CAN A SELF-HELP AUTHOR HELP HERSELF?
An authority figure, Mrs. Dinah Bradley is a tell-it-like-it-is therapist turned self-help author. Her provocative book teaches women how to rediscover the love within. But what lies within Dinah are nightmares and faulty memories.

Dinah chooses to focus on her promising career instead of listening to the little voice telling her something is wrong. Triggered by secret recordings and a stalker threatening to expose her, she is forced to confront the past.

Afraid of the unknown and afraid of the truth, Dinah must choose between who she was and who she wants to be.- Goodreads

*slight spoilers*

Dinah is a hard character to like and it isn't because she tries to make herself to be as perfect as possible. Well maybe, kind of. Due to the fact that she is so sent on being perfect, she has zero personality. Everything is her book and how basic she needs to be as a wife i.e. simply fill a role but there is just a obsession to be normal and that is all there is to her.

Even when we discover, what is really behind her reasoning for trying to be normal and perfect, she has no depth. Because the book, was solely focused on her, I was genuinely bored and almost at the do not finish level. However, I kept reading and glad that I did.

The book picks up or at least for me at a family dinner and you can begin seeing the strings unravel and the truth come out. At this point, I was very interested in the book because I didn't actually see what her issue was. The author stretched the book a great deal that you literally cannot see it coming. You have an idea but what actually happened is just a whoa moment.

What I liked about the book was the hypocrisy the author was living. And it made me think that or reminded me of the people in real life that try to do so much to show they have a perfect life. Granted, surprisinginly enough, the use of social media isn't used to show this in the novel. I was cool with this. It added light to a type of lifestyle people think is the best route but isn't necessarily the case.

Beyond this, I felt that the book was good but it took too long for me become invested into it. Also the ending was forced and Dinah still had zero personality and depth.

2.5. Pickles

Dinah Bradley seems to have it all. ... marriage to a wonderful man, close family and friends, and her book she's written is doing well.

Her book is a self-help book primarily aimed at women. It teaches women to love themselves before loving a man. It's a provocative book, and you either love it or you hate it.

Unbeknownst to Dinah, she is suffering from night terrors ... but she doesn't remember any of them. Her husband has put a camera in the bedroom to record her violent actions while sleeping. On top of that she has a stalker ... a woman who threatens to expose her... but Dinah doesn't have a clue what she will expose.

Afraid of the unknown and afraid of the truth, Dinah must choose between who she was and who she wants to be.

This was not a particularly suspenseful story .. other than to see what happened to Dinah to set all this chaos into motion. I didn't care for the main characters at all. Dinah came across as a bitter, unhappy woman who wanted everything to be her way. Her husband was a pin cushion... he kept taking all the jabs. Her best friend never seemed to shut up and she yelled a lot.

The story premise was okay ... it's not unique and it was easy to see where it would all end.

Many thanks to the author and Netgalley for the advanced digital copy of HIDDEN. Opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own.