Book Review of Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

 

Synopsis:

"Eve Brown is a certified hot mess. No matter how hard she strives to do right, her life always goes horribly wrong. So she’s given up trying. But when her personal brand of chaos ruins an expensive wedding (someone had to liberate those poor doves), her parents draw the line. It's time for Eve to grow up and prove herself—even though she's not entirely sure how…

Jacob Wayne is in control. Always. The bed and breakfast owner’s on a mission to dominate the hospitality industry and he expects nothing less than perfection. So when a purple-haired tornado of a woman turns up out of the blue to interview for his open chef position, he tells her the brutal truth: not a chance in hell. Then she hits him with her car—supposedly by accident. Yeah, right.

Now his arm is broken, his B&B is understaffed, and the dangerously unpredictable Eve is fluttering around, trying to help. Before long, she’s infiltrated his work, his kitchen—and his spare bedroom. Jacob hates everything about it. Or rather, he should. Sunny, chaotic Eve is his natural-born nemesis, but the longer these two enemies spend in close quarters, the more their animosity turns into something else. Like Eve, the heat between them is impossible to ignore... and it’s melting Jacob’s frosty exterior."  

Source: Google Books

My Review

I would first like to say that I read this book twice before writing this review because after my first time reading it all I could really do was draw hearts, squeal, and get emotional that the Brown Sisters series was over. Like OVER over. But this last book was so cute and just so sweet that I allowed my brain to rot from the sugary sweetness that is Eve and Jacob. 

"Act Your Age, Eve Brown" by Talia Hibbert is about 376 pages long and told from the perspectives of both Eve and Jacob. It's a contemporary romance and of course has plenty of banter and hilarious bickering from the comedy genius, Talia Hibbert. Not only did I get an advanced copy of this book but I also preordered 2 finished copies. One of which is apart of a signed set of the whole brown sisters series. So not only can I reread the brown sisters series as a whole but I will also have a guest set for friends and family members to read along with me. Regardless if they actually want to or not. 

BACK TO THE BOOK THO!

The author makes a note at the beginning of the book that this story contains topics of childhood neglect and anti-autistic ableism. As always I feel like the author handled these topics with such care and great purpose. 

Eve Brown, is a young black woman with lilac box braids, a love for brightly colored t-shirts with random sayings, and glittery things. She is the youngest sister and the baby of the family. She is described as having a bright, sunny, and extremely bubbly personality but also not considered serious enough about her future and her independence. Early on in the book she's referred to as a spoiled brat and accused of always giving up by her parents. Which that argument really kicked off the rest of the story. Because sometimes you just really wanna prove to your family or friends that you are capable of doing something without their help. 

As you read you discover Eve has never really stuck on a specific career path and has had trouble sticking to something when she feels as if she's going to fail at it so she has a wide range of careers that she's held. No matter how much she enjoys doing it. Which is something I definitely relate to. I'd have interests in career paths or hobbies but when I felt like I wasn't going to do well I would give up early instead of failing at something that would make me look stupid and like I wasted my time. But things that you notice about Eve as you read is that even though she seems carefree and oblivious she cares a lot about how people react around her. She also pays attention to very small details that others may not even realize she's paying attention to. Eve is just trying her best and for that, I would give her a ton of hugs and plenty of cookies because she has such good intentions. 

Also side note, there is this line in the book that has me convinced that Eve has dated Chet Hanks. No, I will not explain!

Jacob Wayne is a young white man with neatly parted blonde and icy blue eyes, that will stare you down until you clean the spot on the counter you forgot to wipe up. And I'm sure you wouldn't catch him wearing a wrinkled iron shirt ever! He is the owner of the bed and breakfast cottage and he's also Eve's boss. Jacob is on the autism spectrum so on the surface he comes off as upright, rude, and very standoffish. But even when he is mean about something he can also be super understanding after being bitchy about it. He seems basically like the ice prince, who refuses to let anyone in his castle ever. So he has a lot of walls up, but for certain reasons that he talks about from his childhood. He is extremely passionate about his business and very organized about how he runs the B&B. To the point where he has extremely detailed manuals about how everything should be. But when you find out his reason for opening the bed and breakfast it's just so SWEET. 

Anyway, let's put on our lab coats and protective goggles and get into the chemistry between these two because it's smokin HAWT! 

Eve and Jacob go from enemies to lovers mainly because Jacob automatically decides he's not gonna like Eve. And Eve is just like I am just over here existing and Jacob is like wow that gets on my nerves so much. But one thing Jacob can’t deny is that he finds her attractive, even when he's insulting her he calls her gorgeous or beautiful. He is so set on convincing himself that Eve is ruining everything and it's really funny to read this mental battle he has with himself. The man is in complete denial that her presence is having any positive effect on him except a headache. But the way Eve just makes Jacob feel so many warm emotions at once that he tries to tamper down on all of them to think straight just shows how much he really REALLY enjoys her company. 

For Eve she has eyes, she KNOWS he's attractive but he also gets on her nerves so she tries to keep pushing it down. Also, she does purposely try to annoy him because she doesn't feel the need to try and impress someone who already can't stand her. And I think that because they were already showing each other their most annoying parts first they had the opportunity to not put up a mask to each other. Then you see them start to notice each other's quirks and do things for the other subtly. It's all so cute and wholesome. Like at the beginning the way Eve describes Jacob's eyes is cold and wintery but as they start to open up to each other and develop feelings she starts to see his eyes as summer sky eyes and like sunlight off fresh snow. Like this girl is SMITTEN. They both are! When the insulting started unconsciously turning into complimenting???? When one person started giving the other a nickname??? OH LAWD I HAD TO GET UP AND SHOUT!

Now as for the steamy scenes……they're hot. They'll have you wanting to stick your head out of a moving car window like a dog to cool down. They're intense and passionate and it'll have you feeling a little alone but that's the romance reading game for ya! I will mention two very important things related relating to these sex scenes:

1. Desk

2. Big Sparkly Purple Dildo

Thank you for coming to my TED talk!!

There is a third breakup act that happens towards the end of the book and I simply cannot read it like a sane person because my chest starts to hurt and I get a shortness of breath because I don't need to see these two having a misunderstanding so I SIMPLY DO NOT SEE IT!

There were also plenty of bangers mentioned in this book. Two of those being:

1. Sticky by Ravyn Lenae

2. REMEMBER by Katie

The finished should have a whole playlist in the front, but let me give you a quick spoiler…......it's bop after bop!

Overall, I gave this book 5/5 stars on Goodreads. I really enjoyed this book, if you couldn't tell and I can't believe this series is over but I'm glad I was on the planet at the same time as this series!! I not only loved seeing the whole Brown family with the other love interests. I also loved reading Eve's character development and watching her learn to be true to herself in all aspects of her life and not only fall in love but also form genuine friendships. Hopefully, this will not be the last time we see the Brown sisters, but I'm so excited for Talia's next series which will involve side characters that were introduced in this book. 

Now I just have to wait for my finished copies to come in the mail so I can surround myself with them to feel WHOLE!! 

Act You Age, Eve Brown comes out in the U.S. on March 9th, so GO GET IT!!! AND COME DM ON INSTAGRAM OR TWITTER ME ABOUT IT!! (@rosegoldreader on both!)

Thank you to Harper Collins and Avon Romance for sending me an advance copy of Act Your Age, Eve Brown.

Thank you to Talia for writing some of the best Contemporary Romance!

Also, check out this Eve and Jacob moodboard I made: