Girl Behind the Veil by Jalpa Williby is the first in The Invisible Veil Series. When Salena is kidnapped by human traffickers while visiting her father in Pakistan, Kaden Reid is sent in to retrieve her as a part of his Special Forces duties. What he doesn’t expect is the gray-eyed woman to haunt his every moment for the next four years. However, as fate would have it, he finally sees her again at an award ceremony in his honor. Salena, on the other hand, is still traumatized by the incident of all those years ago, opting to channel her recovery into journalism, working for The New York Times. Yet, Kaden is not the only one haunted by specters of the past. After a memorable week in Chicago, the pair part, but is it the end of their romance, or just the beginning?

Having read Miss Williby’s novels in the past, I knew I could expect a story that would capture my attention from beginning to end. I found both characters, Kaden and Salena, believable; however, there were parts where Kaden frustrated me beyond belief, as did Salena. I think that’s what makes a really good novel, when the characters are flawed and do things that make you want to throw the book against the wall. The addition of human trafficking made the story relatable to a great deal of current events going on in the world, as did Salena’s drive to help victims in similar circumstances to her own. Overall, I was highly impressed with this first book in the series. I will note, the end of the book is not the end of Kaden and Salena’s story, and there is a teaser of things that will come in book two! Girl Behind the Veil by Jalpa Williby is an excellent example of romantic suspense, and I will be eagerly seeking the second installment when it comes out!

Girl Behind The Veil (The Invisible Veil Series Book 1) begins like many others with the hero on a mission to rescue a nineteen-year-old girl from the slave trade. This is what he does for a living. What he does not expect is that he will be attracted to her, and she will see him as her saviour and fall for him. However, I did not see this as primarily a love story but the colliding of two worlds; she is Muslim, brought up in England and now working in New York, while he’s all American. Despite her western education and her father’s campaigning in their native Pakistan for women’s rights, there is still a gulf between them. This is handled very sensitively by the author and I would be amazed if the reader didn’t connect deeply with Azmia/Salena, a woman of today caught between an ancient paternalistic culture and modern western ways. Her rescue successful, Kaden, her saviour, and she part ways, never expecting to see each other again – however, four years later …

I am a great fan of this author. Jalpa Williby paints such vivid pictures with her words. You feel as if you are on the run from the human traffickers, hiding out in the cave, racing to freedom across the wild Pakistani countryside. The story is realistic. Salena’s emotions are just right, neither too hysterical nor dismissive. We suffer with her at every step of the way. The time Kaden and Salena spend together keeps the reader engaged, asking ‘Will they or won’t they?’ I was genuinely worried about her father’s reactions, despite his views on female emancipation (I’m struggling not to give any spoilers here), and every time Salena meets her father the tension rises. While this may be read as a love story, the issues are far, far deeper – the human slave trade, trauma, cross cultural relationships. It’s a story that will stay with you long after you’ve read the last page. I only have one big problem. The moment I finished I immediately went on line to find the next book in the series ... only to discover it’s not out yet! I shall be waiting for it the moment it’s published. A well deserved 5 stars from me for an author who writes great stories and whose books I love.