“Absolutely charming… a flawless balance of humor, heat, sweetness, and depth, and I loved every page.” – Helen Hoang, USA Today bestselling author of The Bride TestUSA TODAY BESTSELLERA witty, hilarious romantic comedy about a woman who’s tired of being “boring” and recruits her mysterious, sexy neighbor to help her experience new things—perfect for fans of Sally Thorne, Jasmine Guillory, and … to help her experience new things—perfect for fans of Sally Thorne, Jasmine Guillory, and Helen Hoang!
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…
“This is an extraordinary book, full of love, generosity, kindness and sharp humor.” — The New York Times Book Review
*Featured on the TODAY Show! Named a Best Romance of 2019 by Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Apple, and Amazon, and Best of November from Essence, Woman’s Day, Marie Claire, Buzzfeed, Popsugar, Bustle, Bookish, Bookpage, Entertainment Weekly, and Washington Post*
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Get a Life, Chloe Brown is my favorite novel of 2019. I love the characters, I love the story, and I appreciate and relate to the subjects explored, such as chronic illness and emotionally abusive relationships. Don’t let the serious issues make you think this is a somber read. It brings light and joy and heat (so sexy). I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Ok. I started this yesterday and literally could not walk away from it. I tried to go to sleep and half an hour later was back to the book. By 12:30am I was finishing it up, ugly crying quietly so that I didn’t wake up my husband. I LOVED THIS BOOK!! I love Chloe, in all her imperfections, she is smart and funny and so badass and stronger than she realizes! And Red was so lovely, such a good guy but also working through his own stuff. I loved that both of the characters had therapists!! Normalize therapy!! Overall, I wish I could give this book 8 out of 5
My Spoiler Free Review
This was my first novel by this author, and I am now definitely a fan. I loved everything about this romance – the storytelling, the pacing, and the well-fleshed out and interesting main characters with supporting characters that intrigued and added to the story by making their world more complete and complex.
Unabridged Audiobook read via Los Angeles Public Library loan
Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
Series: The Brown Sisters, Book 1
Length: 10 hrs and 17 mins
Release date: 11-05-19
Publisher: HarperAudio
Ratings:
Story – 5 charming stars!
Performance by Adjoa Andoh – 5 knocked it out of the ballpark stars!
Overall – 5 re-read worthy stars!
Final Thoughts: Don’t miss out on this delightful and heartwarming romance! And, if you’re an audiobook junkie like me, then I can’t recommend this format highly enough.
I’m currently listening to the sequel, Take A Hint, Dani Brown (The Brown Sisters #2) via audiobook.
I want to first start out saying parts of this book are very blunt. When author Talia Hibbert wrote the scene involving sex she really didn’t leave anything to the imagination.
I loved the story line of both characters secretly having secret crushes on each other. Like when kids are young and one picks on the other, it made it a very adorable love story.
Im very excited Take A Hint Dani Brown was just released. You did get to know of Chloe’s sisters but never really got their story. I’m hoping Talia Hibbert will come out with eve’s story next!
This heart-warming and hot multi-cultural romance has clever dialogue and interesting, fully-developed characters who deal with unique life challenges.
Adorable. Laugh out loud funny. Cute love story. I enjoyed it and loved that it made me escape into Chloe and Red’s world for a little while.
This is my first book by Ms. Hibbert, but definitely won’t be my last. Richly drawn characters, unique situations, tenderness, and passion. Can’t wait for the next one! Highly recommend.
OMG THIS WAS SO FREAKING GOOD I CAN’T EVEN. Delicious prose, delightfully flawed and vulnerable characters. GET THEE ALL TO A VIRTUAL BOOKSHOP AND BUY IT RIGHT NOW. One of the best books I’ve read all year.
Review originally published at Romancing Romances
4.25*
Although this is the first book in the Brown Sisters series, it’s actually the second one I’m reading. I started with Take A Hint, Dani Brown, and now I’ve also read Get A Life, Chloe Brown, which means now I’m anxiously waiting the story of the third sister, Eve.
I really liked this book. I liked how Talia Hibbert showed us Chloe’s physical struggles, but did not bury her personality with them. Which, I think, is exactly the point of the book. By fear, Chloe had let her disease take over her life, but now she felt ready to take back the reins, and “get a life”. In enters Red – Redford Morgan -, the superintendent of her new flat. And Red, with his red hair, his bike, and his art, crawled his way into her heart.
I loved Red. Talia sure knows how to write a great hero. He’s considerate, he’s funny, he’s interesting, and he also has a difficult past, emotionally wise. He’s been hurt, and a bit like Chloe, he hasn’t really learned how to trust after that.
And Chloe decides they can help each other, which developed both a friendship and a romantic relationship between them.
I enjoyed their progress, and the romance, and steamy scenes. I do think the end was quite quick, very neatly tided with a bow. I would have liked maybe a deeper conversation between our main characters, but I did love the little gifts Red gives Chloe, and how they are carefully thought, not just things she would like, but things that she can actually use.
All in all, it was a great book. Romantic, and adventurous, and funny, and mostly a story about having courage, and being brave enough to go after what we really want out of our lives. A lesson we sometimes forget in the middle of life actually passing by us.
Talia Hibbert
Woooooooww!!
I loved this so much!
I have been reading romance novels for years and lately this year I could not take any more surprises and decided to only re read my favorites.
Turns out I was so lucky that I decided not to let this book stay long in my TBR.
It was brilliant!
Witty, nerdy Uppity girl gets a much needed shock in the system to make her life from ‘merely existing’ to ‘living’ and makes an organized list to follow. Artist in a break helps her and resolves also his issues.
I loved how deadpanly witty all of it was, how the wonderfully intimate scenes were written, how their realizations of connection and love were so fresh and new it made me cry.
I just..
It was really magical for me. It usually takes me only half a day to finish a romance(I do it straight up sometimes without taking a break)
But the writing was so brilliant, the characters so likeable that I did not want the reading experience to end fast.
This book will ofcourse have a special place in my REREAD FOREVER list and Miss Talia Hibbert, new fan here!!!
A diverse romance between a black woman with chronic pain and her white building superintendent. Funny, sweet, and steamy. I recommend it for fans of romantic comedy.
This is only my first Talia Hibbert novel and I am absolutely blown away by what a fantastic storyteller she is! The title and the cover give you the idea that it’ll be a fun, whimsical rom-com and to a certain extent it is. However, it also busts any myths about living with chronic illness. Hibbert doesn’t extract pity from the reader but rather informs and educates through this marvelous story of a woman determined to not be afraid anymore, and who wants to conquer the world by ticking off one thing after another on her list.
Chloe was an instant hit with me what with her funny, smart and sarcastic personality. She’s just so bright and resolute despite how often her fibromyalgia kicks her down. Moving out from under her family’s ever-watchful eye is what she needed to do for herself to starting living and experiencing things again. Red, the superintendent of her building notices her and assumes she’s stuck up upon their first meeting. He’s had enough experience with those types and doesn’t want to have anything to do with that. Except that Chloe is like a magnet. He can’t resist her. Underneath her barbed responses and quick run-ins, Chloe can’t stop thinking about him, either. An awkward encounter involving a tree and a cat bring them together, and I honestly have never laughed so much listening to a book.
Both Chloe and Red have been hurt by their exes and people they were close to. This is where Hibbert had me – she details so intimately how Chloe’s illness has affected her friendships and how not everyone is patient when she goes through her rough spells. I didn’t know much about fibromyalgia but reading how it affected Chloe was eye-opening. When there’s flare up she’s pretty much out of commission. A lot of time is spent managing the pain before she can start feeling herself again and pop back to life. These are the moments when Chloe is most vulnerable and simply tired. And for Red to start noticing the little details is truly sweet. I get Chloe being skeptical because why let anyone get close if they’re just going to walk away when things are bad? But Red makes it clear he wont abandon her even if she does try to push back.
There’s so much amusement in this story because Hibbert refuses to let her heroine be a victim. Not only is Chloe a warrior but she’s thriving because she’s found a way to live her life and make adjustments for when she absolutely needs to. A reviewer friend, who’s never led me astray with books recs, even told me that she felt like Hibbert had described her life. I take that as not only an incredible compliment to the author but also a grateful hat tip for bringing an invisible and misunderstood disease to the forefront. Hibbert knows what she’s talking about and brought her research, sensitivity and compassion to Chloe’s story.
Aside from Chloe and Red, there are also other characters such as Chloe’s sisters and a strange cat owner who bring even more laughs and colour with their presence. If you can, I highly recommend the audiobook because the narrator does a smashing job of bringing them all to life. I especially love the contrast she does between Chloe’s sometimes high-pitched silliness and Red’s low grunts and quiet demeanour. Their interactions made me laugh so much to the point that I had to clutch my sides from laughing so much!
I loved Get A Life, Chloe Brown and I want nothing more than to read the next book, Take A Hint, Dani Brown, right now. So, yay! More of the Brown sisters to come because they are a crazy, lively bunch and I love them!
~ Bel
Loved that this book looked beyond race to tell a very romantic love story. Full of originality this book delivers! I just wish I could have been on the beach soaking up sun while reading it!
Alot of sex. Slow, predictable
The sexuality was overdone – did not finish.
The writing is beautiful & poetic, dialogue is natural, funny, sarcastic…it’s a lovely combination of real people and artistic words.
Chloe and Red are both dynamic, complex characters who get a chance to grow over the course of the book. I’m grateful this novel exists.
I’m excited to get to know her sisters and Annie in subsequent novels.
This was exactly what I needed in the midst of quarantine: entertaining, light, fun, and a happy ending. If you’re looking for a quick, happy romance, this is your book!
Audiobook Review
Overall 4.5 stars
Performance 5 stars
Story 4-4.5 stars
This audiobook was such a wonderful surprise! I loved that it wasn’t the cookie cutter contemporary romance and that it balanced the humor and more serious topics like chronic illness and physically/verbally abusive relationships so well. I laughed out loud plenty of times while listening to this and found the narration by Adjoa Andoh to be absolutely amazing. Her comedic timing and inflection truly brought this story to life and I was very impressed by her ability to voice male and female characters so wonderfully. There are some truly emotional scenes in this book and I don’t think that they would have had the kind of impact they did had I not listened to the story.
Chloe and Red start off with an enemies to lovers vibe that was so deliciously fun. What really made me fall for them though, was their ability to see through all the walls and armor and truly see each other. They didn’t try to change the other person and were always so supportive. I found the book very body positive and I appreciated that Chloe never worried or doubted that about herself. Red and Chloe each have their own demons and baggage, but I loved seeing them take steps to work through them and that (for the most part) they spoke openly and honestly about their feelings and concerns. The camping scene couldn’t have been more perfect and there were so many times throughout the book that I had a silly grin on my face. There was a bit of drama late in the story, but it was definitely understandable given both of their histories. Plus, it led to some very swoony and sweet groveling. 😉
This is my first book by Talia Hibbert and narration by Adjoa Andoh, but I am definitely a fan now and am excited to read/listen to Dani’s story next!
*I voluntarily listened to an audiobook listening copy of this book. Many thanks to Libro.fm, Harper Audio, and Avon Books*
Not what I was expecting, but in such a good way!
I really enjoyed this book. I loved how measured Chloe was and how her disability was depicted – not just how she felt, but how she adapted everything to live her life. I loved the family dynamic between the sisters too.
Red is a big scary tattooed biker dude, but is an artist at heart. I liked how his experience of an abusive relationship was portrayed because ‘abuse’ covers so much more than one person beating up another.
Warm, witty and funny. I had fun reading this.