Talia Hibbert delivers once again. This book has so much troprnip for me—secret crush, fake relationship—while also targeting topics close to my heart like anxiety with deft and providing excellent representation.

I love Dani so much and want to make her my best friend. Now that that’s out of the way, There’s so much to rave about in this - the vitality of the characters, the bi representation, the mental health representation, the laugh-out-loud humor... loved it all to bits. I adore the Brown sisters, and really love Grandma Gigi - a wonderful side character who I would also like to read a whole book about. This is how romance novels should be, and I wholeheartedly recommend! I essentially read this in its entirety in less than 24 hours, if that tells you anything.

I LOVED this story! From the first page I was hooked. I feel like I know these people personally lol! The main character Dani Brown is smart, funny, and witty. I love her confidence, And how she’s unapologetically herself. Dani She knows exactly what she wants in life and a relationship is not it!! Dani has No time for feelings and distractions, but a Girls got needs ! She’s looking for the perfect friends with benefits, and lots of it. All signs point to Zaf , the brooding security from her building who rescued her from a staled elevator.
Over night they became a hashtag on twitter and decided to go with the flow. They agree to fake a relationship with the rules set in place to NOT CATCH FEELINGS! Their mind got the memo , but their bodies and heart had other ideas .

Wit, steam, and smart characters. What's not to like!? I loved the character of Dani- her job as a PhD candidate was so authentic and I really appreciated that the author made her bisexual without making it "a thing". I liked the fake dating plot line. While this wasn't the most deep book I've ever read, it was certainly entertaining!

Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert is currently scheduled for release on June 23 2020. Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown, and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. But romance? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt. So Dani asks the universe for the perfect friend-with-benefits—someone who knows the score and knows their way around the bedroom. When big, brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it’s an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and former rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact to him, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. Suddenly, half the internet is shipping #DrRugbae—and Zaf is begging Dani to play along. Turns out his sports charity for kids could really use the publicity. Lying to help children? Who on earth would refuse? Dani’s plan is simple: fake a relationship in public, seduce Zaf behind the scenes. The trouble is, grumpy Zaf is secretly a hopeless romantic—and he’s determined to corrupt Dani’s stone-cold realism. Before long, he’s tackling her fears into the dirt. But the former sports star has issues of his own, and the walls around his heart are as thick as his, um, thighs.

Take a Hint, Dani Brown is a great contemporary romance with wonderfully flawed characters. I love the way even the secondary characters are fleshed out and given significant issues and lives of their own- making them feel real. Dani is a combination of strength, intelligence, and fearful insecurity that she keeps locked down hard. Zaf is my favorite kind of romance character- a sweetheart often more concerned with others than himself but still anxious and thought of as much tougher and hard than he really is. I loved watching the two discover more about each other and take this path together. They discover even more about themselves than each other, and the ride was full of feels. I really adored both characters and how real all of them felt, since none were perfect or unbearably flawed. I was left thinking about this group long after I finished the book, and was left very happy with the conclusion but still wanting more. I will be checking out the backlist and any future books from this author and fully expect to enjoy them just as much.

Take a Hint, Dani Brown is a friends to lovers romance with all the feels, and plenty of character development. I look forward to any future books with these characters.

I'm a HUGE Talia Hibbert fan and I adored Get a Life, Chloe Brown (listened to it in audio and it was perfection), but though I enjoyed Take a Hint, Dani Brown, it felt lackluster in comparison to the first in the series.

I'm a huge sucker for a fake dating trope, and add in a former rugby player who loves romance books(!), and I'm sold. I really liked everything about Zafir and how real and vulnerable he felt as a character. I was very, very swoony for him.

Dani was more of a struggle for me. I liked her nerdy side and her dedication to her research, but her commitment issues felt... tiresome for me by the end. It took forever for her to admit her feelings, and I grew tired of waiting for her to get there. I understand why she felt the way that she did, but it felt myself skimming and wanting them to just communicate.

I also am not the biggest fan of social media-based plotline, and I found the overall story arc to be a bit thin. Both characters were well-developed and the side characters were endlessly interesting, I just felt like nothing much happened in the story.

I'm hoping for even better from the third in the series, and I might have to go back to listening in audio because the narrator really made this series come alive for me, British accents and all.

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*

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THIS BOOK WAS EVEN BETTER THAN THE FIRST!!! 4.5 stars!!!

Dani Brown, the best bi-con I have ever read, was such an interesting protagonist to read about. Her views on romantic love are something we truly don't see very often from a female perspective in romance. She has been very disconnected from her partners for a long time, and it was nice to see that addressed the way it was.

ZAF IS TOTALLY MY NEW BOOK BOYFRIEND!!! A big, burly man reading romance novels?? What's not to love! Add to that the fact that he runs a charity to help young boys to not fall into toxic masculinity, and I am SWOONING!!!! He is so loving and patient with Dani as she figures things out, and he respects her so much, that he is able to appreciates when she puts in effort for him, and give that back to her ten fold.

Add a fake dating trope in there, and this book was truly amazing! I can't wait to read more about the Brown Sisters!

Oh this book was everything and more that I could have asked for. Talia Hibbert is now an auto buy author for me and I hope to read her back list very soon.

Dani and Zaf we so freaking amazing. I love the faking dating trope, but I think from the very first scene with them it was obvious they both had more than just friendly feelings.

This was perfection, wink wink!

A snarky, delightful heroine and a cinnamon roll hero who reads romance novels. What a ride of a book. Dani doubts her ability to be in a relationship so she goes for friends with benefits, dumping anyone who catches feelings. Zafir is the security guard for a building she teaches in, and after an elevator rescue during an emergency drill, they go viral. Zafir has a charity that helps young men with mental health (affiliated with rugby, as he is a former player) and the social media attention helps his charity, so they agree to a fake relationship for a few weeks. But it's already too late for both to avoid catching feelings. A fantastic contemporary romance that deals with anxiety, self-doubt, burnout, and multiple demonstrations of how romantic it is when your partner notices the little things you need throughout the day.

Cute rom com. It’s a little silly at times but oh well. The sex scenes were a little much even for me but this was a quick read

I thought Hibbert's previous, "Get a Life Chloe Brown," was alright (I wasn't a fan of Redmond, sorry!), but I loooved this one. Zafir Ansari is the best (and most attractive) male romance hero I have read in a long while, and I was gushing over him and Danika's connection and sizzling chemistry for the entire book. A great "fake relationship" romance, Hibbert masterfully develops her characters and their growing relationship in an honest, emotionally open way--you really got to see how they fell in love with each other through respect and compassion. "Take a Hint, Dani Brown" is definitely one of my favorite romances of the year!

SO GOOD. SO SWOONY. This book has wrecked me in the best of ways. Fake relationship! Sex pact! The “we can pretend we’re dating while also ignoring the building feelings we’re having for each other” insistence that you know is always, always going to backfire on them eventually! Plus all of Hibbert’s wonderful charm, humor and ability to write those steamy scenes that will leave you needing to take a big sip of water afterward.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is my first Talia Hibbert book, although it certainly will not be my last! Dani and Zafir seem like opposites, but they both have things they need to work through before they can fully open up to each other. This romance is funny and heartwarming, with two very appealing main characters and a great group of secondary family and friends. Seeing their initially fake relationship turn real for each of them is simply a joy to behold. I plan on searching out the author's back list and am currently reading the first book in The Brown Sisters series, featuring Dani's sister, Chloe.

In the book's prologue, twenty-seven-year-old Black Britisher Danika Brown prays to Oshun not for a romantic partner, but for "a regular source of orgasms... Someone who won't expect more from me than I can give... Just point me in their direction. Give me a hint." Readers will know from the start just whom Oshun has in mind for Dani, but it takes tough, hardworking, and emotionally un-inquisitive Dani (an example of the rare female ENTJ, in Myers-Briggs parlance) a lot longer to understand just who Oshun has in mind for her. And to realize that it just may be possible to balance a deep commitment to one's profession with a romantic relationship that is about more than sex.

Dani's first serious boyfriend slept with her friend and blamed it on her for being emotionally inattentive and too caught up in her studies. Ever since, bisexual Dani's been more interested in friends with benefits relationships than anything romantic. Though she finds Zafir, the buff, built "grumpy fucker" who's "sweet once you get to know him" man who works the security desk at the university building in which she teaches, sexually appealing, she's not about to act on her attraction. Because Zaf is clearly the chivalrous type, and "Dani couldn't stand chivalry in a man. It frequently led them to make ill-advised decisions, like inviting her to have dinner before sex, or hanging around and talking after sex."

But one unexpected fire alarm drill, one not quite daring rescue, and one viral video later, Zaf and Dani find themselves cast as #DrRugBae, the latest social media romance sensation (a decade earlier, Zaf was the only Pakistani-Brit Muslim to play professional rugby). They both would have just laughed off the whole incident if Zaf's promo-savvy niece hadn't suggested that thirty-one-year-old Zaf could stretch out his five minutes of fame by pretending to date Dani, and could use the resultant publicity to help him raise money for his charity, Tackle It, an organization that helps teach boys and young men in sports how to better to understand their emotions, and to deal with mental health issues as they arise rather than sweeping them under the rug.

Happily for Zaf, Dani's more than willing to fake date him. And would be more than willing to sleep with him—as long as he doesn't demand anything more from her. An arrangement that Zaf gradually talks himself into, even knowing how likely it is that, at least for him, having sex with Dani will bring on all the feels...

Zaf, unlike Dani, is clearly the caretaker type (ESFJ, in Myers-Briggs terms), and as such is more than happy to listen to her talk about her work, bring her food when she's in the midst of a study session, and cheer her on when she's a speaker on a prestigious panel. For her part, Dani is starting to wonder why she's getting "all these warm glowing sparks," none of which are "centered around my genital area" whenever Zaf's around.

Zaf and Dani's romance is fairly angst-free (despite one black moment, brought on not surprisingly by the differences in Zaf and Dani's ability to deal with strong feelings); the pleasures here lie more in Hibbert's deeply drawn characters and emotionally true writing than in any contrived plot. Hibbert is an expert at writing prickly, non-gender-normative females and loving, caring males, even while making each set of romantic partners in her books uniquely themselves, rather than just repetitions of the same two characters from book to book.

In the end, Dani not only takes a hint, but gets a clue. Well, two clues: "Hurting a loved one was like running over someone's foot; you rarely meant to do it, but the bones still broke" and "People shouldn't be changed—but perhaps they should grow." Insights from which any reader, not just ones reluctant to take a hint, can benefit.

Last year, Talia Hibbert’s Get a Life, Chloe Brown topped all the contemporary romance lists, and was one of the first books we recommended here at The Cool Table. So it should come as no surprise that her next installment in the Brown Sisters series, Take a Hint, Dani Brown is a perfect one-click, one-night, can’t-stop-reading romance for this summer.

I mean, it could not be, but since I just read it and couldn’t put it down and it was PURE ADORABLE, I can safely tell you all that it is. It totally is.

Take a Hint, Dani Brown has all the stuff that makes contemporary romance the most fun you have reading. Dorky and smart heroines with style that you can’t quit picturing. Hunky and grumpy heroes that catch feelings first and hardest. Friends to lovers. Fake relationships. Sex positivity. SO much banter. Only the teeniest amount of angst. Precious realization moments. It’s got it all.

I’m gonna take a hint from the shippers on Twitter in the book and go ahead and call Dani and Zaf #CoupleGoals. Despite Zaf’s love of romance novels and clear crush on Dani, he does his best to ease her into his feelings. And despite her clear horn-on for him, she does not bother easing him into that. Talia Hibbert creates a fun, enviable world for Dani Brown and Zafir Ansari. Her sense of humor leaps off the page and right into your arms. It’s perfect.

And it’s perfect for the moment as well. There’s been a call this week after the confessional threads on Twitter about the racial disparities in publishing and paying authors. Check out #PublishingPaidMe for the details. In the aftermath, the call has been for a publishing black out.

You can support #BlackPublishingPower by pre-ordering Take a Hint, Dani Brown today. It will be out Tuesday, June 23rd.

Review originally appears on The Cool Table.

This book single-handedly pulled me out of the worst book slump I’ve ever had. Dani and Zafir are everything I’ve ever wanted in my romances. Dani is confident, incredibly smart, hilarious, feminist as hell, and a bisexual curvy goddess - but still has opportunity for growth. Zafir is a sexy, supportive, sweet, beast in the sack, emotionally intelligent HERO. Zafir has a huge crush on Dani, and every morning when she arrives at uni to lecture, he has a sweet treat for her because he knows how she runs herself ragged.

When Dani doesn’t get the memo about a safety drill and finds herself stuck in an elevator, Zafir throws on the metaphorical cape and carries her out of the (perfectly safe) building to the delight of the students! The image goes viral and Dani decides to help Zafir out with a cause near and dear to his heart by pretending they are in a relationship. This is probably one of my favorite fake relationship romances of all time. These two burn so bright together! #DrRugbae4eva

THIS BOOK WAS JUST MAGIC!!! OMG I loved it so much, it's crazy. I laughed, I cried, I swooned forever over Zaf, and crossed my fingers that Dani would figure out her own emotions. I cannot recommend this one highly enough!!

Danika Brown is the middle of 3 sisters, and she's a bit of a control freak. Also, after a terrible heartbreak in college, she decided romance just isn't for her. She's had a series of friends with benefits, or similar short-term "situationships", and that's all she has time for. She's dedicated to her PhD studies, and her goals of professorship, and she has no time for a boyfriend, or a girlfriend. But, she's become friendly with the security guard at the campus building she teaches in, and though he's HOT, a little flirty banter and exchange of snacks is as far as it's gone. Until the emergency drill gone wrong.

Zafir Ansari is a former pro rugby player, who gave up his career due to a depression and anxiety overload after the sudden deaths of his father and older brother in an accident. Now, he works security at the university, and on the side he runs a non-profit he started, where he teaches teenagers rugby, and emotional maturity, and coping skills. He's wanted Dani Brown since the first day he saw her, but they've become friends, and she's never expressed any interest in taking things further. But, they ARE friends, and after he saves her during the drill, and a video of him carrying her out of the building goes viral, with their own hashtag, he's getting a lot more attention on his charity. He asks if she'd consider having a fake relationship for a while, to take advantage of the attention for as long as possible.

Zaf and Dani's chemistry was wildly hot, and I loved their flirty, funny banter. They really did care for each other as friends, so as they opened up even more about their lives, and their pasts, they came to care even more. It was so beautiful watching them fall in love, without even realizing it, and then when they each DID realize it?? BOOM. It was amazing. Zaf was so in touch with his emotions, and was a total romantic, while still being everything else you want in a romance hero. I mean, a hero who reads romance novels?!? Yes, please! Dani was about the opposite of that. She buried everything deep until she couldn't any more. She acted like she didn't really have any feelings at all, which of course never works in the long run. She was happy to admit friendship love, and love for her family, but beyond that she was a fortress, until Zaf sneaked under her skin.

Zaf's family and best friend were so lovely, and Dani's best friend Sorcha was hilarious. The other Brown sisters, and grandmother, were amazing again, and getting a peek in on Chloe & Red from book 1 was delightful as well. The side characters here were so fleshed out, and added so much to the plot. They really helped the main characters come to terms with their issues, and figure out plans to correct their wrongdoings. I can't wait to get the final, youngest, Brown sister's book next!

Truly, this book was something so special, and I recommend everyone read it immediately! I loved Get a Life, Chloe Brown so much, but I adored this one even more. It was seriously THE. BEST!

Hibbert has seriously skyrocketed into the top of my favorite romance authors. This second installment in the Brown Sisters series is. just. so. good.

Take a Hint, Dani Brown was even better than the first book in the series. The characters seriously shine in this one; they feel real and honest and complex. Hibbert writes actually interesting characters, ones you are eager to read more about and get to know as the story progresses. Lately, I've been struggling with characters in romance novels feeling like they're simply cardboard cutouts being shuffled around into different scenarios. But here, these characters were a joy to read. I also think the author's humor is at its strength in this one. While the first book was funny, this book made me laugh out loud and felt like it resided naturally in the characters' voices.

I am desperately awaiting Eve's story in book 3! 2021 feels forever away! I enjoy the world of the Brown sisters so much, but I also don't want to end!

SQUUUEEEEEEE.

Talia Hibbert does it AGAIN. Talia Hibbert writes real life SO well. And I know you're thinking "but.. real life is (at the minimum) meh right now" - WELL, you haven't been introduced to Talia Hibbert. Because Talia takes all the joy and warmth and pain and beauty and humor of being alive & human, and puts it in words that say I SEE YOU. I mean honestly, the level of DETAIL in this book.

I don't know where to start. Dani is confident, snarky, smart, motivated, focused woman who knows what she wants and is unapologetic about it. Zaf is a loving caretaker with excellent RBF who reads romance novels. Their banter is A+++++. There is also a wonderful cast of secondary characters, several hilarious appearances by Chloe & Redford, and a tiny tiny subplot that made my heart explode into HEA joy.

There is also twitter shade. There are 30 year olds who are not old enough to be stymied by technology and yet (*waves*). There is anxiety and depression and grief. There are jokes about Victorian orphans. There are beautiful conversations about mental health & relationships & vulnerability & success. And none of it feels forced or overwhelming. These are all parts of life that Talia includes in her book, because, well, they are a part of life.

I find it very hard to imagine Dani and Zaf & co are not walking around right now, smiling and scowling at people (respectively.) That's how full these characters are. The romance is swoon-worthy and also incredibly sexy.

Honestly, this book made me cackle multiple times. Usually I would say laugh, but Dani Brown made me CACKLE. It's been 24 hours and I'm still walking around with a smile on my face so, yeah, read this.

**Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing an ecopy in exchange for an honest review.**

4.5 STARS

Take a Hint, Dani Brown was a delight. It took me a second to get into it. After that, there was no looking back. Dani is a little crazy like most of us are. She’s all about her job. Romance is not something she wants. Zaf is the man you want to find in real life. He’s a big teddy bear. He reads romance novels. Sigh. I enjoyed their story. I loved the secondary characters as well. I look forward to the next one.

I voluntarily read an early copy.