Have you ever been part of a book club, either in person or online?

Before we moved I was in a real-life one, but since moving to Seattle I’ve been joining online ‘buddy reads’ and book clubs. There is something about discussing a book with a group of smart, funny people that really adds to the experience. You think about parts of the book in new ways, hear different impressions and hear things you might have missed. Whether it’s an amazing book or downright cringeworthy I always have fun in book club. Plus wine is encouraged.

Two of my Bookstagram friends and I started #ThreeFriendsBookClub and we’d like to invite you to join us. We pick a new book every month and you can join every month or just for the books you’re really excited to read. We read everything from thrillers to romance…which brings me to our July pick!

Take a Hint Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert (you can read my review here) is the second book in The Brown Sisters series (the first being Get a Life Chloe Brown). I'm a little obsessed with Talia Hibbert...not in a creepy, stalkerish way, she's just a super awesome, smart, funny, talented human. She's not even 25 and she's already published 17 books. She talks about living with chronic pain, about realistic body types, and her characters are as diverse as they are delightful...or sizzling...or usually both. So if you'd like to read along with us head over to Instagram and let me know!

You can grab a copy of the book via the button below AND support an independent bookstore at the same time!

Synopsis:

Talia Hibbert returns with another charming romantic comedy about a young woman who agrees to fake date her friend after a video of him “rescuing” her from their office building goes viral...

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?

Book Club Discussion Questions

Spoiler alerts, don’t read any further unless you’ve finished the book!

• Have you read Get a Life Chloe Brown? If so, do you have a preference for the first or second book in the Brown Sisters series, and why?

• If this book were to be made into a movie, who would you cast for the main characters?

• In the beginning of the book Dani talks about how she dates women and men. Do you think this book could have been the same if Zaf was replaced by a woman?

• What specific themes did the author emphasize throughout the novel?

• What would you say were the main growth points for both Dani and Zaf during the course of the story?

• What did you think of Dani practicing what she called ‘Modern Witchcraft’ as a way to learn more about and feel closer to her Nana, as well as to honor her heritage?

• Did you notice all of the scents that kept popping up in the book, and is scent something that you pay particular attention to IRL? For example: “She was warm skin and fresh fruit and the sweet smoke of blown-out birthday candles.” and “She smelled like honey.” and “Something blossomed in Zaf’s chest, as fresh and delicate as a flower, and it smelled like honey and candlewax.” and “He was big and handsome and he smelled like oranges…”

• Dani Brown has two sisters, Chloe and Eve. What do you think about the interaction between the three of them?

• Are you ready for the third book in the series, about the youngest sister Eve? Last we heard Talia Hibbert has already handed in a draft of that book.