Help! I’ve fallen [prey to my fairly high expectations and been brutally disappointed] and I can’t get up! As well as being super hot of course, Take a Hint, Dani Brown was also hilarious. Talia Hibbert has this impeccable talent of writing romance that goes from super steamy to laugh out loud in the same paragraph. I do have to say that Zaf really stole the show for me though! He is the epitome of a soft and grumpy love interest. A big guy, ex rugby player kind of BIG, people are initially intimidated by his size and gruff voice, but deep down? He is a hopeless romantic, an absolute marshmallow. I mean, the guy gives Dani daily protein bars because he knows she doesn’t get time to eat in the morning and she always snatches them out of his hands 🥺

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. I also am not the biggest fan of social media-based plotline, and I found the overall story arc to be a bit thin. Both characters were well-developed and the side characters were endlessly interesting, I just felt like nothing much happened in the story.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! I also really enjoyed the strong family bonds and friendships throughout the book! The love between them was so clear to see. I loved the piss taking between Zaf and his best friend Jamal. They weren’t afraid to call one another out, which is quite similar to Dani and Zaf actually! Dani’s family also make an appearance and their love for each other was a lovely addition. Eighteen-year-old Mallory Greenleaf is no longer interested in chess, not since her hypercompetitive dad left—the game calls up painful memories. But she grudgingly agrees to play in a charity tournament as a favor to best friend Easton Peña. After she unexpectedly beats current world champion Nolan Sawyer, she’s offered a fellowship that will prepare her to play professionally. Even though Mallory doesn’t want to play anymore, she needs the money that winning would provide; she’s delayed college to support her family, since her mother is chronically ill with rheumatoid arthritis and is unable to work regularly. The more time she spends with Nolan, the more Mallory comes to like and respect him—and the more time she spends playing chess, the more she remembers how much she loved it. But when she learns that Nolan has been keeping a big secret from her, she isn’t sure if she’ll be able to move past it to build a relationship with him. Filled with the author’s signature humor, well-developed characters, and realistic conflicts, plus the fully realized setting of competitive chess, this captivating romance will delight teen readers as well as Hazelwood’s adult fans. Mallory and Nolan are both cued white; there is some racial diversity among the supporting cast. Mallory and Easton are queer.

Overall, Take a Hint, Dani Brown is an awesome addition to The Brown Sisters series. If youre a fan of the friends-to-lovers and fake relationship tropes, as well as diverse romance that sits on the steamier side, this is the book for you. do 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? I understand this is a trope being turned on its head; Dani is wealthy and alpha-female and anti-commitment but she had very few traits that softened her. A man in this situation wouldn't deserve his love interest so I don't think she deserves her hero Zafir. Have you ever started a book, and just known from the beginning that this was going to be a new favorite? Because that’s what happened with me and this book. I read Get a Life, Chloe Brown in the beginning of the year, and immediately added Take a Hint, Dani Brown to my TBR without even reading the synopsis. I loved Chloe Brown enough that just by seeing the cover of Dani Brown I was sure I was going to love it. And I was right!For someone who’s very familiar w those words in her romances, this one actually got me blushing and shoOk yallll😳 i guess i just didn’t expect such carnal words to be used in here lol. Especially from our soft boi, Zaf. Theres also this wonderful conversation about the difference between changing yourself for someone else and someone encouraging you to grow and become a better version of yourself. This is such an important distinction and I was so glad to see it discussed in a romance book, where many times the characters feel the need to change themselves to be with their love interest, which should not be the case!