“The Brown Sisters” trilogy is a literary cure for any ailments. Truly, I’ve come to the conclusion that author Talia Hibbert was born with a superpower. She hypnotizes a reader with sweeping yet realistic romances and she can read your mind to give you the exact happy ending you’re looking for.
Please, if you’re looking for a serotonin boost, read these books.
This wonderful trilogy kicks off with the eldest Brown sister in the book “Get a Life, Chloe Brown.” She’s been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and wants to liven up her life. Enter Redford, the superintendent of her apartment building. Chloe thinks Red is the perfect, daring vigilante to help her accomplish her mission of “getting a life.”
Hibbert does an exemplary job of incorporating the real struggles Chloe faces being a person with fibromyalgia, while keeping the story marvelously light. I genuinely admire that these books are each a bewitching romance balanced with the levity of a mental health issue. For example, Redford was previously in an emotionally abusive relationship. He has experience with therapy and also acknowledges that progress needs to be made on his mental health.
Additionally, if you’re a sucker for regular romantic tropes — like me — these books will be sublime. Each book essentially focuses on one trope, and Chloe’s is friends to lovers. The romance between Chloe and Red is so adorable I begrudgingly admit that I was closing the book and kicking the air during certain parts. I gave it five stars on GoodReads.
In “Take a Hint, Dani Brown,” Danika Brown is a determined, career-oriented woman working toward her PhD and Zafir is a grumpy security guard working at her university building. Due to a fire drill and an intriguing turn of events, the two become internet sensations. Dani and Zafir’s romance, falling under the ever-popular fake dating trope, is one of the most heartfelt stories I have read in a long time.
Hibbert incorporates struggles with anxiety, grief and depression. Honestly, there were many times where I was crying and I didn’t know whether it was from laughter, sadness or overwhelming love. Zafir will make you want to simultaneously strangle and protect him with your life — all of this a striking testament to Talia’s aforementioned super power to single handedly restore someone’s faith in humanity. Again, five stars on GoodReads.
Lastly, there is the terrifically dynamic third book starring the youngest sister, Eve Brown. “Act Your Age, Eve Brown.” Eve is in a mess. As she struggles to find herself, Eve stumbles upon a quaint bed and breakfast where she meets the owner, Jacob. The two unfortunately don’t make great first impressions, and the trope in this book is enemies to lovers. However, Eve — with her bubbly personality and kind disposition — makes her unbelievably easy to fall in love with. She is the kind of character you want to fight for.
As this book involves grappling with self-doubt, negative self image and the effects of ableism, it is virtually impossible to not want to defend these characters. Moreover, the romance between Eve and Jacob is so tooth-achingly sweet, it made me personally want to find a bed and breakfast just to have the possibility of this happening to me. Once again — surprise! — five stars on GoodReads.
These books are beyond worth your time. They will unfreeze your cold heart and possibly reinstate the glimmer of romanticism that has inevitably been sucked out of all of us. The banter between characters is always hilarious and the writing style is so relatable. There are countless romance novels with painfully cringey dialogue and clichéd characters to go with them.
However, Hibbert has gracefully strayed from the norm. These books are an intoxicating concoction of perfect humor, writing style and circumstances that create awesome contemporary romances. Please, for the sake of your own faith in love, read them.
