shapeshifting monster. Sebastian must tell Anthony the truth, but he’s afraid Anthony won’t believe him. However, after the initial bout of disbelief, Anthony, his friend Felix, and Sebastian’s nurse friend, Susan, join Sebastian and his aunts to stop the horror before it becomes too strong to stop…and before it hits a little too close to home.

I know this summary is brief, but I didn’t want to go into much more detail than I already have because I’d give away the entire story.  Hidden: Evils must be read to be fully appreciated…and I really did appreciate it. Jo Tannah has put together the perfect combination of horror, mythology, sex, romance, and the importance of friends and family.

The plot is very engaging. I think it was a bold choice of subject matter. Horrible atrocities against pregnant women and their babies don’t exactly bring about the warm fuzzies. However, here in this book, it just works. Enough detail was given to make me squirm, and once what was actually happening was revealed, the squirming turned to a horrified fascination…like looking at a car accident on the side of the road.

Sebastian is a great character. He’s a man in a predominantly female field. He makes friends easily, but never dates the same man twice. Nobody understands that because Sebastian is so sweet and smart and, well…adorable. I also loved Anthony because, after he’s fallen for Sebastian, he’s willing to go all in and believe him when he learns the truth about his man and the death and destruction going on around them. Together, they’re sweet and sexy. I mentioned chemistry at the beginning of this review. Theirs is electric. It feels like they fall for each other rather quickly, but that’s not a bad thing. The sex scenes are perfect…just the right amount of romance and passion. There’s some delicious dirty talking in there too.  You all know by now how much I love dirty talking 🙂

As awesome as Sebastian and Anthony are, the story is made complete by the background characters. Felix is another ob/gyn, and he falls in love with Sebastian’s best friend and colleague, Susan. Together, they wind up helping Sebastian and Anthony with some pretty important things. Sebastian’s aunts come to work with Sebastian to banish the monster who is killing the mothers and taking their babies. They’re also the comic relief…little tornadoes of energy and eccentricities.  They mean business, though, and they won’t stop until everything goes away. I also want to mention Sebastian’s three dogs…the girls. In the beginning, they seem to be simply pets, but as the book moves along, that’s not the whole truth. They guard Sebastian and sense the danger around him.

The final third of the book is a hell of a ride. Things happen at a breakneck pace. We find out who the monster really is, and while it wasn’t exactly a surprise, it was no less exciting. The whole cast of characters unite to kill that monster and make all of the patients and staff in the hospital safe. They also need to protect one of their own from a frightening fate. When it’s all over, there is a huge sigh of relief. I felt like I’d been holding my breath and could finally relax.

When all is said and done, Hidden: Evils is exhausting, but it’s also a great read. I could picture everything so vividly, it was almost like a movie was playing in my head. In fact, I think would make an awesome movie! If there are any major movie studio executives reading this review, you need to start putting that project together.

I definitely recommend this book, and I hope to see more of Jo Tannah’s writing in the future.