the brown sisters – Anotherbookworm

Hello lovelies! 🥰

Today’s post is just me gushing about my new favourite romance book Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert. This book comes out today (March, 9th!!) and if there’s one romance novel you should read, it’s this one. I would like to thank Harper Collins and Avon Romance for sending me an advance copy of Act Your Age, Eve Brown. You have made my year. I’m going to briefly talk about the characters and the plot but mostly about how this book made me feel (which is pretty damn good).

Title: Act Your Age, Eve Brown (The Brown Sisters #3)

Author: Talia Hibbert

Eve Brown is a certified hot mess. No matter how hard she strives to do right, her life always goes horribly wrong—so she’s given up trying. But when her personal brand of chaos ruins an expensive wedding (someone had to liberate those poor doves), her parents draw the line. It’s time for Eve to grow up and prove herself—even though she’s not entirely sure how…Jacob Wayne is in control. Always. The bed and breakfast owner’s on a mission to dominate the hospitality industry—and he expects nothing less than perfection. So when a purple-haired tornado of a woman turns up out of the blue to interview for his open chef position, he tells her the brutal truth: not a chance in hell. Then she hits him with her car—supposedly by accident. Yeah, right.Now his arm is broken, his B&B is understaffed, and the dangerously unpredictable Eve is fluttering around, trying to help. Before long, she’s infiltrated his work, his kitchen—and his spare bedroom. Jacob hates everything about it. Or rather, he should. Sunny, chaotic Eve is his natural-born nemesis, but the longer these two enemies spend in close quarters, the more their animosity turns into something else. Like Eve, the heat between them is impossible to ignore—and it’s melting Jacob’s frosty exterior.

Release Date: March 9th, 2021!!

5 stars: Persephone – Queen of the Underworld and Goddess of Spring. Persephone is my favourite goddess because she is full of contradictions – she represents both strength as queen of the underworld and a softness as a floral maiden. She teaches me how it’s okay to be both. If Persephone appears, that means that the book was one of the best books I’ve ever read, that it holds a particular place in my heart and that it is now part of my favourite books ever

Athena– Goddess of wisdom, poetry, art, and the strategic side of war. I will feature the goddess whenever there is a BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, Person of Colour) because they are a symbol of resilience, strength and wisdom to me. I also want to put forth African folkore, myths and gods and since Athena is the goddess of poetry and art I thought it was fitting.

Pheme: The goddess of fame, gossip and renown – This goddess will be invoked when a book has received a lot of attention and is praised by critics and the book community. She will be featured whether the book lived up to my expectations or not.

I have no words to tell you how much I adored this story. I took my time reading this book and read it chapter by chapter so it wouldn’t end, because I was loving it. The other Brown sisters books were fabulous and Danika’s story was my favourite but Eve’s story might hold the title now. This book is perfect. Every single word, every single moment. Just perfect. I just love Eve and Jacob’s chaos so much; their witty banter, their personalities, their chemistry – I couldn’t get enough.

The plot of the story was really interesting and felt very domestic. I liked “the quaint countryside with its charming festivals” effect. It was a nice change from romances that take place in busy cities. It felt like the characters were in their own little cocoon. The characters are the best part of this book. All of their interactions were PRICELESS. This book was incredibly funny and I CACKLED at parts because it was just too much. This book had all the elements I love in romance novels: enemies to lovers trope, banter, wit, sexual tension, actual steam (like steam steam), great secondary characters, a healthy dose of discussions on sensitive topics and of course a Happily Ever After. Talia Hibbert has an incredible way with words and this book was magnificent. I loved all the light and fun moments these two shared and I felt like I was intruding in their intimate, loving bubble. The intimate scenes were so powerful and sexy and I loved every second. You could just feel their chemistry through everything. These two care so much and are so loving and it just gave me hope.

I saw myself in both of the characters because the way the author dealt with the autism rep was BEAUTIFUL. Like Eve Brown, I recently discovered that I am autistic and I’m in the process of getting diagnosed and I realized that I was craving representation. Talia Hibbert not only gave us a funny, beautiful and kind neurodiverse Black main character but she also gave us a funny, carry and passionated love interest. Now this is what dreams are made of. *cue Lizzie Mcguire*. I loved how the author showed the diversity of people on the spectrum. They each have their own ways of being autistic and it was so nice to read about. But all of this is subtle, which is why the book reads easily because it’s just a part of who they are and only makes me love the characters even more. Hibbert deals with sensitive issues (child negligence and anti-autistic behavior here) so flawlessly in all of their books and I love it.

You know what made me give this book 5 stars though? It’s the little things, the little details which completely throw you into the story and make you believe these characters exist in their own way like Jacob’s aversion to ducks which had me dying of laughter. This is a spoiler- free review so I’m not going to go into detail about every single thing I adored, because let’s face it, this review would never end but let it be known that when Jacob and Eve spoke in French (which I tremendously enjoyed as a Frenchwoman) I died a little.

My copy is full of notes and highlights because it alternately made me laugh, cry, hurt and fuzzy inside. I read the book twice and I still can’t get enough. I made a playlist of all the songs featured in the book (I hope I didn’t miss some) to cure my book hangover but it was pointless. I’m forever heartbroken that this book ends and that this is the end of the Brown sisters series. *cries in the club*. But there are many Talia Hibbert books that are going to come out so all is well. All of this to say: do yourself a favor and read this wonderful book!

Hello lovelies!

This book was *clenches fists* so cute. This is exactly the type of romance which leads you to have unattainable expectations for your own love life.

Title: Take A Hint, Dani Brown (The Brown Sisters #2)

Author: Talia Hibbert

Synopsis (Goodreads): Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown, and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. But romance? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt. So Dani asks the universe for the perfect friend-with-benefits. When brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it’s an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and ex-rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. Now half the internet is shipping #DrRugbae—and Zaf is begging Dani to play along. Turns out, his sports charity for kids could really use the publicity. Lying to help children? Who on earth would refuse? Dani’s plan is simple: fake a relationship in public, seduce Zaf behind the scenes. The trouble is, grumpy Zaf’s secretly a hopeless romantic—and he’s determined to corrupt Dani’s stone-cold realism. Before long, he’s tackling her fears into the dirt. But the former sports star has issues of his own, and the walls around his heart are as thick as his… um, thighs.

Persephone: 5 stars. If Persephone appears, that means that the book was one of the best books I’ve ever read, that it holds a particular place in my heart and that it is now part of my favourite books ever.

Pheme: The goddess of fame, gossip and renown – This goddess is mentionned when a book has received a lot of attention and is praised by critics and the book community. She will be featured whether the book lived up to my expectations or not.

Iris– Goddess of rainbows. Nothing new here, we all know that rainbows represent the LGBTQ+ community so this Goddess will be featured whenever a queer relationship or character appears.

The best thing about this book is definitely Danika Brown. Yes full government name here because she deserves all the respect she can get. She is unapologetically herself, she’s confident and she doesn’t take crap from anyone. I love how caring and supportive she is towards her loved ones and how she has learnt to love herself and accepted the fact that she deserves the best in a romantic relationship. She’s a bisexual icon and a witch and I have never wanted to befriend a character so much in my life.

Then there’s Zaf Ansari, the cutest cinnamon roll ever hidden in the body of a grumpy and brooding man. Zaf has been through traumatic and heavy events in his life and he is still caring and is very in touch with his emotions. I loved that. Toxic masculinity? Never heard of it! That is very healthy and necessary in romance. I admire his caring and understanding self and I want to give him a big hug even if he would probably hate it.

Then there’s Dani and Zaf. Put the two together and you have one of the sweetest, steamiest and funniest romances ever. It was wonderful seeing them both falling in love and hiding it to the other for different reasons. The fake dating trope was magnificent in this book and I burst out laughing more times than I could count. I loved all the lingering glances and the small intimate gestures. I appreciated the emotional support they both provided and the healthy discussions they had. And the steamy scenes. Good lord. I have to say that this book was a lot more graphic and smut heavy than what I usually read but it really befitted the characters and the whole “friends with benefits” trope the story had going on. I had a great time reading it. *wink wink*.

This book was a quick read, a true page-turner and the author flawlessly dealt with grief and commitment issues. It was beautiful.

“The thing about mental health was, you couldn’t take a course of antibiotics and be magically healed. Some people’s brains just thought too much or felt too much or hurt too much, and you had to stay on top of that.”

Overall this is a great romance and I cannot recommend it enough!

Let me know what you think!