Hey all, Dani here.
The reviews keep on coming and they don’t stop coming. Seriously, I have done a whole lot of reviews the past month, and I have at least another solid month or so of reviews to come. I’m still arranging my September blog schedule. At least I have my September Anticipated Releases post coming, as well as my August Wrap Up post and my August Book Haul post. And I think next week’s D&D post might not be a review. I haven’t fully decided just yet.
But at least I have finished up my work week and now I have a three day weekend ahead of me. I have a handful of books I’m currently in the middle of reading, as well as a decent stack of books I’d still like to read before the month is over, so we’ll see how much reading can be accomplished this weekend. There’s also a big Post-Free Comic Book Day sale at one of my local comic stores, and I’m almost finished with my latest Book Unhaul, so Damian and I might be making a trip to Half-Price Books this weekend as well. It should be a pretty good weekend.
Anyway, let’s just go ahead and jump into today’s review.
“Absolutely charming… a flawless balance of humor, heat, sweetness, and depth, and I loved every page.” – Helen Hoang, USA Today bestselling author of The Bride Test
USA TODAY BESTSELLER
A witty, hilarious romantic comedy about a woman who’s tired of being “boring” and recruits her mysterious, sexy neighbor to help her experience new things—perfect for fans of Sally Thorne, Jasmine Guillory, and Helen Hoang!
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…
“This is an extraordinary book, full of love, generosity, kindness and sharp humor.” — The New York Times Book Review
*Featured on the TODAY Show! Named a Best Romance of 2019 by Entertainment Weekly, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, Apple, and Amazon, and Best of November from Essence, Woman’s Day, Marie Claire, Buzzfeed, Popsugar, Bustle, Bookish, Bookpage, Entertainment Weekly, and Washington Post*
My Thoughts:
Rating: 3.5 stars
I know a whole bunch of people love this book, so I’m just going to go ahead and say sorry now, because I didn’t feel the same way. It was okay, borderline good, but not as amazing as the hype made it sound. And maybe it was all the hype that made it not hit the mark. Sometimes that happens.
Chloe is stuck-up and more than a bit spoiled and pampered and privileged. And while I saw a little bit of growth and change in her through the book, it still felt like she was very much set in her ways. I don’t know. I couldn’t connect with her or the story or this supposedly great romance.
Speaking of, to me it didn’t feel like there was a lot of growth and development in the romance either. They peeped on each other while lusting after each other and then they were basically just together, and then they weren’t, and then they were again.
Red was a pretty decent guy and character. I understood why he was the way he was towards wealthy folk, but I feel like he did get a bit judge-y with Chloe before he ever really even tried to get to know her. But I did like him better than her, at least. I guess I just would have liked to spend more time feeling like I could get to know and connect with the characters. I wanted to delve deeper into understanding them, and it just didn’t quite get there.
I can at least say that I finished the book. There was enough keeping me interested that I didn’t DNF at least. Was it the cat? It might have been the cat. He was pretty great. And Chloe’s sisters were fairly interesting.
So, I made the decision that I would potentially continue this series, but only if the books were on sale or I could pick them up at my library…and wouldn’t you know, the second book was on sale digitally a few days ago. I don’t know when exactly I’m going to pick it up, but at least I have it as an option. Who knows, maybe I’ll end up enjoying Dani and/or Eve’s stories better than Chloe’s.
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All right, well that’s it for me for today. Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
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