Get A Life, Chloe Brown (The Brown Sisters #1)
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Panda Rating:

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 motorbike.
• 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 out step-by-step guidelines. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job: Redford ‘Red’ Morgan. With tattoos and a motorbike, Red is the perfect helper in her mission to rebel, but as they spend more time together, Chloe realises there’s much more to him than his tough exterior implies. Soon she’s left wanting more from him than she ever expected . . . maybe there’s more to life than her list ever imagined?

Your eyes are not deceiving you, friends. I have finally read this book and it was just as wonderful as everyone said it was! I honestly can’t remember the last time I laughed so much and so often while reading a rom-com 🤣 I loved getting to know Chloe and Red. Their awkward and hilarious internal dialogues, their cheeky banter, and not to mention that the sexual tension between these two was absolute fire! This would be a solid 5 on the steamy scale. If you’re looking for a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers with a good dose of steaminess and on-point chronic illness rep, this is the romcom for you!

“Goodness gracious, he’d better stop that. Looking at him was distracting enough; if he started to emote, her brain might short-circuit.”

Aside from the romance, I really loved learning about our hero/heroine individually. Red and Chloe had painful pasts that made them wary of any happiness they might find in the present but I loved seeing them grow and heal together. This gets into some pretty deep discussions about being in abusive relationships and healing from that trauma, but it also gives an upfront picture of what it’s like to live with a chronic illness (Chloe has fibromyalgia).

As has been mentioned by many reviewers, the chronic illness rep in this book is really great. I can’t speak from personal experience but so many of my favourites in the book community have mentioned how realistic Chloe’s experience with chronic illness was. I really appreciated getting a deeper insight into what it’s like to live with chronic illness and it was so refreshing to read about a heroine that’s so relatable. Not to mention she’s not just another “cookie-cutter” heroine and I loved seeing someone who looks more like me getting that romance and getting the guy. And while I loved Chloe so much, I think I may have loved Red even more (pretty sure I fell head over feet for him right alongside her)!

“Cute as a button, but her tone cut like a knife”

Oh, my heart. Red was such a caring and thoughtful sweetheart of a character and my heart absolutely broke for him and what he experienced. Seriously though, where can I find someone like Red IRL? Point me in the right direction, please! 😂 Thirsty jokes aside, he’s probably one of my favourite romance heroes to date. I loved seeing him being so open and vulnerable with his emotions, and I absolutely adored how much he loved his mother and wasn’t afraid to show it. None of that fragile masculinity here, friends! It was also nice to see that his past wasn’t quietly swept under the rug because he found Chloe, and their love didn’t magically make everything better. He still had to take those steps to get better, and while being with Chloe allowed him to accept the need to get help, in the end, it was something he did for himself and not because he was continuously coerced by others. It was just empowering moves all around with this couple!

“He still wasn’t sure how to take things back to the start, how to build the life he wanted on his own terms–but tonight, he looked up to the stars and knew that he’d figure it out.”

It’d be remiss of me to not mention Chloe’s wonderfully wild and quirky family who I absolutely adored. Even as side characters, their presence in the story was so vivid and their characters leaped off the page at me each time they made an appearance! You can add the sister relationships to the list of things that gave me those heartwarming feels in this book and it was such a comfort to read! I can’t wait to get my hands on their stories in the coming books and in fact, I already have ‘Take A Hint, Dani Brown‘ all lined up 😍

TL;DR: Don’t be like me who put off reading this book for so long because Get a Life, Chloe Brown was just as wonderful as everyone said it would be. The diversity and the chronic illness rep in this book were fantastic! There was so much to love about Chloe and Red and I loved getting to know them individually and to see their enemies-to-lovers romance play out. The chemistry between these two was definite fire! 🔥 I can’t wait to read more about the Brown sisters!

Have you read Get a Life, Chloe Brown or is it on your TBR?