Celebrate Lit / June 5, 2024

The Girl from the Hidden Forest

About the Book The Girl from the Hidden Forest

Book: The Girl from the Hidden Forest

Author: Hannah Linder

Genre: Christian Fiction / Historical / Regency Romance

Release date: May 2024

The nightmares may free her…but destroy the man she loves.

Enjoy another Gothic-style Regency from Hannah Linder.

Eliza Ellis has stayed hidden in Balfour Forest for as long as she can remember. Perhaps her only friends are the trees, her little dog, or her story-telling father called Captain. But at least she is safe from the cruel world outside, a world Captain has warned her against and protected her from.

That is until a handsome stranger named Felton Northwood invades her quiet forest and steals her away. Why does he tell such lies? Why does he insist that her name is Miss Eliza Gillingham, daughter of a viscount, who disappeared fourteen years ago after the murder of her own mother?

A murder Eliza is said to have witnessed.

When Felton returns Eliza to Monbury Manor and reunites her with a man who is told to be her father, all she remembers are the strange nightmares that have plagued her since childhood.

Why have they suddenly grown worse?

Are the answers hidden inside her own mind?

As danger mounts and lethal attempts are made on her life, Eliza and Felton must work together to uncover the identity of a killer who has stayed silent for fourteen years.

When she finally uncovers the horrendous memories trapped in her mind, will divulging the truth cost her the man she loves—and both of their lives?

Click here to get your copy!

My Thoughts on The Girl from the Hidden Forest

The Girl from the Hidden Forest is a captivating Gothic-style novel that you are going to be unable to resist reading. I’ve had the pleasure of reading other novels by this author and they’re all wonderful. She has a way of weaving a story together so that you’re not truly sure what will come next but you know that you have to keep reading and find out.

Think of this novel like one of the original Grimm Brothers fairy tales. It’s got a bit of a dark twist.

A young girl lives in the forest with a man she believes to be her father. And then she’s stolen away! Only the man who took her claims he’s rescued her. That the man she was living with wasn’t her father. That she’s truly a “princess” if you will. And that she disappeared when her mother was murdered. A murder everyone believes she witnessed.

Whew.

Talk about a lead-up!

There is danger. There is a mystery. But there is also romance.

You are not going to want to miss this book! The characters are spectacular. As Eliza is trying to figure out who she really is she’s also trying to stay alive and possibly falling in love as well.

I have voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book which I received from Celebrate Lit. All views expressed are only my honest opinion. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. All opinions expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC regulations.

About the Author of The Girl from the Hidden Forest

Hannah Linder resides in the beautiful mountains of central West Virginia. Represented by Books & Such, she writes Regency romantic suspense novels filled with passion, secrets, and danger. She is a four-time Selah Award winner, a 2023 Carol Award semi-finalist, a 2023 Angel Book Award third-place winner, and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW).

Also, Hannah is an international and multi-award-winning graphic designer who specializes in professional book cover design. She designs for both traditional publishing houses and individual authors, including the New York Times, USA Today, and international bestsellers. She is also a self-portrait photographer of historical fashion. When Hannah is not writing, she enjoys playing her instruments—piano, guitar, ukulele, and banjolele—songwriting, painting still life, walking in the rain, square dancing, and sitting on the front porch of her 1800s farmhouse.

More from Hannah

Everyone has been asking me for years: “Can you see yourself in any of your characters?” I guess I’m in everything, interwoven in all of the sentences. Pieces of me are scattered in the settings. Traits and quirks and secret thoughts are dispersed into the minds and souls of my characters.

But I always felt the need to say no. I don’t see myself in my characters.

Perhaps because, in the past, so many of my heroines have been so different from me. Ella Pemberton (Beneath His Silence)—outlandish and stubborn and daring, apt to speak her mind, bold in her manner and flawless in her dance. Nan Duncan (When Tomorrow Came)—injured and worrisome, voice like an angel, childishly sweet, yet too eager to please. Isabella Gresham (Garden of the Midnights)—spoiled and excitable, with raven black hair and an art for entering social circles with impeccable grace and exquisiteness.

I love them, sweet characters of mine.

But I don’t understand them.

We’re too different.

Like sand and sea, we meet, we touch, we sweep back and forth together but we’re of different substance.

But Eliza Ellis—rather, Eliza Gillingham—is the first character I truly resonate with.

Not on purpose.

In no way did I pen her with conscious hints back to myself. But as the story progressed, I found my heart reaching out to her, settling into her.

Because she was the same.

The way she thought, the things she imagined, her forest and her pet and her stories. I comprehended what made her hurt. I understood the dream world she lived in because I live in a dream world too.

So, if anyone asks me, “Do you see yourself in any of your characters?”, I’ll pull The Girl from the Hidden Forest from the bookshelf and hand it to them. I’ll tell them Eliza and I are like kindred spirits, that we’ve bridged a friendship between reality and fiction.

Whether you’re a reader or a writer, I hope you stumble upon a character one day that feels like you. It’s a strange and special feeling indeed.