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

Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

94 reviews

bzliz's review against another edition

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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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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auudrey's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring relaxing 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

4.0

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fanboyriot's review against another edition

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lighthearted fast-paced

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

2.0

It started out really promising, I liked the characters nearly instantly. Then a few chapters in, not as much. Some of the conflict seemed a bit dramatic, in a way that could have been easily solved. It was kinda weird to read because at first it seemed like a YA but then all of a sudden there was spice. Which is fine but it was just boring and when they got together it was like all the chemistry they had left out the window. It had another white cis man being too emotional without knowing the full story because of his own insecurities. I know he had past trauma but so did Chloe and she didn’t jump to conclusions so quickly without being mature about the whole situation of him finding out he was on her list. Kinda ruined the book for me tbh. So I just have mixed feelings. I liked some parts of it but I also disliked some parts of it.

Plus Sized MC
Switching POV
Chronically ill MC
Light Enemies to Lovers

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kayleejanes's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted relaxing 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? It's complicated

4.0

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theverycraftyvegan's review against another edition

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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

5.0

I loved this book from start to finish. It had me laughing and smiling, as well as blushing and biting my lip, the whole way through.

Chloe and Red are both adorable characters, with lots of their own baggage. Seeing them work through things together as well as on their own was wonderful to read. And their email banter had me grinning the entire time.

I can’t wait to get to know Chloe’s family better in Talia Hibbert’s other books!

If you’re looking for a cute, funny, heartwarming, and sexy read look no further!

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chanelwritesromance's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

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

3.5

Meh. I don't know if I had my expectations too high, but this book was pretty underwhelming. I didn't really care about the characters or their love story.

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chloelj27's review against another edition

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funny medium-paced

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

3.0

I came across this book initially on Booktok and while I t didn’t meet the expectations I had, it was still an enjoyable book.

Both Chloe and Red were interesting characters, both with their own pasts that were uncovered throughout the story. I loved the awareness around fibromyalgia as although I don’t personally suffer with it, I know many do. Chloe and Red’s relationship was balanced nicely between sweet/romantic and passionate/lustful. I loved all their interactions, especially in the first half of the book. Although I could relate to each of them in certain ways, I didn’t feel like I fully connected to them as individuals (both had moments of annoying me) which meant I couldn’t always fully connect with them as a couple either. It felt like something was missing for me.

I liked the idea of the plot and think it was executed well, although I did find it quite slow in places and took me a while to get into the story. There was definitely a bit more spice than I anticipated (I’m definitely not complaining), but the odds few lines had me cringing slightly.

Overall, I liked this book and will be going on to read both Dani and Eve’s stories.

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nefariousbee's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring relaxing 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

4.75

not quite 5 stars, but honestly just because of tiny details I can't put my finger on quite yet.
it was funny, having ME/CFS this is the first time I saw an MC who faced similar everyday challenges that me so I loved that, the lvoe interest made me wonder if I could be with a man after all. sex scenes are 10/10.
oh and the relationship trauma is portrayed beautifully.
what else could one want from a romance book, really

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