I am completely humbled by this book. The way in which Emma Noyes draws you in and gives you a small part of her world is beyond brave. I worry all the time. Not to the extent that the main character Eliot has had to hide from the world. I could connect with that voice inside your head that never shuts up. Always making you doubt yourself, that you are never enough, and the list goes on and on. I loved the way she portrayed the large, boisterous, loving Beck family. The family in which Eliot did not feel like she had ever connected with. She is the youngest. Eliot feels left out of conversations or does not remember the stories quit the same as her siblings.

When she was ten, Eliot lost the brother who was closest to her, Henry. Her light dimmed, she never showed emotion, and that is when the worries really took off. Her person, Manuel, stepped into the picture right after. He becomes her world. They are rarely separated. Right before they left for college something happened between the two of them and I was left guessing as to what could have happened between these two best friends. This thing that happened leads to a three-year break, where she does not speak to him or see her family. Her older brother is getting married on the family island. She decides now is the time to see everyone. Little does she know that Manuel will be there. This rips off the band aid and the worries begin to speak up again.

I loved this book. The way in which Noyes speaks about OCD and the way someone can hide the symptoms even from the people you love. When Eliot's therapist speaks of self-hate being addictive, I really felt that. I absolutely loved each character and how they connected to Eliot and her family. Thank you to Emma Noyes and Berkley Publishing for my gifted copy of this incredible read.

4 Going Home Is Scary Stars!

I’ve not read anything by Emma Noyes before and when I saw the blurb for this book I was instantly intrigued. I felt a small connection to Eliot because I too come from a very dysfunctional family but in different ways. Eliot is a woman that has left her family and was really walled herself off from the world thanks to her recent diagnosis of OCD. I always thought I knew what OCD was, but Ms. Noyes has really educated me on the different ways OCD can present itself; it was eye opening to say the least.

After being away from her family for three years Eliot returns home for her brother’s wedding not expecting to see Manuel who was her best friend but also the man she was in love with which of course he never knew. This throws her planned four days into a disarray and she’s not sure she can handle all of it. This is where the story just grabbed my heart and put it through the wringer.

The family dynamics are so fraught with emotions and the revelations that come with this trip had Eliot re-examining why she left and what she’s capable of handling. Her brother that really saw who Eliot was is sorely missed and I found myself crying over this because everyone needs that one family member that accepts who they are even with all their idiosyncrasies and that was Henry for Eliot. There are the moments that Eliot had with Manuel where she reveals her true feelings that made her the most vulnerable and I was trepidatious with how he would react.

I don’t want to give too much away about this emotional and thought provoking story. It’s definitely a book that I recommend if you’re looking to feel everything from joy to sorrow to fear to love and everything in between. Make sure you have your tissues handy!

So I love Emma Noyes and every single book that she has written but this one just wasn't for me.

I felt that it was too long and in the MC's head (which i know is the point of the book) way too much that I just lost interest. I liked the love story but I also could have used a bit more from that and it all ended so abruptly.

It was super interesting to be in the mind of someone struggling with the intrusive thoughts of OCD. I wish more of the story had been devoted to that instead of the family drama. There were so many siblings to keep track of and not all of them added to the story.

Eliot Beck, arriving in Canada for her brother’s wedding, is greeted by the family she hasn’t seen in years after a personal trauma caused her to run away from all she knew. As she tries to reconnect with her beloved family, and her best friend Manuel, she fears that facing buried trauma will lead her back into the never-ending OCD cycle.

Emma Noyes continues to impress me with her achingly raw and very visceral novels featuring flawed and relatable characters with real world issues. Her ability to use her own struggles to shape her characters, adds tenfold to building out these incredibly multi-faceted characters, who by the conclusion of the story, you feel as though you know.

While there is a romance at the heart of this story, the focus is much more on the growth and development of our MC Eliot, her relationship with her OCD and with her family. Through past and present timelines, we experience alongside her some of the traumas that bought her to where she is at the opening of the book.

It is easy to see why Manuel is so special to Eliot - the epitome of the book boyfriend, he is her constant support system, knowing her better than she knows herself at times. One aspect I loved most is the juxtaposition of how they grew closer in the past, and how they must work again towards that same goal, now in the present. While I wish there was epilogue to see more into the future and what it held for them, I feel okay with how the author chose to conclude their story.

To be quite candid, this story is hard to read at times. Eliot suffers tremendously at the hands of her OCD and I could feel her pain literally coming off of the page. It was downright uncomfortable at times. I could not imagine the impact this type of disorder has on someone’s life, but thanks to Noyes, I come away from it with a better understanding of the incredible pain and trauma it can bring with it. As someone who is neurodivergent too (Autism) seeing this type of rep in mainstream books makes my heart incredibly happy, even while I cried for Eliot and those who suffer from the same type of OCD.

Read if you like:
▪️women’s fiction
▪️second chance
▪️wedding backdrop
▪️emotional reads
▪️neurodivergent (OCD) rep

Thank you Berkley Pub and Berkley Romance for the gifted copies.

As she did with Guy's Girl author Emma Noyes creates another character-driven story that unflinchingly delves into the complexities of mental illness and the ways in which it can affect all other aspects of life. There's a heaviness to the book, and I found myself needing to pause a time or two because it hit me personally in some specific ways. But I appreciate the craft of a story like this and Noyes's willingness to put such flawed yet compelling characters on the page.

But please mind your own personal triggers, because this book won't be for everyone.

Don't pick this one up for the romance as it takes a back seat to the family drama. But also that didn't let it stop me from rooting for Eliot and Manuel. They had such a strong bond and so much to work through but they were so worth rooting for.

Huge thank you berkleypub and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The representation of mental health was excellent. It made it easier for me to comprehend how Eliot's past and her history of OCD influenced her current experiences. Manuel was a wonderful character as well. Even though she took Manny out of her life and continued to push him away, I found it great that he never gave up on him. I also liked how this story focused on family. I liked this book overall. For me, it was a slow burn.

This book is about Eliot Beck and takes place the weekend to her older brother’s wedding. It also happens to be the first time in three years that she has seen her family or her best friend, Manuel. After cutting off all communication and moving to New York, Eliot is sure what to expect from this reunion. Even worse, she doesn’t know if stepping away from her carefully curated routine of working nonstop and running will cause the “worries” to come back and make her undeserving of her family’s (and Manuel’s) love.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a slow burn for me and I read it just a chapter or a two at a time. I really liked the mental health representation. This book helped me better understand OCD and what might be going through someone’s mind if they are affected by it. I also appreciated the dual timelines. It helped me understand how Eliot’s past and history with OCD affected what she was experiencing in the present timeline. I also loved Manuel as a character. I thought it was admirable that he never gave up on Eliot, even though she cut him out of her life and kept pushing him away. I also appreciated the family aspect of this story as well. My only criticism of this book is that it seemed to be promoted as a second-chance romance, which is really seems to be more of a side point and not the overall story here. All in all, this was a solid read.

Emma Noyes does it again. I loved Noye's debut Guy's Girl when I read it last year and this one blew me away. There is some heavy content here so be warned that it deals with a lot of grief and one of the most painful depictions of OCD I think I have read, but I felt like Noyes dealt with these subjects sensitively. This was tender and heartbreaking, and I just loved it.

This was really not what I was expecting. `I read and enjoyed Guy's Girl so I should have been prepared but somehow that cover made me think young summer romance. And while there is a young romance in this that is far from the focus. But trust me when I say, don't pick this one up for the romance as it takes a back seat to the family drama. But also that didn't let it stop me from rooting for Eliot and Manuel. They had such a strong bond and so much to work through but they were so worth rooting for.

Eliot's brother dies when she is young and she is not really equipped, or understands how to, deal with her feelings. It's about Eliot and the fallout over the years and her big dysfunctional family. Her Dad has had 3 wives and six kids and that is always going to make for some drama. Eliot also has OCD. Not the version everyone thinks of, but her brain works in a different way. Casting doubt and causing unusual thoughts. At first I was fascinated by this type of OCD I had never heard of, but at times in the story, it seemed to pop up and be a little out of place. If not for that this would have been a five star book for me.

I love when a book makes me think and this one did. A sibling death is hard at any age but when you are young, how do you cope and recover. Eliot is the youngest and her oldest brother was married when she was born, that sibling support isn't as strong as you might think.

My heart broke for the family as I read about their grief and how they handled it. That revelation at the end really made me pause and will make this one stick with me.

Emily Pike Stewart did a great job narrating this one and not only handling all the characters but brought Eliot and her struggles to life in such an unobtrusive way.

When Eliot has to go to Cradle Island for her older brother's wedding, it will be the first time in 3 years that she has been with her family and her best friend, Manuel. Ever since her brother, Henry, died when they were children, Eliot has The Worries, thoughts in her head that she can't quiet. It is a form of OCD, and she sees herself as damaged.
As the week of wedding festivities moves along, Eliot continues to avoid Manny, because she doesn't want to admit her true feelings and thoughts that convince her she is a bad person.
An interesting look at mental illness, in a unique way, and one that calls attention to OCD in a different way. The family dynamic is messy, but also loving in its own way.
I plan to read Noyes's first adult novel since I enjoyed this one.

This is a really interesting heart, wrenching, and sensitive book. The main protagonist Elliot has left her family for several years because of her OCD. She finds herself coming back for a family wedding and running into her best friend who she cut off. All of the familial relationships were intriguing and it was also interesting to see how Elliot started to realize that she’s not the only person who struggles with issues that everybody has their own version of personal problems that they deal with in order to move forward

Huge thank you @berkleypub and @netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
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Eliot hasn’t returned home in three years. She loves her family but she needs to protect herself. She built careful walls around herself but it all threatens to come tumbling down when she comes face to face with Manuel. This is beautifully written about a challenging subject.

Thank you to Emma Noyes and @berkleypub @berkleyromance for providing an e-arc and to @prhaudio for providing an ALC of this book.

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!! 😍🩷 This book may very well be my favorite book of 2024. This book has everything: heart, humor and real life issues while also being a fictional story. Emma Noyes takes issues such as OCD, Anxiety and other Mental Health issues and turns it into a beautiful novel. Trust me: you will laugh and you will cry, rinse and repeat. I would say this book is written as a love letter to anyone who is struggling with mental health and as someone who is neurodivergent I felt seen in this book with my entire soul. I totally resonated with Eliot as a main character and many times throughout the book I wish I could go into the pages and give her a big hug. She was such a strong and amazing character and probably one of the characters I could relate to most.

On the audiobook side, I thought that Emily Park Stewart did an amazing job bringing Eliot and the other characters voices to life and I would definitely listen to more books by her in the future. She had a very comforting voice and help to immerse me in the story.

The only appropriate reaction to this book is to applaud Emma Noyes’s vulnerability in sharing her lived experience of OCD. As a reader, I could feel her stress and anxiety as Worries took over. I felt the impossibility of believing the kind things Eliot’s family and Manny said to her. I really appreciate, as well, that the ending wasn’t a nice, tidy resolution, which would’ve felt disingenuous. Another great read from Noyes, and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

I am such a fan of Emma Noyes’ writing. I loved Guy’s Girl when I read it last year and I loved How to Hide in Plain Sight even more. Noyes’ characters are so fleshed out and well written that they really come to life on the page. I’m not somebody who struggles with OCD and I didn’t realize how varied the disorder can be for different people. At times it was hard being in Elliot’s head as we see just how much OCD takes control of her life. My heart broke for her as she isolated herself and struggled to live with her “worries” alone. Your heart will break for Elliot (I was on the verge of tears a few times), but Noyes will absolutely help put it back together. The love Manuel has for Elliot is so beautiful, and I love how in the end she finally sees that she’s worth loving.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkley for a review copy. 4.5 Stars

This book was okay, but not overly memorable. I probably wouldn't rave about it, but I don't have anything too bad to say about it either. A bit slow and very character driven. I did love the OCD representation as that is something I struggle with as well.

This book left me in tears - multiple times - and for multiple reasons. Sometimes I cried from laughing and other times I was heartbroken. As a mental health professional, I thought Emma Noyes did an excellent job of portraying the deep and often tumultuous emotions that come along with any mental health diagnosis. Overall, this was one of the most well-developed stories about family (albeit a dysfunctional one) and mental health that I’ve ever read, and I highly recommend it! If you've ever dealt with mental illness or loved someone who has, you'll feel seen in one way or another when you read Eliot's story. If you haven't been touched by mental health difficulties in some way, then this will absolutely give you greater insight into the emotions and hard work! that comes along with it. Thank you to NetGalley and Berkeley Publishing for the ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review,

3.5 ⭐️
I rounded down for GR because I’m not sure how willingly I’d recommend this one.

My review for this one is pretty middle of the road. While I do think the mental health aspect was as honest and vulnerable as it could be (author has OCD so you know it’s an accurate representation), however I do think she lost us a long the way trying to balance the main story of the wedding, her dysfunctional family, and balancing the dual timelines and romance aspect.

That was one sentence haha

This book is heavy. You are deep in Elliot’s OCD brain which is exhausting. When I face stories with the primary story being mental health issues, I love to see growth and progress. Unfortunately, Elliot is very much in the struggle and hiding stage and that was challenging for me. Not sure what would have given this book more stars for me, but I think we needed more hope at the end than what the author provided. It had glimpses of hope, but the ending wrapped up in the last few pages of the book. It was a bit unsatisfying after ending the book for 99% of heavy painful subject matter.

BUT- that may have been the authors point?? So who knows. Might look into an interview with the author to understand.