Review: Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert

Act Your Age, Eve Brown is the third and final book in The Brown Sisters trilogy by Talia Hibbert. Each book in the series follows a different sister as she has her own cute rom-com journey. You do not absolutely have to read the books in order, though I do think it is more fun (and better for the continuity, as previous book characters pop in very occasionally) to read them in order. This book follows the baby of the family, Eve. Eve is grappling with her slightly flighty nature when her parents cut her off and force her to get a job that she will stick with! She ends up getting a job at Jacob's B&B despite a disastrous interview where she literally hits him with her car. Shenanigans ensue.

I truly adored the emotional journey of this book. Eve and Jacob are tremendous; I love every moment of each of them. Eve is fun and sweet and is seeking understanding and compassion. I really loved watching Eve grow and learn throughout the course of this book; she learns how she wants people to treat her and the words that encapsulate her life experience in such a fabulous way. Jacob is autistic and is still grappling with some childhood trauma; his journey through this book is tied closely to the way others have poorly reacted towards him in the past. I loved watching both characters test out their relationship following engrained patterns and see that not every relationship requires the protective shell that they both have. This book really has some of the sweetest moments, in addition to being hilarious and swoony. The only time I cried in this reading was because I was overwhelmed by how sweet something was (the name tag!).

I found this book incredibly relatable. I found the way neurodivergence was handled to be wonderful. II would obviously recommend you seek out reviews by autistic folks to get a full picture of how this book is received by different members of the community being portrayed. Talia Hibbert repeatedly shows her commitment to writing fun, sexy swoony books about a very diverse array of people, and I am so happy to have found her books.

This might have been my favorite of the trilogy, it could fall behind book one, but I did really truly adore this book. I also was so excited to see Eve in Skybriar because Hibbert's next adult series is apparently following characters from this little town! I am so excited to see who our next book follows. I don't even know who to hope for as the main character; I will just read anything published by this author.

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads and The StoryGraph. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a rom-com, to people who want to read about neurodivergent characters, and to people who want an excellent character journey in their romance.