I really liked the mental health rep that this book gave, it was really good. my only gripe is that the romance was a bit slow

Get a Life, Chloe Brown was my first Talia Hibbert book, and I can’t wait to read more. This was a sweet, fun, and sexy romance, but it was more than that. I love that it featured a disabled/chronically ill heroine and a hero who broke stereotypes in another way. This is representation we don’t see a ton of in the romance world, and I for one was happy to see it.

Chloe Brown is living life on her own for the first time. She’s 31 years old, and after a life altering near death experience, she decides to take life by the horns and live a little. This includes making a list of things she needs to do. A ‘get a life’ list.

There are many things on this list. Some are big things, and some are little things. They’re all important to Chloe. Chloe lives in an apartment building where Redford Morgan is the super. Red is a lovable guy and gets along with everyone. Except for Chloe. I love the banter between these two so much. The enemies to lovers romance done right is one of my favorite troupes ever. Even though Chloe and Red don’t get along, there is a lingering attraction between the two of them. 



Somehow, Chloe and Red decide to help each other out. Red will take Chloe on his bike (part of the list) and she will help with a website (he’s the opposite of tech savvy). Once Red finds out about this list, he wants to help with even more…

I loved Chloe and Red together so much. Both of them were wonderful characters. Red was the sweetest guy. When he found out that Chloe was ill, he took care of her while letting her be independent. I think that’s so important. Red had a lot of relationship baggage and it was hard for him to let Chloe be there for him, but whit time they worked it out. Chloe was such a strong and feisty character. I admired her and think she will be relatable to a lot of women. She certainly was relatable to me in some ways.

YES!!! I loved this so, so much. Chloe Brown is exactly the kind of cantankerous, relatable heroine I love to see in contemporary romance. I do like my romance with a bit more steam but this is a great introduction to the genre. Happy to see this coming soon!

My absolute favorite thing about this book was Chloe's POV. I was sucked into her voice right away, and thought she was smart and funny and that her struggles to connect with others due to her chronic illness was incredibly well done (I do not have a chronic illness such as fibro, nor do I have one that affects my mobility, so I cannot speak to the authenticity of that specific rep.) I did not love Red's POV as much as Chloe's. While I do think he was a great love interest in many ways (very sweet and very accomodating of Chloe's disability without at all belittling her) and that the rep for PTSD from emotional abuse was fantastic, I just didn't really jive with how overtly and, in my opinion, OVERLY horny he was at all times throughout this book. I am OK with some raunchy scenes (if I weren't I wouldn't have picked up this book; they're fun to read and add a level of realism to any romance) but this erred more on the side of erotica than rom-com, and I just wasn't expecting that? I found some of the sexy dialogue sort of cringe, which pulled me out of shipping Chloe and Red as much as I could have if we'd only gotten Chloe's POV. Overall I think the rep of a fat, black, disabled woman is FANTASTIC and that there is a lot of wit and heart here, but if you're not one for hyper-horny male love interests, be aware of that going in!

I LOVED this book! It had a wonderful plot, great character development, and the writing was hilarious. The idea that a very real life disease, fibromyalgia, is holding Chloe back from living her life to the fullest is realistic, and makes a reader think about their life and if they are living it up. I found the plot inspiring and the love story heartwarming. The author describes her characters in such a way that i felt as though I was Chloe and Red when they were narrating, the author had the characters make decisions and I supported everyone of those decisions because they fit the characters perfectly. I loved the Chloe and Red's banter and the endless sarcasm, it was so much fun to read. I kept catching myself laughing out loud and then realizing that other people probably thought I was crazy. The only thing that I wanted from this book that I didn't get was a longer epilogue, but I am sure there is more of Chloe and Red's relationship in the next book in the series about Danika! Overall, 4.5 steaming cups of tea to recommend to all of your friends.

Firstly, I'd like to officially thank the romance novel industry's collective graphic design team for making the shift from two people almost kissing to these cute pastel cartoons.

Alright, on to the review.

If you've read a good amount of romance you know that they can be pretty algorithmic. I've pointed this out before (specifically in my review of The Unhoneymooners), but I want to talk about it again here because Hibbert follows this algorithm in all of the books of hers that I've read.

So here's how it goes:
1) Brief introduction for each of our main characters, probably a chapter or two each.
2) Meet cute / first contact at around 7%
3) Resistance, courtship, relationship starting 10-30%
4) Characters get together! Sex! 35-40%
5) Cuteness (but also reveal of the Conflict of the book) 40-80%
6) Misunderstanding/miscommunication and/or culmination of conflict leads to breakup 85-90%
7) Grand gesture! Triumph over evil! MC's back together, HEA 95%
8) Time jump epilogue 97%

There's nothing inherently wrong with this blueprint. However, I will note that there are two main pitfalls of it: it can get repetitive and boring, and step 6 is easy to do wrong. These are the two things that made me dislike The Unhoneymooners.

Talia Hibbert's books never feel repetitive and she never does step 6 wrong.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown is the story of chronically ill Chloe Brown deciding to start living her life outside her comfort zone after a near-death experience. Her first step? Moving into her own apartment where she meets Red, the superintendent. The two make a deal and Red agrees to help Chloe with her list in exchange for her help with creating an online presence for his art.

Both characters feel real and relatable and the plot never feels forced. Hibbert's books always make me feel just...happy. I was just sitting in bed grinning ear to ear reading this and I'm sure my roommate thinks I'm insane. Genuinely funny and joyously genuine.

I thought this was a fun little romance. I found the characters relate-able and likable and I found their relationship believable. I know we will have some strong interest in this book at my library and we will be ordering a couple copies. Thank you so much!

I heard so much Hype on booktube about this one so i was so mm super excited to get this one and it did not disappoint. I loved this it is swony and cute and I can not wait to get my hands on a physical copy

Wow 4.25, I was expecting to like this book so much and I prepared myself an easy peasy cheesy rom-com but I got emotional whirlwind, heart wrecking second chances of traumatized, struggling two beautiful soul’s story and I adored, devoured, savored and finally found my juicy romance STARS! HALELUJAH!

I’m so happy because in the meantime I read another romance story which I detested (its review is coming up and unfortunately it’s one of the popular , highly promoted books of the year) and I was about to give up reading something decent and lovable book, something makes you feel alive, something makes your heart ache, refresh your soul, put a smile on your face which couldn’t be wiped so easily. I’m happy to announce: this book gave me more than I expected and I finally found LOVABLE AND ADORABLE AMAZING CHARACTERS.
Chloe, witty, sophisticated, who has great taste when it comes to buttoned cardigans and colorful vintage dresses, carries the pain as indispensable piece of your life because she’s suffering from fibromyalgia, accompanied by fatigue and altered sleep, memory, mood. One day she had a nearly dead experience. A drunk driver got into a store, instead of crashing her which made her think she had one life to live so she needed to escape from the cocoon that her protective and lovely family wrapped around her and prepare a list to teach her how to take more risks and bring more fun into her dull, foreseeable life.

As soon as she moved to an apartment she meet with super-duper hottie intendent Red-ford who was always seeing red in their encounters. Then we start witnessing their slow burn romantic relationship. Chloe has to deal with her insecurities because of her illness. Her own fiancée and close friends ghosted her after they found out her chronic disease.

And Red who was once upon a time a selected, famous painter, still trying to bury the ghost of ex girlfriends’ ghost, suffering from wrong decisions of his life. Now he needs a take a step to embrace his new opportunities by opening his heart to new and meaningful love.

Two of them literally collided and made wrong impressions about their real intentions. They started to think the worst about each other. But a beautiful cat made her job as a secret cupid to bring them together and helped them connect. So they took a first step from enemies to become friends.

Chloe needs help of Red to fulfill her list and Red needs an efficient website for his comeback operation for his new drawings. It started with friends with benefits agreement (not including sex, Chloe excluded that option from her list) but then…. No more spoiler… Grab the book and keep your sassy smile. A small spoiler… The chemistry between the couple is hot as hell.

I was truly adamant to give five stars to this book. But… there is an angsty moment… which is not too necessary… a little pissed me off… I know every new relationship with the characters have heavy baggage from their past can stumble with struggles but I wish the author visualized far better obstacles between those characters. I love edgy, heart breaking moments about the characters’ breakup to realize how they cannot live without each other. But this hearsay kind of misunderstanding caused a great cliffhanger of their relationship didn’t work with me!

But I still loved this romantic story! I adored the couple! And I’m curious about those incredible sisters’ entertaining stories! I’m all in for the sequels!

Special thanks to Avon and Netgalley to share this wonderful read with me in exchange my honest review!

This was soooo so so so cute. Cute like the kind that makes you feel warm and fuzzy and soft. I love Chloe and Red and their story and their relationship so much. I also super appreciated reading from the perspective of someone with a chronic illness because I never have. I can't speak on how good the rep was, and I'm not sure if it's own voice, but I enjoyed seeing life through Chloe's eyes in that way.

So I'm not one for contemporary romances, but when I saw this on NetGalley I had to give it a try, and it was SUCH a good decision!! I've never read Hibbert before, but she does a bang up job at romantic comedies with well rounded, funny, interesting characters and some goooooood sex scenes. I was bugging my partner with excerpts I found particularly funny, hot, or heart melting, and bless him for nodding along!

The plot is one a lot of readers are familiar with -- enemies to friends to MORE than friends -- with a few really impactful choices: most notably the heroine being a curmudgeon with a dry sense of humor who also happens to be black, fat, and living with a disability (fibromyalgia). The hero is a hot, warm, lovable building superintendent with a motorcycle, gorgeous red hair, and tattoos who's really an artist recovering from a hard few years in an abusive relationship. Red's willingness to accomodate Chloe's disability in a way that no one outside her family ever has, while still not infantilizing her is a breath of fresh fuckin' air in a genre that doesn't tend to have the best representation for WOC OR people with disabilities, and I loved it!!

I cannot recommend the book highly enough, and I will be impatiently waiting for Hibbert's next books in the series, which promise to tell the stories of Chloe's two sisters, Eve and Dani!!

I've only heard really wonderful things about this book!!!! So I was SO Stoked when I was Approved!!!!

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I am SO happy to report that I loved it just as much as I was hoping I would. Chloe was so strong and smart and hilarious and Red was so swooney and kind and loving. If you want to read a romance that is equal parts sexy and swooney, look no further.

Such a sweet book. Chloe is just feisty enough, and Red is lovely and slightly prickly. The “get a life” list Chloe makes reminded me a lot of Tawna Fenske’s excellent book The List. I didn’t realize heroines making lists of exciting things to do was a romance trope, but I can think of some other examples from historicals, too.

Super sweet read! Chloe was a wonderfully original character, and her story with Red is such fun. If you're looking for a quick romance read with some substance, I definitely recommend giving this one a go.

This was one of my most anticipated books of the year and I am SO happy to report that I loved it just as much as I was hoping I would. Chloe was so strong and smart and hilarious and Red was so swooney and kind and loving and MY HEART IS SO FULL. If you want to read a romance that is equal parts sexy and swooney, look no further. PLUS THERE IS A CAT WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT

Well, damn, that was an enjoyable read. Adorable, unexpected, and steaming hot!

Chloe lives her life carefully. She exists with chronic pain. Physically, but also some emotional pain that lingers from hurt inflicted by people in her past. A near death (sort of) experience shakes her to the point of wanting to change. To live. She makes a list, a set of goals or sorts, and sets of to 'get a life'.

Redford has his own set of baggage. Lingering issues from a past relationship. It's hard for him to trust, it's hard for him take risks and it's hard for him to pursue the things he desires.

When these two are thrown together it is a bit like oil and water. If oil and water actually secretly lusted after each other. Because these two do, greatly, but their walls are so thick it's hard to find a crack for that lust to creep through and turn into something more.

But when it does. Damn.

Chloe and Red are, hands down, my two favorite characters of the year so far. The banter, the flirting, the button pushing, between these two is ADORABLE. There is an email thread at one point that had me grinning like the Cheshire!

The personality traits each had was what I found so unexpected. Hibbert has written this in a sort of role reversal from traditional romance, and I so appreciated that.

For what a sweet and funny read it still absolutely delivered on the hotness scale. The moments are few (again, appreciated) but they are stellar.

I also loved that Hibbert allowed these characters to really talk. Too often we find books that gloss over the importance of discussing vulnerabilities or the couple goes through a breakup and then it's resolved with just a grand gesture and quick apology. That doesn't always work for me and I'm glad Hibbert respected her characters enough to deliver more.

Now I'm off to read everything Hibbert has ever written!

Super adorable and romantic. The main character, Chloe, suffers from chronic pain and the author does a good job of showing how that affects her day to day life without romanticizing it. The book was rounded out with plenty of quirky, entertaining characters. There's a book coming out next year about one of Chloe's sisters, but I'd also love to read more about the Luna Lovegood-esqe friend she makes during the events of the book or her amazing, over the top grandmother. I was surprised, given the cutesy marketing of the book, by how explicit the sex scenes could be, but they shouldn't be out of the range of normal for most romance readers.

This book had a lot more emotional depth than I'd expected. It dealt with issues of chronic pain and abuse. I appreciated that both characters had to grow a lot in order to be together. I wouldn't describe it as a romantic comedy as much as a contemporary romance with just enough humor to keep it from being too heavy. The steam level is pretty high so be warned :)

The author writes beautifully.

Talia Hibbert is a very talented writer. Although she's a relative newcomer she writes with an authority and confidence that is just wonderful to read. Her characters and stories are different in the best way. Get a Life, Chloe Brown is a wonderfully nuanced story that delivers everything thing you could want- humor, tears, sexiness, believable characters who achieve a believable happy ever after. I highly recommend this book.

I've never read anything by Talia Hibbert, but dammit, she is officially on my new favorite authors list. First of all, I didn't expect this to be a true adult story with characters in their 30s. That was a very pleasant surprise for me because that'll be me in a couple years. Anyway anyway anyway Talia, you have a new stan so yeah.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown is just......damn it’s amazing. Thanks to Netgalley and HarperCollins for this amaaaaaazing opportunity to read a free eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Want my opinion? Run, don’t walk, to pick up this book when it’s officially released on November 5th of this year. This has got to be one of the best books I've read this year and I feel so privileged to have been able to read it before it's release. It’s fun, hilarious, has amazingly written smut, and has to be one of the cutest and yet consciously written romance novels I’ve ever read. Like seriously, Talia Hibbert let the world know that consent is sexy and so we have no choice but to stan.

31 year old Chloe Brown is the epitome of a sharp tongued, sarcastic, funny pain in the ass and honestly can she be my friend already? She feels as though her life has stopped ever since she learned of her fibromyalgia and lives with chronic pain. Having an ailment that no one can see isn’t easy and Chloe makes that very clear when she relays her experiences and describes her daily life. After a near death experience she sets her mind on changing her life and not letting her pain or diagnosis stop her from living, so she creates a list because, let’s face it, when your life flashes before your eyes and there’s nothing to see, you have to get your shit together.

Everything is going according to plan until she meets Redford Morgan, a ginger artist who drips sarcasm and sex appeal. Chloe’s hellbent on staying away from him because he’s nothing but trouble and she’s can’t afford that sort of attraction right now, but of course fate has a different plan in mind and it all begins with a cat named Smudge. As a quick side note Smudge is one of my favorite characters in this book and that's that on that.

I won’t give away too many details because I’m fresh off of my reading and I don't want to ruin all of the surprises and great moments, but I’ll just say that this was such a great story. Chloe wasn't a perfect character, but she was so relatable that it hurt. One thing that I absolutely loved was Red's thoughts on Chloe's glasses. Should he take them off to kiss her? Will she leave them on during sex? These are real ass questions and the answer is DO NOT REMOVE MY GLASSES BECAUSE I NEED THEM TO SEE WHAT WE'RE DOING.

Talia managed to put together an amazing adult romance plot, include chronic illness, make consent sexy and all around create a guy who wasn’t perfect, but was perfectly flawed because the way he took Chloe’s wants and needs in life into consideration. Not to mention, clearly Mr. Redford knows how to please a woman. GIVE ME A REDFORD NOW!!!

I think that's pretty much all there is to say. Please please please go and pick up Get a Life, Chloe Brown when it gets released in November and please also come back and tell me what you think.