While reading at one point in the book I felt like I was watching her sit in the blue car type into google “How to be an adult”.
This book revolves around the third Brown sister, Eve. A happy sunny millennial who doesn’t seem to understand accountability simply because she has always had an easy way out of everything. Now she needs to match wits against Jacob for whom life is all about method and structure. Turns out falling in love is easier than being held accountable for your life’s choices.
Eve’s book starts with evident lack of structure and stability in her life. She switches jobs whenever it doesn’t go her way. She writes in a diary rather than discussing things with her constantly hovering family, AKA a typical Millennial household. Eve is an A-typical Millennial with slogan T-shirts, tablets, voice messages and GPS trackers peppering her normal conversations like they must be general knowledge anyway. Her family’s ultimatum pushes her to take yet another decision.
Jacob has one dream of doing his job right. He will go to any extremes to make sure his personal high standard of satisfaction is met by not just him but also by everyone around him. His penchant for details makes him not very likeable generally. Though honestly other than him rudely dismissing each and every single person around would irk people more than him being detail oriented but that’s just my opinion.
While the pair are self-aware of their short comings, this book is a coming of age story for the characters in a way that doesn’t scream I was wrong okay! I will change my ways! The book goes through a sort of introspective 2 weeks in which they both come out of their shell to understand what makes them tick and most importantly happy. The book is about two people who approach their shortcomings in different manners. While one learns to move past not letting them predict her future; the other one has to accept them and own them. Jacob teaches Eve to have faith in herself while Eve teaches Jacob to fall in love with his faults and accept them as a part of him. We see both the characters growing up and growing into a relationship.
We are immersed into the plot from page 1. Since this is my first Talia Hibbert book I am not sure if this is her general technique of writing or its just because the world around the Brown sisters has already been introduced in the previous 2 books thus needs no introduction. In either case, I liked that she didn’t waste time on explaining the family dynamics and just got on with the story. I often read a romance novel to read about the two characters and their journey towards each other. For me as a reader unless the plot line is set in a new world or outer space or historical setting; the info dumping should be kept to a minimum. That’s where Talia Hibbert delivers for me. Eve comes from money and we understand that from get go. Her characters develop not from the authorial voice but while conversing with other characters. The reader is allowed to judge/ form an opinion on their own rather than being told by the author that Eve was a gregarious and outgoing girl or Jacob was very stingy about following rules. We are shown the qualities through their past memories, through their friends and family and their interactions with each other.
We meet the entire Brown family at the end. Though they are so many of them in a room, each has his/her own voice and task to move the story further. Chloe and Dani panic after the voice memo. Zaf feeds into the hysteria. They consult the grandma who informs the mother who finally bundle the entire Brown clan including the present 2 sons in laws to inspect the future one. While in the breakfast room all are sitting around Jacob, though most of them barely get a line or two; we get a picture of a very close-knit family who actually talk to one another. None of the characters sound like they can melt into the other which means they all own very distinct voices. Even the two now husbands While the grandma Gigi gets most space within Eve’s world, the mother sitting very still looking out of the window, the father staring out of the window with a hand on mother’s shoulder, sometimes fixing her fishnet, tell us how strong their relationship is. This is what a good writer will do. Not everything needs to be spelled out for the reader. Talia Hibbert has the faith in her readers that they will read between the lines too.
MY VERDICT
My bet is that everyone will have their own favorite installment in the 3-part series of the Brown Sisters. Since this is my very first one I loved it for exactly what it was. Simple, to the point and immersive. The author’s style of writing proved its metal for me when she slips in nuggets of information about the other sisters; almost like a nod to the earlier books and also for people like me who haven’t read the other two books yet. A person like me is very intrigued now about the 2 previous relationships that I missed. A complete entertainer. My reason for 4 stars and not 5 was the ending drama where they are trying to find each other including the road scene. I was perhaps expecting way too much for Talia Hibbert but that was just my fault not necessarily anything to do with the writer, story or the whole comprehensive world created. I enjoyed this installment and can’t wait to read the previous two sisters story. If you haven’t got your hands on this beauty yet please do! Support your local library or bookstore
The Author: Talia Hibbert
This is an old picture but I love this one so we shall use it as necessary.
In an interview, she says ““I feel like the people we prioritize in stories are people we value the most as a society. I want to contribute to it by becoming balanced. That’s why I write the heroines that I do.”
Talia Hibbert is a bestselling author who lives in a bedroom full of books. Supposedly, there is a world beyond that room, but she has yet to drum up enough interest to investigate. Her interests include makeup, junk food, and unnecessary sarcasm. Talia and her many books reside in the English Midlands.
If this does not intrigue you enough to read all her book I have no idea what will! She sounds like a person I would want to be best friends with. Also, she sounds exactly like her heroines. Can’t wait to read her next book.
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Books with A Swagger 