A review by armontheroad
Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

emotional funny 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? Yes

3.0

Let me preface this by saying I love Talia Hibbert and the relationship she created in this book. However, I think people are recommending this book without properly giving warnings about it and that is absurd. 
  • For starters, Talia Hibbert uses car accidents throughout this entire trilogy as a motivation for the characters' storylines without giving a content warning. I have not seen any reviews talking about this. As someone with car trauma, it took me by surprise and was very difficult to get through at points. 
  • Let’s move on to the paragraph with the two antisemitic lines. “...He might be some lizard overlord wearing human skin. ….Dani didn’t have a problem with lizard overlords as long as they left her books alone.” This is the second time I’ve had to call out authors putting this antisemitic conspiracy theory into their books. It doesn’t matter that Hibbert called out another author’s antisemitism at the start of the book if she’s going to use an antisemitic conspiracy theory as the butt of the joke later on in the story. 
  • Thirdly, Talia Hibbert has a very short scene in one of the early chapters where she calls out JKR’s antisemitism and racism. Which is fine! However, you cannot ‘call out’ an author and then spend the rest of the book dropping references to their most popular book series. Once again, there were no content warnings from any of the creators I follow discussing the JKR/HP references in this book. 
DANI BROWN was set up to be my favorite in this trilogy. An interracial relationship (where neither of them is white!!), friends to lovers, fake dating. This had everything I could have wanted. I truly believe I loved Dani and Zaf’s dynamic and story better than Chloe and Red from book one! However, I cannot let all of the little problems pile up without mentioning them. I won’t have other readers blindsided by the content in this novel. I would still highly recommend this book and the entire trilogy! I would just like people to be aware that even the most talented writers make mistakes and they should always be reading and reviewing critically ESPECIALLY when it comes to media they love! You never know what harm you can cause by not acknowledging the issues in the media you consume. 

CWs/Tws: Racism (minor), antisemitism, fatphobia (minor), car accident and death (past), Harry Potter/JKR references.

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