honestly, i loved this book from the very first sentence. i felt such a connection to the characters which made the book so much more enjoyable to read which i really loved.

I enjoy this author and this series so it was no surprise that this book was great. I devoured it from cover to cover and immediately recommended to my book club! This was a 4.2 star read for me.

"Do not break her, Johnny. Not when she already seems fractured."

Thank you to NetGalley and Bloom Books for an advanced copy of Binding 13 in exchange for an honest review.

Binding 13 is about a young 16-year old girl named Shannon Lynch who lives in Ireland and has been through way too much in her very short time on Earth. She moves from Ballylaggin Community School to Tommen College due to extreme bullying at BCS. Once at Tommen College, Shannon meets star rugby player Johnny Kavanaugh after an unfortunate accident on the rugby pitch. From then on, Johnny is bound and determined to keep Shannon safe from anything and everything which could cost him his professional rugby career and something even more important, his heart.

I loved this book so much and Johnny and Shannon gave me all of the feels. I especially connected with Shannon because I was also bullied when I was younger (not to the extent of Shannon though). Her character is extremely realistic in that she has a hard time trusting people and she wants to just fade into the shadows and take up as little space as possible. Shannon also made me want t0 cry because she was so tramautized and no matter what she did, she could not escape abuse and bullying. Johnny kind of annoyed me at first because he seemed to me like your typical jock stereotype but Chloe Walsh surprised me with breaking a good amount of stereotypes and tropes through developing Johnny's character. The side characters definitely held their own, especially Gibsie. He was so funny and brought great comic relief in the best spots. Joey is also an amazing character. He is trying to develop his own life but is not willing to give up his sister and younger brothers.

I LOVED every minute of this book and cannot wait to read Keeping 13! 4/5 stars!

I received this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

When I tell you, this is one of the most heart wrenching, beautifully written books I have EVER come across. I never know how I’m going to feel about YA books, just because sometimes they can be more childish than I hope. This book never once felt that way. These kids are dealing with “grown” problems and man I love them for it. I will forever be grateful for Shannon & Johnny

This was the slowest slow burn that ever did slow burn, but man was I in a chokehold from the beginning to end, even when I was shocked into mild catatonia when I realized there were 887 Kindle Pages in the book, and I had unknowingly committed to a book of such a length. This book had me sucked in from beginning to end, I read it probably in a combined 10.5 hours probably, and the ending had me at the edge of my frigggin' bed, I have never thanked God more for having a Kindle Unlimited subscription so that I could IMMEDIATELY check out the second book in the series and immediately dive in while simultaneously crying!
The characters are so fully fleshed out, you couldn't ask for better detail, some people are bothered by the excess chapters with information that isn't 100% necessary for the main storyline and at first, I was unsure if I was enjoying it, but the more chapters I read with Gibsie, and Jhonny's mam I was falling in love with their banter, and sarcasm. I have a huge spot in my heart for Gibsie, and I already know the next books are going to be his and I'm probably going to 'bulldoze' straight into them. The characters are very relatable, and believable!
I don't come from the best upbringing and although I can't 100% relate to the situation Shannon and her family are in, my heart broke for her just the same because no one deserves that type of life, but the ability to 'fall down 7, and stand up 8 times' is miraculous and beautiful in my opinion. I loved every single piece of this book, and so far, I'm 40% into book #2 and I'm just as in love. I will be taking zero criticism from anyone, at all. I'm on cloud fucking 9.

OOF my HEART! First off, I absolutely love the dynamic between Johnny and Shannon. Shannon and Joey also shared some really heartfelt (even at time tough) moments. Gibsie and Claire were such great supporting characters too. The writing felt a bit repetitive at times but the ending was shocking! I am now going to immediately pick up Keeping 13!

So excited to read more!

I was not expecting the deep emotions of this book.  I anticipated an emotional and angsty read, I did not expect to find myself laughing out loud so many times (Gibsie and Johnny in the hospital). This is a character-driven story, romance isn’t the primary focus and the pacing is a bit slow.  But, why is the book so long?  Talk about a slow burn, with a cliffhanger!!!  Yikes!!!

Honestly, I’m blown away by the build-up. There is a lot to unpack. This is a story about letting others in and facing trauma, pain, and the difficulties of life.

I need the next book IMMEDIATELY!  Johnny is definitely my kind of book boyfriend material, he’s a little bit of a jerk, but his alpha, possessive, protectiveness when it came to Shannon was TOP NOTCH perfection.  Boy, did I feel the frustration every time he pushed her away.  I’m looking forward to seeing where the next book takes their relationship.

Did not disappoint, chapter one and I was already holding back tears. Full of the teen romance drama tv show nostalgia. It was very long but very fulfilling.

this book took me awhile to get into but once it got going, i was hooked.

if you see me hauling ass to buy the next four books in this series… mind your business. i’m supposed to be reading from my physical tbr but they will technically be apart of that when i buy them… so loophole.

i really enjoyed the relationship between johnny and shannon. the fact that he was a safe place for her was so healing. i loved the friendships she had with claire and lizzie and i’m looking forward to seeing where the next book takes us.

… will be speeding through these books bc i need to read gibsie and claires ASAP!!!

thank you to netgalley and Sourcebooks Bloom Books for an e-arc

BOOK REVIEW 🏈🌊🏫🦋

4/5⭐️: Binding 13 by Chloe Walsh

i finally decided it was time to start this series. this book was so heartbreaking & emotional. this story follows our main characters, Johnny & Shannon and the struggles each of them face and how they come together and fall in love.

i really liked Shannon. she was super quiet & shy but sometimes she would say the funniest things. my heart broke for her and her siblings throughout the entire book, they all deserved so much better from the people who are supposed to love & protect them. i absolutely loved her friendship with Claire & Lizzie. they were such good friends i was so happy she was finally fitting in & feeling comfortable at school. also Joey is just the best, he really is such a good soul & i cannot wait to get to his books.

Johnny was so funny & i loved his relationship with Shannon. i did find his infatuation with her from the moment he saw her to be a little insta-lovey but that’s okay. he was so kind and i really loved him for Shannon. i am looking forward to seeing how their relationship develops and how they move on from such traumatic events.

the only criticism i have is that i personally felt like the book was too long. i felt like the story was really repetitive & could be told just as well with less pages. the writing was a bit young & cringe at some points. but i also get that we’re following teenagers, so i guess that is to be expected.

overall i really liked this book, it made me laugh & it made me cry. i cannot wait to get to the rest of the series!

A solid 4 star read for me. The setting, as well as the characters and their lives were very interesting. On top of reading the dialogue in Irish accents in my head, I guess I’m now a rugby fan. I liked that there was depth to the characters’ trials and tribulations (check TW for sure). It was also rewarding that Shannon didn’t just fall into Johnnys arms right away. What is the opposite of cheesy, because I feel like their friendship was that. They weren’t ~too~ frustrating in their slow burn, at least not to the point of having me yell at them through the pages.

THE CLIFFHANGER AT THE END THOUGH….Well played Chloe Walsh……Now I am legally required to read the next installment.

That being said, this book was unexpected in a couple of ways for me…For starters, the age of the characters was a surprise to me. I don’t love following 15/16/17 year olds through their romances. I feel like this book would have been much better (and less cringey/weird), if the characters were older like their audience is. Definitely an interesting choice by the author, especially for a romance novel.

Secondly, I didn’t expect it to be so long. Coupled with it being a (very) slow burn, it started to drag on a bit for me. There were definitely key parts to character development, but I feel like otherwise it didn’t need to be so long.

I received this book as an ARC from the publisher via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Thank you Chloe Walsh and Sourcebooks (Bloom Books)!

cute romance even if it was a little predictable. i enjoyed the characters and the romance itself. Johnny is a character i really loved as well.

I had heard a lot of rave reviews about Binding 14 for years and was really excited to try it when Bloom republished it. Unfortunately I don’t think the writing style or plot worked for me, it felt very YA and I was never fully sucked into the storyline. 2 stars

Ok so there were parts of this that I loved but others that were repetitive and well just super cringe. I have to say that this book didn't need to be this long and that all the inner monologue could have been cut way down. Overall, I think it could have been trimmed and been much better.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Selling Pitch:
Wattpad’s Normal People.

Pre-reading:
Booktok strikes again. Y’all said this is one of your best. A criminally ugly cover. But like I love an Irish boy so maybe I’ll love it too?

Thick of it:
Wow, thank you for that name pronunciation guide. I will never refer to it, and my brain will just garble letters together. (not a criticism just an advertisement that I’m an ignorant slut)

You’re joking. The TV prayer is a real thing? The more you know.

Oh no. Oh no. Have I signed up for Wattpad? I have, haven’t I.

I’m so sick of reading character appearance dumps from a mirror where all they do is shit on themselves because they’re so tiny and they’re so skinny. Like shut up.

How do you get to school that early and still manage to be late? That’s a little much, girlypop.

I'm too old to care about high school sports. (laughs in Beartown)

Take a shot every time they tell you she's small. (Instantly blackout. Like good luck getting through a single chapter.)

This is so painfully Wattpad.

She's not like other girls. Kill me

Immediately no to what type of female.

I'm too old for these books. Don’t tell me someone was interested in fucking a fourteen-year-old child.

There's no reason these people can’t just be in college. I can't take it seriously with them so little. Like they barely have facial hair 😂 (Firmly believe that she could’ve been a freshman 18-year-old in college and stuck living at home to save money to tell basically the same story.)

Okay but like he's not 18 either, so let’s not refer to him that way.

The broken dick shouldn't be funny. Samantha, he's a child. But also like lol.

We don’t call women females. Fuck off.

Your school secretary is a predator.

He’s not doing well in science, but he’s a business major, and she’s not doing well in business, but she’s a science major. How convenient.

This book could've been so much shorter if we took out all the repetitive musing.

It’s the way this book says all its cringe lines with its full chest.

I’m reading this at work. What a chapter title.

I'm too old for this shit.

Ireland’s still 18 for drinking so I dunno how they're going to pubs and shit.

I just can’t take her seriously when she’s like they’re primal males, and I’m like they’re fucking children.

This reads like the One Direction your name at a concert fanfiction shit. Like this is so dumb.

They literally don’t know anything about each other. They just like each other’s appearances. This is wild.

Where are the fucking adults?

You got a fast car 🎶

The dog’s gonna die. (Ask me again in book two.)

This is just Wattpad Normal People.

She’s not like most girls and obsessed with her weight. She’s just naturally skinny. Fuck off.

I’m like why is she so dumb, and then I’m like she’s 15. That checks out.

It feels like author insert revenge wish fulfillment.

I am suffering.

How has she been his girlfriend for this long and not known the extent?

‘I’ve been in this game a long fucking time.’ You’re 17. You’re 17.

He’s a Gemini? Ew.

This is like satire of tiny girl at this point. She can’t get into a stool? Come on.

Y’all this man is 17.

And title drop.

How does she not know what Bella looks like?

Why does girlypop always make herself gag when she brushes her teeth?

Take a shot every time it’s Shannon like the river and not just fucking Shannon.

OK, Cinderella.

dikes

Literally how would the school not contact her?

She’s not like other girls. She’s a gamer.

She’s so small, but she’s still a four?

Imagine thinking it was okay to speak to your mother this way.

She’s not like other moms. She’s a cool mom. Can I get you an alcohol, a condom? I hate it here. I hate it here so much.

Because the ass is a muscle? What do you mean how does he have muscles on his ass? I hate it here. I hate this book.

I hate this complete fetishization of she’s so small and young, and he’s this big, manly man. Like they’re both children. I hate it.

I mean, it takes like a half hour for ibuprofen to kick in. You're telling me they sat around in a locker room for a half hour and there were no teachers who came looking for them or other students? I don’t believe you.

This is just middle school as hell, and if you’re like that makes sense, Samantha. They’re so young, I don’t want to read about middle schoolers fucking. (And I mean middle school vibes obviously, not literally.)

I’ve just assumed he’s the equivalent of a quarterback this whole book, and I will not be changed on that. And if you’re like Samantha, you don’t know what a quarterback does either, you’ve literally never watched football in your life, you’d be correct.

This is some serious 2000s music.

What sort of anime shit line was that?

See, the romance feels slow burn because it’s so goddamn long of a book, but it’s only been like a couple months and they’re literal children.

Literally where are the adults?

I cuss a little.

Literally where are the adults.

God, how much longer? I have a whole other book to still fucking read because I got both of them like an idiot after booktok told me they were amazing.

I didn’t realize this was an Easter book. I’m so timely.

See, here’s what’s upsetting. The only redeemable part of this book is that it’s pretty good domestic violence rep. It’s like very surface-level. There is no nuance. But like it makes me understand why the girlies like this. I don’t like it, but at least I can latch onto like oh, this is a rescue fantasy for them.

Oh wow, that’s like not an ending at all. Now I’m glad I have the second book.

Post-reading:
Y’all looked me in my eyes and told me this was a good book.
It’s a Wattpad novel that you’ve read 100 times before.

Things I will always hate: sexualizing children. And if you’re like Samantha, it's a high school romance. Of course, it does. No. No. There’s a difference between writing about a first love and writing about wanting to fuck a 15-year-old girl. There’s a difference between writing in a rapist secretary and being like tehee the boys are just manipulating her to get information on their crush. Why are you not shocked and appalled? Because he’s a boy? Because he had an orgasm? Let’s gender-swap this. Are we cool with some 15-year-old girl letting her teacher munch her box to get a file? Absolutely not. And it’s treated like a joke instead of the abject horror that it is. And let’s be clear. I don’t have a problem with this book’s age gap, I think a romance between a 16-year-old and a 17-year-old is totally chill. Even a 15-year-old and a 17-year-old, I’m like a little hinky because there’s such a big difference in maturity there, but still like a two-year age gap, that’s fine. They’re both in high school, whatever. People do that all the time. I have a problem with how it’s written. It is almost entirely sexual from his perspective from the get-go. And that’s gross. And you know I’m not a man. I will never understand the hellscape of a teenage boy’s brain, and thank god for that, but this is written by a woman, so she’s projecting this attitude onto her idealized romantic love interest. Let’s do better, girlypops. Let’s want more for ourselves.

And if somehow you bypassed that, let’s discuss the writing of this book. I should not have to read about how tiny the FMC is what feels like every other sentence. The word small is used 154 times. Tiny, 38. Little, 211. Big 183. That’s obscene. The size difference fetish is so present, always. The preoccupation with their ages is so present, always. And the author even tries to age them up when she talks about them to make it appear better. Half the book Johnny’s “18.” He’s not 18 this whole book. But somehow it’s just totally chill and manly that he’s drinking and watching porn and is left home alone and has no medical supervision. He’s a goddamn minor.

There is maybe, maybe 150 pages of content in this book. It’s just been bloated into this 800-page monster with endless repetitive action and rumination. It’s predictable as hell. It’s cliche.

The book’s only redeeming quality is that it writes an example of domestic violence that’s recognizable and familiar to the point that it feels like the author probably lived that life and very sorry to that girlie if that happened. No one deserves that. However, there’s no depth to the abuse. There’s no nuance. It has no commentary to make. Which is a disservice because that’s probably the part that an audience is latching onto. I highly doubt they’re identifying with the FMC being so small and so skinny but so beautiful anyway. She’s not like other girls, guys!

And then that leads to the romance feeling like author insert wish fulfillment. Your romantic partner cannot be solely responsible for rescuing you from and healing you from your trauma.

I understand why the girlies ate this up. It’s easy reading. But I’m too old for this shit, and I will not be recommending a book that has such a cavalier attitude about rape. My gut reaction on finishing this book was two stars because it is a nothing read and I did plow through it, but then I sat down to write this review. And I was like no, this was actively bad, and it has unforgivable messaging surrounding male rape. It’s going on my do not read list.

Who should read this:
Wattpad girlies
Highschoolers

Do I want to reread this:
No.

Similar books:
* The Deal by Elle Kennedy-college hockey romance, traumatic backstories
* Icebreaker by Hannah Grace-college hockey romance, traumatic backstories
* Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros-Mary Sue and her fantasy boyfriend, traumatic backstories, Wattpad fantasy
* It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover-Wattpad abusive relationship sold as a romance
* Beardown by Fredrik Backman-if you want to actually read small-town sports romance trauma, this is your book

This book was so good!! It had me addicted to it!! It is a new adult college age sports romance that is addictive and so good!!! I needed this bookbin my life!!! 5 star read!
I just reviewed Binding 13 by Chloe Walsh. #NetGalley
[NetGalley URL]

my god. My stomach was in knots reading this book, my heart aches for these characters. I love Johnny and Shannon so much, seeing their friendship grow as they fought their feelings for each other and slowly let each other in. they both had secrets they tried to keep to protect themselves, but over time they broke down each others walls and became the one person the other could trust.

the found family in this books is everything, I can’t wait to get the rest of their stories. Even in the most serious moments you can count on gibsie or tadhg to provide some comedic relief.

this series will stick with me forever, I can’t stop thinking about these characters.

Unfortunately, this book felt too slow and drawn out for me. There was too much repetition constantly stating their age difference, her bruises, etc,

This book was so good! I am obsessed with Shannon and Johnny a total must read. I get why the hype is so real!

This book is beautiful. The story of Johnny, who chooses to fight his battles alone and tries to fix everything for those he loves, and Shannon, who is terrified and is finally getting a glimpse of hope, is utterly heartbreaking. I could not put this down the entire time. The balance between the heartache and the happiness of small victories was perfect.

The slow burn and tension between Johnny and Shannon and Gibsie and Claire was worth every moment. Chloe didn't shy away from throwing in all the Irish cultural references, rugby, and, abuse. I couldn't stop squealing at all of the rugby references. It was PERFECT. Seeing abuse on page and the extent of it was hard to read but necessary. I can't wait to continue this series.

Read if you love
- Rugby
- He falls first
- school romance
- resilient characters