Get a Life, Chloe Brown

I've had this book since 2019 and I think I avoided this because I usually do not like romance. But I do appreciate when the MCs in romances have characteristics people like to avoid (fatness, disability, etc). Not only does it separate it from other romance novels, but it also just shows the nuances in relationships where people are struggling with disabilities/issues.

I loved the banter between these two. I honestly wished the tension was extended even farther. I love a slow burn and this, personally, could've been so much slow. I think it's pretty obvious that the gem of this book was the fresh and romantic sex scenes! Smut is often too repetitive to me and each scene here felt unique.

Another great aspect of this is how, with Red's situation, how it shows the way abuse affects our behavior, sometimes manifesting as self sabotage. This is why I actually really appreciated the fight at the ending. This book tackles a) how abuse and past trauma must be worked through, as to not make both partners suffer and make destructive decisions and b) partners should catch on to limits and accommodations needed to help the people they love, instead of pretending their disabilities/limits don't exist. I just wished we'd gotten to this sooner. It was over right as it started.

So much of his art stuff did not hit emotionally to me for this same reason. His insecurity over his artwork was relatable obviously, but there was very little else to latch on to until we were provided context. Both Chloe and Red are imperfect in the way they handle their issues and it would've been more emotional had we understood why from the beginning (or at least earlier).