francesmthompson's Reviews (976)

Halfway through this book I really thought this was going to be my first "bad" review of the year because it was ranging from "meh" to "I can't be bothered with this" (so 2 - 1 stars), and I couldn't really put my finger on why, although with hindsight I suspect it had something to do with it falling into the "modern memoirs of young white women in very privileged positions who spent most of their spare time drunk and shagging unsuitable men" and believe me when I say I know this area of life experience only too well, so I will fully admit it was my trigger and I own that! But it did pull me in a little closer once the author had had her baby, and I am glad I read it to the end because it had some lovely tender moments in it and some very astute and accurate observations about modern motherhood, particularly from the narrative of a single mother, something we still have problems with in our society.

Would I read another book by the author, probably not. Would I recommend to some of my friends (like the ones who are also white women in very privileged positions who once upon a time spent most of their spare time drunk and shagging unsuitable men)? Probably, yes!

Oh this book. It began as a love story about two young Black Londoners. It evolved into a love story about Black Love and Blackness. And it ended as a love letter from one young Black man to himself and all other young Black men. It is written like poetry and I don't think I've saved so many highlights in an ebook - just because of the beautiful language used - for many, many years. This book will stay with me, and will definitely be in my favourite books of the year.

Phew, this was not what I expected. And considering most reviews I'd read suggested I should expect the unexpected, that is quite a curious achievement. Bizarre, brilliant, bold. I just love discovering debut novels that feel so original and raw.

Tore through this in an unexpectedly kid-free day and I bloody loved it. These two characters had so much depth and their story - while occasionally stretched the bounds of believability - was one full of hope, respect and love. Dani is the woman I wanted to be 20 years ago, and Zafir is a man I'd love to have met 20 years ago, or maybe even 10 years ago. And FYI, I think I am starting to like the bounds of believability being stretched, and I am just very happy that Talia Hibbert exists and is writing stories like this that bring joy, hope and LOVE to peoples' lives.

This must have been such a hard book to write considering the popularity of the first two books in the series, and yet, Hibbert nailed it. Eve has just as much personality (if not A HELLUVA lot more) as her older sisters and her love interest, Jacob, was so strikingly different and memorable and adorable to the other heroes. I feel the need to add that I'm still not an uber fan of romance novel tropes, so again was a bit "meh" when I read the enemies to lovers synopsis, but it was just brilliant, just so much fun (and so steamy!) and just so very readable and upbeat which is EXACTLY what I need right now!

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!

Worth reading just for the image of a Prince of England dancing to Get Low by Lil Jon...

Multi-layered, deeply urgent (or rather long overdue), equally enticing and reviling story about trans-culture, feminism, gender, sex, modern motherhood, and much, much more.

Just LOVED it. Cannot wait to give to my boys when they're a bit older.

Soooooo. Huh? What just happened here!?!?

This is not my typical genre of novel - I'm fairly new to romance and the only ones I've really enjoyed have been more rom-com than this, which is definitely straddling the taboo romance and dark romance genres, but I knew this going in to it. Many of the other reviews highlight how consent is dealt with in a very questionable way here and the storyline 100% requires almost magical-realism style suspension of belief, but I somewhat expected that because of the genres I knew the book fell into (and if explicit sex scenes are not your cup of tea, this is 100% one to avoid). Yet, there is something here that works, even though I can't quite put my finger on it. It may just be my current exploration of the romance genre of books, my taste for things that push genre boundaries and my newfound desire to be tested as a reader, because this book definitely does all three of these things.