Act Your Age, Eve Brown
A Novel
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4.4 • 43 Ratings
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
In Talia Hibbert’s newest rom-com, the flightiest Brown sister crashes into the life of an uptight B&B owner and has him falling hard—literally.
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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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
We love how all of the heroines of Talia Hibbert’s romantic comedies starring the Brown sisters are so different. Take Eve Brown, who can’t commit to a career any more than she can to a relationship. After a disastrous job interview for the chef position at a posh B&B, she runs into uptight innkeeper Jacob Wayne again. With her car. It’s a pretty silly opposites-attract setup, but it works because Hibbert always treats her characters and audience with respect. Freewheeling Eve and perfectionist Jacob are both on the autism spectrum, a story element that Hibbert handles sensitively without pulling focus from either the zany comedy or the scorching, body-positive romance. Eve is the youngest of the three Brown sisters, but we’re hoping Hibbert decides to extend this entertaining series beyond their immediate family. Personally, we’d love to hear what the women’s aunties are up to.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Hibbert serves up all the heat and humor fans expect in her finale to the Brown Sisters series (after Take a Hint, Dani Brown), but the romance itself feels half-baked. At 26, Eve Brown bolts from home after her parents call her a "spoiled brat," cut off her trust fund, and ask her to stick with a job for a year. She ends up at the storybook-beautiful Castell Cottage Bed-and-Breakfast, where she impulsively interviews for the open chef position—despite not really wanting it. After she hits Castell Cottage owner, Jacob Wayne, with her car, Jacob's friend Montrose guilts Eve into taking the job and helping to run the B&B while Jacob's indisposed. Jacob's understandable qualms about working with someone who broke his arm fade as he and Eve discover they have a lot in common. Autistic Jacob is a charming and worthy hero, but entitled Eve's refusal to accept the consequences of her actions grows grating and goes unresolved in the otherwise nuanced arc about her coming to realize her own neurodivergence. The idyllic English Lake District setting, steamy sex scenes, and wry humor leaven the otherwise underdeveloped Eve-centric plot, but readers who aren't won over by the flighty heroine may struggle with this one.
