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A review by judiitm_
Only When It's Us by Chloe Liese
4.0
Where to start with this book? If I could get paid for raving about it I would run to that opportunity so fast you won’t even believe it
This is probably my favorite romance of the year, I read it during February and I’m already done with the first reread of many. It has everything I love: enemies (but not really enemies, just rivals who love to tease each other) to lovers, with a hero who falls first and god-tier smut, Chloe Liese is unbelievable, I can’t wait to devour the rest of her novels.
Willa is our main character, a marvelous football player with a bright career ahead of her but who is scared shitless of commitment. On the other hand, we have Ryder, an asshole lumberjack (according to Willa) who is actually the sweetest human being. They don’t get off on the right foot which initiates a long process of pranks and ways of one-upping each other.
This book handles much more than the actual romance itself, and it does so wonderfully. We can clearly see how each topic affects the character and how, even though they are facing different situations, they can be narrowed down to the same issue.
And while the conflict feels frustrating looking from the outside, it’s written in a way that is also understandable due to the depth the author has gifted her characters with.
However, the book sometimes read a little bit too millennial, with all the badass feminist © mentions that we can find, but it’s easy to overlook. Something else that irked me was the number of times Willa just spoke out loud like…listen, I don’t know how common that is but it feels like kind of a cheap gateway to make certain situations get resolved.
Note: I think the reason I may not be able to increase the rating to five is just because of a personal preference towards the commitmentphobic trope, it’s just not for me.
Overall a GREAT romance that will be able to give even the coldest person all the feels.
This is probably my favorite romance of the year, I read it during February and I’m already done with the first reread of many. It has everything I love: enemies (but not really enemies, just rivals who love to tease each other) to lovers, with a hero who falls first and god-tier smut, Chloe Liese is unbelievable, I can’t wait to devour the rest of her novels.
Willa is our main character, a marvelous football player with a bright career ahead of her but who is scared shitless of commitment. On the other hand, we have Ryder, an asshole lumberjack (according to Willa) who is actually the sweetest human being. They don’t get off on the right foot which initiates a long process of pranks and ways of one-upping each other.
This book handles much more than the actual romance itself, and it does so wonderfully. We can clearly see how each topic affects the character and how, even though they are facing different situations, they can be narrowed down to the same issue.
Spoiler
One of my favorite aspects is how the author handled Willa’s grief. Contemporary books and media, in general, tend to paint therapists as just shitty people who don’t know how to do their job which is true for many but I just hope there were more encouraging messages like the one in this book, focusing on how your efforts to get better will pay off, but unfortunately, it won’t happen overnight. Though we weren’t able to see Willa’s progress step by step due to the fast forward, it still read as believable.And while the conflict feels frustrating looking from the outside, it’s written in a way that is also understandable due to the depth the author has gifted her characters with.
However, the book sometimes read a little bit too millennial, with all the badass feminist © mentions that we can find, but it’s easy to overlook. Something else that irked me was the number of times Willa just spoke out loud like…listen, I don’t know how common that is but it feels like kind of a cheap gateway to make certain situations get resolved.
Note: I think the reason I may not be able to increase the rating to five is just because of a personal preference towards the commitmentphobic trope, it’s just not for me.
Overall a GREAT romance that will be able to give even the coldest person all the feels.