A review by onlyificanbringabook
Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted 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

 

Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost — but not quite — dying, she’s come up with seven directives to help her “Get a Life” including; do something bad.

But it’s not easy being bad, even when you’ve written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job.



This book has my heart. I adored the story and the characters and pretty much everything about it. I’m not sure how I can write a coherent review when all I want to do is squeal about how much I love it!


Firstly, I love when a good book is set in Britain. I love books that are set anywhere really but there is just something really nice about being familiar with the settings within a story. I like when I’m familiar with dialects and some of the strange things that only British people seem to do.


One of the things I loved most about this book was the incredibly realistic representation of what it is like to live with fibromyalgia. To have a main character that you can relate to, who is living with chronic illness and who is an absolute badass, is amazing. It was so good to feel validated while reading and know that other people would be able to see how it is to live with chronic pain.


“I started feeling afraid of my own body, like it was a torture chamber I’d been trapped inside,” is the most beautiful and honest way to describe my battle that I could never find the words to express myself.


The character development in this book was fantastic. It was so refreshing to read a romance story that wasn’t about one character trying to fix the other but about both characters helping each other to see themselves differently in order for them to confront their own issues. Chloe and Red both have their own baggage and plenty of it. What is particularly beautiful in this story is how they both learn to love themselves on their journey to show their love to each other.


The way Red wants to care for Chloe is wonderful but what is even better is the way he understands and accepts that she can care for herself and just sees her illness as a part of her rather than something to be overcome. Chloe, likewise, sees Red’s difficulties and wants to help him to deal with them whilst also understanding that there are some things he needs to deal with for himself. I feel like this is a big part of what makes their relationship so relatable; neither of them is perfect, their relationship isn’t perfect and yet they both enable each other to be better, happier people.


The journey of their relationship and the hurdles they face, isn’t unique or novel, but I have never related so closely to or felt so strongly when reading a book that the characters needed to end up together. I want to read sequels about the trials and rewards of their entire lives together!


Talia Hibbert is a genius at her craft. The way Red and Chloe express their thoughts towards and love for each other is so clumsily beautiful that I sobbed, “awwed” and whimpered my way through the book. There were several times that something was said and I found myself thinking back to moments in my own life and realising that those were the words that I had been looking for in that situation.


This book is like a hug. It is warm and comforting, witty and sarcastic and blunt and honest in equal measure. It has instantly become a favourite that I know I will reread regularly in the future.


Side note;


If the story itself wasn’t incredible enough to make me love Talia Hibbert, she has included a content warning at the beginning of the book (something I haven’t seen an author do before) and has the best author bio I have ever read:


Talia Hibbert is a Black British author who lives in a bedroom full of books. Supposedly, there is a world beyond that room, but she has yet to drum up enough interest to investigate. She writes sexy, diverse romances because she believes that people of marginalised identities need honest and positive representation. Her interests include beauty, junk food and unnecessary sarcasm.


Could she be any more perfect? If there was any doubt, she has erased it by gifting us another two novels each featuring one of Chloe’s sisters as the protagonist. I can’t wait!



CW: chronic illness, emotional abuse, toxic relationship, physical abuse, mental illness, panic attacks/disorders, racism 
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