Get a Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert

 

Reviewed by Kristin

Chloe Brown has lived a somewhat insulated life in her wealthy British family’s home, and her chronic illnesses have only served to wrap her up a bit more in herself. She is meticulously organized, which is an exceptional quality for a website designer. After a near-miss with a drunk driver while out on a walk, Chloe’s life practically passes before her own eyes, and she decides that she really, truly needs to “Get a Life.” It wouldn’t do to have a dull eulogy, now would it?

Thus begins the list:  Get her own place, 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.” Two months later Chloe has her own flat and is looking for ways to fulfill the rest of the list.

Enter Redford “Red” Morgan. He’s the superintendent for Chloe’s new building. She finds him rather rough around the edges, and Red has started to notice that his new tenant seems to be looking down her nose at the likes of him. But when Chloe literally goes out on a limb to rescue a cat, it turns out that she needs Red’s strong pair of arms to get her—and the cat—down from the tree.

Red may be a great handyman, but he’s also an artist who has been burned by high society in the past and is surprised to find himself attracted to the cultured and refined Chloe. In turn, Chloe wonders if Red might be just the right person to help her with some of the items on her list. He does have a motorcycle, after all. But as Chloe and Red get to know each other, they each start to wonder if this might be something deeper, something that neither of them was seeking or even particularly wanted.

This spicy romantic comedy is just what the doctor ordered, as Chloe works through her many issues and figures out how to “Get a Life.” The dialog is snappy and the characters are very likeable. Gigi, Chloe’s grandmother, came from Jamaica to England and was a beautiful ragtime dancer in her day, and continues a very colorful life even though she’s celebrated her 70^th birthday several times. Dani and Eve pop up to check on their sister Chloe, and show up later in their own books, Take a Hint, Dani Brown, and Act Your Age, Eve Brown. I’m already halfway through the second in the series and am enjoying them thoroughly as the light, fluffy reading that they are meant to be.