Review: Talia Hibbert's WORK FOR IT.

I received a complimentary ARC of this book from the author but all opinions provided are my own.
 
Um, hello, amazing book.
 
I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I began Talia Hibbert’s Work for It. Maybe this review can help prepare you.
 
Here’s the plot: Olu never told anyone he was gay—until his former lover shared photos of them without Olu’s consent. Now, one year later, he’s depressed, though he wouldn’t use that word to describe his condition, and he prefers to use his prodigious social gifts to hide the truth from everyone. After another failed random hook-up, Olu decides to go on a trip, and an upcoming elderflower harvest in Fernley seems like the most promising opportunity.
 
It’s in Fernley that Olu meets Griff, village giant and village outcast, son of a scandalous woman. Griff has the biggest heart of anyone in Fernley, not that most of the villagers would give him the credit of noticing it. He’s also the production manager at Fernley Farm, where the elderflower harvest is taking place.
 
The same one Olu will be working.
 
Two men, who both have trouble connecting with others, who are haunted by cruel voices, whether they’re from the past or in the careless words/stares of people where they live.
 
Maybe I don’t have to spell out that this book is hard-hitting, that it engaged every emotion, that it took me on an exhilarating journey that blissfully ends in the way that romance novels are supposed to. It’s really exquisitely done.
 
What makes Work for It even better is that the book is funny. Really funny at times. And it’s beautifully written: Hibbert writes stunning imagery—metaphors that kept surprising me—and sentences that lead smoothly, effortlessly, from beginning to HEA.
 
If you need anything else to convince you to pick up this book, let me say that the passion screaming off the pages in this book is so good that (1) there were a few times I didn’t realize that my mouth had been open until I realized that it had closed (2) I realized that it had been open for awhile because my mouth was dry. Oops. But also a sign of crackling chemistry.
 
This book wrecked me a million times over and has a place on my Keeper shelf, where I can stare at the cover and daydream about Olu and Griff and the life they’re living together (ideally: spending time on their elderflower farm with their kids and going to sleep every night with their arms around each other).
 
*Okay. I think I’m done.
 
5 out of 5 stars. Obviously.