Review by mindforbooks - Binding 13

mindforbooks 's review for:

Binding 13 by Chloe Walsh

3.25

challenging slow-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

Okay, so just a couple of weeks ago I mentioned how New Adult is not my favourite genre and that college romances were my least favourite from that genre. While that is still true, it has to be said that school based NA is even less of a favourite! I didn't mention it at the time because I've not come across a lot of school based NA, it's usually Young Adult, so of course I found myself reading a school based NA! :D

I was finding myself in a little bit of a reading slump and the millions of books I had lined up to read just weren't appealing to me, and then a friend mentioned this series and I found myself intrigued and decided to give it a go. Boys of Tommen is about a group of kids ranging from 15 to 18 but this book really is for 18+ and that's explained clearly in the author's note at the beginning. These kids have lived a lot of life already!

“I once read somewhere that we mature with damage, not with age.”

So look, I'm actually unsure if this book was even that good, but I also couldn't put it down and there are a few reasons for that. First up, Binding 13 takes place in an Irish co-ed school in 2005. I graduated an Irish co-ed school in 2001, therefore reading this felt nostalgic as fuck to me. It actually felt like I was there or something, in my head this book took place in my school (even though my school was a GAA school and not a rugby school) so it was incredibly vivid. I thought about it a lot when I wasn't reading and I had a lot of school dreams while reading it. It was wild!

Another HUGE plus for this book was it was in no way Americanised, I would love to read more romance books based in Ireland but a lot of them are written by authors who aren't Irish and they often get things wrong to a degree that just makes me never want to read anything from them ever again so I tend to avoid them. Chloe Walsh is an Irish author and she writes her characters and Ireland just as we are. She uses terminology correctly and doesn't go into long winded explanations about that terminology, the reader either gets used to it and therefore starts to understand, or they Google. Everything felt very Irish and I think it made reading it more enjoyable!

Binding 13 is very character based and the length of the book gives us plenty of time to get to know the characters, Johnny and Shannon especially. They are both very likable and I enjoyed watching how their relationship developed. It was a slow build and there were a lot of ups and downs but it feels more believable for it starting as something that wasn't romantic. Well, there were romantic feelings but they both fought them pretty hard, both for different reasons. Shannon because of her heartbreaking home life situation and Johnny because he wants to focus all his energy on rugby and healing from injury. Poor Johnny was in a losing situation though, he fell pretty hard from the get go, and the harder he fought it the more he fell for Shannon. It was adorable to be honest.

“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.”

One of the things that was the least realistic thing about this book was Johnny. Having grown up in Ireland during this timeframe and having gone to a co-ed school where there were plenty of boys Johnny's age, I can assure you there were no Johnny's to be had. Plenty of Gibsies though! :D

Even though Johnny isn't a realistic 18 year old boy, he is an awesome one and one that Shannon deserves and needs. I love the 'touch her and die' trope and Johnny is INTENSE in his protection. Like 15/16 and 17/18 are far too young to fall in forever soulmate love but I can totally see these two making it.

“Boom, boom, fucking boom, Da. I'm done for...”

This book felt way too long though, like it's kind of ridiculous that it was over 800 pages and very little happens, what does happen is more or less the same thing over and over. Shannon literally runs into Johnny when she is having a crisis. Johnny rescues/reassures her. They spend time getting to know each other/making a strong connection. Johnny struggles with his feelings. Shannon struggles with her entire life. Johnny freaks out about his injury/rugby journey and 'lashes' out. Shannon suffers horrific abuse at home. Johnny sees marks of abuse on Shannon and it all starts again. For 800 pages! The last 10% of this book was absolutely top tier though and I feel like if it had been heavily edited and was closer to 500 pages this book would have been a 5 star read. As it is, I think it's a 3.25 star read and had I not felt a connection to the setting would probably be lower.

Johnny and Shannon's story is a duology and with the huge cliffhanger ending there is no way I wouldn't dive right into book two. I really hope things move along a little quicker in book two and I hope these two get a really fabulous HEA. I'd love a time jump epilogue. I'll have to wait and see!

I'll likely review book two here as it's so strongly linked and is probably best to think it all as one big

Content Warnings