What a title for a character's inner struggle reveal of OCD. When Eliot leaves her family behind in Canada years ago and moves to Manhattan, instead of sharing her dilemma in her mind, she protects them by leaving. Now she is back for her brother's wedding. Her family is a large dysfunctional and complicated bunch with a lot of love, but also loss, as they have suffered the death of Eliot's brother. This 4 day wedding extravaganza will be filled with a powerful, emotional delivery of Eliot's inner struggles. Her best friend Manuel resurfaces as she feels regret for walking out of his life as their friendship had deepened into a deeply felt romance. What she doesn't want now, is to expose her complex mental health condition...the same reason she walked away from everyone.
This book is an eye opener for her condition written as a light to the author's condition. The voices will not stop and the "Worries" are a constant in a string of serious thoughts. You can't help but love the complex dialogue that is heart wrenching, but a much needed perspective on this topic.

Amazing! I encourage you to consider this book. It is a heavy view, but not overwhelming, but finding the perspective on someone else's condition.
Thank you NetGalley and Berkley Publishing for this ARC in exchange for my review.

5/5 stars!

Thank you Berkley Pub for the advanced reading copy!

Ugh, I LOVED this book. I'll start with my one and only complaint -- I wanted the representation of Eliot's therapy to be better. Whether that was through an epilogue or what was shown captured differently, as a therapist it was clear to me that her therapist had NO idea what he was doing with OCD and was probably making it worse for her. I'm wondering how much of that was intentional by Emma Noyes -- how much was her own experience or artist choice. While this topic is so near and dear to me, it didn't take away from the book. More of a *reviewer's note* that I feel compelled to include.

That being said -- what amazing, harrowing and accurate representation of OCD and grief -- wow. I'm so impressed at Noyes' ability to weave these complicated, intrusive and obsessive thoughts into the story without it feeling forced or consuming. The Beck family was incredible -- so well-developed and had such believable dynamics, they were so fun to read. Manuel was a great addition to the story, both as a member of the family and as a love interest. I was moved to tears throughout this book for various reasons -- Manuel's kindness, Eliot's struggles, Speedy's grief. It's not often that I LOVE both the plot and the writing style of a book, but here we are! Captivating story that read quickly and with so much depth. The ending was satisfying, if not slightly abrupt, and left me wanting more of these darling characters.

SYNOPSIS -- Eliot Beck hasn't seen her family in three years by very careful design. When she returns her to her family's private island in Canada -- yes, they're THAT wealthy -- for her older brother's wedding, she's terrified that by doing so she will re-awaken the obsessive-compulsive symptoms she fled to Manhattan to bury. Eliot is barely ready to get through the weekend with her family, but when her best friend, Manuel, shows up, all hope is lost. While Eliot reacquaints herself with her family and Manuel, their history and that of the island come flooding back, leaving her overwhelmed with feeling and so, so quickly losing grip on the tightly-wound yarn of her mind.

How to Hide in Plain Sight is a contemporary coming-of-age novel that explores both a young woman’s struggle with mental health and a romance.

Eliot has been living away from her large blended family and best friend, Manuel, for three years. But with her older brother’s wedding taking place at the family’s lakeside vacation home, she must return and face everyone she left behind.

This is not your typical romance novel. Eliot has struggled with symptoms of OCD and anxiety since she was a child, following the heartbreaking loss of her brother. Her intrusive thoughts and “worries” send her spiraling in unexpected ways, and for readers unfamiliar with OCD, it’s incredibly eye-opening. Often, authors rely on unrealistic roadblocks and misunderstandings to delay true love, but in Eliot’s case, her disorder makes it genuinely difficult for her to trust reality, leading her to reject and push Manuel away.

I highly recommend this book for those who enjoy complicated family drama, mental health representation, and slow-burn friends-to-lovers romance.

Synopsis in a sentence (or two):
Eliot Beck has been living a life separated from her best friend and family ever since she moved to New York. All that changes when she must attend her brother’s wedding. Here, she must reunite with her family and try to hide from all of them in full view.

Overall Thoughts:
This is the second book I’ve read by Noyes, and she is quickly becoming a favorite. Emma Noyes knows how to write emotions. Her characters are
raw and authentic. It’s the way she builds relatable characters which immediately engages me in her storylines and whatever problem unfolds. How to Hide in Plain Sight features Eliot Beck, a twenty something woman, who attempts to hide her OCD from her family. This was the first portrayal of OCD that I’d seen that actually helped me to understand the inner workings of it versus what it looked like from a bystanders point of view. While I understand no two cases of OCD are alike I appreciated Noyes’ candid perspective and wish there were more books like hers.

Recommended to readers who:
📚have a loved one with OCD
📚Jodi Picoult, JoJo Moyes, Abby Jimenez
📚Romance family dramas

Rating: 4⭐️

Disclosure:
Thank you to Netgalley and Berkley Publishing for the Digital Review Copy of How to Hide in Plain Sight. All opinions are my own.

One thing I love most about the bookish world is that, through writing, an author is able to present a unique viewpoint, a real and raw account of what it's like to live with xyz.... You can fill this blank with so many things, obviously. Author Emma Noyes, in How to Hide in Plain Sight, gives a voice to those who live with OCD. Because she herself lives with the condition, she is able to depict it with utmost truth, shedding those stereotypes of cutesy, quirky, endearing OCD that we too often see presented in mainstream media. ⁣⁣
⁣
Reading this, I was gutted at the internal battle that Eliot endures through her intrusive thoughts. The feelings of isolation, worthlessness, and fear she experiences were heartbreaking; and even more devastating is the fact that this is all internal, so others don't see it. I also had a huge soft spot for Eliot's best friend Manuel. His support, his heart, his drive to learn about OCD and dig deep to see and understand Eliot's struggles...absolute perfection. The only thing I personally had a hard time with with was the ending. I was so deeply invested in this story, and the ending felt quite abrupt. I would have loved to see it fleshed out more or for there to be an epilogue. All in all, however, I very much enjoyed this book and am thankful to have read it as I feel like it enabled me to better understand what it can be like to live life with OCD and better support those in my life who struggle with it.

How to Hide in Plain Sight by Emma Noyes was such a heart wrenching read. I didn't really know what to expect when I started reading this and I'm so glad I was given the opportunity to read it. It's a tear-jerker for sure but I thought it did a fantastic job of approaching some very sensitive subjects. It's a well developed story that is written so well. I highly recommend this!

Synopsis: Eliot, the youngest child of a big, dysfunctional family, reunites with them after three years for her brother’s wedding.

Thoughts: This book was so well done! It is rare to find such a realistic and honest portrayal of mental health in books, and Emma really nailed that aspect here. I really felt for Eliot and her struggles with OCD. While this book dealt with some very heavy topics (grief, mental illness, cancer), there were also a lot of fun family moments and a sweet childhood best friends to lovers romance plot that I really loved. Emma did a great job with both the lighthearted portions as well as the deeper aspects, and the overall message I took away from this story is one of healing and forgiveness. Highly recommend!

Read this if you like:
🌲 family reunion drama
🌲 weddings
🌲 mental health rep
🌲 outdoorsy settings
🌲 second chance romance
🌲 friends to lovers

Out On: September 10, 2024

I thought this book did a phenomenal job of exploring what one form of OCD can look like in a person. I had never read a book with a main character who struggled with this particular area and I have to say that I thought the author did a great job! To find out that the author struggles with this in her own life only made me want to actively cry, because she did a beautiful job of portraying it throughout her story.

The last few chapters absolutely broke my heart and you could just feel the love of this family oozing off the page! I couldn't help but shed a few tears at the resolution that this family was able to find (I won't say with what because #spoilers) but I was a wreck. Overall, if you need a book that will not only shine a new perspective on just one form of neurodivergence that exists in our world but also have some of the most beautiful family involvement - then this is the book for you!

Thank you so much to Berkley Publishing Group for this advanced copy on NetGalley! 🤍

Eliot hasn’t dealt with so many issues from her past that almost consume her life.
She is forced to confront those issues and lay down a heavy load of guilt she’d been carrying for most of her life.
The most important thing about this book is the message that living too much in one’s head isn’t healthy and the need to reach and connect with people who are important in your life is a necessity.
You’re never alone.

Emma Noyes pens a deeply personal portrait of grief and OCD in How to Hide in Plain Sight. After losing her brother Henry at a young age, Eliot Beck develops a form of OCD that infiltrates her brain with heinous, unyielding thoughts. The Worries, as she calls them, quickly consume her life and Eliot starts to push away the rest of her large, boisterous family as well as her best friend Manuel. After running away to New York to keep her loved ones and The Worries at bay, Eliot returns to her family’s coastal Canadian island for the wedding of her older brother Taz. There, Eliot faces a reckoning years in the making that forces her to look inward and reflect on her own needs and fears.

This book is breathtaking, difficult at times, but incredibly necessary. Noyes reframes OCD with an acute honesty, describing the barefaced truth of a rarely discussed facet of the disease. We are submerged in the darkest bowels of Eliot’s mind, gaining unfiltered access to her thought process and its debilitating consequences.

“Where logic talks, OCD screams” - How to Hide in Plain Sight, Emma Noyes

As someone with a brain that has a penchant for screaming the illogical at them, I felt like I understood Eliot on a deep level. Living with mental illness is a vast and erratic journey and I thought Noyes did a wonderful job at showing Eliot’s fluctuation between fine and less so. I have seen from social media and read in the book’s acknowledgments how personal these themes are for Noyes, and I want to express my gratitude to her for sharing such a vulnerable part of herself with readers.

I was also taken by how realistic and complex the dynamics between the Beck family were. Much of the joy from this book came from observing their various idiosyncrasies and learning about their shared history. Through Eliot’s lens we are able to see how each member handled grief and how their varying temperaments contribute to a web of intricate relationships. Among these, is Eliot’s friendship and fledgling romance with Manuel who acts as an additional pillar of the Beck brigade. Manuel’s patient affection is exactly the type of solid force Eliot deserves and watching them succumb to decades worth of pining was profoundly satisfying.

How to Hide in Plain Sight will be a book that I think about a lot in the coming weeks and I’m so appreciative that we have these narratives that reflect diverse, lived experiences.

Many thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for providing me with this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you Berkley Pub and Berkley Romance for the free book and thank you PRH Audio for the #gifted listening copy of How To Hide In Plain Sight! #BerkleyBookstagram #berkleypub #BerkleyIG #berkley #PRHAudioPartner #PRHAInfluencer #HowToHideInPlainSight #EmmaNoyes

𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐓𝐨 𝐇𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐈𝐧 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: 𝐄𝐦𝐦𝐚 𝐍𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐬
𝐍𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫: 𝐄𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐏𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐭
𝐏𝐮𝐛 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐞: 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟏𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒

𝟱★

How to Hide in Plain Sight was truly remarkable. From the “Dear Reader” section in the beginning, I had tears in my eyes, and I knew I was going to fall in love with this #ownvoice story of Eliot. Emma Noyes shows the reader what it means to have OCD, but not in the traditional sense. This book was so eye-opening to me and I think the representation in this book has got to be some of the most authentic out there. This book has some super heavy topics, which including the death of a family member, grief, disability, and difficult family dynamics.

→𝐒𝐰𝐢𝐩𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧→

💙Raw & Honest
💙OCD Representation
💙Childhood Best Friends to Lovers
💙Challenging Family Dynamics
💙Unforgettable
💙Dual Timeline

🎧I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Emily Pike Stewart. Let me tell you, this audio performance was FLAWLESS. From start to finish, I loved everything about my listening experience. This book and the audiobook performance were an easy FIVE STARS! You will not be disappointed if you listen to this one on audio!

Posted on Goodreads on September 9, 2024: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/144922955?ref=nav_profile_l
**Posted on Instagram - Full Review- on or around September 10, 2024: http://www.instagram.com/nobookmark_noproblem
**Posted on Amazon on September 10, 2024
**-will post on designated date

One-word review: Moving
Emojis: 🤔🥺🥰
Rating: 5🌟s

Favorite Quote: “Before I learned to ignore the siren call of my memories, their taunts, daring me to jump down, down, down, into that all-to-familiar place - a hole into which at times I fell accidently and at others I climbed willingly, allowing the rest of the soil to tumble in after me, shutting off all oxygen and blotting out the sun.”

My Top-Five-style Review:

5. The romance plot thread warmed my heart and made it grow exponentially. Eliot (FMC) and Manuel’s story have so much beauty. I just loved it!

4. The family themes, with their raw authenticity, created a connection that resonated deeply. The messiness and love that make for a good story were beautifully portrayed. I cherished the evolution of their bonds throughout the narrative.

3. The pacing, while leisurely at times, compensated with its intellectually stimulating exploration of topics and themes.

2. The book offers a unique and in-depth perspective on a commonly referenced mental health disorder - Obsessive Compulsive Disorder or OCD. It reframes the disorder, shedding light on lesser-known symptoms that pose significant challenges for sufferers and their loved ones. While it can be difficult to delve into a mental health disorder through a story, it is also crucial.

1. Emma Noyes’ courage in sharing this story, which is deeply personal and informative about a complex mental health disorder, is truly admirable. It’s never easy to admit one's struggles, as it opens up a world of uncertainty and fear. However, to go a step further and share it with the world in a moving and informative fictional story is a testament to the book's importance for society.

"How to Hide in Plain Sight" will be available on September 10, 2024. I would like to thank the publisher and author for providing an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this novel via NetGalley.

4 stars.

“How to Hide in Plain Sight” is a well-written novel that deals with heavy topics in a compassionate and eye-opening way. The story follows Elliot Beck, the youngest child of a blended family, as she returns home to her family’s private island for her brother’s wedding. In the three years since she left home, she has had little contact with her family and her childhood best friend, Manuel. The story switches back and forth to flashbacks from the past and present day. I loved the second chance romance storyline in this novel and the dual timeline format made me invested in the characters and their story.

I want to applaud the author for her descriptions of Elliot’s struggles with OCD. It is a raw and vulnerable glimpse into an often misunderstood mental illness. Overall, I really enjoyed this book—it was well-written, smart, and hopeful. My only critique is that I wanted more from the ending. I would love to see an epilogue showing where Elliot and Manuel end up.

HOW TO HIDE IN PLAIN SIGHT by Emma Noyes is a deeply personal and heartbreakingly honest #ownvoices portrayal of a lesser publicized side of OCD.

(Read/Listened concurrently thanks to @prhaudio #PRHAudioPartner and @netgalley)

“Family isn’t about telling the truth. It’s not about starting from the real beginning. To your family, you tell the story they need to hear.”

PLUS: Big blended dysfunctional family, childhood friendship to more, wedding weekend on a Canadian island, a bit of closed-door romance, self-acceptance with heavy and uplifting themes.

VIBES: Anxious People by Frederik Backman in both its simplicity and complexity. The themes of grief, heartache, family, growth, love, friends, and the intricacies of life.

CW: Death of sibling in childhood, Mental health content (OCD, intrusive thoughts), grief, addiction.

3.5 Stars

#HowToHideInPlainSight by Emma Noyes is the story of a dysfunctional family and #mentalhealth with a side of romance.

Eliot is 21 and the youngest sibling in a large family who lives and works in New York City. She meets her family in Ontario for a family wedding. Manuel, her childhood friend and first crush, is there because he’s an adopted member of the family.

For fans of a childhood friends-to-lovers trope, dysfunctional family dynamics, mental health rep (OCD intrusive thoughts), family secrets and misunderstandings, and complicated relationships.

Content considerations: heavy mental health content (intrusive thoughts, spiraling), child death (in past but remembered and a major theme), and grief.

Thanks #Netgalley @BerkleyPub #BerkleyBuddyReads for my complimentary copy. All opinions are my own.

This was a truly eye-opening #ownvoices story about Eliot Beck's grief over the loss of her younger brother and the way this trauma manifested early onset OCD that affected her for the rest of her life.

I loved how real and central the protagonist's intrusive thoughts, obsessive worries and self-hate was in this story. The author does an amazing job showing a facet of OCD that's not the typical germ phobia we see most often in the media but one that's more about internal doubts and debilitating anxieties/fears.

While mental health plays a HUGE part in this book it is also a story about Eliot's big wealthy family and childhood friendship with Manuel, a young boy from Columbia. Through flashbacks we get to see how Eliot and Manuel become best friends and almost more and the way Eliot's family practically adopts Manuel as one of their own, often inviting him to spend summers with them at their private island in Ontario cottage country.

Good on audio and highly recommended for fans of books like Carley Fortune's Every summer after. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and @prhaudio for a complimentary ALC copy in exchange for my honest review. This is sure to be a favorite read of 2024 for me!!

This is one of the most powerful novels I’ve read in a long while. Eliot struggles with OCD after losing her brother at a young age. The ways in which this illness impacts her cause her to feel she must distance herself from her family and her best friend, Manuel. How to Hide in Plain Site picks up three years after Eliot has moved to New York and she’s returning to her family’s island for her older brother’s wedding. She’s got to face her family, the possibility of returning OCD symptoms, and worst of all, the best friend she cut off three years ago.

Noyes did an amazing job sharing Eliot’s OCD and how she battles with it internally. The novel flashes back and forth between past and present, so readers see Eliot as she first begins to struggle with OCD thoughts as well as her then her continued present-day coping strategies. The writing is beautiful and the characters are easy to love and root for. This is, by far, one of the best books I’ve read this year.

This is an interesting read that follows Eliot, in the past and present, as she struggles with her place in her dysfunctional family and deals with her obsessive thoughts. The author handles the difficult topics in the story with sensitivity and I enjoyed seeing the family find the support and love they all needed within each other and their relationships. The audiobook is a great way to read this book and the narration by Emily Pike Stewart is fantastic.

"I love you", I whispered into this third silence. "And not in the way I usually mean it." Manuel's arms tighten. "I've never meant it any other way."

How to Hide in Plain Sight follows Eliot, youngest of 6 kids, and she returns to her family's private island (you heard me) in Canada for her brothers wedding after keeping her distance from them and her childhood best friend, Manuel, for 3 years. After the loss of her irish twin at age 10, Eliot develops a form of OCD that manifests in the form of compulsive thoughts she calls, the Worries, that convince her that she is a terrible person in a verity of different, disturbing, ways. The story is enlightening to OCD as a mental illness and the way that it can manifest without being seen the way it is typically depicted, and it's effect of not only romantic but familial relationships.

This is more of literary fiction novel. focusing on Eliot's journey with OCD and her dysfunctional family of 8, with a childhood friends to lovers/second chance romance sub plot.

I loved the romance plot in this book!! Manuel is a MAJOR green flag, he knows exactly what to do and what to say to ease Eliot's Worries. It is really tough at times to be in her head and see how her mind tricks her into believe such horrible things about herself. I also enjoyed seeing the family dynamic play out between her siblings and parents and how they all coped in different ways after the loss of their brother/son. The pacing was a little bit slow at times for me but the second half of the book picked up big time with both the family drama and the romance.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

4.5 rounded up💫 another absolute win from Noyes for us neurodivergents!! 🥹

This is a heartbreakingly honest portrayal of OCD and how impossible it can be to live with a brain you cannot trust! It’s such a deeply personal book for Noyes + I just know this will make so many people feel seen for the first time❤️‍🩹 I know I’ve never read a book that was so open + honest about this topic!!

It’s also more than that though! It’s got childhood best friends to lovers, it’s about being part of a big family and feeling left behind, it’s about grief and dealing with capital W “Worries” floating around your head, and finding ways to cope and grow and heal, about finding your person.

I love loved the writing style and the audio narration did such a good job of portraying the emotions! It had a lot of flashbacks and characters to keep track of and I do wish we had a bit more at the end but overall highly recommend!! 🥹💞