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A review by kp_hobbitreads
Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert
4.5
#1 Get a Life, Chloe Brown: ★★★★★ | 5 stars
#2 Take a Hint, Dani Brown: ★★★★✮ | 4.5 stars
#3 Act Your Age, Eve Brown: ★★★★✮ | 4.5 stars
As a general rule, one of my favorite things about Talia Hibbert's books is that her heroes are always cinnamon rolls. Jacob, however, is not. But, I absolutely adore him anyway, and he may even be my favorite (shhhh....don't tell Red.)
This story follows Eve, the youngest Brown sister and perpetual screw-up. After a confrontation with her parents, Eve escapes to the countryside and applies for a job as a chef at Jacob's Bed & Breakfast on a whim. Jacob, however, doesn't approve of whims and though he is charmed by Eve (mostly against his will), he turns her down even though he is in quite a bind himself. After some pushing from his best friend, Jacob devices to give Eve a trial run. But, before he can tell her, she kinda runs him over with her car. Eve is then tasked with sticking around to help Jacob while he recovers.
I will admit that I struggled with this book just a bit at the beginning. I understand that it's supposed to be a little silly and funny, but I didn't really find Eve's response (or even Mont's to be honest) to literally hitting Jacob with her car all that hilarious. But, she quickly won me over because despite that rough start and after a few interactions between the two, I couldn't help but root for them.
This romance has it all. It's got forced proximity, enemies to lovers, and grumpy/sunshine tropes. Plus, a wonderfully diverse cast. Eve is Black and plus size and Jacob is autistic. And, I loved all the conversations about they different ways they move through the world and what that means for them. Also, Eve's realization that she may also be autistic and how she feels about that was really wonderful to read as someone who also realized later in life that their neurodivergent. And, can we take a moment to talk about the tension? Cause holy batman the tension between these two is palpable. These are two wonderfully complex characters that absolutely deserve their HEA.
Three Thoughts:
1. I would have really liked a confrontation scene where she gives her wretched friends the finger for being to utterly awful to her.
2. I was kinda surprised about the way Eve's family acted towards her given my impression of them from Chloe and Dani's books, but it made sense for the story, and I really appreciate the way the conflict was resolved.
3. Jacob taking notes in the epilogue was 100% on brand.
This was delightful from start to finish. And, I'm so excited that we are getting a spin-off series with Mont and his twin sisters (and that one of the twins' book will apparently be sapphic! ahhh!). Talia Hibbert can do no wrong, and I will read everything she publishes.
content warnings: car accident (mc hit by a car, recovers), child abandonment/parental neglect, ableism, bullying of an autistic character, toxic friendships, sex (on page)
#2 Take a Hint, Dani Brown: ★★★★✮ | 4.5 stars
#3 Act Your Age, Eve Brown: ★★★★✮ | 4.5 stars
As a general rule, one of my favorite things about Talia Hibbert's books is that her heroes are always cinnamon rolls. Jacob, however, is not. But, I absolutely adore him anyway, and he may even be my favorite (shhhh....don't tell Red.)
This story follows Eve, the youngest Brown sister and perpetual screw-up. After a confrontation with her parents, Eve escapes to the countryside and applies for a job as a chef at Jacob's Bed & Breakfast on a whim. Jacob, however, doesn't approve of whims and though he is charmed by Eve (mostly against his will), he turns her down even though he is in quite a bind himself. After some pushing from his best friend, Jacob devices to give Eve a trial run. But, before he can tell her, she kinda runs him over with her car. Eve is then tasked with sticking around to help Jacob while he recovers.
I will admit that I struggled with this book just a bit at the beginning. I understand that it's supposed to be a little silly and funny, but I didn't really find Eve's response (or even Mont's to be honest) to literally hitting Jacob with her car all that hilarious. But, she quickly won me over because despite that rough start and after a few interactions between the two, I couldn't help but root for them.
This romance has it all. It's got forced proximity, enemies to lovers, and grumpy/sunshine tropes. Plus, a wonderfully diverse cast. Eve is Black and plus size and Jacob is autistic. And, I loved all the conversations about they different ways they move through the world and what that means for them. Also, Eve's realization that she may also be autistic and how she feels about that was really wonderful to read as someone who also realized later in life that their neurodivergent. And, can we take a moment to talk about the tension? Cause holy batman the tension between these two is palpable. These are two wonderfully complex characters that absolutely deserve their HEA.
Three Thoughts:
1. I would have really liked a confrontation scene where she gives her wretched friends the finger for being to utterly awful to her.
2. I was kinda surprised about the way Eve's family acted towards her given my impression of them from Chloe and Dani's books, but it made sense for the story, and I really appreciate the way the conflict was resolved.
3. Jacob taking notes in the epilogue was 100% on brand.
This was delightful from start to finish. And, I'm so excited that we are getting a spin-off series with Mont and his twin sisters (and that one of the twins' book will apparently be sapphic! ahhh!). Talia Hibbert can do no wrong, and I will read everything she publishes.
content warnings: car accident (mc hit by a car, recovers), child abandonment/parental neglect, ableism, bullying of an autistic character, toxic friendships, sex (on page)