Author: Talia Hibbert.

Length: 369 pages.

“Love is certainly never safe, but it’s absolutely worth it.” 

Goodreads Synopsis.

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.

If you were like me an absolutely hated the synopsis of this book, do yourself a favor and read it. I cannot believe I didn’t read this SOONER!!

As I mentioned before the premise for this book didn’t appeal to me at all. I didn’t think it was interesting and I’m not the biggest fan of the bucket list trope. The reason I decided to give it a chance was because this novel has been chasing me. For the last two weeks, I’ve seen it everywhere and I feel as if EVERYONE is talking about it (which they probably are). So, considering that I never have a set TBR because I just read what I feel like reading, I picked it up.

Considering that this is an enemies to lovers (my favorite trope I think), there is bound to be some insults and ‘disliking’. However, this ended very early on because even when they were supposedly hating each other, both their internal dialogues were based on complimenting and noticing all the adorable and beautiful things on one another. This is not a bad thing, but there was barely any annoyance between them, which I think it’s very important in this trope. Don’t get me wrong, I loved them and their dynamic, I wouldn’t change it at all, I only mean that I wouldn’t categorize it as an enemies to lovers.

“I don’t suppose you’d make some tea? Lavender for me, please.”

He stares. Had she just-? Did she really think he would-? Well, holy fuck. The balls on this woman. “Used to servants, are you?”

I loved that Chloe’s personality was so peculiar and defined. I feel that it’s very easy to stray on personalities on romances. Sometimes, it feels as if I’m reading about the same person again and again. But not Chloe. She was always super methodical, grumpy, and her. I loved it.

I also looooved that this author decided that Red would be the one that just came out of an abusive relationship. I feel that this is something very rare in literature and we don’t get to see it often. Obviously, this is sourced from toxic masculinity and I really enjoyed that the author decided to include it. I believe that men need a lot more representation in this area and it was a breath of fresh air.

Their arguments were amazing. These characters had so much chemistry and I loved watching their banter. It was so entertaining and funny, particularly when they ‘hated each other’. I think this is why I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second half. In my opinion, when they started to acknowledge their feeling for one another, the teasing kind of was toned down (even if it was unintentional).

Bravery wasn’t an identity, so much as a choice.

I’ve seen that several people believe that the conflict towards the end of the book was resolved quickly. If you enjoy big problems in which the characters really have to work and grovel in order to forgive each other, you might think that this ending is rushed. However, for me, it was great. I think it was a valid problem and I really liked how they resolved it.

Overall, I really enjoyed this read. I loved that this author included topics that people rarely speak about, like Chloe’s condition and Redford’s abuse. I think it was very refreshing and necessary in this time and age. I am super excited to read more of this author’s works and I really hope they are as amazing as this one. In short, this book was cute, adorable and super funny.