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Boys of Tommen #1
Binding 13
They are from opposites sides of the track - but when their two worlds collide, nothing will ever be the same again.
Johnny Kavanagh has everything going for him. On the rugby pitch, he's a force to be reckoned with. Primed for stardom, he's heading straight for the top. Nothing can possibly get in his way, right? Not even the shy new girl at Tommen College. The one with the sad eyes and hidden bruises. The one that distracts him like no one ever has.
Life has never been easy for Shannon Lynch. Bullied and tortured, she arrives at Tommen College mid-way through the school year praying for a fresh start and desperate to shake off the demons that plague her. On her very first day at the prestigious private school, she comes into contact with the notorious Johnny Kavanagh. Thrown through a hoop over her feelings for him, and desperate to keep a low-profile, Shannon finds herself once again the target of bullies as she forms a fragile alliance with rugby's rising star.
Falling into a complicated friendship and grappling with their undeniable chemistry, Johnny and Shannon could never have foreseen the obstacles that will threaten their blossoming relationship . . .
Johnny Kavanagh has everything going for him. On the rugby pitch, he's a force to be reckoned with. Primed for stardom, he's heading straight for the top. Nothing can possibly get in his way, right? Not even the shy new girl at Tommen College. The one with the sad eyes and hidden bruises. The one that distracts him like no one ever has.
Life has never been easy for Shannon Lynch. Bullied and tortured, she arrives at Tommen College mid-way through the school year praying for a fresh start and desperate to shake off the demons that plague her. On her very first day at the prestigious private school, she comes into contact with the notorious Johnny Kavanagh. Thrown through a hoop over her feelings for him, and desperate to keep a low-profile, Shannon finds herself once again the target of bullies as she forms a fragile alliance with rugby's rising star.
Falling into a complicated friendship and grappling with their undeniable chemistry, Johnny and Shannon could never have foreseen the obstacles that will threaten their blossoming relationship . . .
628 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 18, 2018
About the author
Chloe Walsh
57 books14.4k followersChloe Walsh is the bestselling author of The Boys of Tommen series, which exploded in popularity on TikTok, Goodreads, and Amazon. She has been writing and publishing New Adult and Adult contemporary romance for a decade. Her books have been translated into multiple languages. Animal lover, music addict, TV junkie, Chloe loves spending time with her family and is a passionate advocate for mental health awareness. Chloe lives in Cork, Ireland with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34,525 reviews
October 7, 2024
∞ x ∞ ★’s
⁀➷ ❝binding thirteen,❞ gibsie snickered. ❝little shannon blew that shit clean out of the water.❞
my girl really did that🥹
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
❝bring the lights back, da. light up the world. you need to see this girl.❞
my heart leaped in my chest.
❝me?❞ i squeaked.
❝always you.❞
i have officially found a new favorite series. i’m going to start my review off by quoting myself from an update i posted a couple months ago.
this is just the FIRST book of the series and it has already pulled all of those emotions out of me and more. the butterflies turned into blushing. my ear to ear smile turned into laughter that had me clutching my stomach and gasping for air. my silent cries turned into violent sobs. the rage turned into literal anxiety induced fear. i’ve been chasing all of the feelings i felt when i read the addicted/calloway sisters series. i almost caught up to those feelings when i read the magnolia parks series. now, just after reading book one of boys of tommen, i finally caught and latched onto all of those feelings. it’s been the most beautiful and emotional experience that i can’t wait to share with you all throughout my review🥹
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
❥ 𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓈/𝒶𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓉𝒾𝒸:
➺ friends to lovers
➺ slow burn, tension, angst
➺ sports (rugby)
➺ found family
➺ who did this to you
➺ high school
➺ trauma (search trigger warnings!)
❥ 𝓅𝓁𝑜𝓉 𝓈𝓊𝓂𝓂𝒶𝓇𝓎:
shannon lynch and johnny kavanagh live two very different lives. at only 17 years old, johnny is well on his way to becoming a professional rugby player. he has dedicated his entire life to this sport…rugby being his only focus. no partying, no drinking, no drugs, and especially no girls. shannon lynch is a 15 year old girl in desperate need of a fresh start. when she leaves her bullies behind at her old school and transfers to tommen, her only focus is to keep a low profile. she has secrets that she wants to keep hidden. she trusts no one and tries her best not to be seen. johnny kavanagh sees her though…only her, the mysterious girl with the lonely, sad eyes. he has to stay focused on rugby, but he can’t get the look in her eyes out of his mind. he can’t get her out of his mind. what happens when she suddenly becomes his main focus? will he find out the truth? can she trust him?
❥ 𝓂𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉𝓈:
first and foremost, to my lovely younger readers out there…this series is listed as YA, but please trust me when i tell you that it shouldn’t be. these books have some very dark topics that they focus on so please don’t go into this thinking it’s just about some cute, fluffy romances. with that being said, this book ruined me. you can find my shattered heart scattered throughout every single page, along with all of the dried up tear stains. as heartbreaking as this story is…it’s also healing something inside of me that i didn’t even know needed healing🥹idk how to explain it. a series i went into knowing nothing about and i just immediately felt an overwhelming amount of comfort… like i’ve returned to a home i had in another life. i’m beyond excited, well, very scared, but excited nonetheless to continue this series. scared because the ending of this book was criminal, i’m still shaken up by it🥺
❥ 𝓌𝓇𝒾𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔/𝓅𝒶𝒸𝒾𝓃𝑔:
i enjoyed the writing a lot!! since the story takes place in ireland, a lot of irish slang is used. there’s a glossary in the beginning of the book with the meanings of all the words in case you’re not familiar with them and i loved that!!! it made the writing really easy to read and it was a bonus because i’m irish🥹the writing was absolutely amazing. it blows my mind that a 600+ page book pulled me out of a reading slump that i was stuck in for a month. that’s just how you know the writing was good. as soon as i started this book, i couldn’t put it down. i was completely invested in every single page. a few of you asked me about the size difference of the books and if there was anything cut out. for example, the indie versions were really thick, the uk versions are thick, but the new bloom books editions are way thinner. basically, bloom books made the pages thinner. i’m not too sure how that works, but nothing of the original book was cut out! just thinner pages with a tiny font. please don’t let the length of the book put you off, it’s a long book for a reason. there’s so much story telling and honestly…i’m just sad it wasn’t longer.
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
she closed her eyes and bit down even harder on her lip, so hard that i reached over and pulled it free from her teeth.
”don’t,” i coaxed.
her eyes popped open. “huh?”
”you’ll hurt yourself,” i told her, retracting my hand even though it was the last thing i wanted to do.
╰┈➤about to jump out of a plane with no parachute. they kill me. he kills me😩
when you continue reading, please notice the parallels between the quotes i put underneath johnny and shannon🥹🦋i’m so sick in love.
❥ 𝒿𝑜𝒽𝓃𝓃𝓎 𝓀𝒶𝓋𝒶𝓃𝒶𝑔𝒽
⁀➷ i glanced over at her and bit back a groan. she was so fucking beautiful it was painful, with those big blue eyes staring back at me all innocent and full of uncertainty.
⁀➷ i was starving for her and everything she was. every part of her. inside and out. i wanted to fight all her battles. i wanted to give her all her smiles and make her laugh and snatch her away from the rest of the world and keep her all to myself. i just wanted her. for keeps. that’s how consumed i was in this girl. that’s how much i loved her. fuck.
the hottest thing a man can be is johnny kavanagh. he’s so babygirl. so bf. johnny truly puts the gentle in gentleman. he’s the prettiest shade of green🥹i usually prefer morally grey men, but i’m so soft😩there will never be another fictional man like johnny kavanagh. cut open my heart and you’ll find him there. i love everything about his character. every time he does or says anything, i’m immediately smiling. guys i’m so down bad idek how to explain my feelings about him. i’m flustered. thank god this book was dual pov because being inside of johnny’s beautiful mind?! best experience of my life. i was 5% into the book and instantly found comfort and safety inside of his mind. like please drown me in his thoughts and i promise i’ll die a happy girl. the way this man carries himself is sooooo attractive. he’s insanely confident in everything he does. ugh i’m so in love idk what else to say. all of you need to meet him so we can all scream about him together🫡
❥ 𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓃𝑜𝓃 𝓁𝓎𝓃𝒸𝒽
⁀➷ god, he was just so beautiful, it was painful. everything about johnny kavanagh was pure perfection.
⁀➷ the sheer depth of my feelings for him was unhealthy. the adoration, the lust, the downright infatuation i had for him…it was insanity. i had never felt this much. i had never felt so consumed.
shannon like the river🥹🥹my sweet, precious girl. i would walk through hell and back for her. she’s the type of girl i’d be best friends with. if i could meet one fictional character, it would be her. her strength and resilience is like no other. it’s admirable…inspiring. to go through the things she went through and still keep pushing the way she does, aaaaa i’m getting emotional thinking about it. i would always see people saying that it was annoying how much the book mentioned shannon being super tiny which is completely understandable. but for me, it just made me even more sad. my poor baby🥺if anyone deserves the world, it’s definitely her and i can’t wait to see johnny give her that🥹
❥ 𝓇𝑜𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒:
╭──────༺♡༻──────╮
now playing:
look after you by the fray
1:34 ───|────── 4:27
↻ ◁ 𝕀𝕀 ▷ ↺
volume: ■■■■■□□□
╰──────༺♡༻──────╯
❝𝒉𝒊, 𝒋𝒐𝒉𝒏𝒏𝒚.❞
❝𝒉𝒊, 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒏.❞
╰┈➤ i tabbed every time they said this🦋
shannonjohnny shannonjohnny shannonjohnny!!!! cut me and i’ll bleed them. to be loved is to be seen, to be known. they are and always will be the definition of that😭i promise you guys…i will never read a more precious love story than theirs. i feel their connection and love for one another so deeply it hurts. johnny’s acts of service!? god help me. the tension and the angst…i was fighting for my fucking life. if you’re not into slow burn romance, i really wouldn’t recommend this book, but i’m begging you to give it a try anyways😩because let me tell you…when they finally kiss, butterflies exploded in my stomach. had my stomach doing the thing😭🦋call me dramatic, but it was hotter than any smut i’ve ever read. i know i’ve focused on the romance a lot, especially with my updates while i was reading this book…but i promise you it’s so much more than a romance. so much more. the books are long for good reason so please, if the length is all that’s stopping you from picking it up…don’t even think about it bestie, i promise it’s worth it!🥹
❥ 𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈:
MWAH MWAH MWAH💋💋i better get books for all of them idc how long this series ends up being, it better happen😩
➸ joey lynch:
i fell in love with him after reading the first chapter of this book so imagine me reading his books. i’m not ready😭and i fear i’ll never be ready. his pov will ruin me in every way possible.
➸ aoife molloy:
joey’s precious girlfriend omg. she’s such a sweetheart and i can’t wait to learn more about her. aaaaa i’m gonna love her so much ik it🥺
➸ gerard gibson:
gibsie🥹when i tell you guys this man had me laughing until my stomach hurt. i was laughing so hard i couldn’t breathe at times. he really carried my happiness on his back so it didn’t get left behind😩easily one of my top favorite characters. i can’t wait to get to his book🤭
➸ claire biggs:
claire-bear😭i LOVEEE her. absolutely adore. her being all giddy about johnny and shannon…she’s literally ME. also her being such a good friend to shannon🥹such a sweetheart.
➸ hughie biggs:
claire’s brother who i wanna know more about🤭🤭i can’t remember his gf’s name, but aaaaa they better get a book! i’m already invested in characters i know almost nothing about😭
➸ patrick feely:
all i know is that he’s on the rugby team with johnny, hughie, and gibsie. i think he’s also hughie’s best friend, but all four of them are friends so feely’s book is a MUST. i want all the crumbs of every character in every single book. i need everyone’s pov so bad😩
➸ lizzie young:
another one of shannon’s besties hehe and she’s a grumpy girl so she better get her own book and it better be reverse grumpy sunshine. but i don’t like the guy she’s dating? idek if they’re dating but i don’t like him and i forgot his name LMAO.
❥ 𝒻𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓎:
this trope in this series is going to be so good, it’s already so good. found family is one of my absolute favorites🤭i’ll eat it up every single time. i just want all these characters together all the time. johnny and gibsie’s friendship is the best thing ever. gibsie always calling shannon, “little shannon”, has me like🥹the friendship blossoming between joey, johnny, and gibsie. i can’t wait omg. joey calls gibsie, “gussie”, and gibsie calls joey, “lynchy”, I LOVE IT SM. claire, shannon, and lizzie hung out and watched one tree hill together. my favorite fucking show 😩i’m addicted to these characters and just want more. the books are so long, but i fear it still won’t be enough for me and that’s a terrifying thought. i can already feel the hangover🫠
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
❥ 𝓂𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝒹𝒹𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝓎 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒹:
”i need to talk to you,” i announced when i reached him.
”leave.”
nodding, i turned to leave, feeling thoroughly deflated, only to have a warm hand wrap around my wrist and pull me back to his side.
”not you,” johnny whispered in my ear, settling me in front of him. “them.” his blue-eyed gaze darted to the two older boys watching us with curious expressions, and in a tone that left no room for discussion, he said, “go.”
╰┈➤A MAN!!!!!! a man. that was hot.
”you’re beautiful,” he stated, causing my cheeks to flush a deep shade of pink.
a boy had never called me beautiful before. not like this. not with such forwardness. not with such sincerity.
he tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, and whispered, “inside and out.”
those extra words ruined me.
”i am?”
he nodded slowly. “everywhere.”
oh god. my heart.
╰┈➤i can’t. i’d fold so fast.
“give me your legs.”
“my wh-what?” i spluttered, breathing erratic.
“your legs. seems only fair since i’m taking up all the legroom.”
“you want me to put my legs on you?”
“i want you to be comfortable.”
“uh, okay?” blowing out a shaky breath, i gingerly shifted my legs onto his lap. “is that good for you?”
”yeah, shan.” offering me a smile, “you’re good for me.”
”huh?”
”it,” he corrected gruffly, and then roughly cleared his throat. “it’s good for me.”
╰┈➤had me screaming into my pillow😭
”hey, it’s little shannon,” gibsie chirped. “did johnny manage to coax you inside, or was it the smell of my fucking amazing cooking that drew you in?”
”you cooked one egg, gibs, under my supervision,” joey piped up. “you’re no darina allen.”
”thank fuck for that, lynchy. i like my man parts.”
╰┈➤I WAS CACKLING😂😂😂
”i’m going to hug you,” johnny whispered in my ear. “tell me if that’s not okay.”
╰┈➤protect this man at all costs.
reaching up with one hand, johnny cupped my chin and used his free hand to gently sweep my hair off my neck.
then his fingers were tracing the bruises on my neck, his featherlight touch making my entire body tremble.
”someone touched you,” johnny whispered in my ear, placing his fingers on the marks. “i want to know who.”
the air escaped my lungs in an audible gasp. unable to stop myself, i sagged against his chest, eyes glued to our reflection in the mirror as he stared right back at me, blue eyes scorching holes in my soul.
”tell me who put their hands on you,” he coaxed as he stood behind me, my face in his hand and his fingers on my throat. “and i’ll make it better.”
╰┈➤the way this scene was so fucking heartbreaking, but so intimate at the same time and it has me wanting to walk straight into traffic!
i thought about that for a moment.
”do you mind?” i asked then.
he smirked. “no, baby, i don’t mind.”
my heart stopped in my chest.
╰┈➤I FUCKING SCREAMED. closed my book so quick and screamed. i wish y’all saw my reaction.
”who’s making you sad?” he asked me, voice sleepy. “tell me, baby.”
”johnny—“
”who’s hurting you, baby? i’ll fix it.”
╰┈➤HIM CALLING HER BABY IS MY UNDOING.
❥ 𝒻𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝓆𝓊𝑜𝓉𝑒𝓈:
➛ she looked right through all the bullshit. seeing me. seeing only me. and that made me want to move some shit around and place her slap-bang in the middle of my world.
➛ she had her arms wrapped protectively around herself, with her long brown hair drenched from the rain and sticking in wet clumps to her face. in my whole life, i’d never seen anything so beautiful.
➛ the minute my eyes landed on her, i knew i was in trouble.
➛ shannon lynch utterly disarmed me.
➛ ❝i reckon i can make those pretty cheeks of your turn pink.❞ *instantly blushes* guys, it’s true🤭
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
❥ 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓎𝓁𝒾𝓈𝓉:
- iris by the goo goo dolls
- someone to you by banners
- can i be him by james arthur
- i like me better by lauv
- ever the same by rob thomas
╰┈➤ just let me hold you while you’re fallin’ apart. just let me hold you and we’ll both fall down. fall on me, tell me everything you want me to be. forever with you, forever in me, ever the same.
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
❥ 𝒷𝑜𝓃𝓊𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓃𝓉:
some of johnny’s thoughts that had me cheesing, squealing, blushing, fighting for my fucking life, etc.
you could love this girl your whole life, the crazy thought persisted inside my brain over and over, if you just let yourself.
straight to your house because i wanna fuck your sister, i thought to myself. i smirked at the fabulous notion, and then hunted the crazy thought away with a shake of my head.
probably love her, too, i mused to myself, a fucking lot.
”you would do that for me?”
i would pretty much do anything for you.
”um, yeah, sure—of course,” shannon mumbled, falling over her words in that adorable way she did when she was flustered.
don’t worry, baby, i thought to myself. i’m flustered too.
i’m forever undone. it should be illegal to be this attractive😩🦋
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
❥ 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓁 𝓂𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒶𝑔𝑒:
this review is extremely long and i almost want to apologize, but i’m not going to. i love this book sm! i want to be able to look back on this review, reminisce, and relive my experience reading it for the first time🥺
❝boom, boom, fucking boom. i’m done for.❞
⁀➷ ❝binding thirteen,❞ gibsie snickered. ❝little shannon blew that shit clean out of the water.❞
my girl really did that🥹
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
𝓼𝓹𝓸𝓲𝓵𝓮𝓻 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓮 𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀
❝bring the lights back, da. light up the world. you need to see this girl.❞
my heart leaped in my chest.
❝me?❞ i squeaked.
❝always you.❞
i have officially found a new favorite series. i’m going to start my review off by quoting myself from an update i posted a couple months ago.
╰┈➤ there’s just something so beautiful about books that can pull every single emotion out of you. the butterflies i get, finding myself smiling from ear to ear, noticing i’m silently crying when a tear drops and hits the page, even the rage i feel that lets me know how deeply connected i am with a story and/or character. nothing will ever make me feel more alive than reading.
this is just the FIRST book of the series and it has already pulled all of those emotions out of me and more. the butterflies turned into blushing. my ear to ear smile turned into laughter that had me clutching my stomach and gasping for air. my silent cries turned into violent sobs. the rage turned into literal anxiety induced fear. i’ve been chasing all of the feelings i felt when i read the addicted/calloway sisters series. i almost caught up to those feelings when i read the magnolia parks series. now, just after reading book one of boys of tommen, i finally caught and latched onto all of those feelings. it’s been the most beautiful and emotional experience that i can’t wait to share with you all throughout my review🥹
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
❥ 𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓈/𝒶𝑒𝓈𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓉𝒾𝒸:
➺ friends to lovers
➺ slow burn, tension, angst
➺ sports (rugby)
➺ found family
➺ who did this to you
➺ high school
➺ trauma (search trigger warnings!)
❥ 𝓅𝓁𝑜𝓉 𝓈𝓊𝓂𝓂𝒶𝓇𝓎:
shannon lynch and johnny kavanagh live two very different lives. at only 17 years old, johnny is well on his way to becoming a professional rugby player. he has dedicated his entire life to this sport…rugby being his only focus. no partying, no drinking, no drugs, and especially no girls. shannon lynch is a 15 year old girl in desperate need of a fresh start. when she leaves her bullies behind at her old school and transfers to tommen, her only focus is to keep a low profile. she has secrets that she wants to keep hidden. she trusts no one and tries her best not to be seen. johnny kavanagh sees her though…only her, the mysterious girl with the lonely, sad eyes. he has to stay focused on rugby, but he can’t get the look in her eyes out of his mind. he can’t get her out of his mind. what happens when she suddenly becomes his main focus? will he find out the truth? can she trust him?
❥ 𝓂𝓎 𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓊𝑔𝒽𝓉𝓈:
first and foremost, to my lovely younger readers out there…this series is listed as YA, but please trust me when i tell you that it shouldn’t be. these books have some very dark topics that they focus on so please don’t go into this thinking it’s just about some cute, fluffy romances. with that being said, this book ruined me. you can find my shattered heart scattered throughout every single page, along with all of the dried up tear stains. as heartbreaking as this story is…it’s also healing something inside of me that i didn’t even know needed healing🥹idk how to explain it. a series i went into knowing nothing about and i just immediately felt an overwhelming amount of comfort… like i’ve returned to a home i had in another life. i’m beyond excited, well, very scared, but excited nonetheless to continue this series. scared because the ending of this book was criminal, i’m still shaken up by it🥺
❥ 𝓌𝓇𝒾𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔/𝓅𝒶𝒸𝒾𝓃𝑔:
i enjoyed the writing a lot!! since the story takes place in ireland, a lot of irish slang is used. there’s a glossary in the beginning of the book with the meanings of all the words in case you’re not familiar with them and i loved that!!! it made the writing really easy to read and it was a bonus because i’m irish🥹the writing was absolutely amazing. it blows my mind that a 600+ page book pulled me out of a reading slump that i was stuck in for a month. that’s just how you know the writing was good. as soon as i started this book, i couldn’t put it down. i was completely invested in every single page. a few of you asked me about the size difference of the books and if there was anything cut out. for example, the indie versions were really thick, the uk versions are thick, but the new bloom books editions are way thinner. basically, bloom books made the pages thinner. i’m not too sure how that works, but nothing of the original book was cut out! just thinner pages with a tiny font. please don’t let the length of the book put you off, it’s a long book for a reason. there’s so much story telling and honestly…i’m just sad it wasn’t longer.
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
she closed her eyes and bit down even harder on her lip, so hard that i reached over and pulled it free from her teeth.
”don’t,” i coaxed.
her eyes popped open. “huh?”
”you’ll hurt yourself,” i told her, retracting my hand even though it was the last thing i wanted to do.
╰┈➤about to jump out of a plane with no parachute. they kill me. he kills me😩
when you continue reading, please notice the parallels between the quotes i put underneath johnny and shannon🥹🦋i’m so sick in love.
❥ 𝒿𝑜𝒽𝓃𝓃𝓎 𝓀𝒶𝓋𝒶𝓃𝒶𝑔𝒽
⁀➷ i glanced over at her and bit back a groan. she was so fucking beautiful it was painful, with those big blue eyes staring back at me all innocent and full of uncertainty.
⁀➷ i was starving for her and everything she was. every part of her. inside and out. i wanted to fight all her battles. i wanted to give her all her smiles and make her laugh and snatch her away from the rest of the world and keep her all to myself. i just wanted her. for keeps. that’s how consumed i was in this girl. that’s how much i loved her. fuck.
the hottest thing a man can be is johnny kavanagh. he’s so babygirl. so bf. johnny truly puts the gentle in gentleman. he’s the prettiest shade of green🥹i usually prefer morally grey men, but i’m so soft😩there will never be another fictional man like johnny kavanagh. cut open my heart and you’ll find him there. i love everything about his character. every time he does or says anything, i’m immediately smiling. guys i’m so down bad idek how to explain my feelings about him. i’m flustered. thank god this book was dual pov because being inside of johnny’s beautiful mind?! best experience of my life. i was 5% into the book and instantly found comfort and safety inside of his mind. like please drown me in his thoughts and i promise i’ll die a happy girl. the way this man carries himself is sooooo attractive. he’s insanely confident in everything he does. ugh i’m so in love idk what else to say. all of you need to meet him so we can all scream about him together🫡
❥ 𝓈𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓃𝑜𝓃 𝓁𝓎𝓃𝒸𝒽
⁀➷ god, he was just so beautiful, it was painful. everything about johnny kavanagh was pure perfection.
⁀➷ the sheer depth of my feelings for him was unhealthy. the adoration, the lust, the downright infatuation i had for him…it was insanity. i had never felt this much. i had never felt so consumed.
shannon like the river🥹🥹my sweet, precious girl. i would walk through hell and back for her. she’s the type of girl i’d be best friends with. if i could meet one fictional character, it would be her. her strength and resilience is like no other. it’s admirable…inspiring. to go through the things she went through and still keep pushing the way she does, aaaaa i’m getting emotional thinking about it. i would always see people saying that it was annoying how much the book mentioned shannon being super tiny which is completely understandable. but for me, it just made me even more sad. my poor baby🥺if anyone deserves the world, it’s definitely her and i can’t wait to see johnny give her that🥹
❥ 𝓇𝑜𝓂𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒:
╭──────༺♡༻──────╮
now playing:
look after you by the fray
1:34 ───|────── 4:27
↻ ◁ 𝕀𝕀 ▷ ↺
volume: ■■■■■□□□
╰──────༺♡༻──────╯
❝𝒉𝒊, 𝒋𝒐𝒉𝒏𝒏𝒚.❞
❝𝒉𝒊, 𝒔𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒏.❞
╰┈➤ i tabbed every time they said this🦋
shannonjohnny shannonjohnny shannonjohnny!!!! cut me and i’ll bleed them. to be loved is to be seen, to be known. they are and always will be the definition of that😭i promise you guys…i will never read a more precious love story than theirs. i feel their connection and love for one another so deeply it hurts. johnny’s acts of service!? god help me. the tension and the angst…i was fighting for my fucking life. if you’re not into slow burn romance, i really wouldn’t recommend this book, but i’m begging you to give it a try anyways😩because let me tell you…when they finally kiss, butterflies exploded in my stomach. had my stomach doing the thing😭🦋call me dramatic, but it was hotter than any smut i’ve ever read. i know i’ve focused on the romance a lot, especially with my updates while i was reading this book…but i promise you it’s so much more than a romance. so much more. the books are long for good reason so please, if the length is all that’s stopping you from picking it up…don’t even think about it bestie, i promise it’s worth it!🥹
❥ 𝓈𝒾𝒹𝑒 𝒸𝒽𝒶𝓇𝒶𝒸𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓈:
MWAH MWAH MWAH💋💋i better get books for all of them idc how long this series ends up being, it better happen😩
➸ joey lynch:
i fell in love with him after reading the first chapter of this book so imagine me reading his books. i’m not ready😭and i fear i’ll never be ready. his pov will ruin me in every way possible.
➸ aoife molloy:
joey’s precious girlfriend omg. she’s such a sweetheart and i can’t wait to learn more about her. aaaaa i’m gonna love her so much ik it🥺
➸ gerard gibson:
gibsie🥹when i tell you guys this man had me laughing until my stomach hurt. i was laughing so hard i couldn’t breathe at times. he really carried my happiness on his back so it didn’t get left behind😩easily one of my top favorite characters. i can’t wait to get to his book🤭
➸ claire biggs:
claire-bear😭i LOVEEE her. absolutely adore. her being all giddy about johnny and shannon…she’s literally ME. also her being such a good friend to shannon🥹such a sweetheart.
➸ hughie biggs:
claire’s brother who i wanna know more about🤭🤭i can’t remember his gf’s name, but aaaaa they better get a book! i’m already invested in characters i know almost nothing about😭
➸ patrick feely:
all i know is that he’s on the rugby team with johnny, hughie, and gibsie. i think he’s also hughie’s best friend, but all four of them are friends so feely’s book is a MUST. i want all the crumbs of every character in every single book. i need everyone’s pov so bad😩
➸ lizzie young:
another one of shannon’s besties hehe and she’s a grumpy girl so she better get her own book and it better be reverse grumpy sunshine. but i don’t like the guy she’s dating? idek if they’re dating but i don’t like him and i forgot his name LMAO.
❥ 𝒻𝑜𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝒻𝒶𝓂𝒾𝓁𝓎:
this trope in this series is going to be so good, it’s already so good. found family is one of my absolute favorites🤭i’ll eat it up every single time. i just want all these characters together all the time. johnny and gibsie’s friendship is the best thing ever. gibsie always calling shannon, “little shannon”, has me like🥹the friendship blossoming between joey, johnny, and gibsie. i can’t wait omg. joey calls gibsie, “gussie”, and gibsie calls joey, “lynchy”, I LOVE IT SM. claire, shannon, and lizzie hung out and watched one tree hill together. my favorite fucking show 😩i’m addicted to these characters and just want more. the books are so long, but i fear it still won’t be enough for me and that’s a terrifying thought. i can already feel the hangover🫠
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
❥ 𝓂𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓃𝓉𝓈 𝑒𝓂𝒷𝑒𝒹𝒹𝑒𝒹 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑜 𝓂𝓎 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒹:
”i need to talk to you,” i announced when i reached him.
”leave.”
nodding, i turned to leave, feeling thoroughly deflated, only to have a warm hand wrap around my wrist and pull me back to his side.
”not you,” johnny whispered in my ear, settling me in front of him. “them.” his blue-eyed gaze darted to the two older boys watching us with curious expressions, and in a tone that left no room for discussion, he said, “go.”
╰┈➤A MAN!!!!!! a man. that was hot.
”you’re beautiful,” he stated, causing my cheeks to flush a deep shade of pink.
a boy had never called me beautiful before. not like this. not with such forwardness. not with such sincerity.
he tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear, and whispered, “inside and out.”
those extra words ruined me.
”i am?”
he nodded slowly. “everywhere.”
oh god. my heart.
╰┈➤i can’t. i’d fold so fast.
“give me your legs.”
“my wh-what?” i spluttered, breathing erratic.
“your legs. seems only fair since i’m taking up all the legroom.”
“you want me to put my legs on you?”
“i want you to be comfortable.”
“uh, okay?” blowing out a shaky breath, i gingerly shifted my legs onto his lap. “is that good for you?”
”yeah, shan.” offering me a smile, “you’re good for me.”
”huh?”
”it,” he corrected gruffly, and then roughly cleared his throat. “it’s good for me.”
╰┈➤had me screaming into my pillow😭
”hey, it’s little shannon,” gibsie chirped. “did johnny manage to coax you inside, or was it the smell of my fucking amazing cooking that drew you in?”
”you cooked one egg, gibs, under my supervision,” joey piped up. “you’re no darina allen.”
”thank fuck for that, lynchy. i like my man parts.”
╰┈➤I WAS CACKLING😂😂😂
”i’m going to hug you,” johnny whispered in my ear. “tell me if that’s not okay.”
╰┈➤protect this man at all costs.
reaching up with one hand, johnny cupped my chin and used his free hand to gently sweep my hair off my neck.
then his fingers were tracing the bruises on my neck, his featherlight touch making my entire body tremble.
”someone touched you,” johnny whispered in my ear, placing his fingers on the marks. “i want to know who.”
the air escaped my lungs in an audible gasp. unable to stop myself, i sagged against his chest, eyes glued to our reflection in the mirror as he stared right back at me, blue eyes scorching holes in my soul.
”tell me who put their hands on you,” he coaxed as he stood behind me, my face in his hand and his fingers on my throat. “and i’ll make it better.”
╰┈➤the way this scene was so fucking heartbreaking, but so intimate at the same time and it has me wanting to walk straight into traffic!
i thought about that for a moment.
”do you mind?” i asked then.
he smirked. “no, baby, i don’t mind.”
my heart stopped in my chest.
╰┈➤I FUCKING SCREAMED. closed my book so quick and screamed. i wish y’all saw my reaction.
”who’s making you sad?” he asked me, voice sleepy. “tell me, baby.”
”johnny—“
”who’s hurting you, baby? i’ll fix it.”
╰┈➤HIM CALLING HER BABY IS MY UNDOING.
❥ 𝒻𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝓆𝓊𝑜𝓉𝑒𝓈:
➛ she looked right through all the bullshit. seeing me. seeing only me. and that made me want to move some shit around and place her slap-bang in the middle of my world.
➛ she had her arms wrapped protectively around herself, with her long brown hair drenched from the rain and sticking in wet clumps to her face. in my whole life, i’d never seen anything so beautiful.
➛ the minute my eyes landed on her, i knew i was in trouble.
➛ shannon lynch utterly disarmed me.
➛ ❝i reckon i can make those pretty cheeks of your turn pink.❞ *instantly blushes* guys, it’s true🤭
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
❥ 𝓅𝓁𝒶𝓎𝓁𝒾𝓈𝓉:
- iris by the goo goo dolls
- someone to you by banners
- can i be him by james arthur
- i like me better by lauv
- ever the same by rob thomas
╰┈➤ just let me hold you while you’re fallin’ apart. just let me hold you and we’ll both fall down. fall on me, tell me everything you want me to be. forever with you, forever in me, ever the same.
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
❥ 𝒷𝑜𝓃𝓊𝓈 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓃𝓉:
some of johnny’s thoughts that had me cheesing, squealing, blushing, fighting for my fucking life, etc.
you could love this girl your whole life, the crazy thought persisted inside my brain over and over, if you just let yourself.
straight to your house because i wanna fuck your sister, i thought to myself. i smirked at the fabulous notion, and then hunted the crazy thought away with a shake of my head.
probably love her, too, i mused to myself, a fucking lot.
”you would do that for me?”
i would pretty much do anything for you.
”um, yeah, sure—of course,” shannon mumbled, falling over her words in that adorable way she did when she was flustered.
don’t worry, baby, i thought to myself. i’m flustered too.
i’m forever undone. it should be illegal to be this attractive😩🦋
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
❥ 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒶𝓁 𝓂𝑒𝓈𝓈𝒶𝑔𝑒:
this review is extremely long and i almost want to apologize, but i’m not going to. i love this book sm! i want to be able to look back on this review, reminisce, and relive my experience reading it for the first time🥺
❝boom, boom, fucking boom. i’m done for.❞
October 12, 2023
worst $6 i have ever spent in my mf life. reading this book was the equivalent to ripping out each individual hair follicle on my head.
i actually can't believe i avoided every spoiler on this book like the mf plague thinking this series was gonna be a banger. all that hard work for nothing. wattpad, i'm so sorry for ever comparing this book to you. i've read books on wattpad a million times better than whatever the fuck i just read.
alright lets begin.
the length. the length of this book is enough to make me go dizzy. 626 pages in the copy i had, but other copies have over 800 pages. what is going on here? chloe walsh, may i introduce you to an editor perhaps? this book did not need to be as long as it was. and i genuinely thought since it was so long there would actually be shit happening in the book. i was mistaken. the book had absolutely nothing going on for about 99% of it, and that's me being generous.
chloe walsh must have thought she was saving the environment the way she recycled every single conversation and plot overnovernovernover again. basically just johnny driving shannon home every day and them having the same conversations. didn't realize he was signing up to be her chauffeur.
shannon
why in the fucking hell did i need to hear how small shannon like the river is every 5 seconds? there is absolutely no reason for me to be reading about how small she is the number of times i did. WE FUCKING GET IT. i was tired of it by the second page. yes, the second page. you read that correctly. it had already been mentioned at least 5 times by then. and then a million more times afterwards. shannon like the river and her tiny bone structure. she's so small and unable to do anything for herself. she needs literally anyone else to help her do the most basic human tasks.
the way this character is infantilized and then sexualized is disturbing. they constantly remind us of how tiny she is and how she acts like a child. she legitimately cannot do anything without needing help from someone else. you would think she would have some sort of development by the end of the book but she remains unchanged. her whole home life plot is explored so little you could literally forget its a factor. the book had more than enough pages to delve into that plot. but all we're supposed to care about is this girl's constant loop of a relationship with the popular rugby player. not the reason why she is literally emotionally and physically stunted. she acts like a child but we're told she's actually "mature" lol okay. and then they love to mention her body every 5 seconds and how hot johnny and other boys find her.
johnny
genuinely thought his name was josh the entire first half of the book. i hate this kid. all he did was talk about his dick for half the book, and how hot and tiny shannon like the river is and everything he wanted to do to her. being inside his head was the most painful experience of my life. the repetitive nonstop inner monologues really made me homicidal. pure torture it was putting myself through this. i could skip pages and still wind up back in the same spot.
he loved to create problems for him and shannon like the river out of thin air. one of the dumbest characters i've read about in a while. it was fun laughing at him sometimes though so at least there's that.
where was the love? the chemistry? the connection? there was over 600 pages and somehow nothing to convince me these two were made for each other. johnny needs to get his ass back to dublin and shannon like the river needs years of therapy and a stable household.
anyways see below the big josh and tiny shannon. how lovely!
joey
he barely was in this book but he is the only good thing in it. carried the book. there is no way i would enjoy any other book in this series, but this man is a gem. i will appreciate his character from afar but i truly do love him so much.
i brought the review back bc fuck the bullies yall can stay mad.
───
when the plan to br finally makes it out the dms 🤭 iqra lets hope we love it or hate it together <3
i actually can't believe i avoided every spoiler on this book like the mf plague thinking this series was gonna be a banger. all that hard work for nothing. wattpad, i'm so sorry for ever comparing this book to you. i've read books on wattpad a million times better than whatever the fuck i just read.
alright lets begin.
the length. the length of this book is enough to make me go dizzy. 626 pages in the copy i had, but other copies have over 800 pages. what is going on here? chloe walsh, may i introduce you to an editor perhaps? this book did not need to be as long as it was. and i genuinely thought since it was so long there would actually be shit happening in the book. i was mistaken. the book had absolutely nothing going on for about 99% of it, and that's me being generous.
chloe walsh must have thought she was saving the environment the way she recycled every single conversation and plot overnovernovernover again. basically just johnny driving shannon home every day and them having the same conversations. didn't realize he was signing up to be her chauffeur.
shannon
why in the fucking hell did i need to hear how small shannon like the river is every 5 seconds? there is absolutely no reason for me to be reading about how small she is the number of times i did. WE FUCKING GET IT. i was tired of it by the second page. yes, the second page. you read that correctly. it had already been mentioned at least 5 times by then. and then a million more times afterwards. shannon like the river and her tiny bone structure. she's so small and unable to do anything for herself. she needs literally anyone else to help her do the most basic human tasks.
the way this character is infantilized and then sexualized is disturbing. they constantly remind us of how tiny she is and how she acts like a child. she legitimately cannot do anything without needing help from someone else. you would think she would have some sort of development by the end of the book but she remains unchanged. her whole home life plot is explored so little you could literally forget its a factor. the book had more than enough pages to delve into that plot. but all we're supposed to care about is this girl's constant loop of a relationship with the popular rugby player. not the reason why she is literally emotionally and physically stunted. she acts like a child but we're told she's actually "mature" lol okay. and then they love to mention her body every 5 seconds and how hot johnny and other boys find her.
johnny
genuinely thought his name was josh the entire first half of the book. i hate this kid. all he did was talk about his dick for half the book, and how hot and tiny shannon like the river is and everything he wanted to do to her. being inside his head was the most painful experience of my life. the repetitive nonstop inner monologues really made me homicidal. pure torture it was putting myself through this. i could skip pages and still wind up back in the same spot.
he loved to create problems for him and shannon like the river out of thin air. one of the dumbest characters i've read about in a while. it was fun laughing at him sometimes though so at least there's that.
where was the love? the chemistry? the connection? there was over 600 pages and somehow nothing to convince me these two were made for each other. johnny needs to get his ass back to dublin and shannon like the river needs years of therapy and a stable household.
anyways see below the big josh and tiny shannon. how lovely!
joey
he barely was in this book but he is the only good thing in it. carried the book. there is no way i would enjoy any other book in this series, but this man is a gem. i will appreciate his character from afar but i truly do love him so much.
i brought the review back bc fuck the bullies yall can stay mad.
───
when the plan to br finally makes it out the dms 🤭 iqra lets hope we love it or hate it together <3
September 17, 2023
it’s been a long time since I’ve read a book where i don’t want it to end.
i was expecting this book to be the typical high school romance where jock meets shy girl and ya it kinda is but it’s definitely much more. i love books that focuses on the characters, friendships, relationships and family dynamics and this book has all of it. tbh, i wasn’t gonna read this book but the rating is so high and i was curious and all but i’m so glad i did.
ALSO, i wasn’t expecting this book to have a Mariana Zapata type of slow burn and i was all for it. and i know this book is long af but it’s like that because there’s more showing than telling and i loved this.
story & characters
this book is long af but it didn’t feel long. if books are like this, you know it’s really freakin good and it is.
what drew me in are the characters. the story is pretty simple: girl gets bullied in her old school, she transfers to a more preppy/private school, she meets the most popular guy who also happens to be a rugby prodigy, they fall in love slowly but they both hide it from each other cuz duh its forbidden and all that. you know the drill. but the characters? fucking great. they were so relatable, hilarious, and the banter? the best thing i’ve read in a long time.
the side characters, Gibsie (H bff) and Claire (h bff) are THE BEST. i don’t think i’ve ever laughed so hard, i feel nonexistent abs forming on my tummy until Gibsie is introduced in my book-life. and Claire? she’s the kind of friend every girl needs. both of these characters’ loyalty and support was so refreshing to read, i just love em and i ship both of these characters so bad too.
Shannon (h) & Johnny (H)
i felt so bad for Shannon that i just wanted to protect her from every single person who bullied and abused her. and knowing and reading about how she was being abused by her father? ughhhhh MY HEART. Shannon may seem weak, innocent, awkward, and naive (which is understandable after what she’s been through), but she’s actually so fucking strong, mature, the sweetest thing ever, and quite admirable tbh.
and omfg Johnny is the best hero i’ve read in a loooong time. he’s the perfect balance of sweet and alpha/protective/possessive type of hero. even though his pushing away from the heroine and implicitly leading her on frustrated me to no end, i’m still really glad that he was the one doing most of the chase. he may say to her he’s not interested but i mean, actions speak louder than words right?
im also so glad that Shannon calls Johnny out when he makes mistakes instead of just “giving in” just because, you know, he’s hot. ugh *cue eyeroll*. i’ve seen this trend in soo many NA books that it’s annoying as hell but thank god Shannon ain’t one of those weak and doormat/horny heroines.
drama
wellll most of the drama here is the push and pull from both MCs, it can get frustrating, not gonna lie, but it’s definitely worth it.
the OW drama here was kinda entertaining but also kinda not important? i don’t know it just feels like it’s there for the sake of drama or putting a wedge between the MCs and im honestly not complaining because i’ve been in the mood for petty teenage drama for quite a while.
anywaysss, this book doesn’t have sex in it and it focuses a lot more on the stages of slowly and innocently (but genuinely) falling in love with your soulmate so if you like that, i recommend this 100%.
i was expecting this book to be the typical high school romance where jock meets shy girl and ya it kinda is but it’s definitely much more. i love books that focuses on the characters, friendships, relationships and family dynamics and this book has all of it. tbh, i wasn’t gonna read this book but the rating is so high and i was curious and all but i’m so glad i did.
ALSO, i wasn’t expecting this book to have a Mariana Zapata type of slow burn and i was all for it. and i know this book is long af but it’s like that because there’s more showing than telling and i loved this.
story & characters
this book is long af but it didn’t feel long. if books are like this, you know it’s really freakin good and it is.
what drew me in are the characters. the story is pretty simple: girl gets bullied in her old school, she transfers to a more preppy/private school, she meets the most popular guy who also happens to be a rugby prodigy, they fall in love slowly but they both hide it from each other cuz duh its forbidden and all that. you know the drill. but the characters? fucking great. they were so relatable, hilarious, and the banter? the best thing i’ve read in a long time.
the side characters, Gibsie (H bff) and Claire (h bff) are THE BEST. i don’t think i’ve ever laughed so hard, i feel nonexistent abs forming on my tummy until Gibsie is introduced in my book-life. and Claire? she’s the kind of friend every girl needs. both of these characters’ loyalty and support was so refreshing to read, i just love em and i ship both of these characters so bad too.
Shannon (h) & Johnny (H)
i felt so bad for Shannon that i just wanted to protect her from every single person who bullied and abused her. and knowing and reading about how she was being abused by her father? ughhhhh MY HEART. Shannon may seem weak, innocent, awkward, and naive (which is understandable after what she’s been through), but she’s actually so fucking strong, mature, the sweetest thing ever, and quite admirable tbh.
and omfg Johnny is the best hero i’ve read in a loooong time. he’s the perfect balance of sweet and alpha/protective/possessive type of hero. even though his pushing away from the heroine and implicitly leading her on frustrated me to no end, i’m still really glad that he was the one doing most of the chase. he may say to her he’s not interested but i mean, actions speak louder than words right?
im also so glad that Shannon calls Johnny out when he makes mistakes instead of just “giving in” just because, you know, he’s hot. ugh *cue eyeroll*. i’ve seen this trend in soo many NA books that it’s annoying as hell but thank god Shannon ain’t one of those weak and doormat/horny heroines.
drama
wellll most of the drama here is the push and pull from both MCs, it can get frustrating, not gonna lie, but it’s definitely worth it.
the OW drama here was kinda entertaining but also kinda not important? i don’t know it just feels like it’s there for the sake of drama or putting a wedge between the MCs and im honestly not complaining because i’ve been in the mood for petty teenage drama for quite a while.
anywaysss, this book doesn’t have sex in it and it focuses a lot more on the stages of slowly and innocently (but genuinely) falling in love with your soulmate so if you like that, i recommend this 100%.
May 21, 2024
"Boom, boom, fucking boom...
I'm done for."
Am honestly at a loss for words. I loved this book so much, it's definitely one of my favorites from now on. Y'all that ending was so heart breaking and yet I find myself being happy and loving that pain cause the book was THAT good. In no way it's a perfect book, it's flawed and the writing may not work for everyone, the pacing is slow but the characters and story are simply captivating.
In this character driven story, you'll find yourself rooting for them, understanding their pain and trauma, focusing on relationships, family dynamics and their growth as individuals.
✔️ Sports romance (rugby)
✔️ High School romance
✔️ Slow burn
✔️ Dual pov
✔️ Set in Ireland during the timeframe of 2005
✔️ Found family
✔️ "Who did this to you"
It's only after I bought the whole series that I found out it's a high school romance, it did make me skeptical yet it worked out brilliantly. I especially loved how the actual sport played an important part in the story. I absolutely LOVE watching rugby, so having the inclusion of that made it even a better experience for me.
Coming to the characters, Shannon and Johnny have my heart. These two are so adorable and so smitten by each other. I loved seeing them progress as strangers, to friends and eventually finally accepting their feelings for each other. The romance is so sweet and had me giggling.
🩷Shannon is one of those characters who deserve the whole freaking world. She's been through so much, I wish I could give her the biggest hug. I honestly don't understand how people can find her annoying. Poor girl is so vulnerable and to see her open her heart and start trusting Johnny was such a proud moment for me. I hate what's happening to her. I wish she would reach out and accept help, I simply wish someone would save her and her brothers 😭
🏉Johnny is a fun, dorky and such a loving character. I admire his dedication to rugby and how loyal his teammates are to him, and he to them. His persona instantly puts people at ease and also the guy is straightforward- me likey. But to see him put himself through so much pain to achieve his goals was heartbreaking. I found myself relating to some of his struggles as I have been going through the same, so he does have a soft spot in my heart. I loved the scene in the hospital when he was high tbh, it was funny and so honest from him lol.
The side characters are equally impactful and so easy to like. Joey is someone am really rooting for. I want to see him happy so bad it breaks my heart. I want to get to know Aoife more, she seems so sweet. Claire and Gibsie? Oh gosh, I ship it so hard 😩😩 I love Gibsie, he's so loyal and the sense of humor is elite lol. Lizzy seems upfront and seems to be hiding her own struggles but that's all I know about her. Shannon's parents and Bella can die, if I start ranting about how much I hate them this review will never end.
The ending broke me as it ends on a sad and brutal note. I was expecting it to happen yet it hurt so bad. I have so much hope for the next book, hopefully will love it the same if not more.
Highly recommended.
Please check trigger warnings before reading this book.
~•~•~
Am so intimidated by the size of this book but IT'S TIMEEEEEE
I'm done for."
Am honestly at a loss for words. I loved this book so much, it's definitely one of my favorites from now on. Y'all that ending was so heart breaking and yet I find myself being happy and loving that pain cause the book was THAT good. In no way it's a perfect book, it's flawed and the writing may not work for everyone, the pacing is slow but the characters and story are simply captivating.
In this character driven story, you'll find yourself rooting for them, understanding their pain and trauma, focusing on relationships, family dynamics and their growth as individuals.
✔️ Sports romance (rugby)
✔️ High School romance
✔️ Slow burn
✔️ Dual pov
✔️ Set in Ireland during the timeframe of 2005
✔️ Found family
✔️ "Who did this to you"
It's only after I bought the whole series that I found out it's a high school romance, it did make me skeptical yet it worked out brilliantly. I especially loved how the actual sport played an important part in the story. I absolutely LOVE watching rugby, so having the inclusion of that made it even a better experience for me.
Coming to the characters, Shannon and Johnny have my heart. These two are so adorable and so smitten by each other. I loved seeing them progress as strangers, to friends and eventually finally accepting their feelings for each other. The romance is so sweet and had me giggling.
🩷Shannon is one of those characters who deserve the whole freaking world. She's been through so much, I wish I could give her the biggest hug. I honestly don't understand how people can find her annoying. Poor girl is so vulnerable and to see her open her heart and start trusting Johnny was such a proud moment for me. I hate what's happening to her. I wish she would reach out and accept help, I simply wish someone would save her and her brothers 😭
🏉Johnny is a fun, dorky and such a loving character. I admire his dedication to rugby and how loyal his teammates are to him, and he to them. His persona instantly puts people at ease and also the guy is straightforward- me likey. But to see him put himself through so much pain to achieve his goals was heartbreaking. I found myself relating to some of his struggles as I have been going through the same, so he does have a soft spot in my heart. I loved the scene in the hospital when he was high tbh, it was funny and so honest from him lol.
The side characters are equally impactful and so easy to like. Joey is someone am really rooting for. I want to see him happy so bad it breaks my heart. I want to get to know Aoife more, she seems so sweet. Claire and Gibsie? Oh gosh, I ship it so hard 😩😩 I love Gibsie, he's so loyal and the sense of humor is elite lol. Lizzy seems upfront and seems to be hiding her own struggles but that's all I know about her. Shannon's parents and Bella can die, if I start ranting about how much I hate them this review will never end.
The ending broke me as it ends on a sad and brutal note. I was expecting it to happen yet it hurt so bad. I have so much hope for the next book, hopefully will love it the same if not more.
Highly recommended.
Please check trigger warnings before reading this book.
~•~•~
Am so intimidated by the size of this book but IT'S TIMEEEEEE
September 21, 2023
(4.25 ⭐️) Hi Johnny. Hi Shannon. 🥹
March 16, 2024
“now tell me who made you cry & i’ll fix it”
i don’t think i’ll ever recover from this story. johnny is officially my favorite ❤️🩹
i don’t think i’ll ever recover from this story. johnny is officially my favorite ❤️🩹
March 18, 2023
DNF @ pg 231.
i went into this book hoping for a fun time and not take it too seriously but it was just horrendous.
there were like two cute moments but other than that the writing was bad, i was not invested and there were some lines that made me gasp out loud because of how gross they are (e.g. ableist, transphobic, misogynistic) e.g.:
- the main character says how her eyes are "too big" for her face so she tries to squint. "the squinting only made me look disabled" ??????? this was on page one so i should have KNOWN not to trust it would get any better
- "a girl, a fucking female"
- the main guy johnny to one of his guy friends: "i hurt your feelings? who's the bitch with a vagina now?"
anyway, save yourselves & don't read this book 😅
i went into this book hoping for a fun time and not take it too seriously but it was just horrendous.
there were like two cute moments but other than that the writing was bad, i was not invested and there were some lines that made me gasp out loud because of how gross they are (e.g. ableist, transphobic, misogynistic) e.g.:
- the main character says how her eyes are "too big" for her face so she tries to squint. "the squinting only made me look disabled" ??????? this was on page one so i should have KNOWN not to trust it would get any better
- "a girl, a fucking female"
- the main guy johnny to one of his guy friends: "i hurt your feelings? who's the bitch with a vagina now?"
anyway, save yourselves & don't read this book 😅
August 28, 2024
4.05!!
“Boom, boom, fucking boom,”
JOHNNY KAVANAGH FANS LOOK AWAY!!
The first 200 pages of this book were absolutely horrendous, atrocious, the worst 200 pages that I have ever read in my life. I was so bleckh'd out by the fact that shannon was 15 and the amount of dick talks and dick mentions in Johnny's chapter was so infuriating like every fucking second you'd look at the book and it would Johnny and his dick being described LIKE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE STOP MENTIONING HIS POGO STICK+ the actual meaning of binding 13 💀💀. However, the remaining 600 pages were so much better, such a massive improvement, it captivated me and I enjoyed it soo much and the fact that I read it fast. I was topping because my house was getting fumigated so had to look at that and the moving took a lot of my time but this never let me let go of its grip. I would say I loved Shannons story and it gripped so much more than Johnny's, his was ok, I preferred reading about Shannon more. Her chapters were the redeeming part in my opinion.
“¨I think I need you for keeps.¨
¨I think I need you for keeps, too.¨”
Johnny Kavanagh, He was such an asshole. I loved him when he was Shannon but when he was not? I hated him. He was a manwhore with the way he passed on from one woman to another but that was before Shannon and we didnt get enough page time so it did not bother me, what bothered me was the fact that he treated his friends like they were trash, threatening them, snapping at them. I remember hughie asking if he wanted lunch and Johnny was talking to shannon and instead of politely declining 'Fuck off' He snapped like come on man! and the way he treated Gibsie and all, I would never treat my friends like that, besides that I dont understand why he would punch the boyfriends of the girls who bullied Shannon when it wasn't even their fault like?? they dont control them?? and what would he do if that girl didnt have a bf? anyways, to the bfs who bullied shannon it was understandable but Cormac? did they not smooth things over? yes, they did but he still punched her for the doings of Bella even tho Cormac had nothing to do with it. What an asshole. Also, I love Joey and he was a bitch to him so -1 point for that. However his scenes with Shannon made me like him a lot, I love how considerate he was of her and how her life got better because of him and how much effort he put in for her.
Shannon Lynch, My heart broke for her. I did not care for anyone besides her and Joey. I loved her story so much and ugh I hated what she went through if only I could give her a big hug and take all of her siblings with her to somewhere safe because I cannot imagine spending your childhood like that, so full of horror and trauma. it wasn't just her house but her school, her community. I was so pissed!! I could see her frustration, her anger and her resolve, her breakdown. It was actually heartbreaking to see what she went through but her story was so engaging and loved how her story was so easily redeemable.
Joey, Aoife, Bella, Mam and Da, its a disgrace to put Joey and Aoife with them but I had to because I love them and I cant wait to read their story, Bella, Ma and Da can rot in hell.
“I carefully scrolled through his playlists and almost had a heart attack when my eyes landed on the one named Songs for Shannon.”
The romance was actually so sweet. I loved the slow burn and it was actually nice to see that they weren't in each others throats every two minutes. I enjoyed the sweet moments we got between them, Johnny really did care for her and gave her everything, I would like to see how their romance progresses in the next book considering the events of the end and how Johnny doesn't know but it was refreshing to see how it unraveled through this book.
Overall, a solid novel!! (I didnt cry Hoda, gimme 100 dollars pls)
___
Hoda and Rowan have been dying for me to read this and this also won my poll + i heard its like shameless so I am very excited to read Johnny and Shannon's story!
“Boom, boom, fucking boom,”
JOHNNY KAVANAGH FANS LOOK AWAY!!
The first 200 pages of this book were absolutely horrendous, atrocious, the worst 200 pages that I have ever read in my life. I was so bleckh'd out by the fact that shannon was 15 and the amount of dick talks and dick mentions in Johnny's chapter was so infuriating like every fucking second you'd look at the book and it would Johnny and his dick being described LIKE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE STOP MENTIONING HIS POGO STICK+ the actual meaning of binding 13 💀💀. However, the remaining 600 pages were so much better, such a massive improvement, it captivated me and I enjoyed it soo much and the fact that I read it fast. I was topping because my house was getting fumigated so had to look at that and the moving took a lot of my time but this never let me let go of its grip. I would say I loved Shannons story and it gripped so much more than Johnny's, his was ok, I preferred reading about Shannon more. Her chapters were the redeeming part in my opinion.
“¨I think I need you for keeps.¨
¨I think I need you for keeps, too.¨”
Johnny Kavanagh, He was such an asshole. I loved him when he was Shannon but when he was not? I hated him. He was a manwhore with the way he passed on from one woman to another but that was before Shannon and we didnt get enough page time so it did not bother me, what bothered me was the fact that he treated his friends like they were trash, threatening them, snapping at them. I remember hughie asking if he wanted lunch and Johnny was talking to shannon and instead of politely declining 'Fuck off' He snapped like come on man! and the way he treated Gibsie and all, I would never treat my friends like that, besides that I dont understand why he would punch the boyfriends of the girls who bullied Shannon when it wasn't even their fault like?? they dont control them?? and what would he do if that girl didnt have a bf? anyways, to the bfs who bullied shannon it was understandable but Cormac? did they not smooth things over? yes, they did but he still punched her for the doings of Bella even tho Cormac had nothing to do with it. What an asshole. Also, I love Joey and he was a bitch to him so -1 point for that. However his scenes with Shannon made me like him a lot, I love how considerate he was of her and how her life got better because of him and how much effort he put in for her.
Shannon Lynch, My heart broke for her. I did not care for anyone besides her and Joey. I loved her story so much and ugh I hated what she went through if only I could give her a big hug and take all of her siblings with her to somewhere safe because I cannot imagine spending your childhood like that, so full of horror and trauma. it wasn't just her house but her school, her community. I was so pissed!! I could see her frustration, her anger and her resolve, her breakdown. It was actually heartbreaking to see what she went through but her story was so engaging and loved how her story was so easily redeemable.
Joey, Aoife, Bella, Mam and Da, its a disgrace to put Joey and Aoife with them but I had to because I love them and I cant wait to read their story, Bella, Ma and Da can rot in hell.
“I carefully scrolled through his playlists and almost had a heart attack when my eyes landed on the one named Songs for Shannon.”
The romance was actually so sweet. I loved the slow burn and it was actually nice to see that they weren't in each others throats every two minutes. I enjoyed the sweet moments we got between them, Johnny really did care for her and gave her everything, I would like to see how their romance progresses in the next book considering the events of the end and how Johnny doesn't know but it was refreshing to see how it unraveled through this book.
Overall, a solid novel!! (I didnt cry Hoda, gimme 100 dollars pls)
___
Hoda and Rowan have been dying for me to read this and this also won my poll + i heard its like shameless so I am very excited to read Johnny and Shannon's story!
March 12, 2020
This was so, so good...
Excellent character building.
Excellent relationship building.
Just excellent all around.
I loved the Ireland backdrop and the prep school setting, not to mention all of the hard-hitting topics. I would gush more, but am short on time here.
I am also dying for the second book and pissed that I have to work 12+ hour days the next three days and will have no time to read it until Saturday. I don't know why I haven't read this author before, but am now adding her entire back-list to my tbr.
Excellent character building.
Excellent relationship building.
Just excellent all around.
I loved the Ireland backdrop and the prep school setting, not to mention all of the hard-hitting topics. I would gush more, but am short on time here.
I am also dying for the second book and pissed that I have to work 12+ hour days the next three days and will have no time to read it until Saturday. I don't know why I haven't read this author before, but am now adding her entire back-list to my tbr.
May 7, 2024
5 boom boom fucking boom stars
This book did something like boom boom fucking boom to my heart. I absolutely, wholeheartedly, deeply, madly and truly love Johnny and Shannon. There's this saying that you don't find a book but a book finds it way to you and it's so true because I have been ignoring this series for over a year but this year I finally caved in and guess who's obsessed? ME! I was just 10 chapters in the story and I already knew I was going to give it 5 stars.
I was a bit scared to read this because I rarely read high school romances where teenagers behave like a bunch of rich kids who thinks they are the king of the world. But this book was so realistic in terms of high school trope and I loved how Chloe actually didn't wrote her characters as some rich assholes who are too good for the world. All the characters were teenagers going through that crazy and young phase but they were written in such a real and realistic way. Yes, there were some cringy and cliché moments but they are teenagers so it was absolutely understandable.
The plot is more of character-driven and the pacing was slow but I definitely don't mind it because I never wanted to end this book. Chloe can write ten books about Johnny and Shannon doing dumb ass shit and I would still read them with hearts in my eyes. I loved the writing because it was easy to read and captivating and it worked well for me because it's a 500 plus pages book. This might be not everyone's writing style because there was no flowery euphemisms or allegories. I love how the story was not just focused on the romance part. The character's development was slow but done so well and there's still a lot to unpack in Keeping 13 but I love it because healing is not a linear and I would love if there is a real growth to Shannon and Johnny's character. I also loved the found family trope in this one.
This book is the slowest slow-burn I have ever read in my life and I didn't hated a bit even though I was dying for them to kiss each other and when that happened I was literally dead because they are so adorable. The way they met for the first time was so funny and adorable and I immediately knew right then that they are going to be my new obsession and my new comfort couple. I have never felt this many butterflies in my stomach while reading a book about two teenage people who are madly in love with each other but refuse to accept their feelings.
➸ Shannon Lynch
The girl with sad eyes. The moment I saw her I had this immediate need to protect her from the world. Her story broke my heart 🥺 She deserves the best in the world. Shannon's is such a vulnerable and fragile girl with the biggest and the kindest heart in the world. She's the quiet one with the traumatic childhood and school experience who just wanted a clean slate at a new school. I hate how people treated her at her old school and I'm glad Johnny beat the shit out of them for calling her out by names. She's used to being alone, has trust issues, build a huge wall around herself to protect her, never had anyone by her side except her brother Joey. She's been dealing through a shit life and has no self-confidence and self-esteem because people treated her like shit all her life. I hate it when the authors or the mmc can't shut up about how the fmc is so small and short and tiny and Chloe did exactly the same but I think it was done to portrayed her character as vulnerable or fragile girl and to make readers empathise with her. She has a lot to heal and move on from in her life but she's doing it all her pace with Johnny and her loved ones by her side.
➸ Johnny Kavanagh
HE IS THE DEFINITION OF BOY OBSESSED AND WHO DID THAT TO YOU TROPE. He's broody and a bit grumpy with all that "Rugby is my life" attitude but he's so thoughtful, respectful, caring, and just incredible. He has DIMPLES AND HE LOVES DOGS? HE'S PERFECT! I hate it when man picks fight for their woman like she can't do that herself but Johnny is an exception. I'd let him slay all my dragons if he wants to. He did that with Shannon, fought on her behalf, threatened the kids at his school to not talk shit about her and it's not because he's strong and all, it was because he wanted and needed to protect her and he wanted her to protect him in some way. His povs were everything! He's a very strong minded person with a very obsessive personality. No matter how perfect he appears to all the other people, Johnny is such a scared boy with dreams and hopes. He has his own demons and fears that can destroy his career and I get it why he tried to hide his injury from everyone because no body wants to see how you can lose everything you have worked for your whole life destroy right in front of your eyes.
╰┈➤ Shannon & Johnny
Right person, Right time.
They make my heart go like WOAH. They are complete opposites of each other in terms of status, personality and upbringing. He wants to save her and she wants to hide from her past and everything. She's a damaged soul but he's determined to save her and love her. They had me swooning and giggling at Every. Damn. Moment. The giddiness I felt when they were in formed proximity and when Johnny was driving her to home and everytime he threatened the kids at school to stay away from “My Shannon” (don't love it when they lay claims on woman but it's Johnny so he can do anything to me). He had a playlist of songs that reminded him of her and they were all love songs and he spent thirty minutes in rain trying to find her shoe and you are telling me he is fictional 😭 He tried to find ways to spend time with her because his heart didn't wanted to let go of her.
The feminist in me is dead after meeting Johnny Kavanagh🤸🏽♀️
He wanted to be her friend but also couldn't be her friend and all the dilemma, confusions, denials and bulldozing (Iykyk) worked so well in the end. I love that they just didn't had this lust and tension between them but they also had an emotional and intimate connection. They understood each other so well and helped each other in their own way. They had this easy going relationship and friendship. The way Johnny made everything easy for Shannon at school, the way he protected her, loved her, took care of her everytime, and the way Shannon saw the real Johnny behind Johnny the perfect boy and the perfect rugby player. Johnny was so patient with her and waited for her to open up to him about her abusive life. How he was afraid of talking to her about his insecurities and fears yet he tried his best with her. They are just so so prefect for each other. Definitely soulmates!
— Side Characters —
➸ Joey: Perfect brother and I already love him. Can't wait to read his book but I already know his book is going to break my heart in pieces.
➸ Aoife: She's so precious and I love the way she's always there for Joey and his family.
➸ Claire: Love love love her. She's the best with her kind-hearted spirit and sweet nature. She's the type of friend who would hype you up all the damn time.
➸ Gibsie: He was a bit annoying in the start but his character grew on me a lot. His friendship with Johnny is so precious. I can't wait for his book. Claire and Gibsie literally behaved like a married couple in this book. He follows her, cracks weird jokes and Claire retorts with her witty replies.
➸ Lizzie: The ice queen of their group. A bit annoying but I love whoever loves Shannon.
The hospital scene at the end is my roman empire and it was so adorable, so cute, so comforting. Just everything.
The ending broke my heart because Shannon didn't deserve that 😭, but I'm hoping for a better life for her in Keeping 13.
💌 This is not just a story about a girl who was mentally and physically abused by her father and her classmates. It's not just about romance or friendships. It's about how to let someone in your life and how to develop your trust again and how to fall in love while also figuring out your fears and insecurities. It's about letting yourself move on from the life of difficulties and pain and trauma. It's about finding comfort, a home, a sense of security and love in other people. It's also about dreams and how to overcome your fear of losing them. It's about healing. It's just about life ❤️🩹
——————————
Definitely worth all the damn hype in this world! I AM SO OBSESSED WITH JOHNNYSHANNON 😭 AND I WANT MORE. RTC!!
——————————
let's see what all the hype is about 🤸🏽♀️
“I think I need you for keeps,” he slurred.
“I think I need you for keeps, too,” I confessed.
This book did something like boom boom fucking boom to my heart. I absolutely, wholeheartedly, deeply, madly and truly love Johnny and Shannon. There's this saying that you don't find a book but a book finds it way to you and it's so true because I have been ignoring this series for over a year but this year I finally caved in and guess who's obsessed? ME! I was just 10 chapters in the story and I already knew I was going to give it 5 stars.
He smiled down at me. “Hi, Shannon.”
“Hi, Johnny,” I whispered, staring back at him, feeling like my heart was two seconds away from bursting out of my chest.
I was a bit scared to read this because I rarely read high school romances where teenagers behave like a bunch of rich kids who thinks they are the king of the world. But this book was so realistic in terms of high school trope and I loved how Chloe actually didn't wrote her characters as some rich assholes who are too good for the world. All the characters were teenagers going through that crazy and young phase but they were written in such a real and realistic way. Yes, there were some cringy and cliché moments but they are teenagers so it was absolutely understandable.
“She was nice to think about. She was fucking beautiful. Her voice. Her hair. Her smell. The way she spoke. Every single part of her.”
The plot is more of character-driven and the pacing was slow but I definitely don't mind it because I never wanted to end this book. Chloe can write ten books about Johnny and Shannon doing dumb ass shit and I would still read them with hearts in my eyes. I loved the writing because it was easy to read and captivating and it worked well for me because it's a 500 plus pages book. This might be not everyone's writing style because there was no flowery euphemisms or allegories. I love how the story was not just focused on the romance part. The character's development was slow but done so well and there's still a lot to unpack in Keeping 13 but I love it because healing is not a linear and I would love if there is a real growth to Shannon and Johnny's character. I also loved the found family trope in this one.
“Look at me,” he repeated, tone calm and coaxing. I couldn’t. I felt him shift beside me and then his fingers were on my chin, tipping my face up to his. “You’re safe,” he whispered, cupping my cheek in his hand, eyes boring holes straight through my soul. “I promise.”
This book is the slowest slow-burn I have ever read in my life and I didn't hated a bit even though I was dying for them to kiss each other and when that happened I was literally dead because they are so adorable. The way they met for the first time was so funny and adorable and I immediately knew right then that they are going to be my new obsession and my new comfort couple. I have never felt this many butterflies in my stomach while reading a book about two teenage people who are madly in love with each other but refuse to accept their feelings.
“Well, thanks for caring,” I breathed.
“Thanks for being worth it,” Johnny replied, hand still on my cheek.
➸ Shannon Lynch
The girl with sad eyes. The moment I saw her I had this immediate need to protect her from the world. Her story broke my heart 🥺 She deserves the best in the world. Shannon's is such a vulnerable and fragile girl with the biggest and the kindest heart in the world. She's the quiet one with the traumatic childhood and school experience who just wanted a clean slate at a new school. I hate how people treated her at her old school and I'm glad Johnny beat the shit out of them for calling her out by names. She's used to being alone, has trust issues, build a huge wall around herself to protect her, never had anyone by her side except her brother Joey. She's been dealing through a shit life and has no self-confidence and self-esteem because people treated her like shit all her life. I hate it when the authors or the mmc can't shut up about how the fmc is so small and short and tiny and Chloe did exactly the same but I think it was done to portrayed her character as vulnerable or fragile girl and to make readers empathise with her. She has a lot to heal and move on from in her life but she's doing it all her pace with Johnny and her loved ones by her side.
“For once in my life, I wanted a safe place to run to instead of from. I felt like I was slowly dying in that house. In my home. Where I was supposed to lay my head. Where I was supposed to feel safe.”
➸ Johnny Kavanagh
HE IS THE DEFINITION OF BOY OBSESSED AND WHO DID THAT TO YOU TROPE. He's broody and a bit grumpy with all that "Rugby is my life" attitude but he's so thoughtful, respectful, caring, and just incredible. He has DIMPLES AND HE LOVES DOGS? HE'S PERFECT! I hate it when man picks fight for their woman like she can't do that herself but Johnny is an exception. I'd let him slay all my dragons if he wants to. He did that with Shannon, fought on her behalf, threatened the kids at his school to not talk shit about her and it's not because he's strong and all, it was because he wanted and needed to protect her and he wanted her to protect him in some way. His povs were everything! He's a very strong minded person with a very obsessive personality. No matter how perfect he appears to all the other people, Johnny is such a scared boy with dreams and hopes. He has his own demons and fears that can destroy his career and I get it why he tried to hide his injury from everyone because no body wants to see how you can lose everything you have worked for your whole life destroy right in front of your eyes.
“Problem was, every time she ran, I found myself chasing right after her, desperate to just be with her.”
╰┈➤ Shannon & Johnny
Right person, Right time.
They make my heart go like WOAH. They are complete opposites of each other in terms of status, personality and upbringing. He wants to save her and she wants to hide from her past and everything. She's a damaged soul but he's determined to save her and love her. They had me swooning and giggling at Every. Damn. Moment. The giddiness I felt when they were in formed proximity and when Johnny was driving her to home and everytime he threatened the kids at school to stay away from “My Shannon” (don't love it when they lay claims on woman but it's Johnny so he can do anything to me). He had a playlist of songs that reminded him of her and they were all love songs and he spent thirty minutes in rain trying to find her shoe and you are telling me he is fictional 😭 He tried to find ways to spend time with her because his heart didn't wanted to let go of her.
“Someone touched you,” Johnny whispered in my ear, placing his fingers on the marks. “I want to know who.”
“Now,” I sneered, glaring down at their faces. “Who wants to call my girlfriend a whore to my face?”
“Give me a name,” Johnny growled, dropping his hands to his hips. “And I’ll take care of it.”
“What— no! I’m grand,” I quickly replied. “I have allergies.”
“Me too. To assholes and bullshit,” Johnny snarled.
“Now, tell me who made you cry and I’ll fix it.”
The feminist in me is dead after meeting Johnny Kavanagh🤸🏽♀️
He wanted to be her friend but also couldn't be her friend and all the dilemma, confusions, denials and bulldozing (Iykyk) worked so well in the end. I love that they just didn't had this lust and tension between them but they also had an emotional and intimate connection. They understood each other so well and helped each other in their own way. They had this easy going relationship and friendship. The way Johnny made everything easy for Shannon at school, the way he protected her, loved her, took care of her everytime, and the way Shannon saw the real Johnny behind Johnny the perfect boy and the perfect rugby player. Johnny was so patient with her and waited for her to open up to him about her abusive life. How he was afraid of talking to her about his insecurities and fears yet he tried his best with her. They are just so so prefect for each other. Definitely soulmates!
“Shannon.” Johnny’s hand snaked out and wrapped around my wrist. “I don’t want you to go,” he said gruffly, tugging me back down beside him. “I want you here.” He rested a hand on the bed right behind my back and leaned close. “I want you to stay with me.”
— Side Characters —
➸ Joey: Perfect brother and I already love him. Can't wait to read his book but I already know his book is going to break my heart in pieces.
➸ Aoife: She's so precious and I love the way she's always there for Joey and his family.
➸ Claire: Love love love her. She's the best with her kind-hearted spirit and sweet nature. She's the type of friend who would hype you up all the damn time.
➸ Gibsie: He was a bit annoying in the start but his character grew on me a lot. His friendship with Johnny is so precious. I can't wait for his book. Claire and Gibsie literally behaved like a married couple in this book. He follows her, cracks weird jokes and Claire retorts with her witty replies.
➸ Lizzie: The ice queen of their group. A bit annoying but I love whoever loves Shannon.
The hospital scene at the end is my roman empire and it was so adorable, so cute, so comforting. Just everything.
“I’m keeping her, Da.”
“Okay, son,” he coaxed. “You keep the girl.” “She makes my heart go, like, whoa.”
“Is that right?” he mused.
“So bad, Da.” I sighed. “Boom, boom, fucking boom.” I shook my head. “All the time.”
The ending broke my heart because Shannon didn't deserve that 😭, but I'm hoping for a better life for her in Keeping 13.
“If this is love, then it’s you,” he replied, dragging me down to lie beside him.
“You are love.” He sighed contently. “Stay with me.” Always.
“I’ll stay with you,” I whispered, feeling more in this moment than I could handle.
💌 This is not just a story about a girl who was mentally and physically abused by her father and her classmates. It's not just about romance or friendships. It's about how to let someone in your life and how to develop your trust again and how to fall in love while also figuring out your fears and insecurities. It's about letting yourself move on from the life of difficulties and pain and trauma. It's about finding comfort, a home, a sense of security and love in other people. It's also about dreams and how to overcome your fear of losing them. It's about healing. It's just about life ❤️🩹
——————————
Definitely worth all the damn hype in this world! I AM SO OBSESSED WITH JOHNNYSHANNON 😭 AND I WANT MORE. RTC!!
——————————
let's see what all the hype is about 🤸🏽♀️
August 21, 2024
i could make a drinking game of how many times
a) shannon's called tiny
b) johnny talks abt his dick
but i'd die of alcohol poisoning
a) shannon's called tiny
b) johnny talks abt his dick
but i'd die of alcohol poisoning
February 8, 2023
☆⋅⋆ ── 1st read 2020: 4.25 stars
☆⋅⋆ ─── 2nd read 2023: 4.5 stars
SONG :
Alec Benjamin – If We Have Each Other
this book. this series. these characters. the Johnny being high on drugs in the hospital scene at the end of the book will always live in my mind forever and always.
Mariana Zapata: Hi, my name is Mariana Zapata and what you should know about me is that I write super long slowburn romances.
Chloe Walsh: hold my fucking beer.
Chloe Walsh:*goes on to write a highschool-coming-of-age story that is over 800+ pages long where all the H and h do is kiss for like maybe 3 times and it's glorious*
I'd love to write a review for this, but
so uhm... excuse me, but I have other priorities. Just know that I'm taking custody of all the boys of Tommen. This needs to be enough for now.
I've finished both books and decided to write one extremely long review for both Binding 13 and Keeping 13 HERE. What to expect: lots of tears & mental breakdowns.
#1 Binding 13 ↠ 4.25 stars
#2 Keeping 13 ↠ 5 stars
☆⋅⋆ ─── 2nd read 2023: 4.5 stars
SONG :
Alec Benjamin – If We Have Each Other
"Boom, boom, fucking boom," I groaned, slapping a hand against my chest. "I'm done for."
this book. this series. these characters. the Johnny being high on drugs in the hospital scene at the end of the book will always live in my mind forever and always.
Mariana Zapata: Hi, my name is Mariana Zapata and what you should know about me is that I write super long slowburn romances.
Chloe Walsh: hold my fucking beer.
Chloe Walsh:*goes on to write a highschool-coming-of-age story that is over 800+ pages long where all the H and h do is kiss for like maybe 3 times and it's glorious*
1. my emotions are all over the place right now after that cliffhanger. What the hell???
2. I have other things to do like start the sequel to this book which is over 900 pages ...
I've finished both books and decided to write one extremely long review for both Binding 13 and Keeping 13 HERE. What to expect: lots of tears & mental breakdowns.
#1 Binding 13 ↠ 4.25 stars
#2 Keeping 13 ↠ 5 stars
April 10, 2023
no way y'all like this.....
May 22, 2022
5 MILLLIONNNNN STARS⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ i’m beyond obsessed. no review could do this book justice but wow. i’m SPRINTING to keeping 13!!!!!
March 23, 2024
4.5*
I had no intention of writing a review but the words were banging around my brain screaming to be let out so here we are. . .
I was completely hooked from the start. The writing was so easy to read, it was very straight forward. After reading Nocticadia, the simplicity was exactly what I needed.
The story felt very mindless from the beginning to middle of the book but it really picked up after that.
This book is not perfect at all. Despite that I adore the characters and their relationships both familial and romantic.
Shannon is my traumatised lovable sweet and smol pookie 😭 I actually feel for her sfb. I just wanna give her a hug for 15373747 years it’s not fairrrrrr 💔
The heartache from reading about her past and seeing how she suffered sm brought me to tears. I felt like jumping into the book and using all the tools in the universe to get retribution on everyone who hurt her istg- 🔪
I can understand how her size and age being emphasised again and again could annoy anyone really but to me it just drills in the fact that all this was happening to a fifteen year old girl that should’ve been living her life normally. Her house, her home, the place she rests her head(!!) is supposed to allow her to de-stress and find some peace. What should’ve been her sanctuary was actually the most destructive place for her. Her small frame is directly linked to this as well. It’s really shitty to read about and I hate this for her (ಡ_ಡ)
There wasn’t much of Shannon being carefree but she was adorable asf when she was in her element. Them playing GTA was the most I’ve seen her let go and gahhhh I loved every second of it 🤭💗🫂
*
Johnny is the most precious guy ever. What I love the most about him is that when he feels really solid about what he wants, he goes after it with his all. But what came out of his all or nothing attitude towards life hurttttttt ❤️🩹❤️🩹
Him being indecisive about whether he wanted to pursue a relationship with Shannon was so valid. The reservations he’s kept and been reiterating in his head for years, about how his profession isn’t gonna leave any room for a relationship, that can’t just be broken down within seconds. It’s frustrating to read about sure but I understand the reason behind it.
Watching him go from being calculated and orderly to berserk and punching her bullies had me going ferallll andjdhdj 💃 It shows exactly how much she’s affected him and his life.
Ugh I love him sfmmmm 🥹💗💗
That hospital chapter was worth EVERYTHINGHHH 🤧✋ he made my heart go woah fr.
He was actually so funny omfdssss. There were so many times he had me howling bc of his one liners 😭 he’s iconic, it’s true.
Him being so adorableeeeee towards Shannon and the small moments between them had me shaking screaming dying. I love them together sfm it hurts.
When he would thread his hand through her hair and ask for consent to hug her? ☝️. . . 💃🚂
his affectionate touches? *sigh*
HIM MAKING A PLAYLIST THAT REMINDS HIM OF HER?? 🤸🕳️
Even the little things he would do like holding her bag or giving her his jacket?
searching for her lost shoe in the rain???
EVERYTHING.
It all got to me. I’m obsessed.
Gibsieeee my best boi. I absolutely adore the shit outta this guy. He’s my top man. The way he made me laffff so fucking loud at the most inopportune moments ugh chefs kiss. Especially when he was annoying Johnny abt his ~problems~ Omf I was wheezing. (He gives Seth vibes so hard I’m in loveeeee 🙏)
Also the sum sum we’re getting with him and claire is not enough!!! I need moreee 😭
Joey 😭😭 my heart goes out to him. This guy deserves to have everything in every universe. He’s the best brother. Him leaving Shannon there bc he couldn’t take it anymore killed me even tho I’m glad he put himself first (╥_╥)
I wanna cry just thinking about the ending of this book 😭🔫
The only thing I will say is that this book has a certain style of writing that doesn’t fit everyone. But personally I felt like there’s something really effective in Chloe’s writing that makes me connect to the characters and their situations.
What bugged me most was the fact that there were a lot of scenes that I felt were kind of pointless idk. For example the denial scenes, Iykyk. There were too many of them. One or two is fine but EIGHT?! That could’ve been cut down. Especially bc those scenes would be so long and their conversations would not add anything big to the plot.
Also there’s a difference between him denying his love for Shannon and him being indecisive over wanting a relationship with her. The former just annoyed me a lot.
However, there were certain scenes which were used again and again but I felt they were necessary. For example, JohnnyShannon and their drives or Johnny taking care of Shannon however he can. It’s important for this to be shown more than once bc Shannon needs to feel that steady stability, that removal of doubts, which he’s giving her by repeating those reassuring words and actions. She needs to feel like he’s a constant in her life and that he’s reliable enough to be her safe haven.
Even though there’s a long way for them to reach that level of trust, these scenes are basically the groundwork to get there. I love that we got to see most of these scenes fully playing out and not just being told he drove her home BAM end scene yk?
There was ONE part which I would’ve died for and that was when he took her to the cinema 😭 it’s not fairrrr! Chloe release that scene from the vault I beg 🔪
So basically this book made me laugh like a hyena (mostly gibsie’s fault), cringe quite a bit, hunt for a grave to temporarily lie in, sport the biggest grin, vibrate with anxiety, lose years off my life, develop wrinkles, and cry. Definitely the crying :)
. . . I loved it <3
𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲:
I’ve been spoiled for some couples in the series and I think I’m glad for it bc now I can get giddy over all their small interactions 🤭
𝗦𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘀: 🎧
My Boys of Tommen Playlist
𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀: spoilers in this section! Proceed w caution!!
♡︎ “She opened her eyes and fuck me, I unintentionally sucked in a sharp breath.
Jesus, this girl was beautiful.
I'd noticed it earlier of course, she had a striking look about her, but now, seeing her up close like this and being able to count the freckles on her face – eleven by the way – it was hitting home just how striking she was.”
~him counting her freckles >>>
♡︎ "You promise?" she whispered, a tiny smile pulling at her swollen lips.
"Yeah," I replied gruffly, feeling like I would promise all the fucking promises in the world just to make this girl feel better. "I've got your back."
♡︎ "Fuck you," Ronan strangled out, spluttering and wheezing. "You can't tell me what to do," he rasped, breathless. "You're not my father!"
This fucker.
"I'm your daddy on the field, bitch."
~WUAHAHHAAHHA HE WILL FOREVER BE FAMOUS FOR THIS 👑💅🙏
♡︎ "Why me?" I groaned.
"Because we're your babies," Hughie announced, leaning his weight on me.
"My babies?" I slurred. "How the fuck are you three anyone's babies?"
-LMFAO
♡︎ "I think you broke my nose, Johnny."
"Your nose will heal after a break."
"But your spine won't."
~ OHMYFUCKINGAJGDJFHD HAHAHAHHAAH PLS THAT WAS SO ICONICC 👑🙏
♡︎ "Are you hurt?"
His gaze followed mine to his thigh and he quickly yanked his hand away.
"Jesus," he grunted, looking appalled, "I didn’t realize I was doing that."
"You've been touching yourself since we got in the car," I announced.
"Jesus Christ!" Johnny hissed, gaping at me in horror.
~STAHPPP IM CRYINGGG HAHHAHA
♡︎ I had learned a valuable lesson tonight though, and that was to never ask a girl what she was thinking if you weren't prepared to take a huge fucking knock to the ego.
~💀💀💀💀
♡︎ "It's okay, Shan," he whispered, comforting me.
"I'm sorry," I choked out, tightening my hold on his neck. Tears spilled over my cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Joe."
"It's not your fault, Shan."
~CRYING FAT UGLY TEARS VOL 1
♡︎ With wide eyes, I watched as Johnny unzipped the black coat he was wearing and draped it over my shoulders.
"Come on," he said in a coaxing tone as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, tucked me into his side, and led me out of school. "I'll take care of you."
~stab me in the heart already
♡︎ "Who wants to call my girlfriend a wh*re to my face?"
~kshsjdjdjdj the euphoria I feel rn I’m in BLISS
♡︎ “And when you fuck with her, you fuck with me."
~POP OFFF
♡︎ I stood there for a long ass minute, giving every one of those BCS scum a glare, and waiting for a response.
~WHY IS THIS FUCKING HILARIOUS PLSSS ����✋
♡︎ Grabbing the front of my shirt, he dragged me towards him and sniffed my mouth.
"You traitor!" he choked out, looking comically horrified. "You went to the chipper!"
"Yeah, I did," I replied, shoving away from him. "And it was fucking delicious, and I have no regrets."
"What did you have?"
"A few cheeseburgers and a curry-chips."
"How did it taste?"
"Better than sex."
"We're supposed to be on a diet!" Gibsie hissed in an appalled tone before quickly asking, "Did you get me something?"
"Yeah, I got you a burger."
"Thanks, Johnny."
"And then I got hungry so I ate it."
"You're a monster."
~HAHAHHAHAHA IM IN LOVE W GIBSIE SMSMSM he’s basically Seth from another dimension 🤌
♡︎ “I'm going to hug you," Johnny whispered in my ear. "Tell me if that's not okay?”
~ugh
♡︎ "You're not coming back, are you?"
Joey just stared at me, eyes filled with tears. "I can't," he whispered as a tear rolled down his cheek.
~vol 2
♡︎ She looked right through all the bullshit.
Seeing me.
Seeing only me.
And that made me want to move some shit around and place her slap bang in the middle of my world.
~mhm yes pls that would be nice
♡︎ "Should I hug you?"
~GIBSIE I LOVE YOU SFM 😭 look at him being soft
♡︎ "Johnny?" she whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Hi," she breathed, edging closer.
"Hi," I croaked out,
~why does this get me every damn time?!
♡︎ "Johnny?" Shannon whispered again.
"Yeah?"
"I’m going to hug you now." She hitched her leg over mine. "Is that okay?"
Don’t do it.
You'll never get over this girl.
"Yeah," I exhaled a ragged breath, feeling my heart smash against my ribcage, as she hovered above me. "That's okay."
~*cries in single*
♡︎ Once I committed myself, once my heart laid claim on her, I might as well slap a label on my forehead stating I'm yours, please be gentle with me because I'm here to stay.
~I absolutely love and adore his thought process here
♡︎ "I am losing my bleeding mind, Gibs."
"Nah, your mind's still there," Gibsie chuckled, patting my shoulder. "It's your heart you’re losing, lad."
~gibsie being wise is so hot
♡︎ “Shannon like the river. Will you please be my friend?“
~smh
♡︎ "I can keep a secret, Johnny Kavanagh," I whispered, stroking his cheek with my fingers. "And I promise I'll keep yours."
With his hand still cupping the side of my neck, Johnny exhaled a heavy sigh and let his head fall forward, his hair brushing my neck.
~this whole chapter wrecked me in the best and worst way but this scene was worth it
♡︎ “Was I stoned?
Did Gibsie get me high?
That bastard…”
~HAHAHAHA
♡︎ "She makes my heart go, like, whoa."
"Is that right?" he mused.
"So bad, Da," I sighed. "Boom, boom, fucking boom."
~I’m cackling
♡︎ "Hi, Johnny."
"Boom, boom, fucking boom, Da," I groaned, slapping a hand against my chest. "I'm done for."
~*dreamy sigh*
♡︎ "It's family only."
"She's my wife," he announced then, blowing my mind clean open.
~IM SCREAMING
♡︎ “Bring the lights back, Da," Johnny instructed, slurring his words. "Light up the world. You need to see this girl."
~STAHPPP HES SO FUCKING WHOLESOME IMMA CRY
♡︎ “Shaking, I curled up as small as I could and clenched my eyes shut.“
~vol 10
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
IM FUCKING HYSTERICAL RN SHOULDER SHAKING PAIN FILLED SOBS RACKING MY BODY I CANT BREATHE MY EYES ARE BURNING FROM CRYING SO MUCH SOMEONE CALL FOR HELP-
I’m literally CLAWING at my chest to make the pain stoppp (;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)
CHLOE WALSH IM COMING FOR YOU- 🔪
That ending was foul as fuck 😭 i don’t think I’ll ever recover
I have no idea if I’m gonna write a review for this bc it’s ruined me. I am RUINED.
***
BR w LuluBear 🤭🩷
The way I need to love this book so bad 😭🤞
I had no intention of writing a review but the words were banging around my brain screaming to be let out so here we are. . .
I was completely hooked from the start. The writing was so easy to read, it was very straight forward. After reading Nocticadia, the simplicity was exactly what I needed.
The story felt very mindless from the beginning to middle of the book but it really picked up after that.
This book is not perfect at all. Despite that I adore the characters and their relationships both familial and romantic.
Shannon is my traumatised lovable sweet and smol pookie 😭 I actually feel for her sfb. I just wanna give her a hug for 15373747 years it’s not fairrrrrr 💔
The heartache from reading about her past and seeing how she suffered sm brought me to tears. I felt like jumping into the book and using all the tools in the universe to get retribution on everyone who hurt her istg- 🔪
I can understand how her size and age being emphasised again and again could annoy anyone really but to me it just drills in the fact that all this was happening to a fifteen year old girl that should’ve been living her life normally. Her house, her home, the place she rests her head(!!) is supposed to allow her to de-stress and find some peace. What should’ve been her sanctuary was actually the most destructive place for her. Her small frame is directly linked to this as well. It’s really shitty to read about and I hate this for her (ಡ_ಡ)
There wasn’t much of Shannon being carefree but she was adorable asf when she was in her element. Them playing GTA was the most I’ve seen her let go and gahhhh I loved every second of it 🤭💗🫂
*
Johnny is the most precious guy ever. What I love the most about him is that when he feels really solid about what he wants, he goes after it with his all. But what came out of his all or nothing attitude towards life hurttttttt ❤️🩹❤️🩹
Him being indecisive about whether he wanted to pursue a relationship with Shannon was so valid. The reservations he’s kept and been reiterating in his head for years, about how his profession isn’t gonna leave any room for a relationship, that can’t just be broken down within seconds. It’s frustrating to read about sure but I understand the reason behind it.
Watching him go from being calculated and orderly to berserk and punching her bullies had me going ferallll andjdhdj 💃 It shows exactly how much she’s affected him and his life.
Ugh I love him sfmmmm 🥹💗💗
That hospital chapter was worth EVERYTHINGHHH 🤧✋ he made my heart go woah fr.
He was actually so funny omfdssss. There were so many times he had me howling bc of his one liners 😭 he’s iconic, it’s true.
Him being so adorableeeeee towards Shannon and the small moments between them had me shaking screaming dying. I love them together sfm it hurts.
When he would thread his hand through her hair and ask for consent to hug her? ☝️. . . 💃🚂
his affectionate touches? *sigh*
HIM MAKING A PLAYLIST THAT REMINDS HIM OF HER?? 🤸🕳️
Even the little things he would do like holding her bag or giving her his jacket?
searching for her lost shoe in the rain???
EVERYTHING.
It all got to me. I’m obsessed.
Gibsieeee my best boi. I absolutely adore the shit outta this guy. He’s my top man. The way he made me laffff so fucking loud at the most inopportune moments ugh chefs kiss. Especially when he was annoying Johnny abt his ~problems~ Omf I was wheezing. (He gives Seth vibes so hard I’m in loveeeee 🙏)
Also the sum sum we’re getting with him and claire is not enough!!! I need moreee 😭
Joey 😭😭 my heart goes out to him. This guy deserves to have everything in every universe. He’s the best brother. Him leaving Shannon there bc he couldn’t take it anymore killed me even tho I’m glad he put himself first (╥_╥)
I wanna cry just thinking about the ending of this book 😭🔫
The only thing I will say is that this book has a certain style of writing that doesn’t fit everyone. But personally I felt like there’s something really effective in Chloe’s writing that makes me connect to the characters and their situations.
What bugged me most was the fact that there were a lot of scenes that I felt were kind of pointless idk. For example the denial scenes, Iykyk. There were too many of them. One or two is fine but EIGHT?! That could’ve been cut down. Especially bc those scenes would be so long and their conversations would not add anything big to the plot.
Also there’s a difference between him denying his love for Shannon and him being indecisive over wanting a relationship with her. The former just annoyed me a lot.
However, there were certain scenes which were used again and again but I felt they were necessary. For example, JohnnyShannon and their drives or Johnny taking care of Shannon however he can. It’s important for this to be shown more than once bc Shannon needs to feel that steady stability, that removal of doubts, which he’s giving her by repeating those reassuring words and actions. She needs to feel like he’s a constant in her life and that he’s reliable enough to be her safe haven.
Even though there’s a long way for them to reach that level of trust, these scenes are basically the groundwork to get there. I love that we got to see most of these scenes fully playing out and not just being told he drove her home BAM end scene yk?
There was ONE part which I would’ve died for and that was when he took her to the cinema 😭 it’s not fairrrr! Chloe release that scene from the vault I beg 🔪
So basically this book made me laugh like a hyena (mostly gibsie’s fault), cringe quite a bit, hunt for a grave to temporarily lie in, sport the biggest grin, vibrate with anxiety, lose years off my life, develop wrinkles, and cry. Definitely the crying :)
. . . I loved it <3
𝗦𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗲:
I’ve been spoiled for some couples in the series and I think I’m glad for it bc now I can get giddy over all their small interactions 🤭
𝗦𝗼𝗻𝗴𝘀: 🎧
My Boys of Tommen Playlist
𝗙𝗮𝘃 𝗤𝘂𝗼𝘁𝗲𝘀: spoilers in this section! Proceed w caution!!
♡︎ “She opened her eyes and fuck me, I unintentionally sucked in a sharp breath.
Jesus, this girl was beautiful.
I'd noticed it earlier of course, she had a striking look about her, but now, seeing her up close like this and being able to count the freckles on her face – eleven by the way – it was hitting home just how striking she was.”
~him counting her freckles >>>
♡︎ "You promise?" she whispered, a tiny smile pulling at her swollen lips.
"Yeah," I replied gruffly, feeling like I would promise all the fucking promises in the world just to make this girl feel better. "I've got your back."
♡︎ "Fuck you," Ronan strangled out, spluttering and wheezing. "You can't tell me what to do," he rasped, breathless. "You're not my father!"
This fucker.
"I'm your daddy on the field, bitch."
~WUAHAHHAAHHA HE WILL FOREVER BE FAMOUS FOR THIS 👑💅🙏
♡︎ "Why me?" I groaned.
"Because we're your babies," Hughie announced, leaning his weight on me.
"My babies?" I slurred. "How the fuck are you three anyone's babies?"
-LMFAO
♡︎ "I think you broke my nose, Johnny."
"Your nose will heal after a break."
"But your spine won't."
~ OHMYFUCKINGAJGDJFHD HAHAHAHHAAH PLS THAT WAS SO ICONICC 👑🙏
♡︎ "Are you hurt?"
His gaze followed mine to his thigh and he quickly yanked his hand away.
"Jesus," he grunted, looking appalled, "I didn’t realize I was doing that."
"You've been touching yourself since we got in the car," I announced.
"Jesus Christ!" Johnny hissed, gaping at me in horror.
~STAHPPP IM CRYINGGG HAHHAHA
♡︎ I had learned a valuable lesson tonight though, and that was to never ask a girl what she was thinking if you weren't prepared to take a huge fucking knock to the ego.
~💀💀💀💀
♡︎ "It's okay, Shan," he whispered, comforting me.
"I'm sorry," I choked out, tightening my hold on his neck. Tears spilled over my cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Joe."
"It's not your fault, Shan."
~CRYING FAT UGLY TEARS VOL 1
♡︎ With wide eyes, I watched as Johnny unzipped the black coat he was wearing and draped it over my shoulders.
"Come on," he said in a coaxing tone as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, tucked me into his side, and led me out of school. "I'll take care of you."
~stab me in the heart already
♡︎ "Who wants to call my girlfriend a wh*re to my face?"
~kshsjdjdjdj the euphoria I feel rn I’m in BLISS
♡︎ “And when you fuck with her, you fuck with me."
~POP OFFF
♡︎ I stood there for a long ass minute, giving every one of those BCS scum a glare, and waiting for a response.
~WHY IS THIS FUCKING HILARIOUS PLSSS ����✋
♡︎ Grabbing the front of my shirt, he dragged me towards him and sniffed my mouth.
"You traitor!" he choked out, looking comically horrified. "You went to the chipper!"
"Yeah, I did," I replied, shoving away from him. "And it was fucking delicious, and I have no regrets."
"What did you have?"
"A few cheeseburgers and a curry-chips."
"How did it taste?"
"Better than sex."
"We're supposed to be on a diet!" Gibsie hissed in an appalled tone before quickly asking, "Did you get me something?"
"Yeah, I got you a burger."
"Thanks, Johnny."
"And then I got hungry so I ate it."
"You're a monster."
~HAHAHHAHAHA IM IN LOVE W GIBSIE SMSMSM he’s basically Seth from another dimension 🤌
♡︎ “I'm going to hug you," Johnny whispered in my ear. "Tell me if that's not okay?”
~ugh
♡︎ "You're not coming back, are you?"
Joey just stared at me, eyes filled with tears. "I can't," he whispered as a tear rolled down his cheek.
~vol 2
♡︎ She looked right through all the bullshit.
Seeing me.
Seeing only me.
And that made me want to move some shit around and place her slap bang in the middle of my world.
~mhm yes pls that would be nice
♡︎ "Should I hug you?"
~GIBSIE I LOVE YOU SFM 😭 look at him being soft
♡︎ "Johnny?" she whispered.
"Yeah?"
"Hi," she breathed, edging closer.
"Hi," I croaked out,
~why does this get me every damn time?!
♡︎ "Johnny?" Shannon whispered again.
"Yeah?"
"I’m going to hug you now." She hitched her leg over mine. "Is that okay?"
Don’t do it.
You'll never get over this girl.
"Yeah," I exhaled a ragged breath, feeling my heart smash against my ribcage, as she hovered above me. "That's okay."
~*cries in single*
♡︎ Once I committed myself, once my heart laid claim on her, I might as well slap a label on my forehead stating I'm yours, please be gentle with me because I'm here to stay.
~I absolutely love and adore his thought process here
♡︎ "I am losing my bleeding mind, Gibs."
"Nah, your mind's still there," Gibsie chuckled, patting my shoulder. "It's your heart you’re losing, lad."
~gibsie being wise is so hot
♡︎ “Shannon like the river. Will you please be my friend?“
~smh
♡︎ "I can keep a secret, Johnny Kavanagh," I whispered, stroking his cheek with my fingers. "And I promise I'll keep yours."
With his hand still cupping the side of my neck, Johnny exhaled a heavy sigh and let his head fall forward, his hair brushing my neck.
~this whole chapter wrecked me in the best and worst way but this scene was worth it
♡︎ “Was I stoned?
Did Gibsie get me high?
That bastard…”
~HAHAHAHA
♡︎ "She makes my heart go, like, whoa."
"Is that right?" he mused.
"So bad, Da," I sighed. "Boom, boom, fucking boom."
~I’m cackling
♡︎ "Hi, Johnny."
"Boom, boom, fucking boom, Da," I groaned, slapping a hand against my chest. "I'm done for."
~*dreamy sigh*
♡︎ "It's family only."
"She's my wife," he announced then, blowing my mind clean open.
~IM SCREAMING
♡︎ “Bring the lights back, Da," Johnny instructed, slurring his words. "Light up the world. You need to see this girl."
~STAHPPP HES SO FUCKING WHOLESOME IMMA CRY
♡︎ “Shaking, I curled up as small as I could and clenched my eyes shut.“
~vol 10
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
IM FUCKING HYSTERICAL RN SHOULDER SHAKING PAIN FILLED SOBS RACKING MY BODY I CANT BREATHE MY EYES ARE BURNING FROM CRYING SO MUCH SOMEONE CALL FOR HELP-
I’m literally CLAWING at my chest to make the pain stoppp (;´༎ຶٹ༎ຶ`)
CHLOE WALSH IM COMING FOR YOU- 🔪
That ending was foul as fuck 😭 i don’t think I’ll ever recover
I have no idea if I’m gonna write a review for this bc it’s ruined me. I am RUINED.
***
BR w LuluBear 🤭🩷
The way I need to love this book so bad 😭🤞
July 4, 2024
∞ stars ✮
there are no fictional humans I love more than these two. the most precious, cutest, sweetest couple ever.
🩷 "She makes my heart go, like, whoa." "Is that right?" he mused. "So bad, Da," I sighed. "Boom, boom, fucking boom." I shook my head. "All the time." 🩷
tbh. idek how to start this review. like I have so many feelings and I don’t know how to put them into coherent sentences. this book will make you feel every emotion there is to feel. maybe even new ones, you didn’t know you had. it feels real yk? it feels like these are two actual people I’ve read about bc the story is that fleshed out and detailed <33 they’re my roman empire FOREVER AND EVER!! ok let me stop babbling now and get into the review LMFAO
💌 plot 💌
I feel like most people know the plot of this book, but i’m gonna write it out anyways bc why not HAHAHA.
shannon lynch has had a rough life. always picked on by the kids at school. shamed, teased, bullied. but she had it worse at home. the only girl amongst her 5 siblings and the easiest target for her father. any chance he gets, he will beat her to a pulp. after going through so much tormenting at school, her family decides to move her to tommen, ballylaggin’s most prestigious private school. that is where she meets the only boy that makes her feel safe. the love ofmy her life <33 and he shows her what it’s really like to be cared for, and loved.
🍓 shannon lynch 🍓
🤎 I once read somewhere that we mature with damage, not with age. 🤎
she broke my heart. SHE’S JUST A KID!! but she basically raised 3 kids all on her own. she took care of sean, tahdg and ollie more than her mom ever did and it makes me SO MAD. all her mom did was cry for no reason whilst she watched her kids get ABUSED and TORMENTED 🙁
a lot of people don’t like her too much bc she’s too stubborn or awkward but my god can you blame her? with that trauma, it’s impressive she can even trust anyone when she can’t feel safe around her own parents 💔
💌I liked safe. In my world, invisibility equaled safety.
I was happy to be wallpaper and blend in. 💌
guys. she is literally my spirit animal. I know what it’s like to fear your own family. and it fucking sucks. being scared whenever they walk into a room, finding any possible excuse to leave the house, it’s genuinely horrible. when we are together, it always ends in me crying. there’s always something “imperfect” about me to comment on just so there’s a reason to yell. and that’s why I felt her to my core. she never did anything but she always suffered for absolutely no reason. just bc her dad felt like using a punching bag. like her, I don’t have a temper, I just sob, and sob, and sob.
🧸 I was annoyed with myself for being the kind of person who cried when angry. I wanted to be a shouter. A shouter was much better than a crier. 🧸
never did I want to jump into a book and give a character a hug as much as I did in this moment. shannon lynch, you are so strong <3
🏉 johnny kavanagh 🏉
ohmygod. I can’t even talk about him without squealing like a lovesick teenage girl (newsflash: I am a lovesick teenage girl). he makes me so giddy it’s actually fucking WEIRD. and then I remember he’s just words and I get depressed. ask my bsf, I will vent to her about him for hours like he’s an actual PERSON.
the most greenest forest in the universe. in a world of gross filthy boys, he is a gentleman and everything more 🥹 he cared for shannon in a way I’ve never seen with any other man. he was masculine and attractive, but without that toxicity and gross ego they usually have. he made her FEEL SAFE, when she thought she couldn’t with anyone else in the world. I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him.
anyways. I love him. did I mention that? I don’t think I did.
🎀I can take you home when you have to go? What the actual fuck? I might as well have shouted, love me, fucking love me at the girl. 🎀
hey siri, play “you are in love” by taylor swift
BECAUSE MY GUY IS WHIPPED!! he’s so perfect, and he only had eyes on her when everyone else wanted him (me included) and she was literally ignoring him.
☄️ Shannon Lynch had eyes the color of midnight blue that wouldn’t stay the fuck out of my head. ☄️
…and this was shortly after they first met. I don’t even love the “love at first sight” thing but I was obsessed with it here that I didn’t even care. (it’s still a slow burn though dw 😉)
🌺 other characters 🌺
🥃 joey lynch: he’s the best brother one could ever have. I wish I had him in my life he’s so supportive, so sweet, no matter how fucked up his life is, he’s still there to hold his siblings’ hand and support them (unlike darren 🙄) his book is so beautiful but heartbreaking please go read it and see how much my baby goes through <3 he’s so strong
💘 eden kavanagh: my favourite fictional mother <3 I love her so much, it’s no wonder johnny turned out so perfect!! she’s hilarious and so kind and sweet to shannon 😭💗
🥳 gerard gibson: im scared for his book bc everyone says it sucks but i know no matter what, I will forever love him so much. he is the bestest friend johnny could’ve asked for, i love him with all my heart. everyone needs a bestie like gerard gibson in their life or they are missing out 🤍
🛍️ aoife molloy: im obsessed with her. you don’t see much of her here but in the rest of the books you see how perfect she is for Joey and the way she stuck by him no matter what 💗
😵💫 shannon’s dad: disgusting excuse for a human being. he can rot in hell idc.
💐quotes 💐
ignore the fact that there’s a million quotes i just love them so much 😣
➼ She was so fucking beautiful it was painful, with those big blue eyes staring back at me all innocent and full of uncertainty.
➼ "I’m going to hug you now." She hitched her leg over mine. "Is that okay?" Don’t do it. You'll never get over this girl. "Yeah," I exhaled a ragged breath, feeling my heart smash against my ribcage, as she hovered above me. "That's okay."
➼ "You can't tell me what to do," he rasped, breathless. "You're not my father!" This fucker. He was determined to defy me even when he couldn’t win. "I'm your daddy on the field, bitch."
➼ Johnny rewarded me with a boyish smirk that quickly morphed into a frown as he looked at my face. "What happened?" he demanded, glaring down at me. "Who the fuck made you cry?"
➼ God, he was just so beautiful, it was painful. Everything about Johnny Kavanagh was pure perfection.
➼ "Put your head up, Shannon like the river." Moments later, he draped his arm over my shoulder and pulled me into his side. "No one's going to hurt you."
➼ I believed him when he told me I was safe with him.
➼ "Now," I sneered, glaring down at their faces. "Who wants to call my girlfriend a whore to my face?"
I think I should stop before I start quoting the entire book
🌸 conclusion 🌸
this review is long overdue im so sorry HAHAHA. but its here!! and i hope you like it <3 this book is perfection, no matter how much I yapped in my review, no amount of words could possibly do it justice.
you will never read found family this good. i have yet to, and i feel like i never will. the bond between all of them is so strong and they all found eachother and healed together it really is beautiful. I would read pages and pages of them just hanging out. bc they’re that entertaining.
anyways this is my favourite series in the whole wide world and I fear I will never shut up about it in the foreseeable future so you may as well just read it and do us both a favour 🙈🙈 also here’s a lil playlist I made if you wanna check it out!! listening to “she will be loved” by maroon 5 hits different after this book 😭😭
ily pookies, happy reading <3
————
AAAA IM STILL SCREAMING. IM SO OBSESSED
the way i’ve read this before and im still stunned is actually insane. it frustrates me that I can’t just jump into keeping 13 straight away but I WILL. this really broke and shattered me even more than it did the first time. prepare for the longest review ever I have so much to say. but it won’t be until late june, after exams im sorry 💗
5 stars. 🥹🫶🏼 duh. rtc <33
there are no fictional humans I love more than these two. the most precious, cutest, sweetest couple ever.
🩷 "She makes my heart go, like, whoa." "Is that right?" he mused. "So bad, Da," I sighed. "Boom, boom, fucking boom." I shook my head. "All the time." 🩷
tbh. idek how to start this review. like I have so many feelings and I don’t know how to put them into coherent sentences. this book will make you feel every emotion there is to feel. maybe even new ones, you didn’t know you had. it feels real yk? it feels like these are two actual people I’ve read about bc the story is that fleshed out and detailed <33 they’re my roman empire FOREVER AND EVER!! ok let me stop babbling now and get into the review LMFAO
💌 plot 💌
I feel like most people know the plot of this book, but i’m gonna write it out anyways bc why not HAHAHA.
shannon lynch has had a rough life. always picked on by the kids at school. shamed, teased, bullied. but she had it worse at home. the only girl amongst her 5 siblings and the easiest target for her father. any chance he gets, he will beat her to a pulp. after going through so much tormenting at school, her family decides to move her to tommen, ballylaggin’s most prestigious private school. that is where she meets the only boy that makes her feel safe. the love of
🍓 shannon lynch 🍓
🤎 I once read somewhere that we mature with damage, not with age. 🤎
she broke my heart. SHE’S JUST A KID!! but she basically raised 3 kids all on her own. she took care of sean, tahdg and ollie more than her mom ever did and it makes me SO MAD. all her mom did was cry for no reason whilst she watched her kids get ABUSED and TORMENTED 🙁
a lot of people don’t like her too much bc she’s too stubborn or awkward but my god can you blame her? with that trauma, it’s impressive she can even trust anyone when she can’t feel safe around her own parents 💔
💌I liked safe. In my world, invisibility equaled safety.
I was happy to be wallpaper and blend in. 💌
guys. she is literally my spirit animal. I know what it’s like to fear your own family. and it fucking sucks. being scared whenever they walk into a room, finding any possible excuse to leave the house, it’s genuinely horrible. when we are together, it always ends in me crying. there’s always something “imperfect” about me to comment on just so there’s a reason to yell. and that’s why I felt her to my core. she never did anything but she always suffered for absolutely no reason. just bc her dad felt like using a punching bag. like her, I don’t have a temper, I just sob, and sob, and sob.
🧸 I was annoyed with myself for being the kind of person who cried when angry. I wanted to be a shouter. A shouter was much better than a crier. 🧸
never did I want to jump into a book and give a character a hug as much as I did in this moment. shannon lynch, you are so strong <3
🏉 johnny kavanagh 🏉
ohmygod. I can’t even talk about him without squealing like a lovesick teenage girl (newsflash: I am a lovesick teenage girl). he makes me so giddy it’s actually fucking WEIRD. and then I remember he’s just words and I get depressed. ask my bsf, I will vent to her about him for hours like he’s an actual PERSON.
the most greenest forest in the universe. in a world of gross filthy boys, he is a gentleman and everything more 🥹 he cared for shannon in a way I’ve never seen with any other man. he was masculine and attractive, but without that toxicity and gross ego they usually have. he made her FEEL SAFE, when she thought she couldn’t with anyone else in the world. I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him I love him.
anyways. I love him. did I mention that? I don’t think I did.
🎀I can take you home when you have to go? What the actual fuck? I might as well have shouted, love me, fucking love me at the girl. 🎀
hey siri, play “you are in love” by taylor swift
BECAUSE MY GUY IS WHIPPED!! he’s so perfect, and he only had eyes on her when everyone else wanted him (me included) and she was literally ignoring him.
☄️ Shannon Lynch had eyes the color of midnight blue that wouldn’t stay the fuck out of my head. ☄️
…and this was shortly after they first met. I don’t even love the “love at first sight” thing but I was obsessed with it here that I didn’t even care. (it’s still a slow burn though dw 😉)
🌺 other characters 🌺
🥃 joey lynch: he’s the best brother one could ever have. I wish I had him in my life he’s so supportive, so sweet, no matter how fucked up his life is, he’s still there to hold his siblings’ hand and support them (unlike darren 🙄) his book is so beautiful but heartbreaking please go read it and see how much my baby goes through <3 he’s so strong
💘 eden kavanagh: my favourite fictional mother <3 I love her so much, it’s no wonder johnny turned out so perfect!! she’s hilarious and so kind and sweet to shannon 😭💗
🥳 gerard gibson: im scared for his book bc everyone says it sucks but i know no matter what, I will forever love him so much. he is the bestest friend johnny could’ve asked for, i love him with all my heart. everyone needs a bestie like gerard gibson in their life or they are missing out 🤍
🛍️ aoife molloy: im obsessed with her. you don’t see much of her here but in the rest of the books you see how perfect she is for Joey and the way she stuck by him no matter what 💗
😵💫 shannon’s dad: disgusting excuse for a human being. he can rot in hell idc.
💐quotes 💐
ignore the fact that there’s a million quotes i just love them so much 😣
➼ She was so fucking beautiful it was painful, with those big blue eyes staring back at me all innocent and full of uncertainty.
➼ "I’m going to hug you now." She hitched her leg over mine. "Is that okay?" Don’t do it. You'll never get over this girl. "Yeah," I exhaled a ragged breath, feeling my heart smash against my ribcage, as she hovered above me. "That's okay."
➼ "You can't tell me what to do," he rasped, breathless. "You're not my father!" This fucker. He was determined to defy me even when he couldn’t win. "I'm your daddy on the field, bitch."
➼ Johnny rewarded me with a boyish smirk that quickly morphed into a frown as he looked at my face. "What happened?" he demanded, glaring down at me. "Who the fuck made you cry?"
➼ God, he was just so beautiful, it was painful. Everything about Johnny Kavanagh was pure perfection.
➼ "Put your head up, Shannon like the river." Moments later, he draped his arm over my shoulder and pulled me into his side. "No one's going to hurt you."
➼ I believed him when he told me I was safe with him.
➼ "Now," I sneered, glaring down at their faces. "Who wants to call my girlfriend a whore to my face?"
I think I should stop before I start quoting the entire book
🌸 conclusion 🌸
this review is long overdue im so sorry HAHAHA. but its here!! and i hope you like it <3 this book is perfection, no matter how much I yapped in my review, no amount of words could possibly do it justice.
you will never read found family this good. i have yet to, and i feel like i never will. the bond between all of them is so strong and they all found eachother and healed together it really is beautiful. I would read pages and pages of them just hanging out. bc they’re that entertaining.
anyways this is my favourite series in the whole wide world and I fear I will never shut up about it in the foreseeable future so you may as well just read it and do us both a favour 🙈🙈 also here’s a lil playlist I made if you wanna check it out!! listening to “she will be loved” by maroon 5 hits different after this book 😭😭
ily pookies, happy reading <3
————
AAAA IM STILL SCREAMING. IM SO OBSESSED
the way i’ve read this before and im still stunned is actually insane. it frustrates me that I can’t just jump into keeping 13 straight away but I WILL. this really broke and shattered me even more than it did the first time. prepare for the longest review ever I have so much to say. but it won’t be until late june, after exams im sorry 💗
5 stars. 🥹🫶🏼 duh. rtc <33
May 15, 2022
3.2 stars
The deal is.....
The main couple was cute, the secondary characters were even better, many scenes were downright hilarious and many inexplicably sad, the writing was easy to follow and it was without a doubt one of the best high school romances I’ve ever read.
But then we have info dumpy monologues, really long chapters, an even longer page count, unnecessary scenes that bored me to death, a bunch of convenient crashing into male chests, a heroine that unintentionally got on my nerves, zero character development, only one proper bloody kiss scene in an 887 page book and a love story that’s actually pretty average.
There....I said it, bring out the pitchforks.
PS; that hospital scene at the end? Yeaaa you know which one I’m talking about. That was possibly the funniest, cutest, most wholesome and my favourite fucking book scene ever.
PS PS; who thought that cover was a good idea?
The deal is.....
The main couple was cute, the secondary characters were even better, many scenes were downright hilarious and many inexplicably sad, the writing was easy to follow and it was without a doubt one of the best high school romances I’ve ever read.
But then we have info dumpy monologues, really long chapters, an even longer page count, unnecessary scenes that bored me to death, a bunch of convenient crashing into male chests, a heroine that unintentionally got on my nerves, zero character development, only one proper bloody kiss scene in an 887 page book and a love story that’s actually pretty average.
There....I said it, bring out the pitchforks.
PS; that hospital scene at the end? Yeaaa you know which one I’m talking about. That was possibly the funniest, cutest, most wholesome and my favourite fucking book scene ever.
PS PS; who thought that cover was a good idea?
July 8, 2024
—— 5 ✰ stars.
・❥・ Mood of the book:
: ̗̀➛ Look After You by The Fray
: ̗̀➛ She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5
: ̗̀➛ Those Eyes by New West
: ̗̀➛ Brutal by Olivia Rodrigo
I've been staring at my computer screen for half an hour without knowing what to write about this book. I still don't know how to feel about it, I really didn't even expect to like it this much, but I was really surprised.
'she was like a tornado I never saw coming'
First of all, I want to say that my dear giuls gave me this book for Christmas, and surely if it weren't for her, I wouldn't have read it, therefore, this book is even more special just because of you. I love you bleeding eejit.
Returning to the book, I could say a few reasons why this book might not be 5.✰ stars, small details that in other books would make me lower the rating, but as I have said other times, 5.✰ stars is a feeling, not a set of objective things that a book has to bring together, if not a set of emotions that it has to make me feel. This book is not perfect objectively speaking, but it is perfect in my heart.
‘Relax’ Johnny whispered in my ear, distracting me from my memories. ‘You are safe with me.’
Before continuing with the review, I advise that, if you want to read the book, you check the trigger warnings first, since it deals with quite strong topics. Also make it clear that the love story is not the main plot, and that the main characters are TEENAGERS, they are 15/16 and 17 years old. Once this is noted, we can continue.
We follow Shannon Lynch, a 15-year-old girl with a very hard life, who due to constant bullying at her previous school, has transferred to Tommen, there, after an accident with a rugby ball, she meets Johnny Kavanagh, a young rugby promise, at this moment, everything changes for them, Johnny finds himself interested in something other than rugby for the first time in his life, and Shannon will find for the first time a feeling foreign to her, feeling safe.
'come on, I'll look after you'
If you're expecting a book full of plot twists or action, turn around and leave because this isn't it. I wouldn't say it's a character driven story, but it's not a plot story either. It's very slice of life. I know the length of the book is intimidating, but the writing is so fast and addictive that I read it as if it were 300 pages instead of 800.
*:･ﾟ｡ 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒏 𝑳𝒚𝒏𝒄𝒉 *ੈ✩‧₊˚
Better known as Shannon like the river. Shannon is a fragile girl, who has a very hard and complicated life, she doesn't trust anyone, only her brother Joey. Reading Shannon's points of views were really painful, her way of seeing life, her desperation, her fear, her pain, her feelings, I could feel her fear on my own skin.
'I once read somewhere that we mature with damage, not with age'
She is very innocent and sometimes her innocence created cringe moments where I wanted to hide under my blanket and not come out for the next three months, but at the same time it was funny because, at the end of the day, they are teenagers, and we all went through these things.
*:･ﾟ｡ 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝑲𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒉 *ੈ✩‧₊˚
LISTEN TO ME. JOHNNY FUCKING KAVANAGH IS IT. HE IS THE STANDARD, AND WE DESERVE SOMEONE LIKE HIM, NOTHING LESS.
Johnny is 17 years old, and he is a promising rugby player, his whole life revolves around that, his future plans and how he behaves, but there is a problem, Johnny had surgery not long ago, which still hasn't properly healed, and he still decides to play and put his health at risk for fear of being left without his opportunity.
He is a very mature boy for his age, with enormous respect for girls. He immediately sees Shannon's fragility and feels that he must keep her safe. Shannon's age is very important to him, since he feels that he is too old for her. , which is understandable, but at the same time it was frustrating, since we all had a crush in high school older or younger than us, after all they are both teenagers.
'tell me who made you cry and I'll fix it'
*:･ﾟ｡ 𝑱𝒐𝒆𝒚 𝑳𝒚𝒏𝒄𝒉 *ੈ✩‧₊˚
Joey is Shannon's older brother, and for her, her hero. We didn't get much of him, but I'm already looking forward to reading his books and his relationship with Aoife. He takes care of his siblings like no one else and is one of the strongest people in the book. My heart breaks for him.
'He was the reason we were all in one piece. He was our hero'
*:･ﾟ｡ 𝑮𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒅 '𝑮𝒊𝒃𝒔𝒊𝒆' 𝑮𝒊𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒏 *ੈ✩‧₊˚
GIBSIEEEEEEEE MY BABYYYY AAAAA!!!! OK, we need to calm down. I have loved him with all my heart, he is Johnny's best friend and teammate in Tommen, the relationship between them is wonderful, there were a couple of times I cried from laughter with their conversations. Gibsie cares for Johnny even though he doesn't let himself be cared for, and also from Shannon since he knows how much she means to Johnny. I am very interested in his relationship with Claire and knowing that he is going to have his book makes me go AAAAAAAAAA!
'Hail, rain or snow, Gibsie had my back'
'Hi, Johnny'
'Hi, Shannon'
When I tell you that it is the sweetest and purest romance I have ever read, I am not kidding. It is the perfect definition of first love. And this is one of the reasons for my 5.✰ stars, I could feel the butterflies fluttering in my stomach the entire time, it was like feeling my first high school love again.
'Jesus, this girl was beautiful.'
'I'd noticed it earlier of course, she had a striking look about her, but now, seeing her up close like this and being able to count the freckles on her face – eleven by the way – it was hitting home just how striking she was.'
I don't want to delve too deeply into their relationship because apart from not being the main theme of the book, it is better that you see it for yourself when you read it.
I could add countless more, but I really don't want to give clues about anything at all.
‘But it was those wild eyes that really struck me and I had this crazy urge to google eye color charts just so I could figure out the fucking color blue in her eyes’
‘Sooner or later, he would be back, promising heaven and delivering hell.’
‘she was lovely. she didn’t need to hide any of her shine behind those bleeding shutters’
‘im yours, please be gentle with me because I’m here to stay.'
‘The smile Johnny rewarded me with was wide, genuine and breathtakingly beautiful. God, he looked like a different person when he smiled’
Well lads, this was all. I hope to read the next one very soon because the ending was painful as shite and I’m hurt as balls.
➙ Old Updates:
well. I’m not ok 👍🏻 I might need Chloe billing address to send her my therapy bills bitch
rtc of course
feb 7: let’s see what’s with this 👀. Also giuls pls DONT have a heart attack but… it’s finally happening
‘Because you’re beautiful. Inside and out. Everywhere’
・❥・ Mood of the book:
: ̗̀➛ Look After You by The Fray
: ̗̀➛ She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5
: ̗̀➛ Those Eyes by New West
: ̗̀➛ Brutal by Olivia Rodrigo
I've been staring at my computer screen for half an hour without knowing what to write about this book. I still don't know how to feel about it, I really didn't even expect to like it this much, but I was really surprised.
'she was like a tornado I never saw coming'
First of all, I want to say that my dear giuls gave me this book for Christmas, and surely if it weren't for her, I wouldn't have read it, therefore, this book is even more special just because of you. I love you bleeding eejit.
Returning to the book, I could say a few reasons why this book might not be 5.✰ stars, small details that in other books would make me lower the rating, but as I have said other times, 5.✰ stars is a feeling, not a set of objective things that a book has to bring together, if not a set of emotions that it has to make me feel. This book is not perfect objectively speaking, but it is perfect in my heart.
‘Relax’ Johnny whispered in my ear, distracting me from my memories. ‘You are safe with me.’
Before continuing with the review, I advise that, if you want to read the book, you check the trigger warnings first, since it deals with quite strong topics. Also make it clear that the love story is not the main plot, and that the main characters are TEENAGERS, they are 15/16 and 17 years old. Once this is noted, we can continue.
•┈••✦ 𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒕 ✦••┈•:
We follow Shannon Lynch, a 15-year-old girl with a very hard life, who due to constant bullying at her previous school, has transferred to Tommen, there, after an accident with a rugby ball, she meets Johnny Kavanagh, a young rugby promise, at this moment, everything changes for them, Johnny finds himself interested in something other than rugby for the first time in his life, and Shannon will find for the first time a feeling foreign to her, feeling safe.
'come on, I'll look after you'
If you're expecting a book full of plot twists or action, turn around and leave because this isn't it. I wouldn't say it's a character driven story, but it's not a plot story either. It's very slice of life. I know the length of the book is intimidating, but the writing is so fast and addictive that I read it as if it were 300 pages instead of 800.
•┈••✦ 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 ✦••┈•:
*:･ﾟ｡ 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒏 𝑳𝒚𝒏𝒄𝒉 *ੈ✩‧₊˚
Better known as Shannon like the river. Shannon is a fragile girl, who has a very hard and complicated life, she doesn't trust anyone, only her brother Joey. Reading Shannon's points of views were really painful, her way of seeing life, her desperation, her fear, her pain, her feelings, I could feel her fear on my own skin.
'I once read somewhere that we mature with damage, not with age'
She is very innocent and sometimes her innocence created cringe moments where I wanted to hide under my blanket and not come out for the next three months, but at the same time it was funny because, at the end of the day, they are teenagers, and we all went through these things.
*:･ﾟ｡ 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝑲𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒉 *ੈ✩‧₊˚
LISTEN TO ME. JOHNNY FUCKING KAVANAGH IS IT. HE IS THE STANDARD, AND WE DESERVE SOMEONE LIKE HIM, NOTHING LESS.
Johnny is 17 years old, and he is a promising rugby player, his whole life revolves around that, his future plans and how he behaves, but there is a problem, Johnny had surgery not long ago, which still hasn't properly healed, and he still decides to play and put his health at risk for fear of being left without his opportunity.
He is a very mature boy for his age, with enormous respect for girls. He immediately sees Shannon's fragility and feels that he must keep her safe. Shannon's age is very important to him, since he feels that he is too old for her. , which is understandable, but at the same time it was frustrating, since we all had a crush in high school older or younger than us, after all they are both teenagers.
'tell me who made you cry and I'll fix it'
*:･ﾟ｡ 𝑱𝒐𝒆𝒚 𝑳𝒚𝒏𝒄𝒉 *ੈ✩‧₊˚
Joey is Shannon's older brother, and for her, her hero. We didn't get much of him, but I'm already looking forward to reading his books and his relationship with Aoife. He takes care of his siblings like no one else and is one of the strongest people in the book. My heart breaks for him.
'He was the reason we were all in one piece. He was our hero'
*:･ﾟ｡ 𝑮𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒅 '𝑮𝒊𝒃𝒔𝒊𝒆' 𝑮𝒊𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒏 *ੈ✩‧₊˚
GIBSIEEEEEEEE MY BABYYYY AAAAA!!!! OK, we need to calm down. I have loved him with all my heart, he is Johnny's best friend and teammate in Tommen, the relationship between them is wonderful, there were a couple of times I cried from laughter with their conversations. Gibsie cares for Johnny even though he doesn't let himself be cared for, and also from Shannon since he knows how much she means to Johnny. I am very interested in his relationship with Claire and knowing that he is going to have his book makes me go AAAAAAAAAA!
'Hail, rain or snow, Gibsie had my back'
•┈••✦ 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 ✦••┈•:
'Hi, Johnny'
'Hi, Shannon'
When I tell you that it is the sweetest and purest romance I have ever read, I am not kidding. It is the perfect definition of first love. And this is one of the reasons for my 5.✰ stars, I could feel the butterflies fluttering in my stomach the entire time, it was like feeling my first high school love again.
'Jesus, this girl was beautiful.'
'I'd noticed it earlier of course, she had a striking look about her, but now, seeing her up close like this and being able to count the freckles on her face – eleven by the way – it was hitting home just how striking she was.'
I don't want to delve too deeply into their relationship because apart from not being the main theme of the book, it is better that you see it for yourself when you read it.
•┈••✦ 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒔 ✦••┈•:
I could add countless more, but I really don't want to give clues about anything at all.
‘But it was those wild eyes that really struck me and I had this crazy urge to google eye color charts just so I could figure out the fucking color blue in her eyes’
‘Sooner or later, he would be back, promising heaven and delivering hell.’
‘she was lovely. she didn’t need to hide any of her shine behind those bleeding shutters’
‘im yours, please be gentle with me because I’m here to stay.'
‘The smile Johnny rewarded me with was wide, genuine and breathtakingly beautiful. God, he looked like a different person when he smiled’
Well lads, this was all. I hope to read the next one very soon because the ending was painful as shite and I’m hurt as balls.
➙ Old Updates:
well. I’m not ok 👍🏻 I might need Chloe billing address to send her my therapy bills bitch
rtc of course
feb 7: let’s see what’s with this 👀. Also giuls pls DONT have a heart attack but… it’s finally happening
July 27, 2024
4.5 ★'s
This book feels like a warm hug. Which might sound strange as it covers some heavy themes.
For me it comes down to how genuine everything in this book is.
It feels like life; real, a bit heartbreaking at times and the best when surrounded with people you love.
✦“He added fresh bruises to old bruises.”✦
This is a brutally honest depiction of that time between adulthood and childhood, of teenage love and friendships, not sugar-coating issues within families but also showing the strength that can be found there.
Binding 13 is unique in the sense that the friendships and sibling relationships in this are just as good as the romance. At times I even loved Joey & Shannon's relationship more.
Going into this I was a bit worried I wasn't gonna be able to connect to the characters as they are very young, and I usually prefer reading books with characters closer to my own age.
That fear was quickly demolished. The writing is incredibly immersive. It was effortless to fall into this, feeling the struggles of being a teen stuck in difficult situations whilst also handling things such as crushes, grades and finding yourself.
✧“Shannon Lynch was the greatest weapon of mass destruction my heart has ever been exposed to.”✧
It's not fair to write a review on this book and not write about the romance. It's so clear to see that they are made for each other and you cannot help yourself from rooting for them from early on.
It's that innocent type of teenage love that comes with butterflies and overthinking, but it still has such depth. Their mutual shy crushes made me feel all giddy as if I was the one with a crush. If someone dedicated She Will Be Loved to me, I would marry them on the spot. 😭
✧“My heart. My poor, poor heart. I didn’t stand a chance with this boy.”✧
The friendships in this has a dedicated place close to my heart. Gibsie and Johnny, Shannon, Lizzie and Claire. Not to be repetitive, but what I love about it is that it's so sincere and feels so real.
Them being there for each other, knowing each other inside and out, relentless teasing and inside jokes, and just simply being comfortable in each other's company. This combined with the early 00's vibes gave off such an amazing ambiance throughout the book. (Being real for a second though, home-burned mix CD's is such a lost art. Spotify playlists just don't hit the same.🤧)
Although the length of the book intimidated me initially, the pacing was perfect and had no real downtime which is very impressive for a book of over 800 pages. It went by much faster than I anticipated and I am extremely eager to continue this series going forward.
______
⌞pre-read:⌝
I didn't think I would read this because I don't really get sports lol, but SK convinced me to give it a try. 🫶
It's a bit intimidating going into this knowing how much people love it. I hope I will enjoy this too🥹
This book feels like a warm hug. Which might sound strange as it covers some heavy themes.
For me it comes down to how genuine everything in this book is.
It feels like life; real, a bit heartbreaking at times and the best when surrounded with people you love.
✦“He added fresh bruises to old bruises.”✦
This is a brutally honest depiction of that time between adulthood and childhood, of teenage love and friendships, not sugar-coating issues within families but also showing the strength that can be found there.
Binding 13 is unique in the sense that the friendships and sibling relationships in this are just as good as the romance. At times I even loved Joey & Shannon's relationship more.
Going into this I was a bit worried I wasn't gonna be able to connect to the characters as they are very young, and I usually prefer reading books with characters closer to my own age.
That fear was quickly demolished. The writing is incredibly immersive. It was effortless to fall into this, feeling the struggles of being a teen stuck in difficult situations whilst also handling things such as crushes, grades and finding yourself.
✧“Shannon Lynch was the greatest weapon of mass destruction my heart has ever been exposed to.”✧
It's not fair to write a review on this book and not write about the romance. It's so clear to see that they are made for each other and you cannot help yourself from rooting for them from early on.
It's that innocent type of teenage love that comes with butterflies and overthinking, but it still has such depth. Their mutual shy crushes made me feel all giddy as if I was the one with a crush. If someone dedicated She Will Be Loved to me, I would marry them on the spot. 😭
✧“My heart. My poor, poor heart. I didn’t stand a chance with this boy.”✧
The friendships in this has a dedicated place close to my heart. Gibsie and Johnny, Shannon, Lizzie and Claire. Not to be repetitive, but what I love about it is that it's so sincere and feels so real.
Them being there for each other, knowing each other inside and out, relentless teasing and inside jokes, and just simply being comfortable in each other's company. This combined with the early 00's vibes gave off such an amazing ambiance throughout the book. (Being real for a second though, home-burned mix CD's is such a lost art. Spotify playlists just don't hit the same.🤧)
Although the length of the book intimidated me initially, the pacing was perfect and had no real downtime which is very impressive for a book of over 800 pages. It went by much faster than I anticipated and I am extremely eager to continue this series going forward.
______
⌞pre-read:⌝
I didn't think I would read this because I don't really get sports lol, but SK convinced me to give it a try. 🫶
It's a bit intimidating going into this knowing how much people love it. I hope I will enjoy this too🥹
February 13, 2024
Strong 4.5⭐️ 😌
July 14, 2024
this was simultaneously heartbreaking, beautiful, innocent, hilarious and wholesome. I need to read the next book asap after that cliffhanger 😫
rtc
———
So I finally succumbed to the peer pressure and started this series yesterday — somehow i'm already halfway through an 800 pages book?? Johnny and Shannon have my heart 🥺💚
rtc
———
So I finally succumbed to the peer pressure and started this series yesterday — somehow i'm already halfway through an 800 pages book?? Johnny and Shannon have my heart 🥺💚
September 4, 2021
You need this book in your life
Take a gang of young adults with loads of teenage angst
Add Rugby
Mix with uber-alpha Irish boys
Stir in sassy girls
Up the ante by tacking relevant social issues relating to bullying and physical abuse; and you get Binding 13.
An explosive story, about 17 yo Johnny Kavanagh and 16 yo Shannon Lynch, that I simply could not put down.
July 17, 2024
ˋ✧*➷ third read: 17th july 2024. shannon is too pathetic for my liking, idk what i saw in her in the first place. my love for this book has tamed down a little and all i can see is flaws, so i don't think i'll be re-reading it again anytime soon 🤷♀️
ˋ✧*➷ second read: 17th march 2024.
ˋ✧*➷ first read: 13th december 2023.
♾️ INFINITE "BOOM, BOOM, FUCKING BOOM" STARS ❀˖°
𓇢𓆸
alexa play yellow by coldplay:
there are some books that you never get over with. some books that leave a deep imprint in your heart, your mind, your soul. this is that book.
Binding 13 is my favourite romance of all time.
there. i said. it.
if i have to rate my top 3 romance books:
1. Binding 13 by Chloe Walsh
2. I Hope This Doesn't Find You by Ann Liang
3. People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry.
but that's beyond the point of what i'm trying to state here.
i was in a constant state of hypervigilance and anxiety since the start of the book. shannon's character hit too close to home, more than i was comfortable with. it was as if the fourth dimension broke and the world around me ceased to exist as i flipped the pages. i wasn't seeing shannon, i was seeing myself, and it fucking threw me in a state of an inexplainable paranoia.
oh my god this book.
my childhood hasn't been worse than shannon, but i still do find it relatable at some parts to some extent, but there's no denial in this, i love shannon lynch so fucking much! it's as if i have a little sister who unfortunately is tiptoeing around the same shards of glass in the same pattern that i somewhat once did in my life, and the urge to protect her was real. way too real considering these characters aren't even real.
(p.s. idk why i feel the need to include this, but physically she and me are the same. word to word. it's so difficult to find such characters istg, she def boosted my confidence lol)
joey and other kids. my god, joey lynch. my heart bleeds for him. the responsibilities and trauma he had to go through. far worse than anyone else. my heart mourns for these kids.
idk i wanted to cry for the entire book. it made me so uncomfortable. i just wanna protect these characters alright??
and GIBSIE. he's such a fucking tool but oh god i absolutely love him. my sunshine, my pookie pie, my haemoglobin, my cutie picapoo ugh claire you lucky luck woman. CHLOE WE NEED THEIR BOOK LIKE YESTERDAY WTF ARE YOU DOING!?
"If feelings were objects, then I was teetering on the edge of a great precipice, and if girls were weapons, then Shannon Lynch was the greatest weapon of mass destruction my heart had ever been exposed to.
Because I was fucked."
Johnny Kavanagh. i hate this bleeding eejit. i hate him so much bcz he's so perfect and it makes me so soo mad cuz i didn't have a johnny to hold me in his arms while i cried my heart out. i never had a johnny to fight the world for me. i never had a johnny to appreciate my every scar, my every imperfection. i never had a johnny to fight my battles with me and protect me. i still don't. and you won't understand how much i crave such love. i need it so fucking much. i feel so... empty.
"Stay.
Stay with me, Shannon.
I can keep you safe.
I'll look after you..."
i fell in love with johnny. literally. no i'm not being dramatic and no i'm not over exaggerating, but i wanted to rip him out of the book and keep by my side forever. in shannon like the river's words: i want him, period.
if innocent love is the phrase then johnny and shannon are the entire book. pure unadultered love that knows no boundaries.
"I think I love that girl."
"Well, who's this girl?"
"She's a river," I sighed and closed my eyes. "I'm keeping her, Da."
"Okay, son," he coaxed. "You keep the girl."
"She makes my heart go, like, whoa."
"Is that right?" he mused.
"So bad, Da," I sighed. "Boom, boom, fucking boom." I shook my head. "All the time."
ˋ✧*➷ second read: 17th march 2024.
ˋ✧*➷ first read: 13th december 2023.
♾️ INFINITE "BOOM, BOOM, FUCKING BOOM" STARS ❀˖°
𓇢𓆸
alexa play yellow by coldplay:
there are some books that you never get over with. some books that leave a deep imprint in your heart, your mind, your soul. this is that book.
Binding 13 is my favourite romance of all time.
there. i said. it.
if i have to rate my top 3 romance books:
1. Binding 13 by Chloe Walsh
2. I Hope This Doesn't Find You by Ann Liang
3. People We Meet On Vacation by Emily Henry.
but that's beyond the point of what i'm trying to state here.
i was in a constant state of hypervigilance and anxiety since the start of the book. shannon's character hit too close to home, more than i was comfortable with. it was as if the fourth dimension broke and the world around me ceased to exist as i flipped the pages. i wasn't seeing shannon, i was seeing myself, and it fucking threw me in a state of an inexplainable paranoia.
oh my god this book.
my childhood hasn't been worse than shannon, but i still do find it relatable at some parts to some extent, but there's no denial in this, i love shannon lynch so fucking much! it's as if i have a little sister who unfortunately is tiptoeing around the same shards of glass in the same pattern that i somewhat once did in my life, and the urge to protect her was real. way too real considering these characters aren't even real.
(p.s. idk why i feel the need to include this, but physically she and me are the same. word to word. it's so difficult to find such characters istg, she def boosted my confidence lol)
joey and other kids. my god, joey lynch. my heart bleeds for him. the responsibilities and trauma he had to go through. far worse than anyone else. my heart mourns for these kids.
idk i wanted to cry for the entire book. it made me so uncomfortable. i just wanna protect these characters alright??
and GIBSIE. he's such a fucking tool but oh god i absolutely love him. my sunshine, my pookie pie, my haemoglobin, my cutie picapoo ugh claire you lucky luck woman. CHLOE WE NEED THEIR BOOK LIKE YESTERDAY WTF ARE YOU DOING!?
"If feelings were objects, then I was teetering on the edge of a great precipice, and if girls were weapons, then Shannon Lynch was the greatest weapon of mass destruction my heart had ever been exposed to.
Because I was fucked."
Johnny Kavanagh. i hate this bleeding eejit. i hate him so much bcz he's so perfect and it makes me so soo mad cuz i didn't have a johnny to hold me in his arms while i cried my heart out. i never had a johnny to fight the world for me. i never had a johnny to appreciate my every scar, my every imperfection. i never had a johnny to fight my battles with me and protect me. i still don't. and you won't understand how much i crave such love. i need it so fucking much. i feel so... empty.
"Stay.
Stay with me, Shannon.
I can keep you safe.
I'll look after you..."
i fell in love with johnny. literally. no i'm not being dramatic and no i'm not over exaggerating, but i wanted to rip him out of the book and keep by my side forever. in shannon like the river's words: i want him, period.
if innocent love is the phrase then johnny and shannon are the entire book. pure unadultered love that knows no boundaries.
"I think I love that girl."
"Well, who's this girl?"
"She's a river," I sighed and closed my eyes. "I'm keeping her, Da."
"Okay, son," he coaxed. "You keep the girl."
"She makes my heart go, like, whoa."
"Is that right?" he mused.
"So bad, Da," I sighed. "Boom, boom, fucking boom." I shook my head. "All the time."
January 10, 2023
Re-read #2 (1/9/2023) 5 ‘Boom, boom, fucking boom.’ Stars.
I LOVE THEM WITH EVERY PIECE OF MY NONFUNCTIONING HEART!!!!
Pages are just a number when you’re in love and the book has the most perfect character building!! Those books should win every award for the greatest cast ever!! All of them are so freakin precious!!
5 ‘Bulldozer’ stars
I’m a grown twenty something years old woman and I’m blushing and swooning over a high school romance. Ugh I need to get a life!
This book made me react weirdly. I swear I couldn’t recognize myself. It made me feel a lot of things. It made me laugh, cry, frustrated the hell out of me, and made me freakin swoon. I was a mess. It’s just so cute, adorable, and relevant.
I loved every single one of these characters. Every. Single. One. These characters are so real to me. I feel like I’m so overwhelmed and that my heart is going to burst when I think about them. The book is full of angst, real life issues, and alpha Irish guys. What more do you need?
The book is packed with the most amazing important side characters. Everyone of them is so precious. Johnny is a good guy. If I were his mam I would’ve been so proud of him. He’s caring, loving, and dedicated. He’s SO good. Shannon is so precious and delicate. I just want to give her a hug and protect her from everything. Gibsie, is the heart of this book. Mammy K, is the book’s soul. I adore her. Joey is so precious. I could keep talking nonstop about every side character. Just know that this book has the best side supporting characters .
Even though this book might seem “too long” or “too slow” it didn’t feel like that at all! there was still something about it that made it so addictive and unputdownable. I love it. And now I need to recommend it to everyone.
I LOVE THEM WITH EVERY PIECE OF MY NONFUNCTIONING HEART!!!!
Pages are just a number when you’re in love and the book has the most perfect character building!! Those books should win every award for the greatest cast ever!! All of them are so freakin precious!!
——————————————————
5 ‘Bulldozer’ stars
I’m a grown twenty something years old woman and I’m blushing and swooning over a high school romance. Ugh I need to get a life!
This book made me react weirdly. I swear I couldn’t recognize myself. It made me feel a lot of things. It made me laugh, cry, frustrated the hell out of me, and made me freakin swoon. I was a mess. It’s just so cute, adorable, and relevant.
I loved every single one of these characters. Every. Single. One. These characters are so real to me. I feel like I’m so overwhelmed and that my heart is going to burst when I think about them. The book is full of angst, real life issues, and alpha Irish guys. What more do you need?
The book is packed with the most amazing important side characters. Everyone of them is so precious. Johnny is a good guy. If I were his mam I would’ve been so proud of him. He’s caring, loving, and dedicated. He’s SO good. Shannon is so precious and delicate. I just want to give her a hug and protect her from everything. Gibsie, is the heart of this book. Mammy K, is the book’s soul. I adore her. Joey is so precious. I could keep talking nonstop about every side character. Just know that this book has the best side supporting characters .
Even though this book might seem “too long” or “too slow” it didn’t feel like that at all! there was still something about it that made it so addictive and unputdownable. I love it. And now I need to recommend it to everyone.
June 1, 2023
Ladies, Gentlemen, and Non-Binary Pals of Goodreads, may you be so kind as to donate whatever your noble self can so we can get Miss Chloe an editor? By doing so, you will be contributing to saving paper, valuable resources, and the reader's mental health as well as time. Thank you :)
Before you proceed, I would like for you to understand that the followingrant review contains a lot of swearing, incoherent rambling, and capitalized yelling. Reader discretion is advised.
--
lol that was fun, but now:
Seriously, one thing I absolutely hate, no matter what genre I'm reading is telling instead of showing. This had SO MUCH of telling, SO MUCH - LIKE PAGES WORTH OF - inner dialogue and FOR WHAT?! The book was written in dual pov, so for most of the book I just had to see them both mentally waxing poetry about how good the other person looks. AND THERE WAS SM BELLA CONTENT? Like fuck her, why did I have to read SO much about her, I really don't understand. And all the scenes she was in were literally the same
In Johnny's case - he only started to grow on me in the chapter where he was out of his senses and didn't know what he was saying. That is when I liked him most. We're told he's extremely picky when it comes to the girls he surrounds himself with, while in reality, his last fuck-buddy is an obsessive stardom-crazy bitch, and the girl he "falls" for is a girl with "lonesome" eyes and a dysfunctional family.
I SWEAR TO GOD, THAT MAN HAS A LONER SAD GIRL KINK. Every time he had to describe her, he would mention how she was lonesome, fragile, uncertain - like yeah, makes you believe he absolutely loves the girl, doesn't it? 🙃
We're told that he sticks to his routine, nothing in his life is more important than rugby, and he will not lose sight of what is important to him. In his pov, during the never-ending inner monologue, he goes on and on about how he's not one of those guys who waste their time on drinking and pussies. No, he has more important shit to do. In reality, he ignores his training for Shannon, goes out to drink with Gibs whenever invited, gets multiple hard-ons for Shannon, and cannot stop seeking her out everywhere after only meeting her once . Yup, what a focused man.
We're also told ample times that he hates lies when in reality, he tells multiple lies himself. Love me a hypocrite <3
But I can ignore all this. What got to me most was his indecisiveness, and hot and cold behavior. He will think about how beautiful she is obsessively. He'll think about how much he likes her. He'll drop the l-bombs too - which they both do, as and when they wish, and then go back to the "i don't even know you / we're friends" bs - will give her multiple hints that he likes her because he'll always protect her whenever she's in trouble, go out of his way to give her multiple lifts home, share secrets about his injuries etc and then always center back to "I cannot afford to do this," "my career is on the line," "i will go away so it'll only end up with both of us being hurt" - and this repeated for like 800 pages, LIKE FOR FUCKS SAKE PICK A SIDE!
The thing I liked about him though was how he always stood up Shannon, didn't get under anybody's influence, took good decisions even while drunk, and had a very cute dog. His morphine episode really made him extremely adorable and fun to read about, but we came back to good ol' johnny when he woke up from his drug-induced coma. ALSO, HEART EYES FOR HIS PARENTS!
2018 me would've been on her knees for him though, given how protective he was.maybe i don't like him much bec the guy saves and protects the girl ALWAYS is not something i particularly enjoy reading now and that was what happened throughout the book.
Moving on to Shannon, i'm going to try my best to get this across without coming across as a heartless bitch - I did not care about her. Yes, I felt bad about her situation. Yes, I wanted her to get out of her fucked up home. Yes, I disliked her parents. But her as a character, outside of that, fell super flat for me. I just don't understand how there was no character development in her when the book was 800+ pages long. Like somebody please explain it to me. Multiple times the abuse also felt like a plot device to me, because it was only shown on two occasions. One where her father finds the newspaper article and at the end. The last chapter left an impact on me, but I wished it had happened sooner, yk? Because throughout the book, most of the time, it's just Johnny noticing all her bruises, and then questioning her about them. Her anxiety after being bullied relentlessly was justified, but I like to see my characters try and fight that, instead of settling into that. Also, I get that not every fmc has to be a badass but I would've liked seeing her mental battles, her tending to her bruises, her thinking about what she's been through, and how she could fight for herself. And I got none of that.
I like good slow burns as much as the next person, but there was absolutely no burn here for the major part of the book. I really was rooting for my babies Gibs and Claire more than the main couple. I'm salty about how little we got to see them, I NEED MORE! Everybody should have a best friend like Gibs, he was the highlight of the book for me. I absolutely love him
But for shannon and johnny, they went from 0 to 100 real quick, and went back to 0 even faster. Their whole dynamic was equal parts confusing and frustrating to me, and again, they just told us that they love the other person, but we never got to see how did that happen, or when did that happen. Like there was no flow to it. he just likes that she's not like other girls and she likes that he's hot and cares for her 😭😭
I was also living for the Aoife crumbs we got, I already love her!
The last chapter of this book was literally the most impactful one for me, and only for that is this book getting 3 stars. I really wish the whole book was like that, but I fucking hope keeping 13 does not disappoint me as much as this did.
To, Lila and Lilyya i'm sorry my loves, i really wanted to enjoy this, but it was a miss for me 🥲 i'm not giving up on keeping 13 though, i still have some hope <3
To, MUSKAAAN, I know I've said this multiple times, but I would've dnf-ed this without you. I only got the strength to see this to the end because I knew I could joke around with you about it! For my first ever buddy read, I absolutely cannot believe how much fun I hadthe hundreds of messages i've sent are probably a pretty clear testament to that 😂
ps: to anyone who enjoyed this, i love that for you! take this review with a grain of salt. and i might come back and write this properly again, for now excuse my mistakes, i just wanted to vent xx
--
tbr-review (2?):
in lila, we trust 🧎🏽♀️
my first ever buddy read, and that too with my co-president of the wangxian fanclub (i was gonna steal that, i warned you 🌚), muskaan 💕 i couldn't be more excited!
----
tbr review: being the judging-the-book-by-its-cover girl that i am, i really thought this was an adult romance 🥲
Before you proceed, I would like for you to understand that the following
--
lol that was fun, but now:
Seriously, one thing I absolutely hate, no matter what genre I'm reading is telling instead of showing. This had SO MUCH of telling, SO MUCH - LIKE PAGES WORTH OF - inner dialogue and FOR WHAT?! The book was written in dual pov, so for most of the book I just had to see them both mentally waxing poetry about how good the other person looks. AND THERE WAS SM BELLA CONTENT? Like fuck her, why did I have to read SO much about her, I really don't understand. And all the scenes she was in were literally the same
In Johnny's case - he only started to grow on me in the chapter where he was out of his senses and didn't know what he was saying. That is when I liked him most. We're told he's extremely picky when it comes to the girls he surrounds himself with, while in reality, his last fuck-buddy is an obsessive stardom-crazy bitch, and the girl he "falls" for is a girl with "lonesome" eyes and a dysfunctional family.
I SWEAR TO GOD, THAT MAN HAS A LONER SAD GIRL KINK. Every time he had to describe her, he would mention how she was lonesome, fragile, uncertain - like yeah, makes you believe he absolutely loves the girl, doesn't it? 🙃
We're told that he sticks to his routine, nothing in his life is more important than rugby, and he will not lose sight of what is important to him. In his pov, during the never-ending inner monologue, he goes on and on about how he's not one of those guys who waste their time on drinking and pussies. No, he has more important shit to do. In reality, he ignores his training for Shannon, goes out to drink with Gibs whenever invited, gets multiple hard-ons for Shannon, and cannot stop seeking her out everywhere after only meeting her once . Yup, what a focused man.
We're also told ample times that he hates lies when in reality, he tells multiple lies himself. Love me a hypocrite <3
But I can ignore all this. What got to me most was his indecisiveness, and hot and cold behavior. He will think about how beautiful she is obsessively. He'll think about how much he likes her. He'll drop the l-bombs too - which they both do, as and when they wish, and then go back to the "i don't even know you / we're friends" bs - will give her multiple hints that he likes her because he'll always protect her whenever she's in trouble, go out of his way to give her multiple lifts home, share secrets about his injuries etc and then always center back to "I cannot afford to do this," "my career is on the line," "i will go away so it'll only end up with both of us being hurt" - and this repeated for like 800 pages, LIKE FOR FUCKS SAKE PICK A SIDE!
The thing I liked about him though was how he always stood up Shannon, didn't get under anybody's influence, took good decisions even while drunk, and had a very cute dog. His morphine episode really made him extremely adorable and fun to read about, but we came back to good ol' johnny when he woke up from his drug-induced coma. ALSO, HEART EYES FOR HIS PARENTS!
2018 me would've been on her knees for him though, given how protective he was.
Moving on to Shannon, i'm going to try my best to get this across without coming across as a heartless bitch - I did not care about her. Yes, I felt bad about her situation. Yes, I wanted her to get out of her fucked up home. Yes, I disliked her parents. But her as a character, outside of that, fell super flat for me. I just don't understand how there was no character development in her when the book was 800+ pages long. Like somebody please explain it to me. Multiple times the abuse also felt like a plot device to me, because it was only shown on two occasions. One where her father finds the newspaper article and at the end. The last chapter left an impact on me, but I wished it had happened sooner, yk? Because throughout the book, most of the time, it's just Johnny noticing all her bruises, and then questioning her about them. Her anxiety after being bullied relentlessly was justified, but I like to see my characters try and fight that, instead of settling into that. Also, I get that not every fmc has to be a badass but I would've liked seeing her mental battles, her tending to her bruises, her thinking about what she's been through, and how she could fight for herself. And I got none of that.
I like good slow burns as much as the next person, but there was absolutely no burn here for the major part of the book. I really was rooting for my babies Gibs and Claire more than the main couple. I'm salty about how little we got to see them, I NEED MORE! Everybody should have a best friend like Gibs, he was the highlight of the book for me. I absolutely love him
But for shannon and johnny, they went from 0 to 100 real quick, and went back to 0 even faster. Their whole dynamic was equal parts confusing and frustrating to me, and again, they just told us that they love the other person, but we never got to see how did that happen, or when did that happen. Like there was no flow to it. he just likes that she's not like other girls and she likes that he's hot and cares for her 😭😭
I was also living for the Aoife crumbs we got, I already love her!
The last chapter of this book was literally the most impactful one for me, and only for that is this book getting 3 stars. I really wish the whole book was like that, but I fucking hope keeping 13 does not disappoint me as much as this did.
To, Lila and Lilyya i'm sorry my loves, i really wanted to enjoy this, but it was a miss for me 🥲 i'm not giving up on keeping 13 though, i still have some hope <3
To, MUSKAAAN, I know I've said this multiple times, but I would've dnf-ed this without you. I only got the strength to see this to the end because I knew I could joke around with you about it! For my first ever buddy read, I absolutely cannot believe how much fun I had
ps: to anyone who enjoyed this, i love that for you! take this review with a grain of salt. and i might come back and write this properly again, for now excuse my mistakes, i just wanted to vent xx
--
tbr-review (2?):
in lila, we trust 🧎🏽♀️
my first ever buddy read, and that too with my co-president of the wangxian fanclub (i was gonna steal that, i warned you 🌚), muskaan 💕 i couldn't be more excited!
----
tbr review: being the judging-the-book-by-its-cover girl that i am, i really thought this was an adult romance 🥲
August 7, 2024
➼ 5★
“One night, he wakes
Strange look on his face
Pauses, he says
‘Your my best friend’
And you knew what it was
He is in love”
Welcome back to a brand-new review! I’m so excited to tell you about this book because I loved it so so much. First of all, I have to point out that you don’t have to be scared by the length of the book because—even tho it has almost 800 pages—the writing is captivating, and you don’t get bored. Holy mother of God I was so invested in these teenager dramas, it’s embarrassing…👀
About the plot:
This book tells the story of Johnny—a 17-year-old popular boy whose life turns around rugby and nothing else: no girl, no injury, no friend, no one can interfere in his dream, not even his parents. But something is about to change when he meets Shannon—a little girl, too young, too fragile, too damaged for him, but nothing is going to stop them to fall for each other.
My thoughts (spoilers ahead):
As I’ve already said, I fell in love with this book, even tho the story is about two teenagers who fall in love with each other. It’s very long but nothing stopped me to read 100 and more pages per day and I loved every single page of it. The story is captivating, a lot happens, and this makes you so invested that you can’t stop reading it. The writing is simple and since the author is Irish, she put a glossary and the pronunciation of names you’ll find within. So don’t worry if you don’t understand or you don’t know some words, the glossary has them all, which I appreciate a lot since English—let alone Irish— is not my first language.
I laughed, I cried, I got mad, and I felt pain but it was all worth it. Be ready because it's a journey...
!!TW!! If you’re sensible to violence, please skip this part.
Shannon: I need to present her a little before telling you what I think about Shannon like the river. So, she is a 15-year-old girl, who lives with her parents and brothers. Joey—her older brother—is her anchor and I really appreciated the bond between them; they were fond of and protected each other. Shannon hasn’t an easy life: she’s been bullied since she started going to school by her classmates and she’s also been beaten up by her own father, who was an alcoholic. The situation got too far that her mother decided to make her change school by going to a private one, even tho the family wasn’t rich. This is where she met Johnny. On her first day of school he knocked her off during rugby, but he took really good care of her. From that moment, they were inseparable. Johnny took every chance he got to spend time with her, and soon they started falling for each other.
Shannon is a very fragile person, with a lot of traumas caused by people in school and her own parents. She’s been through a lot and I wanted to hug her during the entire book. I’m so glad she found Johnny because she deserves happiness, but mostly she deserves to feel safe around people which is something we take for granted—at least most of us— because we feel safe in our home and we should feel safe. I know that’s not something every family has the privilege to experience, and it makes my heart break. I felt the pain Shannon felt, as well as the moment of happiness, sadness and fear she passed through. I had the need to protect her and I can easily understand why Johnny felt that too. The end made me cry my eyes out and my heart broke in thousands of pieces. I hope that in the second book she’ll have her safety feeling she desperately needs.
“Family line” by Conan Gray reminds me of her.
Johnny: I loved him so so much. Even tho he’s only 17, he’s very mature. He’s a really good guy, thoughtful, loyal to his promises, brave and kind. He def has an easy life: he has the money, the status, the rugby, a loving family, girls, good grades...
He was very fond of Shannon tho, since the first day he met her, he didn’t even hesitate to step in and help her when she most needed someone to take care of her. He didn't judge her. Never. He also was very respectful with women and girls, not only with Shannon. As I said before, his life turns around rugby. That is his dream. However, he got injured and he had to have a delicate surgery. He was struggling because of pain but it didn’t stop him to chase his dream. I really admire his strength and his courage, tho I think he put himself in a very dangerous position.
He's the sweetest guy without being too much. I have really few things to complain about: 1) the fact that it took too much time for him to realize his love for Shannon. Like dude wake the hell up!!! 2) He kept complaining about her age when he was literally 17 and she was 15—and in the middle of the book she turns 16, soooooo… I don’t find the age gap a big deal, I bet everyone in high school had a crush or dated someone older by 2 years or so. Again, not a big deal. But he kept saying that it was—in fact– a big problem. Eventually he got over this bullshit, thank Lord. 3) he didn’t kiss her back the first time she kissed him…
Anyway, EVERYONE LISTEN CAREFULLY: HE HAD A PLAYLIST ON HIS IPOD FULL OF LOVE SONGS WITH HER NAME!!!!!!! He made her a freaking playlist with love songs. Like, if someone makes me a playlist with love songs is over for me, I fall in love immediately.
Their relationship: I freaking loved every second of it. The most beautiful thing was that they were friends before being lovers. They supported each other, they wanted to spend every second together, she felt safe with him, and he protected her always. I loved the little things happened between them, like hands touching and so on.
Also, the end was so touching. The fact that he kept telling his parents that she was the one… AHHHH!!! Just perfect. Really.
Do I recommend this book? Absolutely YES. If you like teenager dramas and cute love stories, this book is for you but be careful and read the TWs first!
Some quotes:
01/08: rereading bc i miss my babies🙂↕️
”Hi Johnny.”
“Hi Shannon.”
Hey Siri play “You are in love” (Taylor’s version)
“One night, he wakes
Strange look on his face
Pauses, he says
‘Your my best friend’
And you knew what it was
He is in love”
Welcome back to a brand-new review! I’m so excited to tell you about this book because I loved it so so much. First of all, I have to point out that you don’t have to be scared by the length of the book because—even tho it has almost 800 pages—the writing is captivating, and you don’t get bored. Holy mother of God I was so invested in these teenager dramas, it’s embarrassing…👀
About the plot:
This book tells the story of Johnny—a 17-year-old popular boy whose life turns around rugby and nothing else: no girl, no injury, no friend, no one can interfere in his dream, not even his parents. But something is about to change when he meets Shannon—a little girl, too young, too fragile, too damaged for him, but nothing is going to stop them to fall for each other.
My thoughts (spoilers ahead):
As I’ve already said, I fell in love with this book, even tho the story is about two teenagers who fall in love with each other. It’s very long but nothing stopped me to read 100 and more pages per day and I loved every single page of it. The story is captivating, a lot happens, and this makes you so invested that you can’t stop reading it. The writing is simple and since the author is Irish, she put a glossary and the pronunciation of names you’ll find within. So don’t worry if you don’t understand or you don’t know some words, the glossary has them all, which I appreciate a lot since English—let alone Irish— is not my first language.
I laughed, I cried, I got mad, and I felt pain but it was all worth it. Be ready because it's a journey...
!!TW!! If you’re sensible to violence, please skip this part.
Shannon: I need to present her a little before telling you what I think about Shannon like the river. So, she is a 15-year-old girl, who lives with her parents and brothers. Joey—her older brother—is her anchor and I really appreciated the bond between them; they were fond of and protected each other. Shannon hasn’t an easy life: she’s been bullied since she started going to school by her classmates and she’s also been beaten up by her own father, who was an alcoholic. The situation got too far that her mother decided to make her change school by going to a private one, even tho the family wasn’t rich. This is where she met Johnny. On her first day of school he knocked her off during rugby, but he took really good care of her. From that moment, they were inseparable. Johnny took every chance he got to spend time with her, and soon they started falling for each other.
Shannon is a very fragile person, with a lot of traumas caused by people in school and her own parents. She’s been through a lot and I wanted to hug her during the entire book. I’m so glad she found Johnny because she deserves happiness, but mostly she deserves to feel safe around people which is something we take for granted—at least most of us— because we feel safe in our home and we should feel safe. I know that’s not something every family has the privilege to experience, and it makes my heart break. I felt the pain Shannon felt, as well as the moment of happiness, sadness and fear she passed through. I had the need to protect her and I can easily understand why Johnny felt that too. The end made me cry my eyes out and my heart broke in thousands of pieces. I hope that in the second book she’ll have her safety feeling she desperately needs.
“Family line” by Conan Gray reminds me of her.
Johnny: I loved him so so much. Even tho he’s only 17, he’s very mature. He’s a really good guy, thoughtful, loyal to his promises, brave and kind. He def has an easy life: he has the money, the status, the rugby, a loving family, girls, good grades...
He was very fond of Shannon tho, since the first day he met her, he didn’t even hesitate to step in and help her when she most needed someone to take care of her. He didn't judge her. Never. He also was very respectful with women and girls, not only with Shannon. As I said before, his life turns around rugby. That is his dream. However, he got injured and he had to have a delicate surgery. He was struggling because of pain but it didn’t stop him to chase his dream. I really admire his strength and his courage, tho I think he put himself in a very dangerous position.
He's the sweetest guy without being too much. I have really few things to complain about: 1) the fact that it took too much time for him to realize his love for Shannon. Like dude wake the hell up!!! 2) He kept complaining about her age when he was literally 17 and she was 15—and in the middle of the book she turns 16, soooooo… I don’t find the age gap a big deal, I bet everyone in high school had a crush or dated someone older by 2 years or so. Again, not a big deal. But he kept saying that it was—in fact– a big problem. Eventually he got over this bullshit, thank Lord. 3) he didn’t kiss her back the first time she kissed him…
Anyway, EVERYONE LISTEN CAREFULLY: HE HAD A PLAYLIST ON HIS IPOD FULL OF LOVE SONGS WITH HER NAME!!!!!!! He made her a freaking playlist with love songs. Like, if someone makes me a playlist with love songs is over for me, I fall in love immediately.
Their relationship: I freaking loved every second of it. The most beautiful thing was that they were friends before being lovers. They supported each other, they wanted to spend every second together, she felt safe with him, and he protected her always. I loved the little things happened between them, like hands touching and so on.
Also, the end was so touching. The fact that he kept telling his parents that she was the one… AHHHH!!! Just perfect. Really.
Do I recommend this book? Absolutely YES. If you like teenager dramas and cute love stories, this book is for you but be careful and read the TWs first!
Some quotes:
“"Because you're beautiful," […]
A boy had never called me beautiful before.
Not like this.
Not with such forwardness.
Not with such sincerity.
Johnny said it, though, and my heart was flapping around in my chest like a demented, caged bird, fighting to escape.
[…]
“Inside and out”
[…]
"Everywhere.””
“If feelings were objects, then I was teetering on the edge of a great precipice, and if girls were weapons, then Shannon Lynch was the greatest weapon of mass destruction my heart had ever been exposed to.”
“But I already felt like I was drowning with her.
That's how consumed I was in this girl.
That's how much I loved her.”
“"She makes my heart go, like, whoa."
"So bad, Da," I sighed. "Boom, boom, fucking boom." I shook my head. "All the time."
[…]
And then I heard those two words.
"Hi, Johnny."
"Boom, boom, fucking boom. Da," I groaned, slapping a hand against my chest "I'm done for."”
“And those fucking midnight blue eyes - which I didn't think was a good enough word to describe the color.
They should have been called soul blue because they were deep as fuck and sucked a person right in…”
“Instead, I nestled my cheek against his side and closed my eyes, allowing myself to drift off to sleep without an ounce of fear in my heart because it couldn't exist inside of me, not when this boy had his arm around me.”
01/08: rereading bc i miss my babies🙂↕️
November 8, 2024
it's official, i think i need johnny kavanagh for keeps 🤧
also, this book in a nutshell:
• matilda by harry styles
• family line by conan gray
• seven by taylor swift
• hope ur ok by olivia rodrigo
🌠🏉🏅⋆.ೃ࿔*:･₊•.°.⋆✮⋆.°.•₊⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🌠🏉🏅⋆.ೃ࿔*:･₊•.°.⋆✮⋆.°.•₊⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🏅🏉🌠
Let's start this off by saying that this was NOT AT ALL what I expected... in a good way. I knew it was a sports book, but I thought it would be the typical cute story, with just a little bit of teen drama and that's it. BUT NO. I'd even say that rugby takes a backseat (for me at least) at one point.
I don't like to mince my words and thoughts when I talk about a book, especially one I liked, so I might give away a couple of spoilers, if you haven't read the book and plan to... it's up to you to read the rest of my review.
🌠🏉🏅⋆.ೃ࿔*:･₊•.°.⋆✮⋆.°.•₊⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🌠🏉🏅⋆.ೃ࿔*:･₊•.°.⋆✮⋆.°.•₊⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🏅🏉🌠
Reading this broke me to pieces, I was sad, a little happy, a little relieved... and then sad again, and angry.
𓍯𓂃Shannon: for a fmc she's not my fav, but maybe that's just a personal preference. I usually prefer stronger fmc's, with more personality. Even so, it's obvious that she's going through a VERY difficult situation of abuse, both at home and at school, and it's something that's been slowly accumulating for years, so I understand why her personality is more fragile and why she's so easily intimidated by others.
It was very hard to read the scenes in which she was about to get in her house bc i could also feel her anxiety, not knowing if it was going to be an ok day or if she had to start thinking of how to cover the bruises and make up stories for the next day.
Biological family is that part of life that you cannot choose, you're either born in a good loving caring supportive family or you don't. So reading her longing for a happy place, a safe place, it was very heart wrenching and i just want her to find the happiness and peace she deserves.
𓍯𓂃Johnny: now... i never thought than a man called johnny would make me feel like this, but here we are. I'm always DOWN for a man who is determined, has his goals clear, looks like he wants to kill everyone but is willing to go all the way and beyond to protect you and keep you safe. And Johnny is all that and more. He's tough and ready to fight anyone who gets in his way, but as soon as he senses that Shannon is in trouble (which happens every 2 secs), he's right there ready to take matters into his own hands... and I'm weak, what can I say?
Regarding his ambition to pursue a rugby career, it was honestly so impressive bc from the start you realize how big of a deal it is for him, that's what he has always wanted and worked for, to the point that he's been compromising his own health for it because he doesn't think he's anyone without rugby.
And at the same time he's starting to realize that for the outside people rugby is his whole identity and there's no world in which he can be considered an individual asides from it, so it's very important for him, once he meets shannon, that she seems to be one of the few people who think about him just as johnny the teenager, not the rugby player.
𓍯𓂃Claire and Gibsie: they were both very cute, I loved reading their banter and how it is CLEAR as daylight that they both love each other, so I can only imagine how their relationship will go on their own book (if the author doesn't mess it up). They were always so so so supportive of their friends, especially Gibs, I found him to be like the BEST wingman and "sidekick" lol, he was always a call or txt away from showing up and helping Johnny in whatever he was needing.
𓍯𓂃Joey: my baby... ughhhhh!!! i just KNOW that he has suffered SO SO SO much, having to step up and basically grow up prematurely and raise his siblings as if they were his own.. i'm sure we don't know the EXTENT of his trauma yet and as an older sibling myself, who's always looking out for the younger ones (darren doesn't count to me idc), it breaks me just imagining his suffering.
𓍯𓂃abusive violent w anger-issues dad and stupid negligent mom: sigh... honestly what can i say about them? Their dad is a BULLY, a beater, a sexist, cruel and vicious man, there's nothing remotely redeemable about him bc sometimes evil people are just that... evil. no explanation or backstory needed on why they are the way they are. Their mom though... that's a whole different story, and I KNOW at some extent she's a victim too, but i couldn't care less about her. She makes me so mad, it's infuriating just having to read the pages she's in bc i know i'm about to read the most stupid woman on fictional land. I honestly don't know how you see your kids being BEATEN, mistreated physically and verbally for YEARS and do nothing but stay around pretending nothing happens... like, you're the adult in that situation, do something please!! she's an enabler and i dont think i'll ever feel bad for her.
🌠🏉🏅⋆.ೃ࿔*:･₊��.°.⋆✮⋆.°.•₊⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🌠🏉🏅⋆.ೃ࿔*:･₊•.°.⋆✮⋆.°.•₊⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🏅🏉🌠
——⭑⋆⋆⋆⭑——Plot♡——⭑⋆⋆⋆⭑——
I MOSTLY enjoyed this book, it was nothing like I was expecting, and that's something I like and appreciate, but at the beginning i was a little bit thrown off knowing that our mc were 15-17 bc i'm older and idk.. i guess i'm not used to read from THAT young perspective anymore but i got to forget about it quickly.
There were some moments, especially with Shannon, in which i was cringing so bad lol, bc she was borderline clumsy, for no good reason, just to make her seem all so quirky and helpless. And sometimes her attitude was so chidlish but again... she's only 15-16 so.. it makes sense and i guess i was cringey too at that age lol.
Overall, i ENJOYED a lot of this book, but i felt it too unserious at times and there were a lot of parts that the author dragged unnecessarily and that could have been shorter without affecting the plot. I think this book could have used like 200 pages less and it would still be as good.
I still think this is worth the try and for those who feel intimidated by the amount of pages it really flies by bc the writing is very easy to follow and the story keeps you locked in, so.. that's it.
also, this book in a nutshell:
• matilda by harry styles
• family line by conan gray
• seven by taylor swift
• hope ur ok by olivia rodrigo
🌠🏉🏅⋆.ೃ࿔*:･₊•.°.⋆✮⋆.°.•₊⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🌠🏉🏅⋆.ೃ࿔*:･₊•.°.⋆✮⋆.°.•₊⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🏅🏉🌠
Let's start this off by saying that this was NOT AT ALL what I expected... in a good way. I knew it was a sports book, but I thought it would be the typical cute story, with just a little bit of teen drama and that's it. BUT NO. I'd even say that rugby takes a backseat (for me at least) at one point.
I don't like to mince my words and thoughts when I talk about a book, especially one I liked, so I might give away a couple of spoilers, if you haven't read the book and plan to... it's up to you to read the rest of my review.
🌠🏉🏅⋆.ೃ࿔*:･₊•.°.⋆✮⋆.°.•₊⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🌠🏉🏅⋆.ೃ࿔*:･₊•.°.⋆✮⋆.°.•₊⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🏅🏉🌠
Reading this broke me to pieces, I was sad, a little happy, a little relieved... and then sad again, and angry.
𓍯𓂃Shannon: for a fmc she's not my fav, but maybe that's just a personal preference. I usually prefer stronger fmc's, with more personality. Even so, it's obvious that she's going through a VERY difficult situation of abuse, both at home and at school, and it's something that's been slowly accumulating for years, so I understand why her personality is more fragile and why she's so easily intimidated by others.
It was very hard to read the scenes in which she was about to get in her house bc i could also feel her anxiety, not knowing if it was going to be an ok day or if she had to start thinking of how to cover the bruises and make up stories for the next day.
Biological family is that part of life that you cannot choose, you're either born in a good loving caring supportive family or you don't. So reading her longing for a happy place, a safe place, it was very heart wrenching and i just want her to find the happiness and peace she deserves.
“For once in my life, I wanted a safe place to run to instead of from.
I felt like I was slowly dying in that house.
In my home.
Where I was supposed to lay my head.
Where I was supposed to feel safe.”
𓍯𓂃Johnny: now... i never thought than a man called johnny would make me feel like this, but here we are. I'm always DOWN for a man who is determined, has his goals clear, looks like he wants to kill everyone but is willing to go all the way and beyond to protect you and keep you safe. And Johnny is all that and more. He's tough and ready to fight anyone who gets in his way, but as soon as he senses that Shannon is in trouble (which happens every 2 secs), he's right there ready to take matters into his own hands... and I'm weak, what can I say?
Regarding his ambition to pursue a rugby career, it was honestly so impressive bc from the start you realize how big of a deal it is for him, that's what he has always wanted and worked for, to the point that he's been compromising his own health for it because he doesn't think he's anyone without rugby.
And at the same time he's starting to realize that for the outside people rugby is his whole identity and there's no world in which he can be considered an individual asides from it, so it's very important for him, once he meets shannon, that she seems to be one of the few people who think about him just as johnny the teenager, not the rugby player.
“I wanted to fight all her battles. I wanted to give her all her smiles and make her laugh and snatch her away from the rest of the world and keep her all to myself. I just wanted her. For keeps.”
𓍯𓂃Claire and Gibsie: they were both very cute, I loved reading their banter and how it is CLEAR as daylight that they both love each other, so I can only imagine how their relationship will go on their own book (if the author doesn't mess it up). They were always so so so supportive of their friends, especially Gibs, I found him to be like the BEST wingman and "sidekick" lol, he was always a call or txt away from showing up and helping Johnny in whatever he was needing.
𓍯𓂃Joey: my baby... ughhhhh!!! i just KNOW that he has suffered SO SO SO much, having to step up and basically grow up prematurely and raise his siblings as if they were his own.. i'm sure we don't know the EXTENT of his trauma yet and as an older sibling myself, who's always looking out for the younger ones (darren doesn't count to me idc), it breaks me just imagining his suffering.
𓍯𓂃abusive violent w anger-issues dad and stupid negligent mom: sigh... honestly what can i say about them? Their dad is a BULLY, a beater, a sexist, cruel and vicious man, there's nothing remotely redeemable about him bc sometimes evil people are just that... evil. no explanation or backstory needed on why they are the way they are. Their mom though... that's a whole different story, and I KNOW at some extent she's a victim too, but i couldn't care less about her. She makes me so mad, it's infuriating just having to read the pages she's in bc i know i'm about to read the most stupid woman on fictional land. I honestly don't know how you see your kids being BEATEN, mistreated physically and verbally for YEARS and do nothing but stay around pretending nothing happens... like, you're the adult in that situation, do something please!! she's an enabler and i dont think i'll ever feel bad for her.
🌠🏉🏅⋆.ೃ࿔*:･₊��.°.⋆✮⋆.°.•₊⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🌠🏉🏅⋆.ೃ࿔*:･₊•.°.⋆✮⋆.°.•₊⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🏅🏉🌠
——⭑⋆⋆⋆⭑——Plot♡——⭑⋆⋆⋆⭑——
I MOSTLY enjoyed this book, it was nothing like I was expecting, and that's something I like and appreciate, but at the beginning i was a little bit thrown off knowing that our mc were 15-17 bc i'm older and idk.. i guess i'm not used to read from THAT young perspective anymore but i got to forget about it quickly.
There were some moments, especially with Shannon, in which i was cringing so bad lol, bc she was borderline clumsy, for no good reason, just to make her seem all so quirky and helpless. And sometimes her attitude was so chidlish but again... she's only 15-16 so.. it makes sense and i guess i was cringey too at that age lol.
Overall, i ENJOYED a lot of this book, but i felt it too unserious at times and there were a lot of parts that the author dragged unnecessarily and that could have been shorter without affecting the plot. I think this book could have used like 200 pages less and it would still be as good.
I still think this is worth the try and for those who feel intimidated by the amount of pages it really flies by bc the writing is very easy to follow and the story keeps you locked in, so.. that's it.
August 21, 2018
This is THE most FRUSTRATING book I have read this year.
-The plot goes round and round in circles, repeating itself every other chapter. For example: plot happens in chapter 3...chapters 4 and 5 revolve around Shannon and Johnny relaying said plot in chapter 3 to their friends. NOTHING HAPPENS. It's like 1 step forward and two steps in place. I can literally skip entire chapters and still get the gist of what happens. By like the 40% point, the two main characters have had hardly any interaction- but I know all of the antics of their friends really well! Gibsie is hilarious! Lizzie is a drag. That Rowen character sucks. Gibsie and Claire sooo belong together and are blind to it (I sense the build up to their own book)...etc. The book mostly revolves around Shannon's shitty home life and school life, Johnny's sports and their friends. Which is all fine...except its more about all of those things than a romance. And it doesn't help that so much of the plot is repeated every other chapter.
-There is slow burn romance....and then there is so slow, they literally go backwards- romance. The main characters have maybe 5/6 worthwhile scenes together and I am at the 72% mark. They talk the day Johnny hit Shannon in the head with a ball, they talk maybe once at lunch, they talk when she is forced to go over to his house twice, they have one meaningful conversation in his car and they go to a pub together. But most of their conversations revolve around him trying to figure out what the marks on her body are from, and kicking the asses of those who threaten her. They have kissed once (one sided mind you), talked a handful of times, yet they both feel like they are in love with the other. HOW?
-I get Shannon is a wounded bird- but MAN her actions are frustrating to read. She's just SO meek and the ultimate damsel that needs saving. Everything bad that could happen to her, happens to her. It's just a lot. And I get that she has had a hard life, but sometimes I just really wanted her to stand up and become a strong person despite all of that.
-Although I am giving this a one star out of pure frustration with the plot-I do have to say that the dialogue is this book is fantastic and it is pretty well written in general.
-The plot goes round and round in circles, repeating itself every other chapter. For example: plot happens in chapter 3...chapters 4 and 5 revolve around Shannon and Johnny relaying said plot in chapter 3 to their friends. NOTHING HAPPENS. It's like 1 step forward and two steps in place. I can literally skip entire chapters and still get the gist of what happens. By like the 40% point, the two main characters have had hardly any interaction- but I know all of the antics of their friends really well! Gibsie is hilarious! Lizzie is a drag. That Rowen character sucks. Gibsie and Claire sooo belong together and are blind to it (I sense the build up to their own book)...etc. The book mostly revolves around Shannon's shitty home life and school life, Johnny's sports and their friends. Which is all fine...except its more about all of those things than a romance. And it doesn't help that so much of the plot is repeated every other chapter.
-There is slow burn romance....and then there is so slow, they literally go backwards- romance. The main characters have maybe 5/6 worthwhile scenes together and I am at the 72% mark. They talk the day Johnny hit Shannon in the head with a ball, they talk maybe once at lunch, they talk when she is forced to go over to his house twice, they have one meaningful conversation in his car and they go to a pub together. But most of their conversations revolve around him trying to figure out what the marks on her body are from, and kicking the asses of those who threaten her. They have kissed once (one sided mind you), talked a handful of times, yet they both feel like they are in love with the other. HOW?
-I get Shannon is a wounded bird- but MAN her actions are frustrating to read. She's just SO meek and the ultimate damsel that needs saving. Everything bad that could happen to her, happens to her. It's just a lot. And I get that she has had a hard life, but sometimes I just really wanted her to stand up and become a strong person despite all of that.
-Although I am giving this a one star out of pure frustration with the plot-I do have to say that the dialogue is this book is fantastic and it is pretty well written in general.
March 13, 2024
“I once read somewhere that we mature with damage, not with age.” -`♡´-
“¨I think I need you for keeps.¨
¨I think I need you for keeps, too.¨” -`♡´-
“Now, tell me who made you cry and I'll fix it.” -`♡´-
3 Stars- I'm undecided on this rating a little bit so I may change it again but I'm going with 3 for now.
So let me start with- I was under the impression that this was a YA sports romance initially. I understood that there was family drama and physical abuse the the FMC was experiencing at home but I've read YA that includes heavy topics and this ...where on earth did I get YA from???
Fair warning - this is definitely not a YA story and even though I've read plenty of books with violence in them, some of the abuse scenes in this even had me an adult drawing back in horror.
I adore Johnny, he is the epitome of a lovable and protective love interest. The way he treated Shannon right from the beginning was so heartwarming and really had the emotions in me stirring.
Add the horrible things that Shannon is going through at home with her alcoholic and abusive father along with her dipshit of a mother who is such a weak woman that she basically turns her head to the physical and emotional abuse being inflicted on all of her children - it makes for a compelling plot.
╰┈➤ Where my issues with the book come in- is in the writing and storytelling itself. I really had to look past quite a lot of things. I know I've said it many times in my updates, but trust me - it's no where near the amount of times it's mentioned in the book.
╰┈➤ Shannon is tiny. She's SMOL. She's petite. She's pint sized. She's tiny...tiny...tiny. Oh, we get it Chloe. We got it. I just want to understand how can a 5 ft girl not get up on a stool? I'm only 4 inches taller and?? I've never felt like the size of a toddler - lmao. But for real.
Not only that but the amount of clumsiness and things that happen really just made her seem even younger than she was made me feel a little uncomfortable. In a way that she seemed childlike?
╰┈➤ The whole 'pitching a tent' scene. I really had second hand embarrassment and some of the ick with the way things went down with them in that scene.
Overall, I did enjoy the story itself and it did evoke emotions out of me. I've already got book 2 checked out from the library.
“¨I think I need you for keeps.¨
¨I think I need you for keeps, too.¨” -`♡´-
“Now, tell me who made you cry and I'll fix it.” -`♡´-
3 Stars- I'm undecided on this rating a little bit so I may change it again but I'm going with 3 for now.
So let me start with- I was under the impression that this was a YA sports romance initially. I understood that there was family drama and physical abuse the the FMC was experiencing at home but I've read YA that includes heavy topics and this ...where on earth did I get YA from???
Fair warning - this is definitely not a YA story and even though I've read plenty of books with violence in them, some of the abuse scenes in this even had me an adult drawing back in horror.
I adore Johnny, he is the epitome of a lovable and protective love interest. The way he treated Shannon right from the beginning was so heartwarming and really had the emotions in me stirring.
Add the horrible things that Shannon is going through at home with her alcoholic and abusive father along with her dipshit of a mother who is such a weak woman that she basically turns her head to the physical and emotional abuse being inflicted on all of her children - it makes for a compelling plot.
╰┈➤ Where my issues with the book come in- is in the writing and storytelling itself. I really had to look past quite a lot of things. I know I've said it many times in my updates, but trust me - it's no where near the amount of times it's mentioned in the book.
╰┈➤ Shannon is tiny. She's SMOL. She's petite. She's pint sized. She's tiny...tiny...tiny. Oh, we get it Chloe. We got it. I just want to understand how can a 5 ft girl not get up on a stool? I'm only 4 inches taller and?? I've never felt like the size of a toddler - lmao. But for real.
Not only that but the amount of clumsiness and things that happen really just made her seem even younger than she was made me feel a little uncomfortable. In a way that she seemed childlike?
╰┈➤ The whole 'pitching a tent' scene. I really had second hand embarrassment and some of the ick with the way things went down with them in that scene.
Overall, I did enjoy the story itself and it did evoke emotions out of me. I've already got book 2 checked out from the library.
July 24, 2024
"Hi Johnny"
"Hi Shannon"
“I think I need you for keeps,” he slurred.
“I think I need you for keeps, too,” I confessed.
Oh my dear heart!💓 I hestitated reading this book for the longest, simply because it was YA and I don't read a lot of it, especially YA romance. However, I am beyond happy that I finally decided to give this series a go. After seeing so many wonderful and heartfelt reviews, I went in with very high expectations. Usually, when I do that I end up dissapointed but not with this book.
Binding 13 lived up to everything I read and heard. The character and relationship building in this book was simply PERFECTION!💕 I found myself emotionally connected to the characters, and their relationships with each other had my emotions everywhere...the love, the anger, the fear, the giddiness, the angst. I NEED AND WANT MORE OF IT!😍😘I can't wait to read the next one.
“Boom, boom, fucking boom,"
"I’m done for.”
💓Big thank you to my GR besties for getting me to begin this series!💓
TROPES
✨Dual POV
✨Sports Romance
✨Slow Burn
✨Found family
✨Who did this to you
Things I loved💓
💓Shannon's inner-strength to keep going.
💓Joey's protectiveness over his siblings
💓Johnny's love for his baby Sookie.🐶
💓Claire and Gibsie's banter
💓Brian--Gibsies cat (hilarious)🤣
💓Gibsie and Johnny's friendship
💓Shannon & Johnny
💓The video game scene
💓Johnny's mother and her meddling🤣
💓Did I say Shannon & Johnny😘
Things I Didn't Like👿
⊹Everyone at Shannon's old school
⊹Shannon's family situation
⊹Shannon's mom & dad; I don't know which is worse.
⊹Bella & Pierce
⊹Ronan McGarry
⊹I DIDN'T GET ENOUGH JOEY
⁕↝Favorite Quotes↜⁕
“Keep pushing me, kid, and it won’t matter who you’re related to; you’ll be off this team. But go anywhere near that girl, and God himself won’t be able to save you.”
"I was an obsessive bastard by nature, with a one-track mind that was currently—and solely—programmed on her. I had to know more. I needed more."
"It mattered that she was able to do this to me. It mattered that, hours later, I was still thinking about her, wondering about her, and inevitably worrying about her. It mattered that she mattered when no one ever mattered to me before."
"And why wouldn’t my heart stop trying to beat its way out of my chest? Was this going to happen every time I bumped into him? If so, I needed to get a prescription."
"There was nothing forgettable about the girl, and I found myself gravitating toward her, wanting to find her looking at me, and then growing frustrated when she didn’t. Knowing that I would listen to whatever she had to say, whenever she wanted to say it, regardless of time or inconvenience, was a frightening concept."
"“Because I thought you were sweet,” Johnny shot back, and I didn’t have to look to know he was pouting. He’d been pouting for almost an hour. I snickered to myself. “Now I know better,” Johnny huffed. “You’re a little demon.”
“Tell me who put their hands on you,” he coaxed as he stood behind me, my face in his hand and his fingers on my throat. “And I’ll make it better.”
"She was so fucking beautiful it was painful, with those big blue eyes staring back at me all innocent and full of uncertainty. I didn’t need the temptation that came with being this close to her. Problem was, every time she ran, I found myself chasing right after her, desperate to just be with her."
“Binding thirteen,” Gibsie snickered as he tore off way too fucking fast for comfort. “Little Shannon blew that shit clean out of the water.”
"I wanted to fight all her battles. I wanted to give her all her smiles and make her laugh and snatch her away from the rest of the world and keep her all to myself. I just wanted her. For keeps."
“What happened to being friends, Johnny?” Mam asked.
“I lied,” I snickered. “I’ve been lying all along.”
“Oh, Johnny,” Mam sighed. “You never had to lie, baby. I like that girl.”
“She’s mine,” I grumbled. “You can’t have her.”
I could honestly go on and on but I have to get to the "Keeping 13" so I know what happens...please dont break my heart! Please don't dissapoint me!💔😭
Pre-Read:
It is finally time to jump into this series! It is all SK and Kendyl's fault🤣🤣Fingers crossed it lives up to the hype and my heart can handle it!🤞💖😘
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