"Hleo" is a book about a girl, Hannah, who's in the last year of high school and her life completely changes when she meets a mysterious stranger, named Ethan. She has to tackle hunting for her real parents, as she's adopted, and also her growing attraction to Ethan, who is a new student in her school and seems oddly friendly with her. It turns out that Hannah's life is in more danger than she could possibly imagine!

What I liked most about the book is the fact that it had an original storyline. I liked the notion that every small act serves a greater purpose and that somehow we are all interlinked with historical events. Can I just say how much I loved the fact that Hannah paints! I am very inadequate at painting, so when I find books with the main character being a painter, I get really excited! It gave me a nice insight on how a painter's mind works and how much effort and dedication he/she has to put in his/her paintings or drawings. Lastly, I was expecting it to be a bit of romance between Ethan and Hannah and thankfully I was not disappointed!

What concerned me a bit about the book is that there's too much exposition. Ethan and Hannah spent an excessive amount of time talking about what happened to Hannah's parents, what exactly is Hleo and so on. I would love for them to talk but if that help in developing their relationship more. Ethan in particular explains everything there is to know about their backstories, but I would have liked that to happen a different way, so we could watch them explore how they feel better. A way to solve that would be if certain chapters of the book were dedicated to those backstories, so we could experience them from the author's point of view, thus making the book longer and more insightful. Also, that would give the added benefit of seeing Ethan and Hannah fall in love properly, because if all they do is talk about the past, it's difficult for me to believe Hannah when she suddenly says she loves Ethan so much that she would die for him.

All in all, "Hleo" is an interesting novel, with fresh ideas that make it quite and enjoyable read!