Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Get a Life, Chloe Brown

Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

486 reviews

overflowingshelf's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

3.5

CW: Abusive relationship; emotional abuse; chronic pain/illness; physical abuse

“Once upon a time, Chloe Brown died.”

Get A Life, Chloe Brown has been on my to-be-read list for way longer than I would like to admit, but I finally got a chance to read this as a beach read last summer! While I liked many things about this book, the ending ruined the story a tad as it relies heavily on the miscommunication trope, which I’m so over in my romances.

I really liked the characters in this book, as they breathed a lot of life and soul into the story. It’s a relatively small cast, as most of the action centers around Chloe and Red, with a few other folks on the periphery.

I adored that Red was the complete opposite of what you would expect based on his outward appearance. He’s a tatted-up biker with red hair and presents a tough exterior, but oh my god, he is mush inside. A bit of damaged mush, but mush all the same. Oh, he also is a talented artist. His last relationship did a number on him, something he definitely is working on, and I cannot believe his ex would do the things she did to this sweet mush of a man. Red falls first, and he’s so far gone for Chloe that it’s adorable. I also loved how he doesn’t treat her any differently because of her chronic pain but works to accommodate her needs and acknowledges that her pain and feelings are valid.

Chloe was a bit chaotic and all over the place for me, but I couldn’t help but be charmed by her. Because of her fibromyalgia, she shut herself off from everyone except for her family. When she has her brush with death, she lists seven things to help her “get a life.” Much like Red, her outward appearance is a bit deceiving. He calls her Ice Queen at first and thinks she’s very hoity-toity as she comes from money and is very well put together, but inside her apartment, she’s a bit of a mess. What you see isn’t what you get with her.

The romance in this book is perfect for grump/sunshine lovers as Chloe is the perfect grump, with Red pushing her out of her comfort zone. They also start on the wrong foot, so they definitely have some antagonism (but I wouldn’t call this enemies-to-lovers). Their first real scene together is super cute, as it involves a cat stuck in a tree, and I feel like it sets the tone perfectly for their relationship. Also, I have to say I wasn’t expecting this book to be so steamy! Once again, a cutesy cover was deceiving. There was some good dirty talk and sexy scenes, but the writing took me a bit out of it at times as I found some of it a bit cringe or too cutesy and forced.

Where the book lost me a bit was in the third act. Sigh, the third act breakup caused by miscommunications strikes again and claims another victim! Like just TALK TO EACH OTHER. I get Red has some damage from his past abusive relationship, but he isn’t even willing to listen to Chloe when she tries to explain herself. And then she is stubborn and holds on to her grudge against him a tad too long, especially as he’s trying to make amends. She literally won’t read his notes and is even like, “I should read his notes,” before we get to their happily ever after. I wish the ending went in a different direction, as it did lessen my enjoyment of the story.

Now, I did love the Brown sisters. Their relationship is so wonderful, and each of them is a treat! I’m so excited to read the rest of the books in the series to get to know them more and spend more time with them.

Even though this book ended on a bit of a sour note for me, it is still worth reading, but maybe check it out from the library first to see if you like it! I hope to read book two, Take a Hint, Dani Brown this year. This series makes great summer reads, so I can see that being a pool read soon!

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albasapri's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

4.5

It's just what I needed to read when I needed to read it. It feels sad that I have to say suspend your disbelief as the MC's love interest feels so clearly written by a woman for those who, traditionally, have been brought up to be women. But it scratched an itch I didn't know was there and hey, you can enjoy the ride nonetheless and maybe hope that you'll find at least a fraction of this in someone. Isn't that what romance books are in the end? Just romantic love stories blown up out of (epically) proportion...?

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belladonnashrike's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective 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

okay, I liked this way more than I thought I would. chloe and red are perfect for each other. I love love!!!

I didn’t know chloe had fibromyalgia (twin!) when I downloaded the book, and I was pleasantly surprised that it was actually some good chronic illness representation. i’m assuming hibbert isn’t disabled or has a chronic illness from her note at the beginning, so i’m happy she wrote about this topic with a lot of grace and respect. chloe has a personality outside of her illness and she doesn’t wallow every day and she doesn’t hate her life, like a lot of disabled characters in media seem to do. she has good days and bad days, and she’s still a person outside of her illness; she’s not one-dimensional. and red doesn’t coddle or baby her either — if she needs help, he assists, but it’s not because he views her as inept. he respects and loves her and treats her like a person (and his love language seems to be acts of service anyway, so fibro or not, he would be behaving the same way). it was really nice to read about a character with an almost spot-on situation to mine be treated with so much love and care from her significant other and not be treated like a burden.

i’ve actually never read a book that treated a chronically ill character in such a way so I am just over the moon right now, she did a wonderful job.

in terms of spice: I didn’t hate it but at times it seemed a little corny (referring to dialogue) and…underwhelming 😶‍🌫️ it wasn’t bad though!

things i wish that were different: I do wish that red’s mom was present in more than just the start of the book. I think it also would’ve been nice if he had a conversation with chloe about his mothers illness because I think it made an impact on him which in turn impacts how he treats chloe. & I know people groan about lighthearted romance being more than, like, 350 pages, but I think adding more pages would’ve benefited the story, actually. like I wish that there was a bit more romance between the incredibly public extracurricular activities and the misunderstanding at the end. it needed a bit more fluff!

I did really like it though & I will be downloading the next book to my kindle immediately after I finish typing this 🫶🏻

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bzliz's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted medium-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

4.5

Chloe Brown has a near death experience and realizes she needs to “get a life” after too long of insulating herself from hurt after being abandoned by friends and a fiancé due to her chronic illness. Red is her building’s handyman and they Do Not get along, thanks to how tongue tied and blurty she gets around him. Of course, he recognizes her type of family wealth due to a previous abusive relationship and initially tries not to get sucked in by Chloe’s beauty. That doesn’t last long and they learn to grow together despite their fears.

The pacing is perfect and I knew this was going to be something special right away. I’m absolutely thrilled to find a main character with a chronic illness that doesn’t spend the whole book consumed with woes about it. Chloe has her good days and her bad days and either way she still has a personality. Similarly, Red is supportive and thoughtful without infantilizing Chloe or sexualizing her disability, and he also has a personality outside of her, plus his own issues that he’s dealing with. It’s refreshing to see a diverse cast that feel like real people and doesn’t seem to be ticking off boxes for representation. The spice was also excellent without feeling overly vulgar which is a serious achievement.

Mind the trigger warnings!
Abandonment: off page

Chloe discusses (both out loud and in her thoughts) how once her chronic illness manifested, she lost her friends and was left by her fiancé

Car accident: on page

story starts here- a drunk driver nearly hits Chloe and runs into a building, prompting her to want to change her life to be less closed-off. An EMT expresses to Chloe that the driver will be okay.

Chronic illness: on page

Chloe has fibromyalgia and experiences chronic fatigue, headaches, etc.

Panic attacks/disorder: on page

After a misunderstanding near the end of the book, Red experiences feelings of panic that lead to him running away. Might not technically be a panic attack but it’s worth mentioning

Sexual content: on page

includes descriptions of arousal, semi-public fingering, and penetrative sex

Toxic relationship, emotional abuse, gaslighting, physical abuse: off page

Red’s previous relationship was toxic and abusive. He describes to Chloe how his former partner would gaslight and emotionally manipulate him into believing he was the one who had done something wrong whenever he was upset and how sometimes their altercations got physical, including a time she stabbed his hand with a fork

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spuki's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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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deldc's review against another edition

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reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

3 or 3.3?

lol i have lots of mixed thoughts and feelings regarding this book. probably bec it only became interesting (at least for me) at 60%, and it didn't even get to superb.

but then a few good things must be said:

it's either i started with the wrong book to judge miss talia hibbert's writing and novels, or she really still has room for improvement, like all novelist, after all.

this one wasn't so bad. i liked a few plot representation in some one-liners -- which i didn't expect i'd be able to decipher given that i don't usually see through such. in connection to that, i liked her metaphors. it's just that sometimes the meanings became repetitive. some dialogues were too cheesy and forced for my taste, especially during intimate scenes that usually have few expected conversational exchanges. there's also a moderate amount of unnecessary side comments that confused my attention.

so again, i want to try more of talia hibbert and i look forward to reading the next of this series. i feel that she has something important to put out there through her novels. for example, in this, she conveyed topics such as fibromyalgia and chronic pain struggles (i expected the story would somehow center on this so it's a bit frustrating that it wasn't.) , the stigma that comes to people dealing with illnesses, coping and moving on with past trauma, abusive relationships, and my favorite: opening oneself to a relationship despite having unresolved trauma and learning to work it out even if it means a simultaneous cycle of effort and pain.

wholly, i didn't like this at first. i didn't admire the lust that consumed this book halfway. i thought this was problematic to tolerate for a romance genre at least (and so was chloe and red's blooming relationship) hence, it made the book hard for me to read. i expected conflicts later on in chloe and red's relationship, aside from the fact that romance plots typically go that road, but also because they were both unready to deal with themselves to be able to care for each other beyond the promise of lust. then, change happened and i was in for it. i was rooting. thank my reading challenges, i couldn't drop this. the change made my rating go higher above 2 lol. i'm glad that this didn't turn out so bad.

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_alyssar_'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? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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lex_is_bookish's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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mel_j's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted sad slow-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

3.75

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alibookedup's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative 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? Yes

4.0

I liked the chronic pain rep and the male being abused in relationship rep. I think this book had a lot of good commentary and representation in general for “just being a romance book”.

I really liked how Red and Chloe played off each other — from cute nicknames like Button, to their abilities to mess with one another, to the perfect amount of spice.

It didn’t get 5 stars bc I am now an annoyingly picky romance reader. I think there could’ve been more side character interaction than there was instead of just Red and Chloe all the time. I get why (because they both were hiding), but still. There was still the breakup moment which is getting old in romances but I did like how Talia Hibbert used this moment to have the characters do some internal retrospective work regarding their traumas —that was actually refreshing. Lastly, sometimes the romance seemed a LITTLE too fast for my taste but still it was enemies to lovers so I’m here for that.

Overall a really cute romance that I found myself smiling and laughing at often. And definitely happy with the amount of spice wow. Definitely going to read about the other Brown sisters

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