Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

Hello Kittens! Are you in the part of the country getting a weird cold snap right now? Me too! But no worries, because this next book out to warm you right up. Definitely steamy! I’ve been making a concerted effort to add more fiction featuring diverse characters and by diverse authors into my book diet and this book checks off both of those boxes. This book came out back in November, but the next title in the series is coming out in June (assuming no publishing delays), so it’s a great time to pick this one up. The writing is modern and funny and you’ll be rooting for these characters all the way.

Title: Get a Life, Chloe Brown

Author: Talia Hibbert

Author website: https://www.taliahibbert.com/

Publisher: Avon

Publish date: November 5^th, 2019

ISBN: 9781643854786

Buy the Book: Amazon, Barnes and Noble

Summary

After a near-death experience, Chloe Brown begins rethinking her life’s accomplishments, or lack thereof. She decides that maybe her family has the right idea in encouraging her to, “get a life”. So what’s a girl in this situation to do? Create a get-a-life list, of course! Chloe’s list includes enjoying a drunken night out, riding a motorcycle, going camping, and having, “meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex”, among other things. You know, the average. But first, she needs to move out of her family’s house and get her own place.

That part actually turns out to be pretty easy, but once she moves to her new apartment complex, she runs into the prickly building manager, Redford. Chloe finds his presence thoroughly unpleasant and doesn’t understand why no one else in her life can see how utterly annoying he is.

For his part “Red” isn’t exactly enamored with the new diva living in the complex either. She treats him as decidedly less-than in all of their interactions, and every time he turns around he seems to be running into her. And what’s more, he’s pretty sure he caught her spying on him while he was painting in his apartment. As Red’s annoyance builds, so does his attraction to Chloe. Maybe she’s not as bad as he first thought, but she’s definitely peculiar and he doesn’t need that kind of energy in his life. Red’s just beginning to put his life together after a really bad break-up and he does not need a complicated woman like Chloe in his life…but he can’t seem to stay away.

Chloe was definitely watching him paint. After all, what kind of guy paints in his apartment shirtless with the blinds open. Plus, this fulfills the “do something bad” portion of her get-a-life list. Red is a harmless distraction, but not a friend and definitely not boyfriend material. Chloe tried the boyfriend thing before and it went horribly wrong. Chloe has enough to deal with in her life without adding a complication like Redford. Red however, is persistent in changing her opinion of him…and he might just be worth re-writing her list for.

Why I liked the book:

I really like how the author handled the interracial relationship aspect of the story. I also appreciated reading a story where the main character is suffering from chronic illness. The story emphasizes how Chloe’s fibromyalgia impacts her life from pre-diagnosis to now. Hibbert spends a decent amount of time talking about how a diagnosis of a chronic illness that is difficult to manage even with medication can take a toll on the sufferer’s personal relationships. Despite all of the hardship, Chloe is still a lovable character with a strong will. I think readers are going to love her and her sisters.

Red comes across as an imperfect, but still really good guy. He is the kind of guy that most girls would drool over, but he’s got baggage from a prior relationship and he’s drifting in his life right now. Above all, I appreciate that as a character, he didn’t struggle with the caregiver nature of the situation. He presents as understanding of Chloe’s limits without pushing her unnecessarily. Both characters have something to learn about themselves and each other.

What I would like to see changed:

Chloe’s sisters come across a little shallow, even though they are also very compassionate about her life. I’m looking forward to seeing Hibbert explore deeper parts of their characters in the rest of the series.

Also, can we just get a book about their grandmother? Because she sounds like someone readers would enjoy getting to know.

Disclaimer: No disclaimer needed. I chose this title for my Book of the Month selection back in November and finally got around to reading it.

My library rating: There are a few pretty spicy sex scenes in this one. It’s a romance after all! But between those, a some indiscriminate curse words sprinkled throughout the book, I’d have to be cautious about recommending this one at work. I would maybe give it a shot for people who tell me they enjoyed The Kiss Quotient or The Rosie Project. Interestingly enough for my rating system, one of my best friends recommended this title to me.

1 glass of lemonade. A book that can only be recommended to someone whose reading taste you know well, like a best friend. There may be a fair amount of curse words, spicy sex scenes, or potentially morally repugnant behavior. This does not mean that the book is bad, just that the audience might be a little more limited.

My personal preference rating: I gave this title 4 stars. It’s sweet and sexy and features diverse characters, so what’s not to love?

Reading Group Guide and Read-a-Like suggestions.