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 scoreandknows their way around the bedroom.

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. I really enjoyed the first book in this series, Get A Life, Chloe Brown, but I really, REALLY enjoyed the second book. This was a brilliant 5 star read for me. I feel like I can’t stop talking about this one and I just might not!

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Talia Hibbert’s writing gets better and better with each book and I so appreciate the work and heart she puts in in creating a story like this. Also, whereas GALCB had heavy topics like this one, it was dealt with differently, using humour and cuteness, which made it so uplifting! TAHDB felt heavier, and not as upbeat. That's not necessarily a bad thing, it was just different. I do have to say that Zaf really stole the show for me though! He is the epitome of a soft and grumpy love interest. A big guy, ex rugby player kind of BIG, people are initially intimidated by his size and gruff voice, but deep down? He is a hopeless romantic, an absolute marshmallow. I mean, the guy gives Dani daily protein bars because he knows she doesn’t get time to eat in the morning and she always snatches them out of his hands 🥺 Be careful when judging this book by its cover; the cozy, sweet rom-com I expected almost rubbed me wrong with all the Fx, twats, and brash banter in the very first chapter. Don’t get me wrong; this was remarkably sweet for such a mouthy book. Did the summary say this was a British contemporary romance? The narrator’s accent threw me too. But, once I reset my expectations and settled in, I very much liked this book and will add this author to my reading list. We’ve met Dani ( Her name is Slavic and it means “Morning star”! Even though our character is insomniac and night owl and she knows how to be shiny and energetic in the mornings thanks to Zaf’s uneaten protein bars!) at the first book and since I adored her sarcastic, witty, entertaining banters with her sisters and her quirky, likable antics, I was so excited to read her own book. In this book, we start learning more about her career driven moods, her ambitiousness to gain professional success.

To be honest, all the hashtags at the start of each chapter kind of irritated me, but that's because I'm old ha ha! But #couplegoals and #Dr Rugbae made me cringe hard! It's predictable because its a rom com and obviously there are lay outs and expectations of a HEA but that didn't make it any less enjoyable. Many Americans—maybe the majority of us—think of England as looking more like the Queen than like Danika and Chloe Brown and their relatives: people like you, who are English via the Caribbean, via South Asia, via Africa, other places. And we know that the UK is more than 85% white. But especially in big cities, there is a lot more diversity. Are you hoping to correct our view of a monochromatic England? Idris Elba aside, isn't this something we should have caught up with a long time ago?I enjoyed how Zaf was a sensitive, intelligent, vulnerable romantic man! You don't see that a lot in romance, especially with male sports stars. He was open about his anxiety and grief, about loving romance books, and about wanting his own happy ending. He was so patient with Dani, and really supportive of her, he treated her really well, which just made me fall in love with him! I also liked how Dani was a socially awkward, cynical female with a guarded heart, who struggled with her emotions and feelings, and was slow to open up to people. It was like a role reversal! Together they did make a good pair, they balanced each other out and encouraged each other to be themselves. It was a reoccurring theme throughout the book, that you shouldn't try to change your partner, but accept them as they are. As if that alone didn’t make me me love him, he listens to smutty audiobooks! Ah, a man after my own heart. At one point he encounters the situation we all worry about when listening to smut in public, when the audiobook starts to play LOUDLY, and not through the earphones. I was torn between major second hand embarrassment and absolute hysterics. “Zaf”, she half shrieked, “is that porn?” “No!” The word came out a bit too loud to seem honest. “No,” he repeated through gritted teeth, trying to sound like a calm, sensible man instead of a raging pervert.“ For someone who’s very familiar w those words in her romances, this one actually got me blushing and shoOk yallll😳 i guess i just didn’t expect such carnal words to be used in here lol. Especially from our soft boi, Zaf. I have so much more that I love about this book but Im struggling to be coherent about all the little details that made this book so wonderful! I think the best advice I can give is for you to read this book! Dani is interested in Zaf. Interested in sleeping with him. But with time, she sees he makes her happy, makes her life easier, and never makes her feel bad for being busy with work and school. Zaf is super supportive and the sweetest hero ever. I couldn't have loved him more. I also liked Dani's character a lot. She knew what she wanted and I can always appreciate that.

As for Dani, well, shes fantastic! Shes motivated and determined, shes blunt and shes confident, but she also protects her heart at all costs. She values her success in her academic field, and it was so wonderful getting to read about someone who so obviously loved what they did, and was not ashamed to put their focus on their work rather than other places. Dani is a confident woman who knows what she wants out of life and intends to get it. I loved that Dani knew her own mind and wasn’t willing to settle for anything less than what she wanted. Dani does have a poor outlook on love as it’s never worked out for her in the past. After learning Dani’s history, her reaction to love made sense and I could see why she avoids it. Dani is a bit of a workaholic and her dedication to her work definitely led to her personal life suffering. Her family is fantastic and I love the relationship she has with her sisters. Dani, Chloe, and Eve are all so wonderfully supportive of each other and I love it. Dani Brown is an extremely intelligent, goal focused and hard working what Dani is no good at is relationships. During a fire drill Dani gets trapped in a lift and is rescued by Zafir (Zaf) her work colleague and good friend. She sees his rescue as a sign from the universe that they should be friends with benefits and then a video of Zaf rescuing Dani becomes viral they strike up a deal.So although this was a heart warming story, with many strengths, it wasn't the follow up that I was dreaming of. I think I built it up too much in my head after loving the first so completely! I still thought it was written brilliantly though, and will still anticipate and definitely read Eve's book! She detected a faint note of wonder in his voice that made her want to squish his cheeks and kiss his forehead. Fortunately, he wasn't in the room, so she was saved from the horror of actually following that impulse.

Danika Brown, a clever, witty workaholic doesn't do romance, she's too focussed on her academic career, and has been burnt in the past. She just wants a friends with benefits type situation. When her sexy friend Zafir Ansari, a sensitive, brooding, romantic former rugby player rescues her from a disastrous fire drill, it goes viral, and they embark on a fake relationship to boost Zafir's rugby charity. Will their plan work? Or will it lead to more?! This was just such a bummer to read. It was so, so repetitive, and it focused on so many things I didn’t care about, and I felt like the entire romance was telling not showing, and in the end I just didn’t...FEEL anything.Theres also this wonderful conversation about the difference between changing yourself for someone else and someone encouraging you to grow and become a better version of yourself. This is such an important distinction and I was so glad to see it discussed in a romance book, where many times the characters feel the need to change themselves to be with their love interest, which should not be the case! I think my love for this book knows no bounds because every aspect of this book was exactly what I wanted and what I needed from a romance! As an overview, this book has great friendship, romance, mental health, discussions about emotions, discussions about grief and anxiety, minimal but realistic drama and more. Zaf and Dani were both lovable and relatable characters; Zaf being sweet, attentive and enjoys smutty romance, Dani being guarded and super cautious w her heart—couldn’t ask for a better dynamic. I really liked seeing Zaf teach Dani how to express her feelings and be more vulnerable.