Scan barcode
gabyhat's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Medical content, and Medical trauma
Minor: Mental illness and Car accident
pettylatinobatman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Minor: Emotional abuse
knunderb's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Chronic illness and Emotional abuse
overflowingshelf's review against another edition
- 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
“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.
Graphic: Chronic illness and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Physical abuse
albasapri's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Chronic illness, Sexual content, and Toxic relationship
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Gaslighting and Injury/Injury detail
belladonnashrike's review against another edition
- 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 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 🫶🏻
Graphic: Chronic illness and Sexual content
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, and Medical content
bzliz's review against another edition
- 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
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
Car accident: on page
Chronic illness: on page
Panic attacks/disorder: on page
Sexual content: on page
Toxic relationship, emotional abuse, gaslighting, physical abuse: off page
Graphic: Chronic illness, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Abandonment
spuki's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, and Emotional abuse
Minor: Ableism
deldc's review against another edition
- 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.
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
_alyssar_'s review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Chronic illness and Sexual content
Minor: Ableism, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail