Book Review: Work for It - Talia Hibbert

Work For It

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Hoooo-leee shit.
This book, you guys.

Summary: In this village, I’m an outcast: Griffin Everett, the scowling giant who prefers plants to people. Then I meet Keynes, a stranger from the city who’s everything I’m not: sharp-tongued, sophisticated, beautiful. Free. For a few precious moments in a dark alleyway, he’s also mine, hot and sweet under the stars… until he crushes me like dirt beneath his designer boot.

When the prettiest man I’ve ever hated shows up at my job the next day, I’m not sure if I want to strangle him or drag him into bed. Actually—I think I want both. But Keynes isn’t here for the likes of me: he makes that painfully clear. With everyone else at work, he’s all gorgeous, glittering charm—but when I get too close, he turns vicious.

And yet, I can’t stay away. Because there’s something about this ice king that sets me on fire, a secret vulnerability that makes my chest ache. I’ll do whatever it takes to sneak past his walls and see the real man again.

The last thing I expect is for that man to ruin me.

My Review: 

Have you ever read a book that was so good, reading it felt like getting drunk, and the descriptions made your heart ache throughout the whole thing, and at the end you felt just a little betrayed, because now it's over, and why is it over?

That was this book for me. 

Blew. My. Mind.

I'd heard of Talia Hibbert before (she did an episode of Heaving Bosoms!), but I'd never read any of her books, but she tweeted about this one and the catch phrase she used was "dudes making out against trees." So I impulse bought the shit out of it, and figured I'd let it sit for a while.

Queue Elley saying "hey! Let's do a buddy read on Sunday!" 

I am a bit speechless. 

First and foremost, Hibbert does an absolutely amazing job at dealing with mental health. One of the MCs deals with severe depression, and his problems are not automatically solved by the other hero's magic penis. They DEAL with it together. 

There is not a lot of plot in this. The plot is the two of them falling in love, and slowly trusting, and slowly healing their pains together, and at the end, nothing is completely healed over, but it's on the right path and oh, readers, her descriptions. The way she takes thoughts and feelings and turns them into poetry. 

I only got out of bed to eat, pee, and do a quick yoga sesh, otherwise I finished this whole book in one go because I couldn't stop reading it. 

It hurt to read this, in the best possible way. 

Definitely trigger warnings for discussion of depression and suicide, and other mental health issues. 

But uggh.

The phrase "I can't even" was invented for books like this.

Five stars. I'd give it 6 but the stars don't go that high. 

Lady Peekaboo.