Audiobook Review: Get a Life, Chloe Brown (The Brown Sisters #1)

Author: Talia Hibbert

Narrator: Adjoa Andoh

Audiobook Length: 10 hours 41 minutes

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 six directives to help her “Get a Life”, and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamourous 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.

ABut 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… 

Get a Life, Chloe Brown follows the eldest of the Brown sisters. Chloe is a woman in her 30s, who works from home as a web designer and is suffering from fibromyalgia. While I cannot relate, I did enjoy how this chronic condition provided Chloe with daily struggles and I liked how she went through all the ups and downs. One thing that I loved in the writing was Chloe was a plus-size person of color, but neither of those become the focus of her story as they are just a part of her being. The story follows Chloe after she decides to live life to the fullest after a near-death experience.

Her love interest is superintendent, Redford (Red) Morgan, who has red hair and rides a motorcycle. Soon after meeting, Chloe figures Red is the perfect person to help her get a life. While the banter between Red and Chloe was fun, I did not fully connect with their initial meeting. I did not see a reason for Chloe to be rude to Red at this point as it just made her come across as unlikeable. There is a slow build-up to romance as each has its own backstories for its hesitation. As the story is told from both of their perspectives, the reader goes gets more insight into their inner thoughts and reasonings.

With Chloe’s background plus Red’s own issues, the two of them connect a lot, including having discussions about physical and mental health. The two characters have a physical attraction to each other and share a connection, yet I did not fully connect to them as an actual couple. For me, I just needed a little more to put them to that next official step. There is a lot of potential in this story once you learn more about the characters, but I did find myself warming to Red faster than Chloe. While she had some enjoyable qualities, there were many moments of coming across as mean when the context seemed that the author was going for strong. I am sure there are tons of readers that may read it differently, but this story was just okay. I did enjoy the other two sisters, so I think I will still give their stories a try!