Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

350 reviews

lizzie_b99's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I read this after Take a Hint, Dani Brown because I was not initially aware that that title was part of a series. I have started Act Your Age, Eve Brown and I am really curious to see how her character develops from how she is represented in these earlier novels. 

I personally prefer this novel to the sequel! Chloe and Red's relationship feels well fleshed out, though maybe a touch too fast (though maybe I'm just a bit of a skeptic when it comes to quickly developed romantic relationships). I love the focus throughout this series on mental health and disability/neurodivergence representation. I do not have fibro, but Chloe's struggles with spoons and having an invisible disability are incredibly relatable. 

The romance genre often has a problem with allowing characters to violate their potential partner's boundaries with little to no punishment. I love that this title does not fall into that trap. Chloe and Red are both highly aware of the importance of boundaries. They constantly ask each other for explicit consent before deepening their romantic/physical relationship (and omg consent is sexy). The focus on boundaries, consent, and meeting one's partner's needs made Chloe and Red's relationship feel both idyllic and achievable. Their banter is adorable and now I need someone to call me Button (even though I'll pretend to hate it), and Smudge is absolutely the best name for a cat.

Late novel spoilers
I am not a fan of third act breakups - I often find them to be used as an excuse to lengthen a novel that could have ended better 50 odd pages earlier - but the way this trope is used in this novel works in my opinion. Although the miscommunication trope is used to instigate this breakup (as is often the case), these tropes feel like they bring out the fears and triggers of the characters rather than being used just as a bit of late-novel filler. All in all, the use of tropes in this novel feel believable for the characters and not like an excuse to participate in a trope
 

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amy_in_the_city's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book! Both main characters were wonderful, their banter was top-notch, and there were multiple moments that made me laugh. I liked how much joy they took in making each other smile and laugh. It wasn't all fluff though. There was some real heart here and some heavier topics addressed. I really loved Red and how thoughtful and caring he was. He's definitely joining my list of favorite romance guys. He and Chloe both had their own issues to work through, and they felt like very realistic problems that impacted them in understandable ways. I don't usually like when there is a
third-act breakup
, but here it made sense why the characters reacted the way they did and how they found their way through it. I appreciated that they both apologized to each other as too often romance novels have only one person apologizing after an argument where both characters said or did hurtful things. I look forward to reading the other books in this series!

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reminiscences's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny hopeful reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5


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beccam22's review against another edition

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4.0

This book was both pink clouds and pure sweetness as well as very serious around mental health and I really appreciated it. I am mainly an anything but romance reader now starting to read romance. 

The mental health and chronic pain rep in this book was amazing. The feeling of being a burden to others while also learning to accept help when needed was beautiful. 

The rediscovering yourself after previous relationships was handled okay. I think it handled it better than most books but still felt like they relied on each other as the reason why to change and grow rather than for themselves. 

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errie's review against another edition

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  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes

4.0


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bucklace27's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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kendal_reads's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


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elliefardell's review against another edition

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funny fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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missmarshey's review against another edition

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funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really enjoyed this book, I was totally backing Chloe all the way and felt her pain and want! Would definitely recommend.

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lags2much's review against another edition

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emotional funny inspiring slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I absolutely adore this book. It should be required reading for anyone dating someone with chronic illness. 

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