Review: Get a Life, Chloe Brown

You might have been seeing Get a Life, Chloe Brown everywhere late last year. It was a romcom that a lot of people were loving because Chloe Brown wasn't your typical romcom heroine and everyone, myself included, was here for it. Talia Hibbert created a character who was so much fun to read about and who you couldn't help rooting for.

Here's the synopsis:

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”, and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family’s mansion. The next items?
• Enjoy a drunken night out.
• Ride a motorcycle.
• Go camping.
• Have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex.
• Travel the world with nothing but hand luggage.
• And... 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.
Redford ‘Red’ Morgan is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle, and more sex appeal than ten-thousand Hollywood heartthrobs. He’s also an artist who paints at night and hides his work in the light of day, which Chloe knows because she spies on him occasionally. Just the teeniest, tiniest bit.
But when she enlists Red in her mission to rebel, she learns things about him that no spy session could teach her. Like why he clearly resents Chloe’s wealthy background. And why he never shows his art to anyone. And what really lies beneath his rough exterior…

Chloe is an absolute delight. She's smart and sassy and so incredibly strong. She's also built up a lot of emotional walls because it's easier to do that than really let anyone, other than her family, into her life. Red really sees her and sees through her defense mechanisms and it was so wonderful to read as they start to trust each other and learn more about who the other really is, deep down.

While I called this book a romcom off the top, it deals with a lot of heavy issues that sometimes make it far more dramatic than comedic. Hibbert balances things beautifully and keeps the story from becoming too heavy without making light of some serious issues. The romance part though? Very much present and the steam factor is off the charts.

Good news for those who like the sounds of Hibbert's writing, she's turned this into a series where each book will focus on a different Brown sister. Next up will be Take a Hint, Dani Brown which is set to be published in June.

And this cover! I am a fan of the illustration covers that are really big right now and this one just makes me so happy.

Get a Life, Chloe Brown is one of those books that's really hard to describe why it's good or why I liked it so much. It just is and I did. It's uplifting but real. It's funny and sexy. It's sweet and dramatic. It ticks all the boxes so I definitely think you should pick up a copy of Talia Hibbert's novel. And then maybe preorder the next book in the series.

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, HarperCollins Canada, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*