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A review by maisierosereads
Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
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
5.0
⭐ Read my full review and see a themed reading journal spread on my blog! ⭐
Thank you so much to the Hear Our Voices team for the opportunity to take part in their book tour for Act Your Age, Eve Brown, and to Harper Collins for providing me with an eARC so that I could write this review.
Act Your Age, Eve Brown was the first book I read by Talia Hibbert – although it’s the third book in the Brown Sisters series, as companion novels they can be read in any order. Since reading this book I’ve bought myself eBooks of the other two novels, read them, and posted 5 star reviews for them – which probably says a lot about how much I enjoyed Talia Hibbert’s writing!
Let’s start by talking about representation, since that was the main factor which drew me to this series of books.
Both of the main characters are autistic – Jacob was diagnosed when he was 12, and Eve realises that she is also autistic during the course of the book (as well as recognising autistic traits in her family members). This is probably the best autism representation I’ve ever read, and it filled my neurodivergent heart with so much joy that I a) cried and b) couldn’t stop gushing about it to my fiancée. Every detail of their characters is so well thought out, and does a great job of showing how autism can present differently in different people. Jacob is able to run his business with an amazing attention for detail because he is autistic; he has weighted blankets on hand for any B&B guests that need them; he sleeps in a nest of blankets; he likes firm touch. Eve uses music to stim, either by listening to songs through one AirPod or by singing to herself, which helps her to focus; she mixes up words when speaking; she likes bright colours and glitter; she is highly motivated to help the people she cares about. It’s so refreshing to read about two autistic protagonists not masking and still having the loving, supportive relationships they deserve! I also think it was wonderful that Talia showed how Eve worked out that she was autistic, given how many AFAB people (particularly non-white AFAB people) are not able to access a diagnosis until adulthood, if at all.
In terms of other representation, much like the previous books in this series, there are also several sapphic side-characters. Dani (Eve’s older sister and protagonist of book 2) is bi, and their grandmother Gigi is in a long-term relationship with her live-in girlfriend/yoga instructor, Shivani. Eve’s other sister, Chloe, is disabled due to a chronic illness; she (like me!) has fibromyalgia. The majority of characters across all three books are Black, and Dani’s boyfriend Zaf is Pakistani. All of the Brown sisters are fat, and their curves and stretch marks are portrayed in a beautiful body-positive way. When Talia Hibbert says she writes “steamy, diverse romance” – she most certainly does, and she does it superbly!
As well as being great characters to start with, both Jacob and Eve go through some brilliant development throughout the book – something Talia Hibbert has a particular knack for! Eve is generally a very lovable character who will always help the people she loves (e.g. if you’ve read Get a Life, Chloe Brown you’ll know that it’s Eve who does Chloe’s food prep for her), and in this book she finds a way to balance that with taking care of herself, too. Jacob might seem like a big grump at the start of the book, but through his PoV chapters we learn just how caring he actually is, as well as him being very funny. You can’t help but love a guy who runs outside in the middle of the night because he doesn’t want ducks to ruin his guests’ experience!
I don’t want to say too much on the specifics of the plot because I wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone, but I will say that it felt perfectly paced to me, with just the right combination of every emotion you might want to experience when reading a romance. This book had me so hooked that I stayed up until an absolutely ridiculous hour (which may or may not have been 4:30am) to carry on reading it. Did that make my fatigue flare up? Yes. Did I regret it? Absolutely not.
All in all, Talia Hibbert is an extremely talented writer who deserves every bit of praise and success. Her writing in Act Your Age, Eve Brown is beautiful, heartwarming, emotional, hilarious, sexy, relatable… Everything I could possibly want in a contemporary romance! Whether you read for plot or characters or both, you won’t be disappointed. This was my favourite out of the three Brown Sisters books, and I’m certainly going to be reading it on repeat – I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!
Content warnings: anti-autistic ableism; childhood neglect; explicit sexual content; injury; past toxic relationship
Thank you so much to the Hear Our Voices team for the opportunity to take part in their book tour for Act Your Age, Eve Brown, and to Harper Collins for providing me with an eARC so that I could write this review.
Act Your Age, Eve Brown was the first book I read by Talia Hibbert – although it’s the third book in the Brown Sisters series, as companion novels they can be read in any order. Since reading this book I’ve bought myself eBooks of the other two novels, read them, and posted 5 star reviews for them – which probably says a lot about how much I enjoyed Talia Hibbert’s writing!
Let’s start by talking about representation, since that was the main factor which drew me to this series of books.
Both of the main characters are autistic – Jacob was diagnosed when he was 12, and Eve realises that she is also autistic during the course of the book (as well as recognising autistic traits in her family members). This is probably the best autism representation I’ve ever read, and it filled my neurodivergent heart with so much joy that I a) cried and b) couldn’t stop gushing about it to my fiancée. Every detail of their characters is so well thought out, and does a great job of showing how autism can present differently in different people. Jacob is able to run his business with an amazing attention for detail because he is autistic; he has weighted blankets on hand for any B&B guests that need them; he sleeps in a nest of blankets; he likes firm touch. Eve uses music to stim, either by listening to songs through one AirPod or by singing to herself, which helps her to focus; she mixes up words when speaking; she likes bright colours and glitter; she is highly motivated to help the people she cares about. It’s so refreshing to read about two autistic protagonists not masking and still having the loving, supportive relationships they deserve! I also think it was wonderful that Talia showed how Eve worked out that she was autistic, given how many AFAB people (particularly non-white AFAB people) are not able to access a diagnosis until adulthood, if at all.
In terms of other representation, much like the previous books in this series, there are also several sapphic side-characters. Dani (Eve’s older sister and protagonist of book 2) is bi, and their grandmother Gigi is in a long-term relationship with her live-in girlfriend/yoga instructor, Shivani. Eve’s other sister, Chloe, is disabled due to a chronic illness; she (like me!) has fibromyalgia. The majority of characters across all three books are Black, and Dani’s boyfriend Zaf is Pakistani. All of the Brown sisters are fat, and their curves and stretch marks are portrayed in a beautiful body-positive way. When Talia Hibbert says she writes “steamy, diverse romance” – she most certainly does, and she does it superbly!
As well as being great characters to start with, both Jacob and Eve go through some brilliant development throughout the book – something Talia Hibbert has a particular knack for! Eve is generally a very lovable character who will always help the people she loves (e.g. if you’ve read Get a Life, Chloe Brown you’ll know that it’s Eve who does Chloe’s food prep for her), and in this book she finds a way to balance that with taking care of herself, too. Jacob might seem like a big grump at the start of the book, but through his PoV chapters we learn just how caring he actually is, as well as him being very funny. You can’t help but love a guy who runs outside in the middle of the night because he doesn’t want ducks to ruin his guests’ experience!
I don’t want to say too much on the specifics of the plot because I wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone, but I will say that it felt perfectly paced to me, with just the right combination of every emotion you might want to experience when reading a romance. This book had me so hooked that I stayed up until an absolutely ridiculous hour (which may or may not have been 4:30am) to carry on reading it. Did that make my fatigue flare up? Yes. Did I regret it? Absolutely not.
All in all, Talia Hibbert is an extremely talented writer who deserves every bit of praise and success. Her writing in Act Your Age, Eve Brown is beautiful, heartwarming, emotional, hilarious, sexy, relatable… Everything I could possibly want in a contemporary romance! Whether you read for plot or characters or both, you won’t be disappointed. This was my favourite out of the three Brown Sisters books, and I’m certainly going to be reading it on repeat – I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did!
Content warnings: anti-autistic ableism; childhood neglect; explicit sexual content; injury; past toxic relationship
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism and Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship