Talia Hibbert does it again!! I loved Chloe Brown so much that I was nervous to start this one, but I shouldn’t have been! It turns out I love Dani just as much as Chloe!
The central relationship in this novel is one of my favorites I’ve ever read. It was fun, sexy, with just the right amount of conflict to keep it interesting.
As with everything Hibbert has written, this book was so inclusive in so many ways. I’m looking for this kind of representation in everything I read, and I so rarely get it. I will forever read anything and everything by this author!

This is definitely the best book that I have read from Talia Hibbert! Dani and Zafir were really great characters and had wonderful chemistry with one another. Plus, who doesn’t love a hero that reads romance novels and takes care of his emotions/mental health???

I’m really looking forward to reading the third installment in this series and highly recommend checking out this book and Get a Life, Chloe Brown!

**Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review!!**

I didn't think Talia Hibbert could top Get a Life, Chloe Brown but somehow, she did it! Dani Brown was a marvel and Zaf is certainly my book boyfriend to end all book boyfriends. An absolute MARVEL.

Talia Hibbert is an amazing author and I will forever be grateful to have found her. We literally cannot have too many authors like her who are so brilliant at writing wonderful, romantic, smart books that feature diverse characters dealing with diverse and deeply important issues in a real way.

This is the second in the Brown Sisters series and its just as delightful as its predecessor Get a Life, Chloe Brown. The story this time is centered on Dani Brown, the middle Brown sister, a PhD candidate in literature and women's studies and a workaholic with no time for relationships. Emotional connection is just not for her, she'd rather have fun with no strings attached and throw all of her passion into her work.

Enter Zafir Ansari, the security guard in Dani's building. He's been harboring a crazy crush on Dani for months but the gentle giant has stopped short of some casual flirting because...well he has his reasons.

But after a fire drill leads to a crazy viral video of the Zafir "saving" Dani they find themselves spending way more time together. Before long flirty friendship leads to...I mean...guys...there's like hot sex scenes and then there's what Hibbert writes. Hot is not the right word. Volcanic? Super nova? Honestly I'll have to invent a word to describe the escapades these two get up to. Maybe I'll have something by book three.

This book is wonderful. Its smart and funny as hell. I love how much attention Hibbert gives to her characters, how well we get to know them. Their journey's are powerful and profoundly moving. There's such a strength to the women she writes. You don't see women like this as much as you absolutely should in contemporary romance. You're never hit over the head with it but Dani and her sisters and their relationship is such a vital thread that runs through both books. They all draw their strength from each other. Its a powerful, important thing to have as the center of your story.

Hibbert also never gets on a soap box with the issues she give her characters. Zafir is coping with some pretty intense mental and emotional trauma throughout the book but it never becomes a book about emotional trauma. Its a sexy romance that includes a character who's dealing with some stuff. It just makes everything richer to give the reader someone like Zafir, who looks so much like you or someone you know. It goes past making the character just relatable. They become your friend, someone you truly care about.

Hibbert's writing reminds me of the genuine beauty of human connection, something that I wish was the cornerstone of all romance writing. Her books explore love in all its forms and include all kinds of people. They remind me that exploring human relationships through reading needs to include every kind of person in the world. You can't just sit there looking in a mirror over and over again if you want to begin to understand how the world works for different people. Even in fiction which can often give us our clearest glimpse into someone else heart and soul you have to explore everyone and everything if you really want to experience all it has to offer.

So thanks Talia, for helping me do that.

💗#swoonsunday 💗

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Thank you so much to @harpercollins @avonbooks @netgalley and @taliahibbert for the free copy of Take A Hint Dani Brown (Book 2 in the Brown Sisters series).

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Synopsis from the publisher: Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown and an occasional roll in the hay to relive 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…When brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues her from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it’s an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and ex-rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. Now half the internet is shipping #DrRugbae - and Zaf is begging Dani to play along.

Dani’s plan is simple: fake a relationship in public, seduce Zaf behind the scenes. But grumpy Zaf is secretly a romantic - and he’s determined to corrupt Dani’s stone-cold realism. With every fake date and midnight meeting, Dani’s easy lay becomes more complex than her thesis. Has her wish backfired? Or is the universe waiting for her to take a hint?

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If it is even possible I think I loved Dani’s story even more than Chloe’s! Danika is such a strong relatable character, who slowly realizes that being so focused and in her head may actually be hurting her well being. What can I say about Zaf…is there anything more swoon worthy than a guy in touch with his feelings and a reader of romance novels! They chemistry between Dani and Zaf was absolute 🔥🔥🔥

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Highly recommend this whole series and can’t wait for book 3!⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is not the first book of the series featuring a trio of close sisters, but it is the first one that I've read, and I ended up enjoying it a lot. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to get into the rest of the series easily enough, so no worries regarding reading order (and that's from someone who has taken part in very serious discussions over starting the Narnia books in internal vs external chronology).

This is an interesting spin on a romantic comedy. We start with the moment when Danika is practicing ancestral religious practices that she has been recently getting back in touch with, and offering up a prayer for the perfect fuckbuddy. She tried the whole relationship thing, found it incompatible with her personality, needs, and drive, and decided she just needed a good FWB situation; this has not had the desired effect of simplifying her life, but Dani is pretty sure all she needs is find the right person to hook up with, no strings attached. Dani is bi, and her main requirement for a non-relationship is willingness to have some sexy fun and not challenge her strictly-guarded independence. Meanwhile she enjoys her daily routine of sharing a hot beverage and a couple of chatty zingers with Zafir, a former pro athlete now working as a security guard (at the same university where Dani is a PhD student) while working on getting his nonprofit (teaching kids both athletic and mental health skills) off the ground. Zaf senses sparks but is not even really sure if Dani likes guys and is very actively trying to not be a creep but a good friend instead.

And then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked... or rather, when a fire drill gone wrong involved Dani getting stuck in an elevator and left alone in the building, with Zaf being the one who noticed she wasn't outside with everyone else and investigated. She was understandably panicky, he wasn't quite thinking of how it looked when he carried her out in his arms... and nearby students take their picture and start a trending, viral hashtag assuming they were a couple.

(Sidenote: I just read another book that had a similar moment of hashtags and assumed romance, which went with a totally different angle and mood. It's pretty hetero, though, so I'm going to post it later).

Zaf and Dani strike up a deal: she'll pretend to be his girlfriend so he can use the media attention to bring a spotlight to his fledgling nonprofit, he'll be a good FWB and bring on the orgasms while remembering that theirs is not a "real" relationship. Even though he's pretty sure that they are both feeling like this could be more "real" than either of them acknowledge.

Things I enjoyed about this book: the zingers, two nonwhite leads, both leads owning their own wants and are actively working to grow as people individually (and not just because of the other person or desperation to be in a relationship), the emphasis on what a healthy relationship looks like and essential good mental health habits tucked in nicely along the way, their respective support networks being actual support networks throughout the plot and not just at particular moments of timing, and that they both apologize for their roles in disagreements; the way that Dani's career goals and ambitions are never mocked or depicted negatively, and that Zaf supports her in those all the way.


Author: Talia Hibbery


Series: The Brown Sisters, Book 2


Blood, Sex, Violence, & Murder: No blood, violence, or murder, but you're right in on the action when (if I remember right) they manage to break a table through amorous activity. You as the reader are also in on Dani's thoughts on particular actions she is very much looking forward to in her ideal FWB non-relationship, and the thoughts of both leads regarding their attraction to the other as well as their reflections and memories of their intimate moments with each other.


Romance tropes: friends to lovers, fake relationship


Rating: four out of five hot, steamy cups of coffee or tea ☕☕☕☕

(Remember, I pretty much only give a five if it's a book that I could never ever live without. But I really did like this one a lot)

This was a wonderful read! I really appreciate how Talia Hibbert addresses complex issues like anxiety, grief and loss while at the same time creating a fun and funny story. Her characters are real and complicated and diverse! I loved Chloe Brown, and now I love Dani too! Can't wait for sister #3!

I can’t believe I’ve restrained myself from going into ecstasies over this book for so long. Here we go!

Dani Brown is a girl at the top of her professional game—she’s doing all kinds of interesting academic research, molding the minds of young students at a university, and she’s just been asked to present on a panel with one of her idols. She doesn’t have time for romance but definitely wants some stress relief in the form of a friend with benefits. That security guard at her classroom building is pretty cute, too…

Zaf Ansari is a professional-rugby-player-come-security-guard still coping with the sudden deaths of his father and brother. He constantly listens to romance audiobooks (!!!); loves his niece, sister-in-law, and mother to pieces; and comes off as a total grump if you don’t know him.

After a fire drill gone wrong, Zaf and Dani are filmed together and go viral as #DrRugbae—and this publicity is doing all sorts of good things for his charity promoting mental health for kid athletes. Why not keep up the charade as a couple? And then Dani remembers her plan for a FWB… They decide to set a time limit for the fake relationship and then part ways amicably after that. But what happens if they’re suddenly talking each other to sleep on speakerphone and making sure breaks are being taken during intense conference prep? And the benefits side of their FWB arrangement is just too good to stop?

Ohhhhh my goodness, this book. I know I seem to say this so often, but ohhhh my goodness. I loved Zaf with his grumpy exterior and smushy, mushy marshmallow center SO MUCH. Dani was another person with a hard shell, and I loooved watching Zaf get to her own smushy marshmallow center with his grumpy but actually extremely caring personality. I wish we got to see more of the relationship between Zaf’s best friend and his sister-in-law, but honestly Zaf and Dani on their own were such an amazing balm to these tortured times. LOVED IT!

I cannot say enough great things about Talia Hibbert and her talent in writing. She is witty, honest and inclusive. Inclusive to disabilities, body types, race, sexual orientation and everything in between without it ever feeling forced or preachy. It very obviously comes naturally to her.

I loved Take a Hint, Dani Brown as much, if not MORE than Get a Life, Chloe Brown. Which is saying A LOT because I adored Chloe’s story. I cannot wait to get my hands on book three, Act Your Age, Eve Brown!

Thanks to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers - Avon for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Talia Hibbert did it again...5 stars! This book was such a delight to read and had me laughing from beginning to end. It's the second book in a series about sisters and their love lives. This installment is about Dani Brown, who is a bisexual, witchy English professor at a college. She ends up getting "rescued" by the swoon worthy security guard, Zaf, during a fire drill and their chemistry quickly goes viral on social media. In order to help Zaf's nonprofit organization, they end up hatching a plan to fake date and continue their viral love.

The banter between the two main characters were laugh out loud, witty and genuine. You can't help but fall in love with Hibbert's characters and stories. This was a great follow-up to Get a Life: Chloe Brown. I really look forward to reading her next one in the series!

5/5

I received the e-ARC of Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert from Netgalley in a giveaway by Avon Books. I'm a little late to review it, but I have to squee about this book.

I have to start by saying, I love Talia Hibbert. I unabashedly love everything she has written. Her heroines are the most interesting and her heroes are the swooniest. And her HEAs are the happiest and most satisfying. That being said, in this time of pandemic, I’ve mostly been reading paranormal and brief novellas so it took me a few tries to get through this one. But I’m so glad I kept trying.

It was a slow start for me because I couldn’t really identify with the heroine. Danika is confident (in most ways) and driven and a witch, like with crystals and charms and stuff. I’m not super driven and my inner monologue is variations on a theme of what a horrible, ugly person I am. (Working on it in therapy though.) So I can’t say I really “get” Dani. But I admire her for sure.

Then I got to the hero, Zafir, and he is just awesome. He’s tall and burly and has a beard. He reads romance novels and has a crush on Dani. He runs a sports club thing (Rugby, but all the sportsballs run together for me.) that teaches boys how to avoid toxic masculinity and express their emotions in healthy ways. He has anxiety and a history of depression. He gets it. He’s emotionally intelligent. And did I mention tall and burly?

They end up in a fake relationship that becomes friends with benefits that becomes a HEA. It’s funny and smart and just a joy to read. There’s a big romantic gesture and it’s just perfect.

What I loved the most was how Zaf accepted Dani and how she didn’t understand his acceptance because she’d never had anyone apart from her sisters and her BFF accept her before. She didn’t know how to deal with it. But she learned. And Zaf was patient with her.

And as always with Talia Hibbert, there were some great lines and phrases in this book. A couple of my favorites: Zaf to Dani, “I know what a chaos demon you are, and I think it’s great.” And “Maybe, before, you stumbled across people who only wanted bits and pieces of you. Never the whole package. Never enough.” And then there’s the love, “Zaf loved Dani in bold black-and-white, stark and completely unsubtle, no shades of gray to be found. He loved her absolutely and uncompromisingly.” GAH, So Perfect!

I give this book five heart-eye-emoji stars. And I can’t wait for the final Brown sister’s book, but I don’t know if a hero can get swoonier than Zaf or Red (from Get a Life, Chloe Brown). If you are waiting to read this series, get on it!

Wonderfully sexy, feminist and sweet. My favorite Talia Hibbert book yet! I loved both Dani and Zaf. Their chemistry and banter were too good. Some of the lines had me snorting out loud! Looking forward to the next installment of the series. Thank you for being you Talia!

HOT! HOT! HOT! What a fun book! Talia Hibbert knows how to write strong women, sexy men, sassy banter, and sizzling chemistry. Dani is a workaholic who does not believe in love, romance or commitment. Zafir is an ex-professional athlete dealing with the aftermath of family tragedy. There is a definite attraction between the two, but Dani is not looking for anything and Zafir believes in romance. Then fate intervenes... Zaf rescues Dani, a picture is taken, and the rescue goes viral. Seeing The positive impact this all has had on the nonprofit Zaf has started, the two start a fake relationship. The audiobook was narrated by Ione Butler Who did a smashing job! I especially liked how well she voiced the men in the book. It is always a bonus when a book that takes place in the UK is read to you in a proper accent.

Dani was great, but Zaf was downright delicious. Loved how the relationship developed between these two. The chemistry was off the charts, the banter was delectable, and the emotion made me swoon. I also loved how family and friends played a huge role in both of these character’s lives. The book also addresses some heavier subject matter, Zaf struggles with anxiety and I thought it was very well handled in the story. This is a steamy story and the sex scenes are fairly explicit, so if that’s not your thing you can skim or skip. I absolutely love this book and I cannot wait to see what is in store for baby sister Eve Brown.

This book in emojis 🔥 🏉 🍷 📖

*** Big thank you to Avon and Harper Audio for my gifted copy of this book. All opinions are my own. ***

this book was absolutely adorable. it was like a hug! Zafir and Dani had such a lovely friendship, and seeing it evolve into something more made me both happy and a tiny bit anxious for the drama that was bound to happen, but happy is the primary feeling!
I love it when a book shows a queer person being in a f/m relationship, because I think it's important to show that queer people are valid in their identity no matter the relationship they're in. Dani being bi and talking about it with Zaf was 10/10!$
also, Zafir saying ‘we don't want you here’ to toxic masculinity, being open about his anxiety and clinal depression, yes please! not only was he the sweetest, grumpiest man, but he was also so open about his feelings, and that's something I absolutely loved!

𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐀 𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐓, 𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐈 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝗪𝐍 by Talia Hibbert⁣
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5⁣
Endearing, chaotic (in the best way), amusing, and OH, so hot.⁣
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Honestly, y’all, is there anything Talia Hibbert could write that I wouldn’t read at this point? Probably not. Her grocery list? Gimme. A 20-page dissertation on Thucydides? I’ll grab a highlighter. A canon-annihilating Schitt’s Creek fanfiction? The pain will be worth it. I think three examples is enough... What I’m saying is: this book is golden (and I’m not just talking about the cover).⁣
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Dani Brown is our heroine and, much like her sister Chloe, she is charismatic, confident, and whip smart. On top of that, her sarcasm is next level and she is legitimately a witch and I am here for it. She’s the kind of educator I longed for in my years of schooling and she knows what she wants, even if she’s not willing to accept it most of the time. Simply put: she’s magnificent and I love her. ⁣
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Zafir Ansari is the rom-com hero I’ve been waiting for. Zaf, who used to be a professional Rugby player, is broody, grumpy, and strong as hell. But, underneath all that gruff and sex appeal, he’s actually a big softy and a hopeless romantic. Like, you guys, the dude reads romance novels and he’ll tell anyone who asks. This is the first rom-com I’ve read where I relate to the hero more than the heroine and I couldn’t be more surprised or thrilled.⁣
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If all of that wasn’t enough to convince you to read this one, I have two (more) words for you: fake dating. Is there any better trope than that? Oh, wait, it’s also a friends to lovers tale? Right. It is. And so now my work here is done. ⁣
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Please, just get this book. Okthanksbye.

Another great book from Talia Hibbert. Will definitely make fans happy. It has the same diversity and humor as the first book! Can’t wait for the third in the series to see the last Brown sister,

HJ Recommends

Quite simply, there is buckets to love in this little snuggle. And perhaps more intriguing, is the deep paradox crafted in Danika; an incredibly intelligent woman, who literally writes and teaches about gender and race representation in literary and historical texts, yet has no understanding of why things are represented in the first place, aka the unscientific inexplicable nature of well, human nature.

From early on, work obsessed, part time witch Dani, calls on the universe to gift her with some fun man meat, and in due course, she sets up some pretty hefty boundaries for herself, in part because of a painful past and her often non-existent work-life balance. And in the midst she becomes a star in her own rescue adventure. Zaf, the ex football player, building body guard, initially appears incredibly OCD about WPHS, rescuing Dani from a fire drill and carrying her, quite unnecessarily out to the light of day. Zaf however, turns out to be some sort of Zeus like god (minus the tendency to cheat on his wife and blame it on the wind) and his back story is real, exquisitely painful and a powerful unpacked bag of masculinity. Hibbert appropriately explores anxiety in men and the real and present struggle and well – wow – if only men really did read romance novels and sisters in law threw them affectionately at their heads more often.

This was a tragically funny novel about an uber confidant woman who fell in love after being swept up by a social-media premise, who finds her heart at the end of the chain that lies between her envious breasts. Take a Hint Dani Brown presents the imperfect perfect character who was a delight to read and whom I can only imagine was a challenge to shape and write. I love people who live in their heads and whilst I could have traded the excessive descriptions for more of the internally answered rhetorical questions, it’s easy to rush on despite too muching. Undoubtedly, it is the beautiful pacing, and the witty and snort worthy writing that roller-coasters along without so much as a rail chug which, by the end enables anyone with a heart beat to be swept away and caught up in the thrill of it all.

Fun, sexy, smart. I thought GET A LIFE, CHLOE BROWN would be tough to top, but I liked this even more. Talia Hibbert is quickly becoming a "must buy" for me. Can't wait to read the next in the series.

Loved it so so much. I’m appalled that I missed the first in the series. ZAF and DANI are the best, refreshing characters I’ve seen in a while.

LOVED LOVED LOVED! I liked this even more than the 1st one - Dani Brown is EVERYTHING! Cute, steamy, great banter... this one checked all the boxes. Would totally recommend.