Book Review — Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

• Genre: Romance
• Published by: Avon Books
• Publish date: November 05, 2019
• Number of pages: 384 pages
• Author’s website: https://www.taliahibbert.com/
• Support local! Buy the book on BookShop!

Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she’s come up with six directives to help her “Get a Life”, and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamourous family’s mansion. The next items?

• Enjoy a drunken night out.
• Ride a motorcycle.
• Go camping.
• Have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex.
• Travel the world with nothing but hand luggage.
• And… do something bad.

But it’s not easy being bad, even when you’ve written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job.

Redford ‘Red’ Morgan is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle, and more sex appeal than ten-thousand Hollywood heartthrobs. He’s also an artist who paints at night and hides his work in the light of day, which Chloe knows because she spies on him occasionally. Just the teeniest, tiniest bit.

But when she enlists Red in her mission to rebel, she learns things about him that no spy session could teach her. Like why he clearly resents Chloe’s wealthy background. And why he never shows his art to anyone. And what really lies beneath his rough exterior…

Rating: 4/5

A steamy romance with main characters that we don’t typically see depicted. We have Chloe Brown, the oldest of the Brown sisters. She’s quirky, speaks her mind, and has a cute sense of fashion. She’s so easy to love and root for as she tries to complete her bucket list of items to “live more”. Redford is a brooding red-headed hunk. They live in the same complex, Red is the super. During some chance encounters, Red soon proves himself to be the perfect person to help Chloe cross of items on her list.

The romance builds slowly and then there are fireworks. There’s a realistic conflict with reservations about starting a new relationship and starting a relationship when you are struggling mentally that don’t see always depicted in romance. Although it may be frustrating to read, it felt very realistic to me as someone whose own mental illnesses have impacted my relationships (I know that’s not always why we read though). Then the resolution makes you feel warm and bubbly so it makes getting to the ending worth it!

“Whether something bad is coming from your body or your brain, it makes no difference. Still feels like shit, right? Still hurts. Still needs fixing. They shouldn’t have dismissed you, even if it was in your head. When it comes down to it, everything we feel is in our heads.”

-Red

I love the discussion the two have on illnesses both physical and mental. The couple certainly has things to work through, but I thought that once they got through the open and honest part, they begin to mirror the habits of a healthy romantic relationship, but the hidden gem in this novel is the familial relationship between the Brown sisters. Once you read this one, you’ll immediately want to read the next two in the series.

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts? I’d love to know!