Get a Life Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

Trigger Warnings: Pass abusive relationships, chronic illness, anxiety and traumatic circumstances.

My first Talia Hibbert novel is #1 in the Brown sister’s trilogy. Was it the right decision to begin with this book? If I’m being honest, perhaps not, but in the words of Maria from The Sound of Music, “Let’s start at the very beginning.”

To quote the Dear Evan Hanson musical “On the outside looking in”, Chloe Brown is a young, middle-class woman running a small business living alone in a small flat. She rarely goes out, socialises and counts on her two younger sisters to come over and bring treats and company. Not many people know Chloe Sophia Brown has a chronic illness. It has forced her to mistrust many people, and relationships always come and go. Things seem different when her path crosses with Redford ‘Red’ Morgan.

I loved the writing of Hibbert’s novel in this first book in the Brown Sister series, and there were moments where she made me laugh, cry and fall in love with most of the characters. The beginning was the best part for me: you have the reasoning behind the ‘get a life’ title and a love-hate relationship with Red when the reader is first introduced.

The cat, Smudge, was the best character for me as that cat seemed to have the same personality as our family cat, constantly jumping up onto things that they shouldn’t and even crashing and bumping their heads on something. It’s fair to say he and Chloe don’t get on at first, but it all begins with Chloe so-called rescuing a cat from a tree on their grounds that things start to change.

Sadly, for me, it was too much about the sex in this romance which I guess made it steamy, but this was over the top to the point where the added detail of kissing and breaking and completing the list makes the book too long for me. I found it hard to engage after Chloe and Red’s night on the town and after their second break up (in want of better words); exchanging the letters could have been less than a chapter. I ended up skipping chapter twenty-two because I was getting so bored; I’m sorry to have to say that as I know that that will be an unpopular opinion.

Aside from the family dynamic and the writing bringing a cat’s personality into the story, I loved that Hibbert gave a voice to things that just aren’t said. Topping it off with Chloe’s baby sister, Eve making an entrance singing with the big bell in Wicked’s “Defying Gravity” certainly hasn’t put me off trying the next book and reading more of Hibbert’s work.

I guess she brings the good, the bad, the ugly, the boring, the sad and the funny like in reality to fiction – this just wasn’t my cup of tea. I do know many readers who disagree and have had this as their number one favourite, so whatever reviews you read or watch, you as a reader need to make up your own mind. We’re all going to have different tastes. #bekindtoall