Take a Hint, Dani Brown
- Talia Hibbert
- Albany, WA
- March 29, 2023
GOODREADS BOOK BLURB:
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?
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?
SERIES / GENRES:
FIRST WORDS:
The moon was high and full, the night was ripe for witchy business, and Danika Brown had honey on her tit. The left one, specifically.
“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered, and swiped it off.
“For fuck’s sake,” she muttered, and swiped it off.
MY REVIEW:
solid, good read:
☆☆☆☆☆ 4/5
I am very aware that my enjoyment of Take a Hint, Dani Brown has little to do with the romance and everything to do with Hibbert’s writing.
I enjoyed Zafir and Danika’s banter. I liked the calm that Zaf brought into Dani’s life, helping her to find balance and joy. And Dani’s ability to focus on Zaf and help him to accept both his past and present was wonderful. They had chemistry and a solid friendship on which to build a relationship that felt genuine. It’s unfortunate that Hibbert had to work so hard to create a weird viral social media stunt to force them together because they were already heading in the right direction. The only thing about their relationship that was not believable was that they denied they were in one and pretended not to know how they felt about each other despite spending so much time together and taking care of each other (both physically and emotionally).
Despite this, Hibbert’s writing is light, easy, and funny. I loved the witchy moments, the glimpses of Chloe and Red cohabitating and being perfect together, and the honest conversations about mental health and toxic masculinity in sport. I don’t know how Hibbert writes so honestly about heavy topics without letting them drag down the mood, but I am totally sold on her writing.
So if you can get past the fact that there shouldn’t actually be anything preventing Zaf and Dani from being together and that in the real world, they probably would’ve been dating within months of meeting each other (before this book even begins) and that Dani, as a serious academic, would’ve assessed the information presented and realised that Zaf was not the same kind of asshole as the people she had dated in the past, then Take a Hint, Dani Brown is very enjoyable. So just ignore the fake dating/will-they-won’t-they because obviously, they will, and it was never fake.
I enjoyed Zafir and Danika’s banter. I liked the calm that Zaf brought into Dani’s life, helping her to find balance and joy. And Dani’s ability to focus on Zaf and help him to accept both his past and present was wonderful. They had chemistry and a solid friendship on which to build a relationship that felt genuine. It’s unfortunate that Hibbert had to work so hard to create a weird viral social media stunt to force them together because they were already heading in the right direction. The only thing about their relationship that was not believable was that they denied they were in one and pretended not to know how they felt about each other despite spending so much time together and taking care of each other (both physically and emotionally).
Despite this, Hibbert’s writing is light, easy, and funny. I loved the witchy moments, the glimpses of Chloe and Red cohabitating and being perfect together, and the honest conversations about mental health and toxic masculinity in sport. I don’t know how Hibbert writes so honestly about heavy topics without letting them drag down the mood, but I am totally sold on her writing.
So if you can get past the fact that there shouldn’t actually be anything preventing Zaf and Dani from being together and that in the real world, they probably would’ve been dating within months of meeting each other (before this book even begins) and that Dani, as a serious academic, would’ve assessed the information presented and realised that Zaf was not the same kind of asshole as the people she had dated in the past, then Take a Hint, Dani Brown is very enjoyable. So just ignore the fake dating/will-they-won’t-they because obviously, they will, and it was never fake.
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