[I received an electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Avon in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.]
Summary
On a random Tuesday, on her usual mid-day walk, Chloe Brown almost died. If she had been just a couple feet in the other direction, the drunk driver would have hit her instead of that coffee shop. She was unhurt, but in shock. The whole thing sent her chronically ill body into a tailspin. But it wasn’t only physically jarring. She also realized her life is bland, and she has nothing to show for her years on this earth. Maybe it’s time for Chloe to get a life!
Step one is moving out of the family home and getting her own place. Done! The other six items on her “get a life” list are taking longer. Well, actually, the last one – Do Something Bad – she has technically already completed, too.
Redford Morgan is the supervisor for Chloe’s apartment building. And every time she runs into him there’s some drama going on, and she ends up at the center of it, looking like a fool or a shrew. She tries to avoid him whenever possible. But in the evenings, he often paints in his living room with the curtains open. And his shirt off. His apartment is right across from her’s. She couldn’t help but see him. She knew it was a serious invasion of his privacy to keep watching, hiding behind her own curtains, but she was drawn to the sight of him, lost in his work.
When Red finds Chloe stuck in a tree after trying to rescue a cat, they actually have a couple moments of civility with one another. And Chloe starts to wonder if maybe Red could help her check off a couple other items on her Get a Life list.
Review
It took me awhile to warm up to these two characters, especially Red. They were both abrasive to each other early on, and Red was crass even in his own thoughts and perspectives on things. But as the characters warmed up to one another, I started to like them more, both as individuals and as a potential couple.
While Chloe’s bucket list/Get a Life list launches her journey towards Red and helps move the relationship along, I never felt she was really attached to it. She even admits this over time. So it was a plot device that didn’t ever click for me.
But in the end, I loved Chloe and Red together. I appreciated that they recognized they might need therapeutic help with their individual baggage. I loved how attentive Red was to Chloe, almost intuiting at times how her illness was impacting her. It felt like he was the first, maybe ever, to care about her enough to pay that level of attention. It was awesome. I especially liked that this book honestly and thoroughly (at least as much as I could tell as an “outsider”) dealt with Chloe’s chronic illness. There were several factors in the story that were a lovely departure from a standard, stereotypical romance novel couple (interracial couple, Chloe’s illness, Chloe’s weight, etc.).
This is going to be the first in the Brown Sisters series, so the subsequent books will address Chloe’s sisters. I was happy to see this because I found myself wanting more interaction with the two women as this novel progressed. I think that would have been a great addition to this story, but it will be good for each of them to tell her own story, too. (Language, sex)