Review: 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…

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.

Review: Lock Every Door by Riley Sager

Synopsis :

No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen’s new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan’s most high-profile and mysterious buildings. Recently heartbroken and just plain broke, Jules is taken in by the splendor of her surroundings and accepts the terms, ready to leave her past life behind.

As she gets to know the residents and staff of the Bartholomew, Jules finds herself drawn to fellow apartment sitter Ingrid, who comfortingly, disturbingly reminds her of the sister she lost eight years ago. When Ingrid confides that the Bartholomew is not what it seems and the dark history hidden beneath its gleaming facade is starting to frighten her, Jules brushes it off as a harmless ghost story . . . until the next day, when Ingrid disappears.

Searching for the truth about Ingrid’s disappearance, Jules digs deeper into the Bartholomew’s dark past and into the secrets kept within its walls. Her discovery that Ingrid is not the first apartment sitter to go missing at the Bartholomew pits Jules against the clock as she races to unmask a killer, expose the building’s hidden past, and escape the Bartholomew before her temporary status becomes permanent.

My Thoughts

I can absolutely relate to Jules because I am in my twenties and always looking for different ways to bring in more money. The difference between Jules and I is that once I heard the extensive list of rules, I probably would have left. Jules did not do her research before agreeing to be an apartment sitter, but I definitely would have. The deal just seemed too good to be true: $12,000 for three months of apartment sitting! Riley Sager had me hooked from the first few pages because I definitely wanted to what could possibly go wrong in a building where everyone supposedly keeps to themselves.

I don’t want to give away too much of the plot away, but just know that this is definitely a page turner. It does start off a bit slow, but it’s the right amount of action going on that makes you want to keep reading. Of course everything is not revealed until the end, but the author’s writing style kept me interested. The book begins in present day, but goes back to when Jules moves into the apartment. At first I though Jules’ best friend was being overly cautious, but the more I read I realized the Bartholomew was very different. I did not expect the ending and actually really enjoyed where Riley Sager took this book. I’m glad we got to know Jules on a more personal level while she stayed at the Bartholomew. I also enjoyed the way each character tied into the plot.

Lock Every Door is well written and I definitely recommend it. I will be going to buy Riley Sager’s other two books as well.