This was such an enjoyable, cozy, academic romance! Second chance romance is one of my favorite tropes because I’m a sap and am a firm believer of fate and finding your way back to someone. Clara and Teddy’s story is told through alternating past and present timelines. I loved traveling back in time to get glimpses of their past, journey of their friendship and determining when everything took a turn. There was a lot of miscommunication throughout the years that led them to drift apart, but their connection and love for one another was clear. The college campus setting with scenes in quaint coffee shops and cozy bars, gave the perfect fall vibes.

Kristyn J. Miller's Given Our History is a compelling exploration of love, ambition, and the weight of the past. The protagonist, Clara Fernsby, is a driven assistant professor whose dedication to her career has led her to a pivotal moment: tenure consideration. Miller brilliantly captures the tension between Clara’s professional aspirations and her unresolved emotions when Theodore Harrison, a figure from her past, reenters her life as a visiting scholar. The interplay of their shared history, set against the backdrop of academia, creates a richly layered narrative that keeps the reader engaged.

What sets this novel apart is Miller’s skillful development of Clara and Teddy’s relationship. The flashbacks to their youth are beautifully intertwined with their present-day interactions, showing how much they’ve changed—and how much they’ve stayed the same. Clara’s internal conflict, as she grapples with the risk of rekindling a relationship that once burned her, is both relatable and deeply moving. While some plot points may feel predictable, the emotional depth and the authentic portrayal of the complexities of love and ambition make Given Our History a satisfying read.

A dual timeline romance set in the world of academia. Clara Fernsby teaches history at a small private liberal arts college. She is up for tenure a little earlier than expected because of a few people retiring. She is asked if you minds sharing her office with a visiting scholar and of course she agrees. It turns out to be Theodore Harrison. They were both introverted (me more than her) and got to know each other at summer camps. Her passion for history is what caused him to pursue it as a career. They became more during college but life sends them in different directions. There is no big break up or cheating, although her roommate was annoying.

I liked the academic setting and really liked Clara. I appreciated her love for her sister Reagan who is a student at her college. I didn’t feel I got to know Theo as well but he is a good friend and a match for Clara. If you like second chance romances or friends to more (over 17 year timespan) this is a nice read. (3.5 Stars)

I was drawn into Given Our History by the cute cover and intriguing title. Clara is an assistant professor who is not exactly working her dream job, but is content that it will eventually help her achieve her goals. When tenure becomes a possibility, she starts to feel the pressure. To her horror, the new visiting professor is her former best friend (who she no longer talks to). Will they be able to work together or will the awkwardness be too much?

Given Our History is a lighthearted second-chance romance. Clara and Teddy first meet as homeschoolers. There is a dual timeline approach with alternating scenes from the present to past. While I enjoyed the additional backstory, I wish there had been a little more focus on the present and them falling in love again. The tenure and portrayal of academia was interesting and I felt satisfied with the choice Clara made in the end.

Readers who enjoy dual timelines and second-chance romance will appreciate Give Our History.

Thank you to Kristyn J. Miller, St. Martin’s Griffin, and Netgalley for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

For publisher: My review will be posted on Goodreads, Amazon, Storygraph, and Barnes & Noble etc.

Thank you, St Martin's Griffin and NetGalley, for the advanced copy of Given Our History.

This was such a cute novel. Told in dual timelines, we see a peak into what makes Clara tick regarding her relationships. We get to see Clara and Theo grow up from their homeschool days to college days and their lives as professors trying to find their path in the academic world. Clara was such a great FMC, and Teddy is such a cinnamon roll! This is a great and cozy read for the Fall!

Clara Fernsby is a self-proclaimed nerd. When she meets Teddy at a camp for the homeschooled during a trivia challenge, they become fast friends. Fast forward to the present day where Clara is now an assistant professor at a college in Maryland, she gets the unwelcome shock of having to share an office with Teddy who she hasn't spoken to in almost a decade. As she tries to navigate her life by getting tenure at her school and keeping peace with Teddy, we see what brought them together and eventually tore them apart. Will they be able to find their way back together or will they end up going their separate ways again?

This was a delightful second and third and maybe fourth chance romance. My heart fell in love with them and was up and down with their relationship. It shows how life can get in your way if you let it. Such a good romance with great chemistry and plot. If you love true love and a well. Holy relationship this is for you.

Given Our History was a low-stakes, second chance romance.

Clara and Teddy were childhood friends who broke each other's hearts ten years ago and are unexpectedly reunited while working at the same university.

There are a lot of unresolved feelings and we get to watch Clara and Teddy try to mend their relationship in the present while getting flashbacks showcasing how their friendship began and ended.

Overall, a sweet love story whose main characters never truly convinced me that their love story was worthy of a second chance.

🍂 Book Review 🍂

Review: Given Our History by Kristyn J. Miller
I was excited to dive into Given Our History, especially with its second-chance romance and "the one who got away" trope. The premise, set against an academic backdrop, had so much potential, and the beautiful cover evoked nostalgic feelings of 90s romance movies.
While the story started strong with intriguing characters and flashbacks that revealed Clara and Teddy’s shared history, it ultimately fell a bit flat for me. There wasn't much drama or excitement—just a lot of miscommunication and life unfolding without any major surprises. The writing is solid, and it has the cozy, easygoing vibe that some readers will appreciate for a light fall read. However, it didn’t leave a lasting impression on me. If you’re looking for a comfortable, low-stakes romance, this could be a good pick, but it wasn’t as memorable as I’d hoped.
Very grateful to the publisher for my copy, opinions are my own

Clara and Teddy meet at a sleep away camp for kids that are homeschooled. Clara loves history but Teddy is undecided about what his interests are. They become best friends even though it is long distance and they are, I think, 13 or so. Fast forward to the present and Clara is a history professor at a college in Maryland and she is asked to share her office with a visiting professor. Surprise, it's Teddy. This is a second chance romance so there were dual timelines with the past and the present. At times I found it confusing. Clara was very driven in her career and even though Teddy had also chosen history we don't know a lot about Teddy other than he is a great guy. None of the other characters are really fleshed out. Her best friend is Izzy who lives overseas but they mostly play phone tag. She seems so willing to give up everything putting her career first and I didn't know what exactly she wanted from Teddy, love or friendship. There was so much back and forth between them and at one point they didn't speak for almost a decade. I just wanted her to get to the point and quit with the "word vomit." So it's a romance and we know there is a HEA but the fun is always how they get to that point but this ending was just meh. It was easy to read but I just never really felt a lot of emotion.

I would like to thank Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me with a digital copy.

“Sometimes people drift apart because the timing isn't right, but if they’re meant to be together, they find their way back to each other in the end.”

This is a cozy friends to lovers second chance romance with a dual timeline.
Two friends turned history professors find themselves sharing an office space when they have cut off all contact with one another. Having to navigate being together again, brings up memories and feelings that were left in the past.
This story entwined their adolescent years and adulthood/present time so effortlessly it makes it easy to follow their relationship.

Given their History are they about to repeat the same mistake that caused a drift in their friendship?

This was an enjoyable read and has elements that all readers would enjoy.

Thank You to NetGalley, Kristyn Miller, and St. Martin’s Press for the eArc for this book. All opinions are my own.

Clara Fernsby is an assistant history professor at a private liberal arts college. She always wanted to teach history since she was a child.

One day before the start of a semester she finds out she needs to share her office with a visiting professor. This professor happens to be her childhood crush, Theodore Harrison. Seeing him brings back a rush of memories and feelings. They had met at camp and stayed in touch throughout the years. Then they had a falling out over a decade ago and haven’t spoken since, so of course the first encounter has to be awkward.

I loved seeing them start to pick up where they left off. The second chance romance was done well. I also loved the 2000s references, especially the rock bands that I used to love back in the day like My Chemical Romance.

I enjoyed the dual timelines that went back and forth from the past to the present. It helped shape the story and help you understand both of their feelings.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

I enjoyed this book! I think it's a great fall romance to read as the cooler weather comes upon us. Clara and Teddy met as teens at a homeschool sleep away camp. Clara is a bit more extroverted to the shy Teddy and initiates a friendship. As they grow older, their feelings strengthen, but distance and circumstance make a relationship difficult. After a falling out causes them to lose contact for 9 years, they're thrust back together when Teddy accepts a visiting professor position at the college Clara teaches at. Can they reconcile and try again or is their history too much to overcome?

I've always enjoyed books set in academia, but it's usually from the student perspective, so I appreciated that this was different and we got to see it from the professor side. I also liked that they are professors of something that isn't often highlighted as a career, history. Clara and Teddy were both likable and different than usual main characters as they were both a little more subdued and level headed.

I also liked that it was dual timeline, because without that perspective of how their relationship developed, I don't think I would have understood why it all fell apart. That said, I do wish we had more time with them in the present. Even a couple more scenes where they spend time together would have solidified their connection and attraction for me. It was more referencing time spent, but not describing if that makes sense. I don't think it's wrong that their connection was heavily based on the past, but it was quite a big jump in time, from young adults to 30 year olds, so I didn't feel it as much in the present. However, when the relationship moves to more physical, their chemistry and connection felt more palpable. I also liked how supportive Teddy was of Clara realizing her worth, following her dreams and taking chances. She spent most of her life doing what she felt she should do to avoid ending up in a similar situation to her parents, but it was at the expense of her happiness. Reuniting with Teddy allowed her to see that she could find fulfillment in more than just her career.

I'd recommend this to people who like childhood friends to lovers, an academia setting and low drama.

Loved this! Great plot, multiple timelines
Not super spicy but good chemistry
Great nostalgic vibes from early 2000s!!

4.5 stars for a TRULY wonderful book!

This book was sweet, kind + such a wonderful portrayal of friendship, career navigation and growth. It was nostalgic in the best way, and though I often do not enjoy the "right person, wrong time" trope this book was an exception to the rule.

Thank you to NetGalley + the publishing team for an ARC!

Nice light fall read.

Set on a college campus, this is the story of 2 people finding each other again.

Great cozy read for a nice crisp fall day.

The very first thing I wrote in my notes about this book was ‘I want to like this so much.’ And my want didn’t win out.

To narrow down my scattered thoughts, I think the concept for this book is everything. Professors, history, friends to ?? to lovers, and a whole lot of academic talk. It sounds like everything I would love.

But the ball is massively dropped here and it’s super disappointing to me! The first 50% is impossibly slow to get through, with so much focusing on faculty meetings and no character development on Clara’s part despite her being the fmc.

The first kiss is abrupt and feels out of place, with Clara responding to Teddy’s hesitation in such a high school drama way that it blows it out of proportion escalating to a fight between them. Don’t worry, they resolve it in the next chapter with no real conflict or explanation.

The Gala they spend 20% of the book planning isn’t on page, but is just a catalyst for their first hookup. After which they claim to have a 17 year long slow burn, when in reality they didn’t speak for 10 of those years so it’s debatable.

The book feels so choppy timeline wise, and surprisingly I’m not talking about the past vs present chapters. In the present day we will skip whole months of time just to make it to the next ‘important’ stage for the characters and there’s no reference made to the off page time at all! Because no development happened obviously.

The third act is strange, our random reappearances of side characters who earlier played no real role are now showing up at random points in Clara’s life where she expresses regrets, and then disappear again.

So yes, I wanted to like this book SO much. But that wasn’t enough for me to look past some big structural issues that made the experience a drag and not enjoyable.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

This book tells the story between Clara and Teddy, who met at homeschool kids summer camps throughout their school years, After a particularly bad fallout, many years later they met again as adults when Teddy goes to Clara's university as a visiting scholar. This is a very refreshing story between two mature adults who work in academia (both are college professors). This book is set in the fall, and following them go through daily life as professors in the fall semester makes the vibe feels very cozy to me. This book also depicts college life (including the portrayal of student life) quite accurately. Makes me quite nostalgic!
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While the story (especially the flashback) is very sweet, I can't help but wonder why should the conflict goes on this long. When they finally got together, I thought the way it's done was very smooth / not much past conflict was brought up. There's actually 2 time jumps and I don't quite understand why they don't just contact each other back earlier. The 3rd act conflict was also quite flimsy to me.
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Overall, I had a nice time. I think readers who look for cozy vibes and mature characters will definitely enjoy this book.

Read if you like:
🏕️ Summer Camp Friends to Lovers
⏳ Wrong Time, Right Guy
⌛️ Past & Present Timelines
🏫 Academia Setting
📚 Workplace Romance
🫠 Moments to make you melt

Clara and Teddy have stolen my heart!

This book truly is for those that love friends to lovers and honestly for those who don’t because the way this was done just completely worked for me!

Their story takes place over the 17 years of their friendship and current day when they are reunited after not talking for several years…. The heartache of best friends to nothing and the reunion truly was so well done in my opinion!

I loved that the story was encapsulating their meeting to falling for each other as teenagers, to going on their adult journeys and chasing their career goals to present day at 31 both working in the field they love and holds a special place in their history, pun intended!

This is a story that exemplifies that timing truly matters! I love that it was shown that for the best outcome they couldn’t deny the timing issues, & that pursuing their relationship back as young and dumb 18 year olds or even at 21 wouldn’t have been best for either character which led to a delicious slow-burn full of tension with the flashbacks painting their feelings for each other so clearly.

Idk about you, but first loves and the timing issue worked so well for me the way it was written in this book!

Thank you so so so much to the publisher for my ARC in exchange for my review & to Kristyn for my gifted signed finished copy, I truly cherish it!

🍂🏫🍂
📖Review
4🌟🌟🌟🌟
📖Book 47/100
📚Given Our History
💫Genre:
Fiction/Romance
✍️Author:
Kristyn J. Miller

📝Synopsis 📝
Clara and Teddy are two homeschooled kids that end up meeting at camp and make a strong friendship. They are each others confidants and fall head over heels for each other. Clara realizes she’s too young and has to cut him off since they both are moving into different directions in life. She gets stuck caring for her family as an older child/sister due to an unfortunate accident. He in turn gets to go off to the university of his dreams. She gets the job of her dreams but is bamboozled by her boss which asks her to share an office with Teddy.

My thoughts 💭
I am a sucker for Academic Romances and this one was so good! I loved how it was focused on the world of higher academia…professors! I also liked the prioritizing of careers as a theme, and I loved the dual timelines. The long distance part took me down memory lane. It had me thinking of the days we had to use landlines and were charged an arm and a leg to call long distance.
I don’t like miscommunication tropes, but I feel the second chance romance part of it was unique and perfectly executed. I wish there was more depth in their college days part of the friendship/relationship. The ending was executed perfectly on this one 🙌🏻

✨Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress
for a copy of this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

📌Publication Date:
August 27, 2024
✨✨✨✨

Clara has a path in life. Keep working at as a history professor, support her younger sister, and get tenure. What she doesn't expect is a blast from the past in the form of her former best friend, the one that got away, Teddy.

I loved this book! Here's what I loved:

The feel--This book has a cozy feel to it. I'm honestly not even sure why, but I felt like I was reading the story of an old friend. I loved the college setting but from the side of a professor! It has such a different feel and I was here for it.

Past and present--You get the past friendship of Clara and Teddy while also seeing them reconnect in the present. This helps add so much angst and emotions for the present chapters, You get a really good sense of why they aren't together and what went wrong (and right).

Second chance mixed with right person/wrong time--Both of these are top tier tropes for me! I thought Miller does them really well here. Yes, there is a bit of miscommunication, but it's more of "life got in the way" instead.

Overall, this was a really well-done emotional romance!

Thank you to the author and publisher for the gifted copy!