Review: Get a Life, Chloe Brown (The Brown Sisters, #1) by Talia Hibbert

Title: Get A Life, Chloe Brown
Series: The Brown Sisters, #1
Author: Talia Hibbert
Publisher: Avon Books
Publication Date: November 5, 2019
Genre: Romance
Rating: ☕☕☕☕ (4.5/5)
Content Warning: *highlight to view* {physical abuse (mentioned), emotional abuse (recalled), abandonment (recalled), gaslighting (recalled), ableism}

Well, hello to another episode of me being a mood reader. I was looking for something light to read while my anxiety was on high alert last week and I stumbled headfirst into this pleasant surprise. Get a Life, Chloe Brown has been an absolute delight from start to finish.

BLURB

Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she’s come up with seven directives to help her “Get a Life”, and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family’s mansion. The next items?
• Enjoy a drunken night out.
• Ride a motorcycle.
• Go camping.
• Have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex.
• Travel the world with nothing but hand luggage.
• And… do something bad.
But it’s not easy being bad, even when you’ve written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job.
Redford ‘Red’ Morgan is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle, and more sex appeal than ten-thousand Hollywood heartthrobs. He’s also an artist who paints at night and hides his work in the light of day, which Chloe knows because she spies on him occasionally. Just the teeniest, tiniest bit.
But when she enlists Red in her mission to rebel, she learns things about him that no spy session could teach her. Like why he clearly resents Chloe’s wealthy background. And why he never shows his art to anyone. And what really lies beneath his rough exterior… (via Goodreads)

THOUGHTS

“Love is certainly never safe, but it’s absolutely worth it.”

Get a Life, Chloe Brown follows Chloe Brown, a chronically ill web designer who, after a quick brush with death, decided to finally “get a life”. Armed with a list in hand, she enlisted the help of Red, her building supervisor, to slowly tick off all the things on her list. Things took a surprising turn when they eventually found themselves falling for each other.

My cheeks hurt while reading this because it felt like I was practically grinning in all the first half of the book. This book is such a gift. This was my first Talia Hibbert book and despite it being a romance book, I didn’t really expect this to be quite this saucy. This book definitely has no shortage of sexy times – which is surprising because of how incredibly slow burn it is. Not that I am complaining, because I like my romances peppered with deep yearning. The eventual romance apparent even early on, I loved how Chloe and Red started as friends. But perhaps, one of the most remarkable thing about this book is how open and accepting each of the characters are of each other. Their honest conversations about feelings and self-worth and all the bitter things in between are some of the best moments of this book, personally. It is where each of the characters shone the most in my opinion. (Honestly, if I close my eyes, I could imagine those words coming straight out of my therapist’s mouth LOL)

“You always say such lovely things to me, Red. Do you say them to yourself?”

They developed a very precious bond where the first instinct is to understand and encourage. Even the “conflict” (if you can even call it that) at the very last part of the book is something that was handled in a very realistic and charming way. Reinforcing that you don’t really need grand romantic gestures – sometimes, the best way to handle a misunderstanding is to give each other space and just straight-up talk. A lot of romance don’t realize that. But luckily, Talia Hibbert made use of it to such great effects. I loved the way Chloe and Red love each other. (“He loved Chloe. He loved Chloe like a blank canvas and a finished piece and all the exhilarating, painful, stop-and-start moments in between.”)

OVERALL

I love “Get a Life, Chloe Brown” for its simplicity. A cautious girl met a cautious boy. And together, they weathered their fears and confronted their insecurities – making them both stronger in the process. If you’re looking for a good book that will make you heart full at the very end, then look no further. This gave me the handful dose of serotonin that I sorely needed when I read this. Give this charming book a try! I, for one, am excited to dive into the next two books: Take a Hint, Dani Brown and Act Your Age, Eve Brown.

RE. the Audiobook

I kept thinking that the narrator’s voice is quite familiar… only to find out that this audiobook was narrated by the amazing Adjoa Andoh a.k.a Bridgerton‘s Lady Danbury! Honestly, the narration in this book is just *chef’s kiss*! I really recommend it. 💛

RATING

QUOTABLE QUOTES

“So I’m doing it for you because that’s how people should behave; they should fill in each other’s gaps.”

“You were hurt, and you reacted. You were in an unhealthy situation in more ways than one, and you panicked and cleansed everything with fire. Don’t dismiss your emotions and your self-protection as just a fucked-up decision. Don’t reduce something so complex and real and important to nothing.”

“Whether something bad is coming from your body or your brain, it makes no difference. Still feels like shit, right? Still hurts. Still needs fixing. They shouldn’t have dismissed you, even if it was in your head. When it comes down to it, everything we feel is in our heads.”

“Bravery wasn’t an identity, so much as a choice.”

GET THE BOOK >> Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes and Noble | Indiebound

About the Author

Talia Hibbert is a USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author who lives in a bedroom full of books. Supposedly, there is a world beyond that room, but she has yet to drum up enough interest to investigate.

She writes steamy, diverse romance because she believes that people of marginalised identities need honest and positive representation. Her interests include makeup, junk food, and unnecessary sarcasm. Talia and her many books reside in the English Midlands.

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