A Girl Like Her

Offbeat and utterly enjoyable story and characters

This is a story about a black woman living in small, insular town in England. She is on the autism spectrum, and has a bad reputation in the town. Her go to response to stress is to tell people to eff off and she stays at home rather than deal with the negative comments from the townsfolk. A handsome and kind man moves in next door to her, and they become friends. He's all about doing the right thing, and when he realizes that Ruth has no stove, Evan begins to cook for her. As time passes, he becomes very attracted to her, but he has to fight through her defenses and and prove to Ruth that he's not out to use or hurt her. Ruth meanwhile, needs to learn to be proud of who she is and get over some devastating experiences from her past.

I loved this story, was very invested in these characters, and enjoyed the journey they had to take to get to their HEA. Ruth and Evan are ordinary working class folks, no billionaires here. He's alone in the world, and served in the Army for several years. Ruth has a sister and mother that she's close to, but no friends. This love affair is a joy to watch develop, and they really earned their happiness.

The narration is perfection, and the story is written in third person so there is one omniscient 'voice', which I prefer. Rupert Channing is the ideal reader for this series. Can't wait for the next book!

12 of 12 people found this review helpful

A Love Story - plain and simple

Don't laugh, but I chose this book because I thought the female was going to be a witch 😂 I only read fantasy novels so I'm not sure how this ended up on my recommendation list. But, I can say that it worked out well as I listened to it over Valentine's Day while I finished some boring reports for work.

Fast break down: Boy meets girls, flirts with girl, makes girl feel safe and special, girl and boy do the naked tango, and then happily ever after. If you are here for just a love story then you'll be quite happy. If you prefer your romance stories messy and complicated then you might not get what your looking for here.

As for the story, I found it simple and charming. It's like vanilla ice cream 🍧. Most of the time you want more bang for your buck, but there isn't anything wrong with an old fashioned plain Jane story every blue moon. This is simply a love story. There is no flare, no dramatic deaths or action scenes. And the ending was very much goodie-two-shoe and gum drops 😒😒😒

In any genre I read I hate instant love at first sight. This comes really close. Rather than interest at first sight, it would have been nice for Ruth to rub him the wrong way and then they slowly began to understand each other.

This is about an interracial relationship but that is never brought up between the two main characters. Only once does Evan even hint to acknowledging that Ruth is black. I felt both good and curious about how the author approached this. In a way, it is what we non-racist people want to achieve. Love who you want and let race not be a factor in deciding what makes you happy. However, the book is set in present day and so you would think it would be more at the forefront rather than her weight and cooking disability... lol I like. She has a cooking disability.

In addition, Ruth has mild form of autism. Though Evan seems to handle some of her characteristics well, there isn't any mention of him researching what to expect or having experience because of a family member. I'm not well versed on the different ranges of autism so I wanted to know more information on how it affects their relationships both family and personal.

The cover... smh...My first thought when I met the main character, Ruth, was about the cover art. Why does the cover have a women with short hair and the book describes her with coily (natural) hair that she keeps in one long braid??? Nor does the guy look as described. This was either a lazy publisher or a terrible artist depending on the circumstances. Either way, neither of them took the time to actually read their clients material thoroughly enough.

I was a little taken aback by the narrators voice when the book first started. His voice sounds as it belongs reading one of my beloved Epic Fantasies about dragons and mages. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to enjoy him. Once Evan and Ruth start their banter on comics, I started to relax into his voice a bit more. He doesn't have a wide range of characters voices but he had a nice reading voice and gave the story a calm tone that I think would match Evans personality.

3 Stars 🌟🌟🌟- Good Book. I like the overall concept and it was delivered well. Most common ranking for a book I enjoyed and look forward to the next. I won't rush to the next one, but it's on my list for a future read when the mood is right.

16 of 20 people found this review helpful

Review: A Girl Like Her, by Talia Hibbert

Anyone who's read my reviews before probably knows that I'm a sucker for small-town romance. But I've never read a small-town romance set outside of the United States. A Girl Like Her is a first for me for that, as it's set in England. It's also my first Talia Hibbert book, mainly because I've been slacking. It won't be my last Hibbert book though. I want to continue reading this series.

What was great about this book was the diverse representation Hibbert wrote into it. The heroine, Ruth, is a woman of color who has autism. The town thinks she's weird, she keeps to herself, and the hero doesn't care. He's new to town and is falling for Ruth. But is autism in your face, over-mentioned, and drilled into the reader's head? No. Ruth is Ruth and she's just like any other heroine. I always enjoy books where the author will write underrepresented characters, but not make a big deal about it. That's how I feel it should be because there are many types of people out there and everyone has a story.

As for the small-town setting in England, that left me wanting a little more. While it didn't need to be the focus in this particular book, I felt that it was lacking a little bit of the normal feel of a small-town setting. The town itself isn't really explored until the last quarter of the book, even when the townspeople are cause for conflict throughout. It's more in the background. That's part of why I know I'll be reading the other books in this series. 1) To see more of the characters introduced here, and 2) to explore this town more. It wasn't a bad start to it, but I crave more.

This was a good book to check out. And a good start to a series. If the buzz around Hibbert is anything to go by, I don't think I'll be disappointed moving forward.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

very good

This is very good. Once it gets started it is hard, to put down. Very good.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Everything is not as it seems when Love is involved

A beautiful story of unexpected love from two very different people. One is angry and dissolution. And the other is this lost. Definitely five stars for the storyline

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

honey!!!!!!

the story was good inviting I love the characters how they develop over time it was a beautiful story would recommend it to all my friends

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

A good listen

I love to find books with interracial couples. This story is okay. I did think the main character was on the spectrum but not certain. Some of her behavior was puzzling - I often found myself 🤔 ...but overall a decent listen. I really liked the attraction he had for her- it was very sexy. Will also read next in the series

Don't Understand

I've listened to both books and don't understand why these sisters are flaming idiots. The are not likable or relatable to normal women. Both men should have kicked them to the curb. Ruth needed help in the worst way, whether she had a mental illness or not.

So sweet and funny!!

The banter was endearing; the growth was cheering; and the family loyalty was rousing!! Go for it!

A Girl Like Her

I loved this book, with all of its twist and turns. It was very interesting and the writer did an excellent job expounding the story.