The Year We Hid Away

By: Sarina Bowen

Narrated by: Nick Podehl, Saskia Maarleveld

She's hiding something big. He's hiding someone small.

Bridger Macaulley used to be a player both on and off the ice. But now, while his teammates chase the next hockey victory, Bridger worries that the dean will discover he's housing his eight-year-old sister in his dorm room. Juggling a full course load and a big secret, it's only a matter of time until the other skate drops.

Scarlet Crowley is the only freshman at Harkness College who had to sneak past TV news trucks parked on her front lawn just to leave town. Her name is as new as the shiny student ID it's printed on. The only way to survive college will be to conceal her identity, even if it means lying to the green-eyed boy she's falling for.

Bridger and Scarlet form a tentative relationship based on the understanding that some things must always be held back. But when grim developments threaten them both, going it alone just won't work anymore. And if they can't learn to trust one another now, the families who let them down will take everything they've struggled to keep.

©2014 Sarina Bowen (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

Loving this series!! Great 2nd book!!!

I'm loving this series! I didn't know how this book was going to compare to book 1 but it seriously was just as good, if not better!! Sarina Bowen is great at seriously deep issues with a huge side of happily ever after! The issues these characters had to deal with were extremely hard but they both handled it so well I wanted to cheer for them. Bridger was so different than I thought he was after book 1. His character was amazing! Scarlet is such a tough girl, she had some seriously big things going on in her life and she just wanted to get away from it all and go to college but life only follows her. Together these two are so perfect, they are hot and in love! Can't wait to move on to the next book!

The narration in this book was great too!

Five Stars of Pure Gold

I loved the audiobook. This series has a wonderful pair of narrators. Both of them do an amazing job. It is very pleasing to listen to them. Everything about this audiobook is wonderful. Nick Podehl is a wonderful Bridger, and Saskia Maarleveld is fantastic as Scarlet. Totally worth it to listen to this audiobook.

Pure Gold. That’s what this book is. The Year We Hid Away is the second installment in the Ivy Years series, and it is as good as the first one. I’m completely in love with every book Sarina Bowen has written because I can’t get enough of her words. She has a way with words that fascinates me. Her style is wonderful, and her plots are usually very well developed. And I find really interesting that she tackles issues that are not very common in romance novels, like child molestation or drug abuse. But she does it with tact and sensitivity, and in a way that doesn’t alienate the reader at all, or turn the story too dark. But these issues are there, and make you think and feel. She doesn’t shy away from real life in any way. And in my opinion, that makes her truly special.

This is the story of Bridger and Scarlet, and it is really, really sweet. It has plenty of drama on both their ends, but their relationship develops beautifully from friends to lovers, and their chemistry is really hot. Bridger is so sweet, and hot, and wonderful. He’s going through the worst year of his life and hiding all his problems from his friends, avoiding them and doing what he thinks is best. But he wasn’t expecting to meet someone special.

Scarlet has her own secrets to keep, and is hiding in plain sight. Lying about who she really is, she tries to start a new life in Harkness College without the stigma of her family history. She refuses to open up to Bridger, choosing to fight her battles on her own. So when lies and half truths are exposed, they will need to trust each other and forgive mistakes to make their relationship work.

As I said, I loved this book. It’s sweet, romantic and has plenty of heat. Bridger and Scarlet are very well developed as characters and the plot is perfectly paced and though out. It has many sources of drama and angst, and the secondary characters are pretty awesome, as always. I specially enjoyed little Lucy, Bridger’s 8 year old sister, and Andy, Bridger’s friend and neighbor. It is truly a beautiful book, very easy to read and enjoy, and pretty impossible to put down.

Rabid Reader

Great new series! I am loving the characters, and the interactions from book 1 to book 2...ready for book 3! She handles some really tough issues with great endings, and totally endearing characters... they feel like your friends by the end.

Well-written secrets.

Scarlet and Bridger each guarded troubling secrets they kept from everyone, including each other. Despite this, they built a sweet relationship that was a joy for me as a reader to experience. Their lives were so full of mess and complication that they could only steal snippets of time to be together and those moments became the highlights of their gruelling weeks. The build-up to the love is so natural and sweet that it was quite a delicious read. Scarlet and Bridger are admirable, loveable, tenacious, resourceful and loving people. Their story held several surprises and twists that added suspense and sometimes danger, making this one very enjoyable reading/listening experience.

Very well told and heart-warming.

I can't say enough times how much I LOVE these narrators. LOVE THEM, LOVE THEM.

The best book I've downloaded in months!

This story is so we'll written you feel like the author is speaking from first hand experience. You get emotionally involved with the characters and their difficulties.
I'm glad that the first misunderstanding between Scarlett and Bridge didn't last but a second. Their connection was too great to lose over intoxication.
There were fun moments, lustful moments, heartbreaking moments, plain gut wrenching moments, and in the end, happy moments for the two main characters.
I highly recommend this book. You will laugh, do a lot of crying, and be both angry and happy for Scarlett and Bridge. Read the book and lose the world for a while!

Decent listen~

I liked their individual stories, I just wish they would have told each other what they were hiding sooner. I really liked Bridger’s story with his sister, and I’m glad Scarlet’s dad got what he deserved, though I wish she would have gone back to hockey after everything was said and done. On the spice scale I give it like a 2/5 it’s not bad, but could be more descriptive. The narration was good, but I had trouble differentiating it from the first book given it was the same voice actors. Either way I would recommend the listen. I’m excited to listen to the third book, though given the lack of spice from the first two books I may not continue with the rest of the series until a later date. I’ll see how the third book goes first.

Way more story than I was expecting.

Very complex themes run throughout this book. Proving you don’t know the burdens others are carrying, or hiding.

During Covid I have selected books with lighter story material and almost did not select this book because I didn’t want ‘the drama’ added to daily life already complicated by the incessant barrage of news about politics, gun violence, and human suffering. Yup, I have wimped out after retirement from being a social worker for over 20 years. I liked the way the characters issues were wrapped up. In my work, you seldom get HEAs so it was lovely to see the resolutions of these extremely messy story lines. Brava to the author.

This is the year to love it

Book 2 in the series. 2 souls running from secrets and finding each other . The heroine finds out her dad is not really her dad. Both the hero and heroine are hiding something. Life gave them a rough start and now that they found each other they are making it work.

The narrators performance was fantastic they brought the characters to life

Amazing story

One of my all time favourite books!!
The audiobook is amazing ans I truly enjoyed listening to the book again after reading it a year or so ago.

Charming story

What a charming story. Great characters and narration. Got through it in one day. Couldn’t resist. Loved it.