So, this book was a 3.5/5 star read for me. It was good and I enjoyed it. Some parts absolutely flew by! This was a dual timeline, second chance, friends-to-lovers romance. All tropes that I love! However, some parts just moved way too slowly for my taste. It is a slow burn, and if I'm being honest it's TOO slow. There really isn't any romance until the last 70ish percent. And then there is so much miscommunication between our main character and her love interest that it just starts to get interesting and then starts falling flat again. I didn't hate it, and just because I didn't like it doesn't mean that someone else couldn't love it, but I'm not sure that I would recommend it to anyone.

5 ⭐️!!!
3 🌶️

There are not enough words in the English language, let alone any language, that could ever describe how much I absolutely LOVED this book. I had to force myself to take several days to read it and savor each page even though I wanted to devour this book as quickly as possible.

From the beginning of this book, I had immediate connections with the main characters. They felt very three-dimensional and I loved that each had their own quirks that followed them throughout the years. Through the duration of this book, I enjoyed the development that these characters underwent both together as friends, as a couple, and individually.

The number one trope that I am a sucker for is second-chance friends-to-lovers. Two of my favorite books are People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry and Love and Other Words by Christina Lauren. Whatever kind of magic those two books are composed of, Given Our History was hit with the same exact dose. Reading this book felt like a warm hug; it was nostalgic and brimmed with such longing that I felt all of the emotions that the characters did.

One of the things that I especially loved about this book was the dual timeline. I love when there is an event that has happened in a book that has broken up a pair of characters but the reason isn’t revealed to readers until later in the book. There was a certain scene in this book that I will keep a secret for the sake of dramatic effect for future readers, that literally had me sitting straight up and gasping at my Kindle.

My favorite quote from this book was: “Falling in love was like falling asleep on a long drive: you let yourself get comfortable and then suddenly you wake up and you’re already there. Falling out of love, in contrast, was like a car crash: you slam on the brakes, but you don’t just stop, because the momentum is still there. And years later, you might’ve recovered, but you still have the little aches and pains, and maybe you’re a little scared every time you hop back behind the wheel, because look what happened before.”

I will definitely be purchasing this book as soon as it releases, and will be recommending it to customers/followers. I am so excited for it to have a place it can call its home on my bookshelf. This novel will go down in my book journal as one of my favorites of this year, and quite possibly of all time.

Thank you so much to NetGalley, Kristyn J. Miller, and St. Martin’s Press for the chance to enjoy this advanced reader copy of Given Our History.

I will say, the singular thing that I did not enjoy about this book was that it looks like Teddy’s head is on backwards in the cover. However, that is easy to look past in the grand scheme of how incredible this piece was.

Content Warnings: sexual content, death of a parent (mentioned)

My review will be run immediately on Goodreads and StoryGraph and will be posted on my Instagram account (@graciesbooknook) tomorrow 3/27/2024.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Given Our History is the story of two history professors, Teddy and Clara, and their second chance at romance. Childhood friends, who never stopped loving each other, find their way back to each other later in life when Teddy works with Clara for one semester. It’s no longer the right person and the wrong time, it’s finally the right person and the right time. A charming story with very little spice 🌶️, a heartwarming read.

Thank you Net Galley for the ARC!

Academia, history, romance… Given Our History is a friends to lovers AND. Second-chance romance. Clara and Teddy were camp friends long ago, but now are thrown together as colleagues - will their connection and history repeat itself?
This was a cozy and feel good read that I really enjoyed!

Really cute read about two professors that were best friends with the possibility for more as teens. Life got in the way before being thrown together as adults. Theres funny moments, the typical “I still have feelings” moments, and you can’t help but cheer on the idea of the two finally being able to make things work. Great if you like an easy Rom-Com type book!

I'd give this book 3.5 stars. This book is about two college history professors who were both homeschooled in different parts of the country and met when they were teenagers. The protaganist, Clara, is wary of ever having any significant other influence any career path that she might like to take. She met her off and on best friend/romantic interest at a homeschool camp when Teddy was painfully shy and didn't really have friends. The story alternates between the present day and the past where we are given glimpses into how these characters came to be. It was entertaining enough where I finished it in 2-3 days, but I was left wanting a bit more from our main character. I wanted to step in and have a chat with her. It is an easy to read romance novel.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and MacMillan Publishers for my honest opinion. Thank you.

This is a cute Right Person Wrong Time romance following Clara and Teddy who were best friends as teenagers but when attempting to be more, life got in their way. The reader gets two timelines - Clara and Teddy as teenagers, and then both as late-20s professors thrown together by chance and department heads at the university.

Honestly I finished this last night and I had to go look up the character's names again - I can't promise anything about this book will be left in my memory in seven days. The romance was sweet, but shallow, as was the character development. I've seen a lot said about the fall-vibes of this book, but those were also lacking.

Overall, it's not a book I feel like I wasted my time reading, but it won't be one I'm shouting from the rooftops about.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the free ARC copy in exchange for my honest review!

Thank you to St Martin’s Press for sending me an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

This book was perfectly okay, in the best way possible.

There was not anything necessarily wrong with it or off-putting such as the writing style or characters, but it was just missing a little “wow” factor for me personally!

I found the characters to be quite enjoyable, liked the plot, and had no qualms with the writing so this book gets 3 stars!

Again, there was nothing bad or wrong but something that I cannot quite place just fell a little short for me. If you love Ali Hazelwood or books generally set in academia, I think this will be right up your alley :)

I wasn’t sure I was going to like this when I first picked it up. I’m not a mood reader, but I really didn’t feel in the mood. I put it aside and picked it up two days later, and then I didn’t want to put it down.

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the history behind Clara and Teddy, and getting to learn both parts of their story as it was slowly revealed. I loved Teddy’s patience and Clara’s passion, and how the two of them fell in love and overcame their differences and their troubles so they could love each other as they were meant to.

I’m sad the story ended, because I really felt connected to the two of them and would have happily read a while longer, looking into their future instead of just their past.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

NetGalley ARC Review✨

Thank you to @netgalley and @kristynjmiller for an ARC copy of Given Our History in exchange for my honest review.

Clara and Theodore meet at summer camp and became fast friends. Clara is driven and wants nothing more than to be a tenured history professor. She shares her love of history with Theodore and he also becomes a history teacher.

After years of a long distance friendship, their lives become separate after Theodore reveals his feelings. When a new, guest teacher is brought to Clara's workplace, she is shocked to find out it's Theodore.

Can they mend their broken friendship? Will Clara move past her rigid timeline to experience love?

This is Kristyn's second novel and it's just as good as her debut

ARC Review. 2.5 stars! - I enjoyed my time reading this romance, although it was not memorable. The first 40% felt slow but the story picked up from there. I didn't feel chemistry between the main characters until much of their backstory was told which wasn't until deep into the story. I did appreciate the exploration of themes of misogyny and ageism in higher education and weighing my personal perspective and experiences working in higher ed with the characters. I especially enjoyed moments between the characters from years past as they were developing their friendship and romantic relationship and exploring the relationship between the main character and her younger sister.

I found Given Our History to be a fast, delightful read. The story focuses on 2 college professors, Teddy and Clara, who find themselves thrown together again after breaking up their relationship years ago. The story is told in both the past and present and was easy to follow. What I loved about the story were the two main characters, they were so very likable. My main dislike of the story was the relationship between Clara and her younger sister who was a freshman at Clara's college. I'm not sure why Clara felt so much responsibility for her immature sister. Still, I enjoyed the book enough to search out the author's previously published novel.

Absolutely loved this book! Was immediately hooked and stayed captivated throughout the whole thing.
Often times I get frustrated with characters in contemporary romances or romcoms because their personalities or flaws will be over the top, but I found everyone in Given Our History to have really good balances of strengths and flaws without making it boring.
The chemistry and dynamics were slowly built in detailed ways that allowed the reader to really FEEL how and why Clara made/makes the choices she makes even when I am someone with very different personality and priorities than her.

I look forward to reading more from Kristyn!

DNF @ 42%

while the premise of given our history held promise, clara and theo's connection wasn't deep enough to carry the weight of this story, a second chance romance. by including past and present timelines, the longing has to feel palpable to the reader for the trope to be its most effective. sadly, there was little chemistry or movement of the plot that felt intentional. as I neared the halfway point, I assumed things would begin to take shape, but it never happened. once the desire to skim hits, it's hard to recover interest after that.

DNF @ 48%. This one had a promising start and premise that unfortunately fell flat. The main characters chemistry simply did not exist, and the supporting characters left much to be desired. Dual timeline can be tricky, and I feel the author wasn’t successful with it here. The huge gap in time between the main characters last interaction just further made for a disconnect between them. In the 48% I read, the past timeline friendship blossoming didn’t give me any of the feels, and present timeline nothing was happening, nor have the two characters shared any real moments, leaving me underwhelmed and choosing to quit the read.

Cute book that is the equivalent of putting on your comfy clothes and settling in by the fire. Clara and Teddy met at summer camp years ago and fell out of touch but are forced back together when Teddy unexpectedly takes teaching job at the college where Clara is also a professor. It was a quick read that hit all the expected marks; a solid 4 stars for me

Thank you Kristyn for sending me a copy of this magnificent book and thank you to Netgalley for inviting me to read the ARC.

Given Our History is the story of two best friends who’ve lost and found each other multiple times throughout their lives. This time, Clara and Teddy make sure they never lose each other again. It’s a story of familiarity and discovery–in all sorts of ways. It’s about falling in love with your best friend all over again just to realize you’ve actually never stopped loving them.

I’m fairly certain that everyone who knows me knows how much I love Kristyn & literally everything she writes. She’s one of my “I’d read a grocery list from her” authors. I already had high expectations for Given Our History knowing this book had all of my favorite tropes, and knowing how much I loved Kristyn’s debut book & her writing style. I was in fact correct, and I ended up loving this book so much that I didn’t even know where to start when writing my review. I actually think this review can be pages long so I’m going to try to keep it short as I can literally talk about it forever.

I’m going to start with Clara. It’s crazy how much of myself I see in Clara. She’s such a special character for me. One thing about Kristyn is that she always creates such real characters that you either find a piece of yourself in or understand and connect so deeply. In this case, it was both for me. Clara’s ambition and indecision at the same time is something I relate to a lot– so much so that I literally had to take a moment after I read the paragraph about the Bell Jar metaphor about how Clara’s left with nothing because she was too scared to choose. That scene with Reagan really stuck with me. Another scene that was really beautiful was the scene with her dad, when they were talking about love. Clara had her doubts about her parents’ marriage, and that scene with her dad talking about how love is the hard road was a very important moment in Clara’s life, guiding her to fight for her love instead of trying to push it away. Her doubts, her fears, and every emotion and complicated family relationships throughout the book were so raw and just real.

Teddy. This man is literally perfect. I literally had to stop reading to just breakdown over his quotes throughout the book. I really loved the way he loved Clara. I loved how after all those years, he still found his way back to Clara and didn’t let Clara have any doubts about what was going on between them. I adored how supportive he was at literally every single scene. Also him just being ready to go to anywhere in the world if it means they can be together… that’s a real man! God I love them so much. I have to mention the scene of Clara, Teddy, and Teddy’s mom. That scene was so beautiful, I loved every second of it.

I really loved the dual-timeline, going back to past to discover their history as their future unfolds. I think this is a good time to say I actually cried during one of the flashback scenes. The last few chapters especially were my favorites because the love confessions were just written so perfectly (as in I was screaming “Me when?” every other page). I loved how it wasn’t sugarcoated or anything. Every single sentence was so carefully chosen, honest, and intended. Truly one of the best love confessions I’ve read. Kristyn really executed the best friends to lovers second chance agenda in the best way possible.
Yet another thing I loved was the female friendships. Clara and Izzy, you two are so loved. The academia rooted friendships were also very cute to read, and I loved how supportive Julien was. That last chapter was excellent with everyone sitting together, and I loved watching certain friendships (Bel) get stronger as the book progressed.

I mean, Given Our History had literally everything. I cannot wait for everyone to read it!!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for the arc. This story is about Clara Fernsby, a history professor in a small liberal arts university in Maryland, finishing up her life goals of securing tenure in the same university. But before she can accomplish her final goal, Clara is informed that she is to share her office with a visiting scholar, Theodore (Teddy) Harrison, someone from Clara's past. The story, all told from Clara's POV, flashes back (17 years) to the time Clara and Teddy meet, and goes back to the present to show where their relationship currently stands. The story does these flashbacks quite a bit, which I feel dragged it down for me. I thought it was interesting to see how their relationship evolved, and cratered, and came back again, but it was too much. I did appreciate the glimpse into the academia world, i.e. tenure track, fundraising efforts, inter-department politics, etc., but the story could have been more streamlined. I really liked Clara, Teddy, and all the side characters.

Overall, I liked the story, and I look forward to reading future works from Kristyn Miller.

How can you not love two history professors that are into each other? Plus a tenure battle. And an epic misunderstanding. This one hit so many good notes. It was a bit of a slow burn but I loved the payoff at the end. The idea that they were friends first and the flipping back and forth with the timeline worked well. The author could have done a little less with her dysfunctional family but overall well done.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

This was such a cute and cozy read. I’m a sucker for second chance romances if they’re well done, and I couldn’t put this down once I started. I liked that Teddy and Clara were both imperfect characters and you could see their growth in both the current timeline and flashbacks.

The dual timelines definitely added to the angst factor, and while it wasn’t too high, my heart definitely did break a bit for them a points. And I wanted to shake them both to get their act together, which I think is key to a good second chance romance. If things are TOO easy for the characters getting back together it doesn’t work, but I thought it really did here.

The writing was great, and the story pulled you in almost immediately. Would definitely read this author again!