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May 10, 2017TEENREVIEWCREW rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The word "Hidden" in the title matched perfectly with the story itself. Not only did it refer to digging up dinosaur bones, but more as to the hidden relationship between the two main characters of the story. Among all the books I have read that were written by Kenneth Oppel, this book was by far the most interesting and heartwarming. The story was about an adolescent named Sam Bolt confessing his love to the daughter of his father's greatest enemy, Rachel Cartland; while striving to find the bones of the "black beauty". Being the son and daughter of two enemies, Sam and Rachel struggled to continue their relationship; nonetheless, after they found that their true love was no one but each other, they married and prepared to face their raging fathers and later life issues. I enjoyed most of the parts of the story, such as plots and characters. The author had put much effort and thought into creating the characters and their personalities. I sympathize with Sam for having a father who had always been so narcissistic and careless. Although his father tried his best striving to protect his son and give him a better life, his careless personality always put the future of his son's well-being aside. While Sam had lived in the shadow of his father for too long, he unwillingly becomes just like him. Thus when it comes to facing the relationship with Rachel, Sam often raged and felt desperate at the decisions Rachel made. The only plot I disliked would be the ending of the story. Kenneth Oppel gave the reader a sensation of a tragical ending because of the snake that bit straight towards Sam's arm. However, he resurrected Sam from the snake bite without giving brief explanations of how he healed from it. Overall, I would give the story a 4/5 because I enjoyed reading it but there were some times when the plot does not make connections nor senses of the following scene. @tiny_astronaut of the Teen Review Board at the Hamilton Public Library This is truly a spectacular Romeo and Juliet story between two characters, Samuel Bolt and Rachel Cartland, who are made for each other. Despite both of their fathers hating each other due to one wanting to be better than the other in the same field of study, they seem to always meet up in the most unexpected locations. They grow closer to one another as they quickly learn they have so much more in common than what was expected. This has them realizing they have fallen for each other at an early stage and may become inseparable later on. As this novel takes place in the past and focuses on dinosaur bones being found, it is no wonder of the struggles Samuel faces with his father as they travel to the search area. Rachel, being much richer, doesn’t need to deal with what Samuel is struggling with however she has sympathy and pity for him. All in all, this is my favourite romantic novel I have read and would highly suggest this extraordinary romantic page-turner, as stated by Toronto Star. I would give this novel a rating of 4/5. - @booklover327 of the Teen Review Board of the Hamilton Public Library