My 8th read of the year was ‘Act Your Age, Eve Brown’ by Talia Hibbert, the third book in the Brown Sisters trilogy.
You can read my review of book 1 here and book 2 here.
A plot summary attempt
Eve is really good at failing things but not so good at seeing them through. When her latest failed business as a wedding planner falls through, her parents decide to give her a stern talking to, which Eve acts totally appropriately and rationally too by running out the house and driving for hours and hours. When she stops in search of somewhere to eat and finds herself outside a B&B with a chef vacancy in this sweet little town near the Lake District, Eve decides it is fate. This is how she will prove to her parents that she’s not a failure, by securing a job before she even returns home from her tantrum.
Unfortunately, her colourful C.V and even more colourful attire, doesn’t impress straight-laced, rigid, B&B owner Jacob Wayne, who promptly asks her to leave. Eve’s just about to drive away, facing yet another failure when she accidentally reverses right into Jacob, who had chased after her to offer the job anyway because he is in desperate need of a cook. Eve’s thrown into the deep end to care for the B&B while Jacob gets taken to hospital in a trial by fire and to her surprise… she not only succeeds but she excels. Jacob begrudgingly agrees to keep her on, not knowing that Eve has secured herself a party planning gig, which will be the official start of her ‘serious’ career, in a month’s time. To Eve’s dismay, she discovers she not only enjoys working as a chef but she also enjoys Jacob’s company and her life in Skybriar, but any time she’s done something she enjoys, she inevitably fails, so she’s resolved to leave anyway, despite her growing feelings for this blunt, attractive and hideously nice man.
What did I think?
This a cute story, it didn’t gut punch my emotions as much as the first two but I imagine if you’ve gone through the journey of realising you are autistic in your adulthood, this one would cause big feelings for you. I loved how Jacob’s autism is represented in this book, it is un-abashedly acknowledged without infantilising him (as some books with autism rep tend to do). Also, I liked how they show the difference between how it presents for him as a man, and in (what we begin to suspect as the story goes on) in Eve as a woman; who spent all her life being told she is a failure when really no one, not even Eve herself, understands that she struggles with things that other people don’t and that’s why certain tasks are harder for her. Their relationship is really fun, as they are two generally blunt people, one who is all sunshine and one who is grumpy, trying to work alongside each other. They go from bickering to flirty banter in a really natural way.
Overall, this whole series has got to be my favourite romance series I’ve read so far. I think I’m really falling in love with books like this series that show the full spectrum of humanity, with POC rep, disability rep, mental health rep, LGBTQIA rep and so on. It just adds this whole extra layer of reality to the stories and makes the character’s so much richer. I’m definitely going to find more books by this author, I think she may have become an auto buy for me.
Antonia Bernardin 
Leave a comment