Get a Life, Chloe Brown (my favorite read of 2019?!) — Talia Hibbert

December 16, 2019

43884209TITLE: Get a Life, Chloe Brown (The Brown Sisters, #1)
AUTHOR: Talia Hibbert
GENRE: Romance
AGE RANGE: Adult
PAGES: 369pg
SOURCE: Edelweiss

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…

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“Choke, Redford. Just choke.”
He seemed to adore her more every second.

This is such a hard review for me to write, not because I’m upset about what to say, but the opposite: because it was so damn good that I just want to screech incoherently until you ALL go buy it immediately and shove your faces into this incredible, hilarious, swoon-worthy, steamy, gorgeous, complex little rom-com. ♥ It’s genuinely everything good in the world of romance books rolled into one adorable little package and I just— *deep breath* I don’t know how to possibly describe to you how much I love this book.

She was Chloe fucking Brown, and she was starting to wonder if she’d been brave from the beginning. If she’d just needed to love herself enough to realize it.

All this time, I thought nothing could ever trump Talia’s A Girl Like Her, that no romance heroine could ever mean as much to me, but no, I was wrong: Chloe Brown is the romance heroine of my heart, and I couldn’t love her anymore if I tried. Talia’s blessed me before with characters I could relate to for their size, or their mental illness struggles, or their painful pasts, or even just their quirks and humor — but until reading this book, I didn’t know how monumentally desperate I was to find a character I could see my chronic illness and pain represented in.

Chloe was used to seeing her life and her illness as normal, but she wasn’t used to other people acting the same way.

I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that I sobbed over Chloe’s struggles and victories, that I cried my eyes out over how genuinely and purely Red loves her and wants to take care of her, that this book literally changed me for the better because somehow, through some miraculous turn of phrases, Talia Hibbert was finally the angel who could get it through my thick skull that I am worthy of being loved, even on my worst days,… I’m choking up just typing this because it meant that much to me. Chloe meant that damn much to me.

“You, sir, are a menace. A menace to good and decent society, and to noble, chaste women such as myself—” She might have been insulted at how hard he laughed if she wasn’t giggling herself.

I’m sorry, lovelies, I really didn’t mean for this review to turn into such a rambling mess, but I just… whew. On a lighter note — because at its core, Get a Life, Chloe Brown is a rom-com and a damn successful one to boot — this book is adorable, and sexy, and so hilarious. I laughed so hard, and if you all could see my highlights on my kindle, it’s unreal. I must’ve highlighted a solid 30% of the book just for sweet, swoony, and laugh-out-loud moments. Red is a stunning hero and I think he’s just about impossible to avoid loving. And then there’s Chloe’s family! If you’ve read anything by Talia, you know her side characters are always absolutely BRILLIANT, and these are no exception. I’m bursting at the seams to get my hands on Chloe’s sisters’ stories because these women are fantastic and I need to get to know them as soon as humanly possible.

“For you,” he said, as though it was obvious. “It’s always for you.”

I feel like I say this in every review I’ve written for this magnificent woman’s stories, but I’m having to force myself to shut up because this review’s gone on long enough already and at this point, I just want to resume incoherent screeching at you. This is easily one of the best books I’ve read all year and most likely my singular #1 favorite read of 2019, and you need it in your life.

All quotes come from an advance copy and may not match the final release. Thank you so much to Wunderkind PR for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest review!
c o n t e n t – w a r n i n g s →

PTSD, mentions of abusive relationships & ableism

d i v e r s i t y →

Chloe is a fat black woman with fibromyalgia

t l ; d r →

Quite likely my singular favorite read of 2019. Hilarious, sweet, steamy, swoon-worthy, and beautifully, effortlessly diverse.
WOULD I RECOMMEND IT? YES YES YES YES YES

Buddy read with Bex!

— destiny ♥

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More about Destiny @ Howling Libraries

Just a children's librarian/horror aficionado/geek girl trying to juggle motherhood, grad school, blogging, gaming, and everyday life.

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21 Comments

    1. Sumedha

      December 16, 2019

      I’ve heard SO MUCH about this, and I’ve really liked a couple books by the author. Can’t wait to dive into it!

      Reply

    1. evelynreads1

      December 16, 2019

      I wasn’t really interested int this one before, but now I really want to pick it up haha!
      Great review!

      (www.evelynreads.com)

      Reply

    1. littlemissstar55

      December 16, 2019

      This book sounds really good. And from your review, and the quotes you’ve pulled, I think I might be adding this one to my wish list!
      ?

      Reply

      1. Destiny @ Howling Libraries

        December 21, 2019

        WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS BEAUTIFUL COMMENT ?? thank you!! The literal highest compliment to me is hearing someone say my review was the tipping point to make them read one of my faves haha!!!

        Reply

    1. rachel @ typed truths

      December 18, 2019

      this review is making me want to drop my very strict end-of-the-year tbr to pick this up. i realllly need to read more talia hibbert in the new year. but i’m so happy you found a new book that meant so much to you!! <3

      Reply

      1. rachel @ typed truths

        December 18, 2019

        okay so i just went and requested my library gets this title because they didn’t have it! and i may have also recommend a few of her other titles on libby so *fingers crossed* they’ll approve them

        Reply

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