Review | Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

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…

After hearing rave reviews about Get a Life, Chloe Brown for what feels like forever, I finally decided to pick it up — and it definitely lived up to the hype.

Chloe is one of my new favourite characters. Chloe is fat, Black, and suffers from chronic pain as a result of fibromyaglia. These don’t define Chloe and instead are just parts of who she is, which was very refreshing to see. I could definitely relate to her endless list-making, love of cardigans, and the way in which getting hurt caused her to actively avoid anything that could lead to more hurt.

Chloe and Red’s relationship was slow-burn, sweet, and filled with banter. Both of them had been hurt before, and watching them lower their defences and let one another in was very heartwarming. While I appreciated that the effects of abusive relationships were displayed in a very real way, I would have liked to see a bit more depth to the conflict that arose as a result. I felt that things were patched up far too quickly — and I’m saying this as someone who strongly believes that open communication can fix almost any issue.

The secondary characters were also incredibly delightful with such distinct personalities. I can’t wait to get to know Chloe’s sisters better in the sequels!

Overall, Get a Life, Chloe Brown was a charming, banter-filled inclusive romance. I will happily read anything that Talia Hibbert writes next!