Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - If Only You

Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

If Only You by Chloe Liese

19 reviews

kb33's review

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lighthearted slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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katsweirdbookshelf's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

First five star review of the year amd my favourite of the bergmans so far. I loved Ziggy and Sebastian so much and as always brilliant rep from Chloe.

Now I count down the days until Viggo and Lula's story arrives and we leave the bergmans for the last time. (Chloe please write a spin off, prequel or have them cameo in the wilmot sisters series).

Spoilers!

FRANKIE IS PREGGERS OH MY GOD. BERGMAN GRANDCHILD 3 IS COMING

Viggo bergman you are the love of my life.

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coacklebee's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful reflective relaxing slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I was really disappointed in this one. Rating is higher than it probably should be, mostly because I love Ziggy and was so excited for her book, but this was a slog to get through, I felt there were a lot of unresolved threads, and to top it all off, there were SO many formatting errors that made reading it unenjoyable. Hopefully Viggo’s book doesn’t suffer from the same problems…

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hazelgirl21's review

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emotional funny lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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headinthepages's review

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emotional lighthearted medium-paced

4.5

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allingoodtime's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

If this is your first Bergman Brothers book, rest assured this can be read as a standalone. For those of you who have been reading this series all along, you know the Bergmans are incredibly supportive of one another; very morally upright, defenders of those that need defending, etc., etc. I respect authors who write big, wonderful families like this but still let the reader see that even the best families have their flaws. Especially when those flaws push the love interest into indignation protection mode. While nobody treats Ziggy poorly, her family still treats her like she’s a child who needs constant protection and vigilance. Being the “outsider”, Sebastian notices quite quickly how condescending they are to her without any of them realizing that’s what’s happening. I loved it!

Ziggy and Sebastian are a pairing nobody in their lives expected. Yet his best friend, Ziggys brother Ren, seems the most accepting and even glad they found each other. Of course, he was being told they were just friends. But Ren seemed to hope for more between the two, obviously realizing they would be good for each other. With Ziggy’s patience and the fact that she went into their “friendship” with no expectations, she’s able to handle Sebastian’s pushback with aplomb. This gives Sebastian room to breathe and get to know Ziggy without scaring her away. The two have fantastic chemistry, whether on a friend date or when they finally give in and kiss. I’d definitely classify this as a slow-burn type story, but the author kept the fires stoked throughout so I never got frustrated with the pacing. This story is a true friends to lovers because the majority of the book is spent with Seb and Ziggy developing a beautiful friendship. A friendship neither wanted to lose so they continued to hold off the other emotions so they could get their lives in order first.

This book also helped me to understand Viggo a bit better. He has been my least favorite character throughout the series because I often feel he crosses a line. He doesn’t seem to have boundaries and has made some pretty big blunders in the past. Although Sebastian and Viggo seem to have little in common, Seb seems to understand Viggo on a level his siblings do not. (The whole “family keeping you in one neat box” thing is at play again here.) Through Seb, I found sympathy for Viggo and just know the author will find a way to knock him off his feet when his story is told. After all, Viggo thinks he has all the romance answers with his love of the Romance genre.

As for the couple in this book, Ziggy and Sebastian get their HEA of course. It’s very satisfying. It’s everything Ziggy deserves and more. And it’s everything Sebastian didn’t know even existed.

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btwnprintedpgs's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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unsuccessfulbookclub's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The latest installment in the Bergman Brothers series had some great moments, but ultimately didn’t work as well for me as some of the other books in this series. There were some things I loved (ACOTAR references!! Believable friends-to-lovers!!) and some things that didn’t work as well for me.

The main characters (Seb and Ziggy) spend a lot of time apart and there was a missed opportunity for some epistolary elements (texts, emails, letters even!). I am a total pushover for epistolary and it made me sad to miss out. I feel like we just had pages and pages of them “being apart” while they both worked a lot. I’m a total simp for epistolary, so the missed opportunity to incorporate letters and texts made me especially sad.

I enjoyed Seb’s growth in the story. There were some great moments between him and each of the Bergman Brothers. The thing I missed was detail about how he was “bad.” We heard a lot of how he “let people down” and “broke people’s hearts,” but I wanted more!! Is he a cheater? Did he have a substance abuse problem? Is he a flake? An a**hole? Just misunderstood? As readers, we never find out because I think we’re supposed to focus on Seb getting past all of that - but it’s hard to trust that he does “clean up his act” when we never know what his “act” was. It’s also hard to appreciate his growth when we never see him making amends and/or apologizing to people he has wronged with his actions. The one time that happens, he gets very sketchy about it with Ziggy and won’t tell her details, so we also never get details. I AM NOSY. GIVE ME THE DETAILS PLEASE.

The one thing Chloe never misses is including a great variety of characters with different types of disabilities and neurodivergence. In this book, Ziggy is autistic and Seb is dealing with a chronic illness (mild spoilers, listed below in the content notes!). Additionally, Ziggy is bisexual and Seb is pan, and it’s a very casual, NBD thing when they tell each other that.

I still wish we had more characters of color in this series. The Bergmans are Swedish, so I get it, but they live in Southern California and many of them play pro sports… why is it that they RARELY encounter anyone who isn’t white?

Recommended! All in all, I enjoyed this but it didn’t knock my socks off. If you are a fan of new adult sports romances, you will probably enjoy this a little more than I did, and if you are looking for a soft contemporary with no third-act breakup? This is the book for you! You can read this series out of order but the Bergman family is BIG so it helps provide context if you read them in order.

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jillkaarlela's review

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emotional funny hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Taylor Swift songs: “delicate” (from Seb’s pov), “everything has changed (tv)”

Age rating: 17+ (2 long spice scenes, 1.5/5🌶️)

This is one of the only type of brother’s best friend that I like! Where the brother is not trying to restrict them from dating since he knows his friend is toxic/bad person, the brothers actually love and support them!!

I also loved the fake friendship aspect, as she wants to stop being seen as a “goody two shoes”, and he wants to better his reputation. This is also the only type of “rake/wallflower” I support, because he literally gives up every single bad habit in the hopes of being worthy for her. Instead of her trying to “fix him”, he does it himself and really puts in the work! I like that since it’s dual pov, we get to see the motivations and mentality of this “self-proclaimed asshole” and what makes him the way he is! There’s also some very amazing found-family in this!!

I love both of these characters so much, and seeing them fall for each other was so heartwarming!! I didn’t think I liked friends-to-lovers, but this has me changing my mind!! Keep in mind, it is a relatively slow-burn!

I also loved the queer rep, because he is pansexual and she is bisexual! We love to see it!! And there’s really good neurodivergent and chronic illness rep! She has autism and he has celiac disease! Chloe Liese just does such good queer, chronic illness, and neurodivergent representation. It also has a lot of conversations about how people with autism (especially youngest siblings) can still feel infantilized when they are older, or babied, and they have to work to be taken seriously, even in their own well-meaning and loving families, but especially in public. I love Ziggy’s journey in breaking that perception of her, and standing up for herself, and being brave.

It’s also a sports romance (he plays hockey, she plays soccer).

I’m so sad there is only one more book in the series, Viggo’s love story! I wish that after that one, Chloe Liese would do books on all of their kids!! I just love the Bergman family so much I don’t want it to end!! I also am now finished with all of Chloe Liese’s backlist and I am now patiently waiting for her next books. I really all 7 books in a little over a month, which is saying something for me!!

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amberlfaris's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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