“Sexy, Diverse Romance” to be exact
I’ve read two of Talia Hibbert’s books so far this year: Act Your Age, Eve Brown is the third in a series about the Brown sisters (I read the first two last year) and The Princess Trap is a standout standalone. Hands down, I recommend Hibbert as a smart and talented author.
But! Even though we’re all adults here I feel I must let you know that Hibbert’s romance novels are explicit. Like really, really naughty and dirty and don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Now that that’s out of the way let’s get to the reviews.
I just looked at Hibbert’s website and she’s written more books than I realized, some with covers that harken back to the Fabio days of shirtless hunks in embraces with long-haired maidens. They have titles like That Kind of Guy, Work for It, and Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute.
Hibbert has a breezy, funny, and knowing style of writing with dialog that always rings true. All her characters are perfectly imperfect humans and Hibbert is known for bringing diversity to her novels. There are introverts, people with autism, rich people, working people, people who have survived childhood neglect and abandonment. While these romances are fantasy they’re rooted in reality.
The Princess Trap is for fans of “the commoner meets the prince” theme. It happens to Cherry, the curly-haired bombshell employed at a private school in England. One precipitous day she meets a Prince who happens to be visiting the school. It’s a sassy meet-cute. Cherry is unfiltered, slightly saucy and Ruben is intrigued. Smitten. He must have her!
A lunch turns into a make out session in public and before you know it they’re pretending to be together to avoid a scandal. What happens next is slightly formulaic with some twists – all totally okay with me. There are misunderstandings and attempts at denying feelings. And sex, lots of sex including one scene that went on for chapters (or, like 20 minutes in the audiobook version I listened to.)
A note about that: intimate scenes are amplified in audiobooks (no pun intended). Hearing the words in your ear is so much more obscene than reading them on the page. Headphones required.
Act Your Age, Eve Brown completes Hibbert’s series about the Brown sisters and their quirky family. In this novel our heroine quits her latest employment endeavor, much to her parents dismay. They lay down some tough love: get a job and hold it down and until you do we’re cutting you off.
Eve gets in her car and drives to get away and clear her head – the English countryside seems perfect for head-clearing – and in a cute / alarming series of events she: stumbles upon a Bed & Breakfast, applies for a job as the chef, accidentally breaks the owner’s hand, and causes sparks to fly between them. Just a normal day for the captivating and impetuous Eve Brown.
Eve and Jacob do their dance – they come together, storm off, try to give the silent treatment, try to repress their urges. There’s a movie-worthy scene of the star-crossed lovers making their way back to one another, one on the back of a motorcycle and one in a car full of friends. They’re coming from opposite directions and get stuck in the same traffic jam and it’s utterly and hilariously charming.
This book is fun, the dialog is snappy, Eve suffers no fools, Jacob loosens up, and they have great sex. As with Hibbert’s other novels, there is a dark side to the story, this time stemming from childhood neglect. It’s handled directly and with compassion. I think I’ve learned something from all of Hibbert’s books and I don’t just mean in the bedroom (wink).
If you’re ok with explicit sex scenes and want a smart escape, try one of Talia Hibbert’s novels. Happy endings guaranteed.
bookthrasher 