lindsfreche 's review for:

Keeping 13 by Chloe Walsh
3.75
dark emotional funny hopeful sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
after loving binding 13 this one fell flat for me a little bit bc it was super drawn out and a little too sex driven as opposed to plot driven— which is completely different than binding 13. shannon’s family dynamics was pretty much the plot of the book, and then the will they won’t they survive johnnys call to the big leagues was a subplot. walsh does a good job setting up future books for gibs and claire, joey and aofie (spelling mistake there? idk) and potentially even lizzie. i just had been expecting more of a plot focused book and this one was more spice heavy and still repetitive phrases (take a shot for every time shannon unbuckles her seatbelt and scrambles into johnnys lap) (or take a shot for every time she squirms) (or take a shot for every time she knots her fingers in his shirt) it was just a little old after a while and i struggled to get through it which was really really disappointing because i really loved and couldn’t put down binding 13. HOWEVERRRR i will be reading joeys books thank yewwww

also the fire was insane. i knew as soon as she said “weird splashing.” my heart was breaking and i love gibs and johnny and i was giggling and having more emphasis on shannon’s brothers was so fun. i love sean and johnny and ollie and the other one who’s name i cannot spell for the life of me. darren grew on me in the end (to my surprise) and i’m always in joeys corner. characters were strong here. i’m glad shannon got that glow up we knew she needed too so we can stop sexualizing a young in age and in appearance girl!! hooray!!! (i really wish the characters were college aged it would make me feel much more comfortable with this content fr)
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