User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
Talia Hibbert is consistent with bringing us yet another cute romance story that’s great for a comfort read. I really dig the dynamic of the jaded, anti-romance female character paired with the sentimental, romance-loving male character. I enjoyed the smut, banter, and moments of compassion that the characters have for each other. Mental health struggles and anxiety were a large part of how they dealt with the world and relationships, so I appreciated seeing how kind and patient they were with each other as they figured things out together. The third act conflict is also a little bit better compared to Chloe Brown, since it didn’t come out of nowhere and give me whiplash this time around.
Rating: really liked it
If you ever want to feel unbearably sunny about the world, read this fake-dating-to-lovers love story between a Black, bisexual PhD student who is unstoppably allergic to commitment and a Muslim Pakistani-British ex-rugby player who reads romance novels and dreams of his own Happily Ever After. It'll make you feel like your whole body is smiling.
Rating: really liked it
This book is addictive! Sooooo sweet! I’m mumbling “sweet and swoon” words like a sacred mantra for at least 45 minutes and I cannot stop! Ladies and gentleman: we officially have one of the dearest sweetest and hottest book couple and we’re introduced the best, charming, sexy, romantic, Alpha book- boyfriend Zafir ( Meaning of his name is victor, successful and triumphant one! Well, I may declare he triumphantly stole the most readers’ hearts!)
I still have regrets to give 4 stars to Chloe and Red’s story because it was one of my romantic reads of last year. So I’m so adamant not to do some mistake again and starting my review by giving five opposites attract, sizzling chemistry, entertaining, quirky romantic, intellectually ravishing, blazing, hot and cutest- sweetest five gazillion stars!
We’ve met Dani ( Her name is Slavic and it means “Morning star”! Even though our character is insomniac and night owl and she knows how to be shiny and energetic in the mornings thanks to Zaf’s uneaten protein bars!) at the first book and since I adored her sarcastic, witty, entertaining banters with her sisters and her quirky, likable antics, I was so excited to read her own book. In this book, we start learning more about her career driven moods, her ambitiousness to gain professional success.
As an academician she is really workaholic and she doesn’t do relationships because she tells everyone it is a distraction to prevent her keep eye on the ball and work for her career oriented aims. But of course she keeps lying to herself because her first serious relationship broke her heart into smithereens and she thinks she’s emotionally cold and awkward so she doesn’t have anything to give anyone and she cannot change her emotionally disabled situation.
Till she meets tempting security guard/ex rugby star Zafir Ansari working at her school, befriending her. Zafir looks intimidating, giving I’m going to kill in the middle of the night and getting away from your corpse without anyone’ notice looks but don’t be fooled by his gorgeous Hulk appearance. He is so delicately sweet, kind, nice and protective. He does anything for his family and the guy actually reads romance novels and enjoys them.
When the fire drill at her work place goes wrong, Dani finds herself trapped in the elevator. Luckily Zafir finds out Dani didn’t leave the school and comes back for her. He saves his milady, holding her into his big and muscular arms and they find themselves as social media’s hottest topic with this unplanned but sexy and romantic rescue attempt!
Zafir starts getting fundraising offers for his sports charity for kids. But getting more social awareness he needs to be photographed and tagged with his girlfriend. ( yes, everyone thinks he’s dating with Dani!) So he kindly asks Dani pretend as a couple for the great cause (he only thinks about the future of kids, right?) Dani accepts the offer. But both of them find out: they’re playing with fire. Zafir is romantic, possessive and he still tries to face his traumatic loss of his brother and father. And Dani is emotionally disturbed, rejecting to face her feelings but as long as they spend more time and get to know more about each other, they find out, they cannot stop to fall for each other!
During my read, I laughed a lot, I sighed a lot and my eyes filled with tears. I think I loved Zafir more than Dani. I silently prayed and hoped Dani doesn’t break his heart! Normally it should be opposite but we have best book-boyfriend material in this book. You cannot help yourself not to root and chant for Zaf!
Talia Hibbert did it again and wrote another fantastic Brown Sisters’ book. But this is also tormenting experience because we need to wait for one year to read the third one!
Overall: I TRULY DEEPLY HOPELESSLY LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH!
So much thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins Publishers/Avon for sharing my most anticipated romance book’s ARC with me in exchange my honest review.
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Rating: really liked it
fanfuckingtastic. truly perfect in every way.
Rating: really liked it
I was a bit hesitant going into this because while I did enjoy Get a Life, Chloe Brown, I felt like I was missing something because I didn't seem to like it quite as much as everyone else seemed to, but I think it was just a matter of personal preference with romance tropes because this book was so great! I loved the fake dating aspect, but I'd also never read a book with a friends with benefits situation and that was a lot of fun! I thought the characters were fantastic and I felt their chemistry immediately. Talia Hibbert is such a great writer, I laughed out loud multiple times but also was so taken with the adorable moments, the book just had a little bit of everything. Now I'm definitely excited to read about the last, and youngest, Brown sister this spring!
Rating: really liked it
Talia Hibbert INVENTED romance with this book, Zafir and Danika have changed my life lowkey. Never have I ever read a story so full of pure love and adoration on every page. I will now go cry and lament my forever alone status ✌🏽✌🏽✌🏽
GO READ THIS NOW
Full Review:
Take a Hint, Dani Brown follows our emotionally constipated protagonist Danika, a hardworking Phd student and the romance loving, muslim security guard, Zafir, who works in the building where she teaches. They serve us some strong Jim and Pam vibes in the beginning with typical office flirtation but everything changes when a video of Zaf carrying Dani to safety goes viral on twitter. Zaf wants to use his new found internet fame to launch his mental health nonprofit and what better way to milk the attention than fake date his work crush? Throw in a little friends with benefits action and what could possibly go wrong?
This book is to die for, every single page made me cackle with laughter and these characters made me swoon so hard. Zaf is one of the best romance heroes I’ve ever read about he’s so sweet, so caring and so so soft. The small ways he takes care of Danika made me want to cry with happiness. And Dani, I related to this protagonist so hardcore. A hardworking black bisexual academic prone to working herself into the ground? Yup, that’s me. Beyond that I related so much to Dani’s fear of being in love and how that fear causes her to suppress her emotions so deep that even she has issues properly realizing what emotions she’s feeling.
This book made me cry many a happy tear and I cannot recommend it enough if you want a fun, sexy and beautiful diverse romance add it to your tbr
Rating: really liked it
Help! I’ve fallen [prey to my fairly high expectations and been brutally disappointed] and I can’t get up!
This is me attempting to start out this review in a Fun Way, in the hopes that so much as one moment of my experience with this book can be Fun, because reading it was...not.
I hope the hint Dani Brown is taking is to stay far away from this review, because I do not, unfortunately, have many nice things to say.
In fact, let’s get the few things I liked out of the way now so we can get on with our pity party:
The dialogue was sometimes cute.
More importantly, Talia Hibbert's effortlessly diverse and representative characters were on display once again. That's a big one. And while this particular book didn't work for me, its predecessor very much did, and I will not for one second be giving up on this series or this author. Or romance, which seems to be the only genre I am able to actually read in this godawful year. GIVE ME LAUGHS AND LOVE.
Anyway.
Onto the main event of my reviews: me complaining.
I THOUGHT I WOULD LIKE THIS SO MUCH AND I DIDN’T LIKE IT.
I liked the first book so much that I spent most of my review of it discussing cookies, and very little time on the book itself at all, which is basically the highest compliment I can pay!!!
Unfortunately the sequel does not make me think of cookies at all.
Except for that thing when you take a big bite of what you think is an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie (one of the best kinds) and instead you are dealt the killing blow of an unexpected raisin.
That’s actually a very apt description of what reading this was like for me. Looks like cookies ARE a helpful literary criticism tactic AFTER ALL.
This was just such a bummer to read. It was so, so repetitive, and it focused on so many things I didn’t care about, and I felt like the entire romance was telling not showing, and in the end I just didn’t...FEEL anything.
A huge snoozefest, ultimately.
Also, the sentence structure that goes like this: “[prounoun] was all ____ and ____ and ____” was used about infinity times and now it’s ruined for me forever. (Example: She was all creamy skin and lush thighs. He was all exposed hair and thick muscle. I was all sadness and cynicism, as per usual.)
But other than that!
Bottom line: :(
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pre-reviewdo you ever spend most of a book feeling slightly...off, and not being able to figure out why, and then suddenly you realize the author has a specific language tic they can't stop using and it ruins an already mediocre reading experience?
also, how do you turn that feature off in your brain?
review to come / 2 stars
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tbr reviewis there a way i can just automatically add every book about fake dating to my tbr? asking for a friend
Rating: really liked it
this was just
everything. it was so funny, romantic & sexy while also tackling important issues like anxiety and dealing with the death of loved ones. the characters dani and zafir are both so well developed and so loveable, and their chemistry was THROUGH THE ROOF! i truly loved this book so so much.
pre-order this book if you love adult romance and the fake dating trope!!! it comes out 23rd juneThank you so much to Avon Books for providing me with an ARC!
Rating: really liked it
The author's heart is probably in the right place, but as a Muslim I feel offended that the male love interest engages in extramarital sex. I know Goodreads is pretty much exclusively an Anglo-American community, and adultery isn't a big deal to you, but that isn't the case with Muslims. I don't see the point of writing about a Muslim character if you're going to pigeonhole us in your Western cookie cutter perception of relationships. While non-practicing Muslims do exist, writing about a Muslim character who has a lifestyle similar to yours undermines the whole point of representation.
Rating: really liked it
“I felt like my world had already ended unhappily, but every book I read about someone who’d been through the worst and found happiness anyway seemed to say the opposite. Like my story didn’t need to be over if I didn’t want it to. Like, if I could just be strong enough to reclaim my emotions, and to work through them, maybe I’d be okay again.” Reread and I can’t even tell you how happy this book, this series makes me. All thanks to Talia Hibbert and her wonderfully engaging characters that shine through her writing.
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“This love business is absolutely nonsensical.” I’m high on emotions so you might want to trust me, or not trust me for that matter, when I say this book was perrrrfect. Fuckin great!
Talia Hibbert really has me out here believing that these fictional men she creates exist. So I’m going to roll with this delusion.
I laughed out out countless of times. These characters and their inner dialogue took me on a whirlwind. It irritated me to no end how stupid they were about their emotions, but understandably so. I still wanted to knock them out every other page. But I adored them.
I desperately want them in my life. 😭
On paper, you’d think Dani and Zafir are complete opposites, but you take the time to uncover their layers, these two made complete sense.
I loved the way this book challenged social gender construct, looked at how living with anxiety can affect your life, dismantling the misconceptions surrounding romance novels and explored vulnerability that was masked.
Talia Hibbert’s writing gets better and better with each book and I so appreciate the work and heart she puts in in creating a story like this.
Side note: I’d really, really like a book on Sorcha.
Rating: really liked it
Hello this is a new all-time favorite rom-com and I AM OBSESSED. The chemistry between Dani and Zaf was off the charts and my heart IS SO DAMN FULL after finishing this beauty. Y'all know I loved
Get a Life, Chloe Brown but somehow this one blew that one out of the water and was EVEN BETTER. Seriously, I am obsessed and this will officially be added into the rotation of rom-coms I re-read whenever I need a pick me up bc it was perfect. 10/10 do recommend!!!!!
Rating: really liked it
i love dani brown so much and zaf is truly my king
review to come!
Rating: really liked it
This has all the ingredients of a great romance and I loved the main character's bluntness and the love interest's anxiety rep, but I'm just not a big fan of the fake dating trope. this book even poked fun at the fact that it's something that only happens in fiction but not in real life, but it still followed a pretty typical and predictable format, so it was less cheeky than I would've hoped. still, this had a lot of great quotes and made me laugh out loud and was quite cute. Definitely worth continuing the series if you've read book one!
Rating: really liked it
Reasons to love this book:
1. The king of all romance tropes - fake date and fall in bed/love, whatever comes first
2. Hero who's basically a golden retriever in a human body - Zafir Ansari, sweetest (fake) boyfriend and ardent romance reader, built like Thor but a total cinnamon roll
3. Decent diverse representation with none of the stereotypes - Muslim, poc and bisexual protagonists
4. Rolling-on-the-floor-laugh-your-ass-off banter and ready-to-climb-each-other-any-minute-even-with-clothes-on, gives-you-hot-flashes kind of scorching chemistry.
5. Realistic portrayal of mental health issues. Anxiety and panic attacks that don't go away because the person is in "lurveeee" and everything is magically hunky dory!
6. DANIKA FUCKING BROWN
Hotshot academician, part time witch and full time sass queen, socially inept smartass who's sure to make you smile like crazy.
So yeah, I'm gonna need another star for this awwwwesome book!
Rating: really liked it
4.5 stars 
Last year I read
Get a Life Chloe Brown, and while I liked it a lot it was one of those books where I didn’t quite get the hype. This book… I totally get the hype. I absolutely LOVED
Take a Hint Dani Brown. Zaf and Dani were both fantastic characters and I enjoyed reading this so much.
Dani Brown is career driven and doesn't want a relationship. Zafir and Dani are friends, but when he rescues her from an elevator and the whole thing ends up on line, things change. Zaf is an ex-Rugby player and they find they could both benefit from fake dating. Even though it is fairly obvious right away that Zaf would love to have more than Dani.
Dani is interested in Zaf. Interested in sleeping with him. But with time, she sees he makes her happy, makes her life easier, and never makes her feel bad for being busy with work and school. Zaf is super supportive and the sweetest hero ever. I couldn't have loved him more. I also liked Dani's character a lot. She knew what she wanted and I can always appreciate that.
I love the friends to lovers/fake dating troupe and this one did both of those so well. Talia Hibbert is an uber talented author and I'm looking forward to reading more from her, especially more of the Brown sisters.
