Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

Summary:

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...

Review:

So, this book is apparently the first in a series. Chloe Brown has two sisters (who appear in this book) - Dani and Eve. This summer, a book about Dani is going to be coming out, and since I loved this first book so much, I'm definitely reading the second one.

Okay, so first of all, the plot.

Chloe has (I don't know if this is really a spoiler?) fibromyalgia, and because of it, she has chronic pain.

One day, she has a near death experience (she almost gets hit by a car, but it swerves and misses her just in time), and she realizes that she's lived a painfully boring life. If she died right then, her eulogy would just talk about how boring she is.

So, she creates a list (she loves making lists) of things to help her get a life, with the first thing being to move out of her parents' house and into her own place.

Something you'll notice early on (before any cities are mentioned) is that the author is British, because Chloe moves into a flat (which, I assume, is just an apartment? That's what I pictured while reading). As an American, this didn't detract from the story or anything, I just wanted to point it out to y'all.

The superintendent of Chloe's flat is a man named Redford Morgan (he goes by Red), and from day one, Chloe and Red do not get along (though there is definitely some sexual tension).

One day, Chloe tries rescuing a cat from a tree, and Red ends up helping her out (they aren't getting along very well at this point). After this, Chloe decides that Red can help her out with her list.

Red reluctantly agrees, and a friendship (where they both want to have sex with each other) forms.

Chloe learns about Red's art and his past, while Red learns about Chloe's chronic pain and the people who unfriended her because of it.

Anyway, this book is really freaking adorable and I highly recommend it.

There is definitely sex and sexual situations, though, so if you're one of those people lying about their age to be on Wattpad, I don't recommend that you read it.

I'm always a fan of "enemies-turned-lovers" stories, and this was one of them.

I recently discovered a section of YouTube that is just people reviewing books. I started watching this one girl who really likes romance books, but she also has a problem if there's not any consent.

As someone who doesn't read much romance, I didn't even think much of it until I read this book. Throughout the book, we learn that Red really wants to have sex with Chloe (the book switches between Red and Chloe's POVs, but it's in third person, if that makes sense), and at one point, he makes a move, and when he realizes she's not into it, he stops.

And that's when I was like "YAS BITCH CONSENT!!"

Something else he does is notice when Chloe is in pain. Chloe is constantly trying to hide her emotions (not just her pain), and Red always notices. And when he thinks something is wrong, he'll bring it up and ask about it, and while she gets annoyed (because people are always checking on her, and she's an independent woman), she also appreciates that he even cares, and gah it's just so sweet.

There's also this part in the middle of the book where they're emailing each other (because Chloe offered to create a website for Red in exchange for him helping her with her list), and just reading as they slowly warm up to each other is so much fun.

Red does something near the end of the book (that is definitely a spoiler, so I won't tell you what it is) that goes on over a couple of days, and it's really cute. :')

I normally read YA (I'm 23, I don't know why lmao), so I'm not really used to there being sex in books (or if there is sex, it's not written out, if that makes sense), and I think I realized that this definitely wasn't a YA book when Red started thinking about Chloe and proceeded to start masturbating. That was... unexpected hahaha

(also, Chloe ends up showing up at his flat at this point, and she knocks on the door, and he panics and has to answer it. When she sees him, she thinks he's just woken up from a nap, and it's so hilarious and awkward)

To end this review, I have a question for my British (and non-American followers): do y'all not have s'mores? This question will make more sense when you read the book, but is that not a thing where y'all live?

Go eat some s'mores, y'all.