Book Review by Natalie: Hide, by Bailey Bradford

Hide, by Bailey Bradford
Series: Spotless, Book 1
Publisher: Pride Publishing
Release Date: May 30, 2014

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

When you think you’ll never fit it, never be whole, love can show you a truth you’ve never seen.

Adal has been abused all of his life. The only person who cared for him was his brother, Steven. Without him, Adal would have been killed long ago. After he and Steven are sent on a mission for their twisted father, they learn they’ve been pawns in an evil plot all along. And that their father has been slowly killing them, one pill at a time.

Steven leaves Adal to seek revenge, and secure safety for them in the world. Adal is astounded to find out he has a mate. A halfbreed like him shouldn’t have anyone to love, should he?

Dorso Rodriguez doesn’t know what hit him, literally or figuratively. A fun-loving guy, he wakes up with a knot on his head and a strange, sexy, scarred man who’s scared and defiant and intriguing.

Together they embark on a journey to defeat the demons from Adal’s past.

M/M Pairing
Gay Character
Paranormal
Shifters
Mates
Hurt/Comfort

Content Warning for:
Sexual assault (off-screen)
Physical abuse (off-screen)

If you’re looking for hurt/comfort with an extreme side of angst, here you go! Sometimes hurt/comfort is just the thing, but here it does get excessive. Adal has had a very unfortunate life (read: excessive physical, emotional, and mental abuse by his father), but all the hurt he’s endured never feels real from Adal’s point of view. I think this is why the author keeps piling on so much additional abuse – to try and make the character’s pain feel realized. Instead, it’s just over the top and doesn’t make any sense.

This is one of those shifter stories where the alpha of a pack is flat-out evil. Bashuan is physically and sexually abusive to his entire pack, but the kicker here is that we never see Bashuan on page. He’s the Big Bad and relegated to the background, which makes the entire story feel like it’s happening somewhere else.

This is a spin-off series from Bradford’s other shifter series, and as such: if you have not read the others, then you have to take a lot of things on faith here. This entire story is filler (and not just filler between sexy-times, of which there is much), but filler for the larger story playing out elsewhere in the world. This is because the story is actually happening in Adal’s brother’s book (which is the second book in the series). There is never any contact with Adal’s brother Stephen in this story & really no connection between whatever is happening in Stephen’s quest and Adal’s story in this book. Adal and his newfound mate are basically just in hiding for the entire story, which gets real boring after enough motel/hotel rooms.

Adal and Dorso never do anything on their own to make the story happen – they are passive players that wait to be told where and when to go. So this book is really only worth reading if you want the hurt/comfort.

A native Texan, Bailey spends her days spinning stories around in her head, which has contributed to more than one incident of tripping over her own feet. Evenings are reserved for pounding away at the keyboard, as are early morning hours. Sleep? Doesn’t happen much. Writing is too much fun, and there are too many characters bouncing about, tapping on Bailey’s brain demanding to be let out. Caffeine and chocolate are permanent fixtures in Bailey’s office and are never far from hand at any given time. Removing either of those necessities from Bailey’s presence can result in what is know as A Very, Very Scary Bailey and is not advised under any circumstances.

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