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Reviews tagging 'Child abuse'

Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

70 reviews

caramiaculpa's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted 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? Yes

5.0


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plantbasedbride'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

4.0

 One of my favourite aspects of this series is how relatable I have found each Brown sister in her own way, and Eve was no different! In fact, I found myself literally sobbing more than once as her experiences with friendships and performing mirrored my own in a painful yet cathartic way.

The romance aspect here is a sweet rivals to friends to lovers story with quite a bit of steam and I enjoyed Eve’s relationship with her love interest. It was also quite lovely to get brief cameos from the elder two Brown sisters and their partners!

As always, I am deeply grateful to Hibbert for including trigger warnings at the beginning of the novel. I also appreciated the varied autistic representation and it seems own voices reviewers would agree, from what I have seen.

Overall, this was a solid finale to the series and quite enjoyable! I must admit I’m a bit sad it’s over.

Thank you to Libro.fm for the ALC. 

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quasinaut's review against another edition

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

4.75

The first few chapters made me so hesitant about Eve -- she just seemed so immature and spoiled -- but it was nice to see her grow into her own, especially without her parents and not-friends to bring her down. Loved the autism rep and the dynamic between Jacob and Eve. Skeptical about Eve's overnight success as a B&B chef, but delighted to see her succeed despite how unrealistic it may be! 

I think Chloe is still my fave Brown sister, but Eve's story might be my favorite -- I also want to run away, find a hot B&B owner to bicker with, and accidentally stumble onto my perfect career.

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sebrittainclark's review against another edition

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funny lighthearted relaxing medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


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caribbeangirlreading's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful 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

I loved Chloe and Red.  I loved Dani and Zaf.  Eve and Jacob, however, stole my heart.  Chloe and Dani's emotional wounds both stem from situations that happened after they had reached young adulthood.  For Eve and Jacob, however, their wounds have been there since childhood and were about a lot more than figuring out romantic relationships.  Just like Chloe's chronic illness, their neurodiversity is not ever going away and with their story, Eve and Jacob showed the rest of us that autistic people need acceptance, not just awareness.  I think I may have hugged this book when I finished reading it.

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buttoneyereads's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative 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? Yes

5.0


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fearsparks's review against another edition

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emotional funny 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

5.0

Another diverse feel-good romance with an enemies to lovers trope and a roommate plus B&B situation, that also have amazing autism rep. 

Act your age, Eve Brown is the third (and final) installment in the Brown sisters trilogy, where we follow the youngest sister Eve. Eve is 26 year old, living off her trust fund and changing her job as often as she changes her socks. Then her parents draw a line, removes her trust fund and tells her to act her age. That’s how Eve ends up at the interview Jacob holds, looking for a new chef for his B&B. Jacob is blunt and grumpy and assumes Eve is walking chaos and does not want to hire her. When he then is hit by a car, by Eve, he has no choice but accept the help Eve’s providing. 

This book gave me so much feelings. After finishing the second installment, Take a hint, Dani Brown, I assumed that the first book, Get a life, Chloe Brown, would be my favorite. Then Eve and Jacob appears and turn everything upside down. This is my favorite, by far. Jacob is a successful B&B owner with autism, and I was amazed. I have not really seen an autistic man (or woman) to have a successful career in any previous book. Having autism myself, this was inspiring. I could see myself so much in Jacob, but also in Eve, and I loved it. The book was so relatable, and I found myself laughing out loud several times. Something I never do. 

The first encounter with Jacob left me disappointed however. He was open with his autism, which I found admirable. But the representation was like most autistic portrayals. Male, blunt and grumpy, talks without thinking and often say or do the wrong “social” thing. This representation is seen too often, therefore autism is not seen as a spectrum. One thing that was different was that Jacob had a close friend that called him out when he did something that wasn’t socially acceptable. But as the book progressed, so did the portrayal of Jacob’s autism. He was a well-developed character, with more personality than just autism. And I loved that. 

Since Eve, and probably her whole family (or at least sisters) probably also is autistic, Talia Hibbert really shows that autism is a spectrum. And that is admirable. And amazing. And lovely. And I can’t find enough words to describe it. 

Thank you Talia Hibbert for these three amazing books, with so much diversity and representation. 

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jessgj's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative 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? Yes

4.75


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zombiezami's review against another edition

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emotional funny lighthearted
  • 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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olivialandryxo'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 was 99% sure I’d love this book, and I was right. I knew I loved it as soon as I started reading. From cover to cover, it was fun, super cute, and highly amusing. Both of the previous books in the series had me laughing and swooning, and this one was no exception. I love Chloe, Dani, Eve, Red, Zaf, and Jacob with my whole heart. I love Gigi too, and honestly would love a grandma as eccentric and fun as her.

The only thing I didn’t love was how little of the other two Brown sisters and their boyfriends we got to see. I understand that this is Eve and Jacob’s book, and they spend most of it in a small town a couple of hours away from where the previous protagonists live. The one scene where they were almost all together was brief and didn’t include Jacob. Don’t get me wrong, I still absolutely loved the book. I just would’ve really liked to see the six of them hanging out and goofing around.

I can easily say that this book—honestly, this whole trilogy—is at the very top of my favorites list. In my list of top five contemporary books, three spots would be given to these books. I’ll definitely be rereading them, either because they’re great pick-me-ups or I just miss the characters. :)

Representation
  • fat Black autistic protagonist
  • autistic love interest
  • fat Black side character with fibromyalgia and chronic pain*
  • fat Black bisexual side character*
  • Muslim Pakistani side character with anxiety*
  • Black pansexual side character in a sapphic relationship*
*only a few on-page appearances

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