Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

91 reviews

zadsavage's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness, Cursing, and Sexual content

Minor: Bullying, Car accident, Grief, Abandonment, Classism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

feliciavanleeuwen's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective 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

After finishing this book I wrote a thank/love letter to the writer on twitter. Here is it;
Dear @TaliaHibbert, in the last years I dreaded reading but I've never cried, laughed, blushed and been aroused as much as by Chloe & Red's story. At times I couldn't believe I wasn't reading my own thoughts. As painfull as that was, it was amazing too.
Somehow I thought it was a good idea to start reading the book on a family vacation. The times I had to explain my laughing and crying were answered with happiness. The times I had to put down the book, look at my friend and say "this is to spicy to read here": uncountable.
It was the first time reading my symptoms like this, the things I go though on the daily, yet they weren't mine. Some moments it was scary how much Chloe's fibro and mine are alike, not only the physical but also the mental & social implications.
We differ in the fact that my ADHD makes me do a tad bit to much spontaneous things nowadays. Whoever put an adhd brain in a chronically fatigued body is definitely a fan of torture. Still, the ever protecting part of my brain is there. Like Chloe's.
And all these tweets don't even cover, can't even cover, how much I love the little lines about Red loving Chloe's belly. Or how Red, in his looks & wit, is exactly my type. And how some scenes are written inspire me to continue my own writing.*
You might not even read all of this, as your account is an updates account, yet I just have to write. Thank you for this book. Thank you for the characters. The only thing I'm sad about is that I'll never be able to read for the first time again.
Oh and that I'm allergic to most if not all cats. I miss my cat at my parents and want my own smudge. Though I prefer not to rescue them from tree. I'm sure I'll find my Red(s), he/she/they, one day. Sadly my building doesn't have a superintendent. Love, Felicia

*on twitter I didn't specify which scenes but here I will say it were the more spicy ones.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content, Ableism, Emotional abuse, and Chronic illness

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Medical trauma, Fatphobia, Medical content, Mental illness, and Classism

Minor: Toxic friendship and Toxic relationship

Spoilers, not to many details

The book is about Chloe, a black plus size woman with fibromyalgia, who has been abandoned by people in the past because of here illness. She meets Red, a man that is dealing with the aftermath of being in an abusive relationship, who is/was an artist but now is the superintendent of her building. It's a bit of a haters to lovers Trope but not in a way you'd expect.

At times the book was hard to read as it was the first time I saw my exact symptoms reflected in someone else, a fictional character that isn't the comedic relief but is the love interest and seen as attractive. It confronted me, I cried and laughed and was aroused. It was beautiful.

behindherpages's review

emotional funny 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Minor: Car accident

jane_moriarty's review against another edition

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness and Sexual content

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

Minor: Classism

The male character used to be in an abusive relationship, that’s what most of the content warnings are about

onefineelephant's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring 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

5.0

10/10. This may be the best book I've ever read. It was beautifully written and some of the lines in this book made me feel so deeply. As a person with chronic pain and personality very similar to Chloe (with a strong dash of abandonment trauma), I resonated so incredibly deeply with Chloe. Also, the caring, redheaded man who unabashedly worships his girl could not have been more my type unless he was also given glasses. Red swept me off my feet the same way he did Chloe and if he were a real person, I would fight tooth and nail to make him mine. However, considering he's fictional, I would have to say that he and Chloe are a perfect match. I loved the back and forth 3rd person POV shift between focusing on both Chloe and Red's inner lives. Also, the spicy scenes definitely made me feel many feelings but so did the flirting scenes. This book is now tied for my favorite romance. I will never stop thinking about this book and especially my number 1 book boyfriend, Redford Morgan. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Cursing

Moderate: Alcohol, Abandonment, and Ableism

Minor: Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

lizzymorang's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring 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

This book felt like a warm hug at times and a spicy margarita at others. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Chronic illness

Minor: Domestic abuse and Gaslighting

albasapri's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Chronic illness, and Sexual content

Moderate: Emotional abuse

Minor: Gaslighting and Injury/Injury detail

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Toxic relationship, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Abandonment

deldc's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Minor: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting

_alyssar_'s review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Chronic illness

Minor: Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Ableism, Car accident, Cursing, Death, and Racism