A review by fearsparks
Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

emotional funny inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad 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

Another diverse feel-good romance with an enemies to lovers trope and a roommate plus B&B situation, that also have amazing autism rep. 

Act your age, Eve Brown is the third (and final) installment in the Brown sisters trilogy, where we follow the youngest sister Eve. Eve is 26 year old, living off her trust fund and changing her job as often as she changes her socks. Then her parents draw a line, removes her trust fund and tells her to act her age. That’s how Eve ends up at the interview Jacob holds, looking for a new chef for his B&B. Jacob is blunt and grumpy and assumes Eve is walking chaos and does not want to hire her. When he then is hit by a car, by Eve, he has no choice but accept the help Eve’s providing. 

This book gave me so much feelings. After finishing the second installment, Take a hint, Dani Brown, I assumed that the first book, Get a life, Chloe Brown, would be my favorite. Then Eve and Jacob appears and turn everything upside down. This is my favorite, by far. Jacob is a successful B&B owner with autism, and I was amazed. I have not really seen an autistic man (or woman) to have a successful career in any previous book. Having autism myself, this was inspiring. I could see myself so much in Jacob, but also in Eve, and I loved it. The book was so relatable, and I found myself laughing out loud several times. Something I never do. 

The first encounter with Jacob left me disappointed however. He was open with his autism, which I found admirable. But the representation was like most autistic portrayals. Male, blunt and grumpy, talks without thinking and often say or do the wrong “social” thing. This representation is seen too often, therefore autism is not seen as a spectrum. One thing that was different was that Jacob had a close friend that called him out when he did something that wasn’t socially acceptable. But as the book progressed, so did the portrayal of Jacob’s autism. He was a well-developed character, with more personality than just autism. And I loved that. 

Since Eve, and probably her whole family (or at least sisters) probably also is autistic, Talia Hibbert really shows that autism is a spectrum. And that is admirable. And amazing. And lovely. And I can’t find enough words to describe it. 

Thank you Talia Hibbert for these three amazing books, with so much diversity and representation. 
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