SOPHIE LI

Chloe Brown is a chronically ill computer geek with a goal, a plan, and a list. After almost—but not quite—dying, she’s come up with seven directives to help her “Get a Life”, and she’s already completed the first: finally moving out of her glamorous family’s mansion. The next items?

• Enjoy a drunken night out.
• Ride a motorcycle.
• Go camping.
• Have meaningless but thoroughly enjoyable sex.
• Travel the world with nothing but hand luggage.
• And… do something bad.

But it’s not easy being bad, even when you’ve written step-by-step guidelines on how to do it correctly. What Chloe needs is a teacher, and she knows just the man for the job.

Redford ‘Red’ Morgan is a handyman with tattoos, a motorcycle, and more sex appeal than ten-thousand Hollywood heartthrobs. He’s also an artist who paints at night and hides his work in the light of day, which Chloe knows because she spies on him occasionally. Just the teeniest, tiniest bit.

But when she enlists Red in her mission to rebel, she learns things about him that no spy session could teach her. Like why he clearly resents Chloe’s wealthy background. And why he never shows his art to anyone. And what really lies beneath his rough exterior…

• I loved Chloe’s unique and humorous voice. Despite her health issues, Chloe is determined to turn her life around, be spontaneous and have fun. And so she decided to make a checklist of things to do! (As an introvert and a list-maker, I could totally relate!)
• Chloe and Red didn’t like each other right away. In fact they got on each other’s nerves. I loved this little bit of enemies-to-lovers trope at work here. The couple had sizzling chemistry and romantic tension and had me cheering them on from beginning to end.
• I really loved the cute and snappy banter between the two characters, which had me laughing out loud at times!
• Chloe’s sisters were so sweet. They each had quirky and lovable personalities, and you could tell that they supported her with all their hearts.
• I liked that this book involved a character with a physical illness (Chloe had fibromyalgia and was taking many medications for it) without revolving the story around her illness.
• This was an addictive book! I finished the entire novel over the course of the weekend. Once I started, it was hard to put it down!

• The story was fairly predictable for me. From the beginning, I knew what was going to happen and how the novel was going to end. However, the characters and the chemistry between them really motivated me to continue reading.
• I thought the climax of the novel was a bit underwhelming… It was one of those misunderstandings that could be resolved if only people talked to each other, which was a bit annoying.

3/5 fishies!

If you are in the mood for a fun and addictive romance, give this book a try!

Have you read this book? What are your favourite romance tropes?

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash