Soooo, this was my first romance novel in years, nay, decades and huh, I liked it. REALLY liked it. (And yes, I am 100% writing this review in the style of a romance novel so you know, deal with it.)

In the past I avoided books like this and also general chick-lit because I just preferred a lot more showing than telling (that's what she said!). I also enjoy fiction with original and unique storylines, minimal internal dialogue, and there are a LOT of tropes in romance that I find predictable, BUT while all these things did exist in this book, I didn't hate them. Not at all. In fact, I found most of the tropes pretty adorable in this novel (apart from the final argument at the end that you know they'll make up afterwards so why is it even there?!?!), and a big round of applause to Talia Hibbert for feeling like a very fresh, fun and original voice. I also see she specialises in diverse characters so extra round of applause and a standing ovation for this - and indeed, having a character with a chronic illness did make me feel like I was reading something with more layers than the typical romance novel.

While I don't think I'll fall head over heels in love with the genre like I see so many wonderful readers doing (and yep, joining them in their worlds of HEAs - Happily Ever After, FYI! - was kinda what prompted me to try this novel out because it's been A YEAR of finding things hard and I'd like a bit more joy in my daily life now thank you very much) I consider my horizons greatly widened now thanks to this heart-warming, cute AF (and OMG steamy AF!) novel and will now go check out the other two Brown sisters' stories!