Title: Only When It’s Us
Author: Chloe Liese
Series: Bergman Brothers #1
Rating Out of 5: , 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novel
Year: 2020

Not going to lie, I love a good enemies-to-lover romance. They’re always just so adorable, and the epitome of I love you in spite of your flaws. Or at least, it is to me. And this story definitely was a great example of the trope. It was cute and funny, filled with fun moments and a whole lot of antagonism. Plus both Willa and Ryder have such adorable backstories and personalities, that it is impossible not to fall completely, totally and utterly in love with them.

Mac is a fun plot driver, I mean, he’s kind of a dick. But he’s also a well-meaning ignoramus. Which is always the best type, he’s just annoying enough that you want to smack him around the head, but not so much that he’s irredeemable. He also personifies a whole heap of prejudices and assumptions that are often made in daily life. I’m intrigued to see what his story is like later on in the series, I’m not yet sure how much I like him…

Liese does a great job of dealing with some tough issues. Firstly, Willa’s mothers battle with cancer. As a child of someone who battled cancer, I can attest that many of those emotions and thought processes were incredibly familiar. It’s amazing that such a happy and sweet book has such a dark aspect to it. And one that was down very, very well. The there’s Ryder’s late-onset deafness. I know next to nothing about this, but it felt incredibly genuine. The fact that Liese has a note in the front about her republication due to some of her own assumptions… it made me love her writing all that much more.

The final amazing cherry on top for this story… the play list. I’ve read lots of books that have play lists you can find online attached. Play lists that the authors used when writing certain chapters or scenes. But I’ve never had the pleasure of reading one that has a song for every chapter. Listening to this as the story unfolded helped to even further heighten the emotional connection. And now I have a great nostalgic play list to crank whenever I’m in the mood.

<- More Chloe Liese

Always Only You ->

Image source: Goodreads