Member Reviews

We are in a time of the entrepreneurs, with female business leaders making waves (and committing fraud) as well as any man. This story is a dual perspective following highly successful CEO Anna (think Elizabeth Holmes) who’s phenomenal rise is hiding a secret about the legitimacy of her business, and Jaimie a journalist keen to make a name for herself in a ruthlessness competitive industry. When questions being to arise around Anna’s company BrightLife, Jaime peruses the story, uncovering the deceit.

Anna and Jaime were fleshed out, if not always that unique, they certainly felt like familiar characters that I have come across in long reads and documentaries on similar stories already. I found the overall pacing slightly off and, personally, don’t enjoy pages of dialogue. But overall, a very entertaining and timely read, hitting on some of the big themes in our current zeitgeist on women gaining success in the workplace, the glass ceiling, business fraud, and the power held by the big tech companies.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

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I am not well versed in the Elizabeth Holmes scandal but I am much more interested in it after listening/reading!

I received an advance copy. All thoughts are my own.

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That title just scream read me!! Who is Anna Bright and what is she hiding? I need to know more. I have to thank my friend Amanda for putting this one on my radar, I ran straight to NetGalley and requested it after reading her review. I was thrilled to get approved!l

I couldn’t put this down. Told in alternate chapters between Anna and Jamie, it was so much fun to read. Journalist Jamie meets Anna Bright, a very successful female entrepreneur through work and just feels there is something not quite right. Anna is very confident an d her company is about to go public. Jamie keeps digging, despite her boss telling her no, and starts to uncover some secrets that could destroy Anna.

I loved that this one mentioned the Elizabeth Holmes story a few times.it was a similar sort of story but so much more. It is about women, supporting women and the struggles that women face in business and the world in general. I did not like Anna at all, what a nasty piece of work she was.

Thank you to SparkPress for my advanced copy of this book to read. Loved it 🥰 publishes June 4th.

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Anna Bright is a female entrepreneur and ready to release a new product and take her company public, but it's possible there is more happening behind the scenes than the public knows. Jamie is a reporter that is trying to land a big story. Her dad is a big name and she is trying to make her own name in the journalism world. These two ladies both have things on the line and it is a fascinating story of what is the truth and will it be shared! I enjoyed both Anna and Jamie's points of view! Thank you for the opportunity to read this fantastic book!

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Anna Bright is the CEO of BrightLife, a company that is getting ready to launch their highly anticipated product, BrightSpot and also take the company public with a billion dollar valuation. Jamie Roman is a reporter who manages to get an interview with Anna. As she spends some time with Anna and other BrightLife employees, Jamie starts to see there is more going on than what is being shared publicly.

If you were riveted to the coverage of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, you won’t want to miss this story. For the second half of the book I couldn’t put it down and just wanted to see what would happen next. There was one side plot that I felt wasn’t needed but overall I still highly recommend! Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook to review.

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Thank you to NetGalley for the advance copy of this book. I really enjoyed Anna Bright Is Hiding Something - sometimes I can find dual POVs lacking, but the author did such a good job here at developing a strong and unique voice for both Jamie and Anna. The story did have strong Elizabeth Holmes vibes, but the concept for Anna’s company felt new and fresh making it feel unique instead of a lightly fictionalized retelling of something that has been in the news. Would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes corporate, scammer drama plus a good investigative angle. I also enjoyed that the author did a quick snapshot of where the various characters wound up at the end.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book for free in exchange for my review! All opinions are my own. I was lucky to get both an E-Arc and an ALC of the Audiobook

Unfortunately, this book was not for me. I was hoping to enjoy it because I have been intrigued by the Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos case, of which this book is most likely inspired by. However, I found myself losing focus on this book as I found the plot to go over my head (all the Silicon Valley jargon/buzzwords) and the characters were unlikeable (they probably weren't written to be but oh well). I had heard good things about Susie Orman Schnall's other books, which is why I was excited to read this one, however, it just fell flat for me. With that being said, if I wasn't annoyed by the characters, I might have kept going on this book as I did enjoy the narrator's voices (Tiffany Bache and Hillary Huber)



Many Thanks again to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

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A slow-burn, ripped from the headlines story of a woman who promises it all, but is actually full of nothing.

Anna Bright - an Elizabeth Holmes character - is the entrepreneur making waves in the public and corporate world. Full of promises, her business is soon to go public, but the truth behind her eye implant is all fake.

A young journalist, seeking the truth being Anna Bright, is on the track and eager to speak to Anna. After being pulled every which way, she is finally granted an interview time and with the knowledge of other women and their time with Anna, she knows that she holds the power. However, when Anna finds out that she knows...she will do anything to stop the truth from coming out.

I think this was an easy read because the topic is fairly recent history. It's fast, it's interesting, it's amazing how far some people will go.

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I enjoyed this book. I thought the characters and the narrative structure were very interesting. I would recommend this book to those interested in this genre. I would be interested in reading more from this author.

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Anna Bright is definitely hiding something and journalist Jamie Roman from BusinessBerry is going to get to the bottom of it. This is a great story of very strong but very different women and the way they choose to support women in their industries. It is also a tribute to the women who lead the way even when the playing field isn’t always fair.
Many thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

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I picked this up having recently watched the Dropout but it is painfully derivative. It is so closely "inspired" by Elizabeth Holmes that there is no tension. Jamie is a lacklustre main character and the pacing is all off. Jamie instantly stumbles on people with nothing good to say about Anna and builds her story with such minimal effort that it becomes increasingly unbelievable that Anna's house of cards hasn't crumbled already.

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Anna Bright IS Hiding Something, and journalist Jamie Roman is out to uncover the truth. After a chance encounter leads to the opportunity for Jamie to interview powerhouse Anna Bright, the female founder of BrightLife, Jamie leaves the experience with a much different point of view than she expected. What follows is a back and forth journey as both strong, intelligent, and resourceful women do their best to protect their interests. I really enjoyed Jamie's character, she is tenacious and determined, but also can appreciate the path other women around her have paved. While Anna's character is a vast contrast to Jamie is many aspects, they also have a lot in common and I enjoyed those parallels as well. Anna Bright is Hiding Something is a fast paced, entertaining read that takes us behind the scenes in a male dominated field and I think especially female readers will enjoy this story. Thank you to Spark Press and NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book, all opinions are my own.

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In a story that seems inspired by Elizabeth Holmes and the Theranos fraud case, Schnall examines the price that women pay for positions of power, and the ways in which they are perceived as successful entrepreneurs.

Anna Bright is the successful, ambitious startup founder whose company is about to go public. Despite the fact that Bright herself knows that their product is flawed, she is determined to go ahead with the IPO.

When a young female business journalist realises that something is amiss, she sees it as an opportunity to break what will be the story of her career to date - and possibly the making of her reputation. But Bright has not come this far to let that happen, and Jamie Roman is not about to get in her way without facing consequences for it...

A compelling read, the book examines many of the social underpinnings of a system that is not always well-inclined towards women's success, as well as the compromises that some women make - not least wrt to their ethical standards - in the pursuit of success.

I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

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This was an interesting story about an up & coming entrepreneur, loved by (almost) everyone, who will stop at nothing to make her company successful.

Jamie is a reporter who has been dazzled by Anna, like so many others, and jumps at the chance to interview her.

All that follows was drama at its finest. So much talk about female founders, misogyny, racial bias, etc. Many things had me nodding while others had me wondering, "WTF?!"

The book was good, albeit a bit more technical than I'd prefer, but all in all a good book.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

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Wow! I did not know anything about the founding of companies or venture capitalist world and how being a woman factored in, but I sure do now, and in such an entertaining way! I devoured this book! It is told through Anna Bright's and Jaime Roman's alternating POVs. It was like trying to watch a fast paced tennis match as Jamie tries to find out the truth that Anna is trying to hide about her company BrightLife's new product, BrightSpot, that is days away from going public on the New York Stock Exchange.

This is probably one of the most gripping and interesting stories that I have read in a while! As a woman there were so many emotions that this book wrung out of me, but indignant anger was usually at the top of the list.....and not always at who I thought that it would be at. Don't even hesitate to put this at the top of your TBR!

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If you enjoyed the stories of Anna Delvey and Elizabeth Holmes, this book is for you. Told through alternating POVs, Anna Bright is Hiding something tells the story of two women who will stop at nothing until they win. I was kept on my toes the entire time and could not wait to find out how this story ended. I thought this book was extremely well written and is the definition of gaslight, girlboss, gatekeep. I can't wait to read more from this author! Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

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3.5
Anna Bright is indeed hiding something. She is the CEO of BrightLife that is in the process of making and soon to surgically provide chips that go in peoples eyes/face to help aid them in life. (I wasn't totally clear on what and how this worked and it was obviously not the plot point, I wished more had been said on this out of interest.) Anna is a mean girl boss (let's be a hater on those words) and leads really poor office morale.

Jamie Roman is a reporter for a NYC based fictional paper. She is given the opportunity to get close to Anna and in the meantime learns some insider info that people really ought to know about.

Based in Silicone Valley I was all in having lived in Palo Alto and being familiar with the streets and locations mentioned.

This book literally felt like a fictional version of the nonfiction book, Bad Blood based on Elizabeth Holmes, but Bad Blood did it better. The book read super fast and I was super intrigued reading it even though it felt like a re-read.

But, by the end, I was left wanting. A few things I wished that had been handled differently. I did not like how it ended, the plot or the final info on the characters. I wanted more science info with skin in the game to understand the true concerns of said product. I wanted more office specific details. I wanted more blood ;) It felt repetitive and the number of times I read IPO and SEC it felt over the top in usage for the plot points.

Thank you to NetGalley and SparkPress for the gifted e-copy of this book.

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I'm familiar with Elizabeth Holmes and this story seems directly lifted from her life. I always enjoy books with dueling POVs, however this story fell flat for me. The constant harping on "female founders" and misogyny really was overly hammered into the reader. Anna was not at all likeable, but I also found Jamie not that likeable. I DNF'd this book.

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It took longer than I think necessary to finish reading this.
Very Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes (which is referenced and compared to towards the end)
It got more interesting after 65/70% in which imo is too long.
However, I enjoyed the split chapters between the two main characters which gave it an easy read feel.

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An upcoming journalist, Jamie Roman, becomes interested in exposing Anna Bright, founder of a multibillion dollar company about to launch public.

I love stories about women in the workforce. The workforce was heavy on this one and I had to ask my husband a lot about how companies and stocks work. Anyone interested in journalism and investigating the man (in this case the woman) will like this one.

“Maybe the person she needed to live up to, the person she needed to prove herself to- the only person- was herself.”

Anna Bright is Hiding Something comes out 6/4.

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