During her childhood, Hibbert dealt with negative comments about her dream to be a writer. [8] She used an inheritance from her great-grandmother to finance the beginning of her writing career. [8] She writes under the name Talia Hibbert as "my legal name is apparently difficult to pronounce". [9] She began self-publishing in 2017, putting out ten books in that first year. [10] Her first traditionally published book Get a Life, Chloe Brown was released in 2019 with Avon Romance, and is the first book of a family romance trilogy. [3] [11] [12]
Themes
Many of Hibbert's characters fall under the hashtag #OwnVoices, meaning they are part of a marginalized group Hibbert identifies with. [13] Many of her protagonists are black women. The main character in Get a Life, Chloe Brown lives with chronic pain. [3] [14] In her book A Girl Like Her, the main character, Ruth, is autistic. [8] The third book in The Brown Sisters series, Act Your Age, Eve Brown, features two autistic leads. [2] [15]
Hibbert's stories include characters with a diverse range of body types. [14] She has stated, "...it's always been really, really important to me that I represent diverse body types in my romance to show that all different kinds of people can be attractive and all different kinds of people deserve happy endings." [3]
In Hibbert's book Get a Life, Chloe Brown, she demonstrates the strain that chronic pain can place on both familial and romantic relationships. But, as a romance novel, Get a Life, Chloe Brown also shows how someone with chronic pain is deserving and capable of having a loving relationship. The book explores methods of reasserting a sense of control within a life that was once ruled by illness.
Hibbert's books reflect a change in the romance genre toward explicit consent during intimate scenes. [16] In the author's LGBTQ romance Work For It, one of the protagonists deals with finding love even while living with depression. [5]
