Take A Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert
Published: June 23, 2020
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 brooding security guard Zafir Ansari rescues Dani from a workplace fire drill gone wrong, it’s an obvious sign: PhD student Dani and ex-rugby player Zaf are destined to sleep together. But before she can explain that fact, a video of the heroic rescue goes viral. Now 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’s secretly a hopeless 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 just waiting for her to take a hint?
Ok so, I feel like I’m kind of the odd one out on this one. I didn’t love it as much as everyone else did. Although I got the same vibes as Get A Life, Chloe Brown. Which I LOVED (I wasn’t expecting to, but it was great) this one fell a bit short. Yes, fake dating is a trope I do enjoy, but I felt like this didn’t work for Dani and Zaf.
First of all, I love Zaf. He was such a heart warming character and I couldn’t get enough of him. Dani, on the other hand was so fierce and independent and confident, I felt like a fake dating trope kind of didn’t fit into her personality. I could see like an enemies to lovers or something like that but I think that’s where I had the biggest problem. Their reason for dating and getting together just didn’t seem right, it didn’t fit what I felt like her character would do, so it felt a bit disjointed to me.
I also felt like they didn’t really have much of an obstacle in their relationship to go through or over to really push them together. But other than that, loved the pace, loved the characters, pretty lighthearted. The banter was good, I just really felt like it fell flat in the romance, unfortunately.
3/5 Stars
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