Book Review: Take A Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

‘Take A Hint, Dani Brown’ by Talia Hibbert is the second book in her Brown Sisters trilogy, following the three Brown sisters, Chloe Brown, Dani Brown, and Eve Brown. My review of the first book in the series, ‘Get A Life, Chloe Brown’ went live on my blog in April.

With most series books, I find myself concerned that the second book will fall into the inevitable lull of being a segway into the book that concludes the series. However, ‘Take A Hint, Dani Brown’ was very much its own story. Like ‘Get A Life, Chloe Brown’, ‘Take A Hint, Dani Brown’ could easily be read as a standalone, without a need for context, like you would with other genres.

Dani and Zafir are friends. They work together in the same building at a university, after Zafir retired from a promising rugby career after a devastating personal loss. And, when Dani gets stuck in a lift during an emergency drill, having entered the lift before the alarm began, Zaf goes into the building to find her, rescues her from the anxiety, fear of imminent death via smoke inhalation or carbon monoxide poisoning, and carries her from the building bridal style. They promptly go viral, and decide to run with the idea of Doctor Rugbae their trending ship name, for their own benefits, and make the decision to fake date – Dani wants a fuckbuddy and Zaf wants publicity for his charity, Tackle It, encouraging men to acknowledge and embrace their emotions, instead of stifling them.

I absolutely loved this book – with Dani Brown being a PhD student in a field related to my own, it was easy to step into her shoes, and feel the chaos that came running at her full-throttle with academia in mind. I related to her panic and her desperation to not embarrass herself around her idol, Dr. Inez Holly. I, too, would freak out if I was sat beside someone I idolised for so long.

Dani was a fantastic character. I related to her struggles and inner perfectionist so much! She was so evocative and vulnerable in a distinctly different way to her sister, Chloe, which further ascertained their differences. This wasn’t a cheap trick of same FMC, different font, Talia Hibbert, thus far, has nurtured fantastic, unique, thoughtful female characters with their own struggles, insecurities, demons and voices. She could easily become a favourite author of mine in the future if this carries on.

I loved Dr. Inez Holly, as a plot device. She was an insightful character who helped steer the narrative without really doing anything. She was a concept for most of the story, and that really built up readers’ anticipation for Dani to meet her. I was terrified, like Dani, that she would screw something up. The readers echoed her own sentiments and it was a very clever technique from Hibbert to really exemplify how the anxious brain works, a disembodied voice, worried something will go awry, like a reader rooting for a character to do the best, but worried that horrible things will occur.

The elephant in the room needs to be addressed. Zafir Ansari, to be precise. He is the first male lead from a romance novel that I would ever, ever, entertain giving the title of ‘Book Boyfriend’ to, and I have read a fair few romances since starting my blog. I absolutely adored Zaf. He was everything that I love in a character, and in people that I know in the real world; mindful of triggers, traumas and anxiety, and strives to help others and is a huge book buff. I love him. His transparency throughout the narrative about how he was happy to die inside when their fake relationship fizzled out was so entertaining to read. His voice was crystal clear and I loved his dynamic among his family, friends, and Dani. He had so much respect for her as a person, and as an academic and had so many Book Boyfriend green flags! He reads her papers! He reads her academic articles, and brings her lunch when he knows she’s working too hard! I melted into a puddle. He was fantastic! I love him. I love him. I love him!

The only shortcoming of this book was the third act breakup. I hate those. I really do, they can often be so unnecessary. They feel like a fast-tract to the first hurdle a couple can experience, and are often mountains out of molehill situations that could be remedied with a simple calm down and converse moment, instead of a heavily emotional explosive reaction. In this instance, I appreciated how it occurred. It was a moment of vulnerability and transparency that had clearly been overlooked by Zaf, and he jumped the gun, scared the shit out of Dani and inadvertently sent her reeling away, vulnerable, confused and lonely. And anyway, is it a third-act breakup if they were only kind of together at the time? I don’t know. But that was the only qualm I had.

Hibbert wrote an incredibly powerful, moving story about imposter syndrome, grief, anxiety, success, communication and navigating relationships as someone who has been hurt in the past. It was a story about growth and learning and I absolutely adored watching Zaf and Dani fall in love.