BOOK REVIEW⎜Get A Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

So many tropes I loved combined into one book.
Next door neighbor
Hate To Love
Heroine making a life altering list.

Chloe was such an adorable character, sarcasm and eccentricity her coping mechanisms for a chronic illness she’s been dealing with for years.

I don’t recall any romance book depicting in such depth what it’s like to live daily with invisible disabilities. Round of applause for the author for making Chloe’s journey not only relatable, but engaging despite the obvious portrayal of Chloe daily struggles with her illness.
You’d think it sounds like something heavy to read except it’s really not. The author managed to both deliver a fun and sexy romance with emotionally charged moments all the while dealing with serious themes like chronic illness and relationship abuse.

Chloe Brown is me. From to her chronic illness, her coping mechanisms, her ludicrous one sided conversations unfolding in her head, down to the fancy chocolate she’s addicted to, the preposterous amount of notebooks she owns, her fondness for pretty pajamas, her nerdiness—fellow PS4 player here, the amazon prime boxes surrounding her living room… So uncanny.
But I also think she’s little bit like many romance readers too. Introverted, shy, reserved. Her prickly and snobbish appearance is a facade she uses as armor. Wit and sarcasm she wields as metaphorical weapons. For Chloe, it’s all proactive self-defense you see.

Part of Chloe’s coping mechanisms has been to remove herself from situations —socially and emotionally — that could bring hurt.
She feels she missed out on many things and is now ready to make some new experiences, like getting entangled with the sexy tattoed next door ginger, Redford Morgan, which ironically she can’t seem to like one bit.
Hate to love you trope anyone?
How about a Next door neighboor trope?
Heroine making a life achievement list? (Yes, it’s a trope too)

These two together were unbelievably cute. Redford riling up Chloe on purpose made for some great banter and so entertaining to watch. Paired with the British-isms of the author’s writing, their inners thoughts (dual POV) and bickering were LIFE.

“Despite himself, he let his gaze drift to her legs. He could see her calves again today, and her ankles, circled by the leather straps of her shiny shoes. He drank in every detail like some sexually deprived Victorian bloke.”

I really appreciated Chloe and Redford communicating, sharing and learning about each other. Sure, Redford had to pry some of Chloe’s feelings out of her but overall I enjoyed the communication between them. Redford is set on helping Chloe through the neatly printed list she created to “get a life”, but along the way we can also see Chloe helping Redford processing unresolved issues.

Redford Morgan was… charming. So charming. I can’t find a better way to describe him. He’s got this real nice guy vibe going on but he can be very forward when it comes to things he likes. And he’s liking Chloe Brown alright. The man is obsessed with the prickly, arrogant next door woman.

Chloe and Redford officially can’t stand each other but the reality is… they share an unhealthy amount of attraction. And secret mutual fascination. I loved watching them fall for each other. I adored watching them try not to.

There is this scene about halfway in the book, I’m calling it The Non-Kiss Scene.
The tension during this scene was so thick, I’ve found myself chanting « Kiss him! Kiss him! Kiss him! » It’s not often in my romance book that I’ve read about life altering “kiss scenes”, surely you know the kind of scene I’m talking about? The ones you’re rooting for the characters to bloody do it already, the scenes you almost find yourself leaning toward the hero to receive the kiss (true story) ? Well, this “NON-KISS” scene got me ready to snap! SO good!

“Get A Life Chloe Brown” was equally adorable and HOT. So hot!
With all these new illustrated covers flooding the romance genre I feel a content warning or rather a warrant of “hotness” is needed. Personally I love illustrated covers but they are kind of misleading. I’d expect something super cute, YA, woman fiction, and not a romance with graphic sex. Not that I mind the later… On the contrary. I’m just saying, this could mislead readers both way.

Talia Hibbert sprinkled that sweet romance with some serious dose of EROTICALLY CHARGED scenes and the resulting tension was massive. I had to get my breathing in check several times, I could hear myself deep breathing through some scenes, LOL.
Now, because I’m a really nitpicky reader, I have to share two occurences that gave me a pause during one of the sex scenes. I’m not seriously taking issue with them, it’s rather silly but still :

“He found the strip of condoms he’d packed, ripped one open, managed to roll it on with gritted teeth.”

I posted the above phrase on social media, asking readers’ opinion because English not being my first language, I thought it was a “me” issue. Within context, yes, you know he’s gritting his teeth and rolling down the condom with his hands. But nevertheless the sentence gave me pause. It read at first like he was rolling on a condom using gritted teeth. So, yes, it got me out of the scene for a moment.

“…she came again, shuddering beneath him, her hot pussy fluttering around him,…”

Something about her pussy lips fluttering around him made me laugh out loud. I’m sorry, I know sex scenes are tough to write because you don’t want them to be too generic, but something about this guy setting her pussy lips affluter made laugh. A friend taught me about the English term “queefing” and it’s rather appropriate, lol.

All this blabbering to say, “Get a life Chloe Brown” was a marvelous read I’m delighted to know a next book is already in the works about one of Chloe’s sisters! I haven’t mentioned yet in this review that the heroine is plus-sized and black because I’ll personally read any book no matter what without necessarily look up for #ownvoices books but I know many readers are looking for diverse characters and representation matters . So here you go, if you’re looking for a fun, cute and sexy romance, be sure to grab this one.