Wow! Why did it take this long to listen to this??

OMG 😲I loved this 😍 their relationship and how it evolved was great, sweet and exciting. They had to battle their feelings, past trauma, anxiety, etc. It was very funny at times too and the spice was top notch. I loved that they come from different backgrounds and that she is voluptuous, independent and strong.
The narration was perfection. I like the narration is british. Listing to it as I read was even better.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

cute

I liked that it was the boy wanting the relationship and not the girl like it always seems to be, made him seem extra sweet! A pretty cute story overall

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

🎧 Zaffir and Danika 🎧

A beautifully crafted story of two perfectly imperfect people. Excellent narration. I'm bad at reviews.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

Superb!!!

I love it, so much better than the first narration wise but both very very good read with excellent storylines. Cannot wait to tuck into the next instalment.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

#TeamZafani

#TeamZafani
Oh my goodness I loved this.
I loved the discussions around men's mental health and I adored the sassy, confident Dani being taken on a journey to really understand why she feels the way she does.

This is a great romance and one you are rooting for almost immediately. The fake dating trope was a key part initially but it fell away so naturally that it felt real.

I loved the story, I loved the characters and I adored the ending.

I listened to this on audiobook via Audible and the narration was very good, highly recommend.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

An super-cute, adult romance

I listened to this audiobook for the Goodreads 2020 choice awards and am usually not big on romance. However, to my surprise I loved this one.

...though at the beginning I didn’t. At the beginning Dani Brown felt like a walking stereotype of a feminist study major and I seriously didn’t like her. However, throughout the story she actually evolves into a multilayered, complex character, with flaws and growth. Being so annoying, actually made her growth at the end, even more satisfying.

The story is just cute and the fake dating trope didn’t become annoying at any point, because the characters and their interactions felt so real. There is some sex in this book, lots of references to sex and a fair amount of foul language, which I know bothered some readers. However, maybe I have been doing relationships wrong, but to me that particular aspect seemed fairly realistic (other than Zaph’s constant, surprise erections - come on, he is 32, not 16!) and it was never overwhelming to the point where you felt there was only sexual attraction and nothing else. Conversely, once they had had sex, the relationship didn’t become just emotional, which I have read in other romance stories and which always left me with the feeling the protagonists just needed to get it out of their system. Instead, the sex is part of their relationship without defining it, which is how it should be in my mind and part of the reason I really liked the book.

Another part was that there is no mothering! I really hate it when the female lead is promptly shoehorned into the role of replacement mother and the male lead morphs into a wounded little boy in need of constant mothering. Zaph does have emotional hang ups and a past he struggles with, but Dani manages to be supportive and caring without their power dynamic shifting or either being defined by those roles. It is delightful!

The reader was very good and I suspect her of being a fan of the genre herself, as often the delight and happiness at a scene oozed right out of her voice. You wanted to smile with her! (If she isn’t a fan, then she genuinely deserves an Oscar)

So yes, 10/10 from me. If you like romance and don’t mind some sex in the story, then definitely give this one a try!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

4 people found this helpful

Read it

I read this book last from the series and again was absolutely charmed by Talia Hibbert's style. It was absolutely amazing and although I didn't relate to it as much as the 3rd book in the series I still thoroughly enjoyed it. Zafir is national treasure and makes you want to protect him at all costs because of how adorable and amazing he is. I liked Dani as well and I definitely really enjoyed them as a couple. My top three characters from the series would have to be Red, Zaf and Eve tho. And again I wish Gigi had her own book because she is fabulous and fascinating and I was sad I didn't get to see more of her. I recommend these books to everyone they are light and easy to read but they all discuss heavy topics as well without making the story grim or just using them as plot devices as many other romances do. The books discusse childhood trauma, loss, autism, anxiety, disability and manage to handle the topics with care and without making it feel like just exploiting the issue at hand. I love how these books manage to be uplifting even with the topics it discusses and I'm glad that the characters are so diverse and uniquely themselves. So do yourself a favor and read it

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

Love it!

Loved this book l! It was witty and fun and I’ll be reading more from this author

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

Neurotic overrated female lead

I love Talia Hibberts writing. I started listening to the last novel in the Brown sisters trilogy, Eve & Jacob, and I really thought the characters were well-constructed and believable, and really very funny. They're described as what I'd call high-functionning autistic characters. Jacob's quirks are spot on. His low-self-esteem very believable. They were a cute pair. I found Eve very likeable.

Then I read the Chloe Brown novel. The characters came across as rather superficial. I just couldn't understand why Redford fancied Chloe and wondered if a real life person iike him would, and alas, it made even less sense. There really wasn't anything very likeable about her. And it bothered me that she didn't appear to take much action. Even the barter of website versus "bucket list", didn't take away my impression, that she was taking and taking and not giving much back to the guy. Her health issues didn't make me feel much sympathetic towards her. It worked against the sex scenes. I didn't buy the romance. It came across as unrealistic. I know people who have the health issues Dani has and I just didn't buy the dynamic between these two characters..

Now here's Dani and, hell, is she an overrated drama queen. Terrible. A single rejection and she turns completely neurotic. It didn't come across as real. The male lead however, Zaf, was very credible and likeable and I really found it hard to believe Dani's "kindness" in addition to her great looks, was enough to make him fall. There's a difficult to believe discrepancy between Zaf's deep emotional intelligence, his maturity, his caring and loving nature and Dani's supposed superior intellect (which really isn't much to write home to about when we're given insight into her thought processes regarding Zaf) and self-obsessed, rather egocentric and neurotic lack of maturity. It just doesn't compute. I ended the book wishing Zaf would find a better woman than Dani. Voilà!

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

3 people found this helpful

Possibly even better than the first one?

Absolutely brilliant author, wrote my favorite book. This one. Real people with real issues, facing them. What is more beautiful? When written like this, nothing. Did not realize till now I had one more favorite "genre". Thank you.

There is nothing wrong with Ione Butler narrating this story. But she is not Adjoa Andoh, the narrator of the first story, hence the 4 stars. Apologies.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!