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…
My thoughts:
“Finally he realized: Starting my day with Chloe Brown feels like starting my day in front of a canvas.”
This book is a beautiful romance. This book is emotional, funny, and loving. I fell in love with Chloe Brown and Redford”Red”Morgan.
I’m rating this book with five stars because it surprised me in the best way possible. The relationship between Chloe and Red developed, their emotions were all over the place, I felt the pain that they did and I felt the joy. My heart leaped at any moment it mentioned them falling for each other, but were too afraid to tell the other. I read this book so quickly and thoroughly enjoyed the slow incline.
Something in this book clicked for me. I know what it feels like to hide your emotions for fear that you may end up hurt. Chloe and Red did just that to each other, but it was super relatable and not over the top. With her witty comebacks and fabulous style choices, Chloe does not let her fibromyalgia define her. Although she is somewhat alone, it is not completely on purpose.
“It’s very awkward, dating while disabled. People can be quite awful. And you know I don’t have much energy to spare for social nonsense.”
On multiple occasions I forgot that Chloe has a disability. In a romance novel, the “healthy” half can come off as a “savior” and it can become very corny and over the top, but that is not true for Chloe and Red. He treated her as if nothing was wrong and when she was too tired or in pain, he took care of her.
Speaking of Red, he is truly one of the most lovable characters. His exterior does not define him at all. His complexity made him even more lovable, minus how quick he was able to jump to conclusions; then again, how many of us aren’t quick to jump to conclusions when we’ve been hurt?
This story is beautiful and inclusive. Talia Hibbert did an excellent job at writing a love story that is relatable, funny, and whole.
Caged Raven Reads 