Talia Hibbert is a Black British 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 sexy, diverse romances because she believes that people of marginalized identities need honest and positive representation. Her interests include beauty, junk food, and unnecessary sarcasm. You can find her online at taliahibbert.com. You can find more of my reviews of her works here.
Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dyings, she's come up with six 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 on 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 is rough exterior...
Hibbert takes great care to depict difficult but necessary experiences, such as Chloe's ongoing battle with chronic pain, and Red's battle with his previous relationship experience. I think both of these struggles were depicted beautifully—Hibbert doesn't pull any punches, creating a story that is authentic and real, true to people's real experiences with both of these things, while also not shying away from depicting the beauty that can come, too. This makes for a really powerful love story, one that feels more authentic due to Hibbert's ability to not shy away from the bad of life. It makes the positive, happy love feel even more so.
One of my favorite parts of the book is what I've been calling "the perfect storm." Chloe and Red both have their doubts about the other, and about theirselves. When they reach that point of conflict in the story, they both do something that hurts the other, while trying to stay true to themselves. The way those choices align is fantastic, because it feels so realistic that both of them would act the way they do. For a reader, that is really gratifying, because it makes you realize how invested you really are in characters' love stories. As a writer, it's gratifying because it really shows how important character is, and characters' choices, in order to craft a realistic but engaging narrative.
Another fan favorite is, of course, the easy banter between Chloe and Red. The flirting-that-looks-like-fighting is a real thing that Hibbert writes so effortlessly. Reading their dialogue, their email exchanges, you could really feel the tension, and that goes to show how well those scenes were written. It also provides some much needed levity when surrounded by the characters' darker backstories and how they're overcoming their current struggles. Hibbert really gets what a rom-com novel is, as there's plenty of love, plenty of comedy, while also keeping it real by depicting real experiences of real people.
This isn't all from Talia Hibbert, and indeed this isn't even all from the Brown sisters. Check out the next adventure in this world in Take a Hint, Dani Brown, and you can stay tuned for my review!
*This review can also be found on my Goodreads page*
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