Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
Danika Brown knows what she wants: professional success, academic renown, and an occasional roll in the hay to relieve all that career-driven tension. But romance? Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt. Romantic partners, whatever their gender, are a distraction at best and a drain at worst. So Dani asks the universe for the perfect friend with benefits - someone who knows the score and knows their way around the bedroom.
When big, brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it’s an obvious sign: Ph.D. student Dani and former rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact to him, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. Suddenly, half the internet is shipping #DrRugbae - and Zaf is begging Dani to play along. Turns out his sports charity for kids could really use the publicity. Lying to help children? Who on earth would refuse?
Dani’s plan is simple: fake a relationship in public, seduce Zaf behind the scenes. The trouble is, grumpy Zaf is secretly a romantic - and he’s determined to corrupt Dani’s stone-cold realism. Before long, he’s tackling her fears into the dirt. But the former sports star has issues of his own, and the walls around his heart are as thick as his… um, thighs.
Suddenly, the easy lay Dani dreamed of is more complex than her thesis. Has her wish backfired? Is her focus being tested? Or is the universe waiting for her to take a hint?
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After falling in love with Talia Hibbert’s work I knew I absolutely needed to read the rest of the books in the Brown sisters series and this second instalment did not disappoint! Dani Brown is the complete opposite of her sister Chloe so this book had so much fresh life and kept me hooked but still had the familiarity of revisiting old favourite characters (we met Dani in the last book and this one had cameos from Chloe and Red). The humour and the class A sarcasm throughout this book had me laughing out loud, Zaf was the sweetest character in the world, and Dani was so outgoing and confident that, when you read this, you can’t help but love every character. My favourite part about this book is that there wasn’t some villain or crazy ex-girlfriend or anything like that. Their lives were messy in the simple way that real lives are messy without all the added melodrama but yet it still made an amazing story. This romance was the best one yet of this series.
This book is told through dual points of view, I loved that we got to see both Dani and Zaf’s view on things so we could better understand their motivations. I feel like if it was only from one POV Dani would have seemed quite a bit colder than she actually is and Zaf would have seemed very intimidating and slightly pushy. It was done perfectly, we got to see the soft vulnerable side of Zaf and the motivations behind why Dani walls herself off the way she does. We also got to see two very different types of healing as their story goes on, Dani through her self worth and Zaf through his traumatic past. I think so far, Zaf is my favourite male lead when it comes to a Talia Hibbert novel.
My favourite part of this book was the character backgrounds and development. They really grew so much in the short time we got to read about them but it wasn’t in an unrealistic “oh how they changed each other” sort of way, it was a very natural progression for both characters. Dani and Zaf both learnt a lot about themselves and moving on and also about new and healthy coping mechanisms. I liked the focus on mental health and how it’s a big factor in a relationship. The humour was also out of this world. I think this author needs to win world renown awards just for her fantastic comedy. It made this book extremely enjoyable.
The only downside to this book was that Dani frustrated me a lot. I think maybe because I am anything but an extrovert I couldn’t relate to a lot of the actions that Dani took. I understood them and had no judgement, but I couldn’t fully relate so I felt a little bit disconnected from her as opposed to how connected I felt to Chloe and her introvert ways. It didn’t take away any of the joy I found in reading this book, Dani was still a wonderful character and it was so fun getting to read her story.
If you haven’t picked up Talia Hibbert yet, what are you waiting for? Get a Life, Chloe Brown and Take a Hint, Dani Brown are both amazing reads and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for when I finally read her next book in the series. This book was so sweet and funny. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.