A review by jillkaarlela
Only When It's Us by Chloe Liese

adventurous emotional 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? It's complicated

4.25

Taylor Swift songs: “I think he knows”, “stay stay stay (tv), “labyrinth” 

Bonus song: “I know it won’t work” by Gracie abrams

Mmc is hard of hearing and chooses not to speak, so they all communicate by text throughout most of it! I love the representation!! This was frenemies to lovers, semi slow burn, with lots of banter and tension and chemistry🔥! She’s grumpy/standoffish and he’s a shy/quiet brawny lumberjack with a long beard. He is literally so sweet and lovely and obsessed with her!! He doesn’t give up on her and respects and appreciates her boundaries!! She is such an independent, strong woman, and as she should because she’s a D1 soccer player! 

It’s told in dual pov, with a song rec to being each chapter!

Overall I think this was cute, I enjoyed it! The reasons why they won’t date can be a bit frustrating and sad (check TW!) and take longer than I might have liked, but the payoff was worth it! They would definitely stay together! 

I’m excited to read the rest of the the Bergman brothers series, since I liked this one, and I saw the others have similar diversity (disability and plus size rep from what I’ve seen!) I’ve also seen the next books are hockey romances instead of soccer, which I think I will like much better! 

Age rating: 17+ (3-4 brief spicy scenes, 2/5🌶️)

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