Eliot Beck hasn’t seen her family in three years. She adores them but their chaotic, dysfunctional way of dealing with each other was part of her decision to move by herself to Manhattan instead of going to college. When she left her family behind she also left her best friend Manuel behind, never returning a text or phone call. When she arrives in Canada for her brothers wedding the first person she sees is Manuel and she is not ready to face the person who knows her the best.

I don’t usually put trigger alerts in my book reviews because I believe that a story should stand on its own, which includes surprising the reader as a story evolves. However, I feel like the cover of this book portrays an expectation for a light summer beach read, with a hint of romance. Depending upon what you like to read during your vacation the reveals in this book could be a wonderful suprise for you, however, the main character has a severe version of OCD and anxiety that I found to be fascinating, but I also think some people may have trouble reading. That’s the PSA.

Eliot’s brothers and sisters span a very large age gap. Her oldest brothers were in their in their 20’s or 30’s when she was born, as they were a product of her father’s first marriage. When he married her mother they had three more children, one of whom died as a child. Eliot was closest in age to her brother and when he died her parents and her older brothers and sister all avoided talking about it with her and she was left to handle it on her own, at age 8 or 9. Needless to say, Eliot developed trauma in the form of OCD- not the kind that makes you line up your shoes, but the internal anxiety that causes your internal voice to cycle in circles and never find resolution. On the surface Eliot looked calm and like she was handling everything but in fact she was spiraling out of control. I’ll admit, this was really hard to read, however I kept reading because I wanted, no needed to see her resolve this trauma which she did, but it took the entire book.

While Eliot’s internal monologue might have been disturbing, her reconnection with Manuel was beautiful. This was the boy/man that she grew up with, told all her secrets to, and fell in love with as a young woman. She couldn’t hide from him and their story while difficult in parts, was beautiful in total.

So, needless to say, this is a very hard book to read, and I sobbed at the end. I’m not a big fan of connecting with my inner self, but in this case I was so glad that I read this book and made those connections. There were some storylines that were painful, but in that pain there was also beauty. In looking back at this novel it’s those poignant moments that stick with me and resonate, and is ultimately why I loved this novel so much.

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

Click this link to purchase this book!* Hide In Plain Sight

Copyright 2024 The Reading Chick All Rights Reserved

*Amazon Associate- if you purchase this book through the above link I’ll receive a small stipend.