A Girl Like Her

By: Talia Hibbert

Narrated by: Rupert Channing

Length: 7 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's Summary

Everyone has secrets. He wants all of hers. Meet the man next door....

After years of military service, Evan Miller wants a quiet life. The small town of Ravenswood seems perfect - until he stumbles upon a vicious web of lies with his new neighbor at its center.

Ruth Kabbah is rude, awkward, and - according to everyone in town - bad news. Thing is, no one will tell Evan why. Does she perform ritual sacrifices? Howl at the moon? Pour the milk before the tea? He has no clue. But he desperately wants to find out. Because Ruth doesn’t seem evil to him; she seems lonely. And funny, and clumsy, and secretly quite sweet, and really f--king beautiful....

The more Evan’s isolated, eccentric neighbor pushes him away, the more he wants her. Her - and all her secrets. Because there’s no way a girl like Ruth truly deserves the town’s scorn.

Is there?

©2018 Nixon House (P)2018 Audible, Inc.

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.

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!

A Girl Like Her

Absolutely loved it!! I enjoyed the story line. I got Caught up in the sexual tension between Evan and Ruth. The narration was Pleasantly enjoyable, I just adored his voice... The timing and pace was just right. Now I want to go on to the next book in the series.

Very Respectfully

Violetia

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

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.

finally--inclusive romance done right!

this book hooked me from page one and kept me on the edge of my seat all the way through. there are so many things to love about this author. her characters are real people, not perfect creations who don't have periods or getting embarrassed or have somehow managed to reach almost 30 and are still virgins. The sex is super hot and consensual. No rapey overtones at all in the seduction. honestly her work is very different from other romance in the best possible way.

Ok

I think describing Ruth as rude and disrespectful is wrong. Her autism makes her a bit terse but not necessarily rude. She’d been verbally abused for years by many people so if she did have an attitude about certain things, it’s understandable.

Don't judge someone

I was going through Audible Romance package, it's now called Audible Escape, and I wanted to know what is out there. Since I am paying a monthly fee I want to get my money's worth. This story came up because I have listened to a couple of interracial stories before. Being a black woman it is very hard to find an author who writes about black women who are not maids, babysitters, or in a subservient role. So when I found out that Ruth is an independent graphic novelist I decided to snatch this book up as soon as humanly possible.

Ruth is physically described as a dark-skinned, full-bodied black woman. She is comfortable within her own skin and decides that if pajama pants and a big t-shirt is what she wants to wear she is going to wear them. I love the fact that she is so comfortable in her own skin as well as having insecurities just like any other woman might. Evan was a bit interesting for me. He gives me people-pleaser vibes but also gives me, I want to help out anybody that I can physically can vibes. As a woman, if my neighbor came up to me and was trying to give me food I would be confused and I would politely tell him I don't know you I don't know the way you cook it might have poison in it no thank you and goodbye. However, Ruth was confused but again she was hungry so she politely took that dish and ate it.

I like the fact that Ruth was autistic. She understands who she is and if someone doesn't like it then that is not her problem. I was a bit confused with the plot. At first I thought Ruth had a brother and then I realized she didn't have a brother. I thought that Ruth gotten raped but she didn't get raped. I had a lot of different guesses throughout the story but all of them were wrong. The story open up with somebody smashing a car but it was not who you thought was smashing a car. I was really intrigued and fascinated with this story.

Talia Hibbert is new to me and I can definitely see myself reading another book from her. I enjoy her writing salad and I enjoy the fact that she kept me guessing throughout this entire book. Rupert Channing is new to me and I have to admit that I really enjoyed his narration. It is kind of hard to listen to a new narrator that you have no idea about because it seems as though the same people narrate all of the audiobooks. So finding a new person is like finding a unicorn in the narration world.

very good

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

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

A mood booster

4.5 stars I've been in a bad mood today so I figured I had to go to a comfort author to help. And boy howdy did she. I didn't expect this to be a dark as it is and my heart kinda broke for everything Ruth went through. Evan was a sweetheart with a bit of baggage of his own. And they work so well together. I'm kicking myself for putting this series off as long as I did

Time passer - not an amazing storyline

The story wasn't really there for me, not deveolped prpperly. There were no big points to the story, the narration was very touch and go.
I also thought the writer may not have been clear on which time period she wanted to set this in.
A lot of old fashioned phrases were used and some of the swearing was just not needed.

Quite disappointed, I don't think I'd buy another book by this author.

Unique Heroine, Excellent Narration

I love it when authors deviate from the usual overly perfect leading lady and write love stories for all the other (i.e. the majority of) women on the planet.

This leading lady and her love interest are a real gift. He's loving and protective without being an OTT Alpha type. He's also not insanely rich and powerful. Hooray for the average guy!

She's prickly and antisocial to start but it only makes you more curious. She grows throughout the story and it's a joy to see her find herself without being dependent on him for her self worth. Neither of them makes stupid decisions or assumptions so the story can move forward. This is a gem!

This is my first book from this author and with Channing doing the narration, I'm so ready for Book 2. A really Enjoyabe listen!