ARC Review: Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

“…did I love this book? Not really, it was an enjoyable read and I am glad I have finally given Hibbert a try, but it didn’t rock my world.”
~ Under the Covers

Having a near death experience can really shake a person up. Or in Chloe Brown’s case, wake her up. She needs to get a life. Suffering from a chronic illness isn’t always easy, but locking herself away and being afraid to live her life isn’t the solution. So, she does what any good planner does; she makes a list. A list of the things she needs to do to finally get a life. First on the list: move out of her parents house. Now, in her new place she just has to tackle the rest of the list, and after an incident involving a lost cat and a tree she has managed to enlist the perfect person to help: Red. The building superintendent and gorgeous specimen of ginger manhood.

I love a book where one of the characters make a list. That more than the hype surrounding this book and this author is what got me picking it up. And, okay, I did kinda love the cover as well. Now, did I love this book? Not really, it was an enjoyable read and I am glad I have finally given Hibbert a try, but it didn’t rock my world.

Although it didn’t rock my world, that didn’t mean there weren’t a few things that I really liked about this book. For one, the gender role reversal. I am a reader who loves a grumpy hero, if a blurb makes it clear I’ll be dealing with a grump I’m much more likely to pick it up, I even have a Goodreads shelf dedicated to the subject. But, it isn’t often that you come across a grumpy heroine. And to put our grumpy heroine in stark relief, she is paired with a hero with smiley sunny personality. I loved it. Especially as Hibbert did a fantastic balancing act of making Chloe, our heroine, grouchy, maybe a little bitchy yet still a complete sweetheart. It was some very talented writing.

Where I start to run into problems is the relationship between Chloe and Red. I didn’t quite buy it. Hibbert built up the friendship between them really well, the witty banter was great, however, for me the chemistry between them move beyond that. It made the whole thing feel a little forced once they stepped over the friendship line.

This book also addressed a lot of other issues as well, we have male domestic abuse, disability and an interracial couple. And, maybe  saying this will make me unpopular, but do you ever feel like a book tries to cover too much at once, meaning nothing is ever really well addressed? It felt like Hibbert tackled the way having a chronic illness affected Chloe’s life and how not only other people viewed her but how it affected her own self image. But, the issue of Red being a domestic abuse survivor was skimmed over and resolved by him deciding to go for some therapy toward the end of the book. Meh, I wasn’t quite buying it.

It was an entertaining and funny book, but it didn’t quite hit the mark for me. I would try Talia Hibbert again as I did like her writing style, but Get a life, Chloe Brown didn’t live up to the hype.

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[about-author author=”Talia Hibbert”]

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