Five Word Book Review: 𝗔𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗺 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗻 𝘀𝗮𝗶𝗱, “𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀.”

Clara and Teddy met as preteens attending a late summer sleep away camp for homeschooled kids. Clara was a bit bumbling but outgoing enough to offer up friendship to the awkward and painfully shy Teddy. At the end of the week, they exchanged phone numbers to keep in touch.

Fast forward 17 years. Clara is a professor on the tenure track, teaching history courses, living with her sister. There’s no significant other, no sign of Teddy.

Until.

Until she finds out he’s been brought in for the semester as a visiting lecturer. And he’ll be sharing an office with her. And they’ll have to confront everything that’s kept them apart for nearly a decade.

Told in alternating timelines, they begin to peel back the layers of their relationship, past, present, and future, and wonder, will they find a path that leads them to one another?

I had two problems with this book, both related to character motivation.

First, the flashbacks don’t give anything more than best friend feels. There isn’t a chapter (minus the college move in) where it seems that they feel romantic love for each other. Plus, Clara presents as somewhat heartless, and honestly, I’m not sure why Teddy keeps going back.

Second, when they get their chance to be together - not once but twice - Clara pushes Teddy away. She doesn’t want either of them to give up anything to be together. But isn’t that the very definition of love? Bending (but not breaking) to reach out and grasp someone else’s hand? And even when Teddy tells her he wants her over anything else, more than once, she doesn’t trust him. Which, fine. But then in that backstory the reader should have been given a reason Clara struggles with trust, but there isn’t one. There’s no reason to believe she can’t trust him.

The writing is good, the story flows, but I just wasn’t invested the way I was supposed to be.

Thanks to @netgalley and St.Martin’s Press for the ARC to read and review. Available August 27, 2024.

4⭐️ This book was thoroughly enjoyable - perfect for those who appreciate friends-to-lovers romances, academia settings, and dual timelines. Teddy is a soft spoken, slightly awkward guy (in the most endearing way) who absolutely stole my heart. I loved Clara’s character development, and the side characters added some great liveliness to the cast!

Think “People We Meet on Vacation” meets “Love Hypothesis” vibes.

Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ multiple open door scenes
Swearing: Some

I would have liked to have seen fewer pop-culture references because sometimes it pulled me out of the story - as opposed to feeling nostalgic.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy.

I read this one in one sitting, and in the first half of the book, I couldn’t put the book down. Then, in the second half, I just had the urge to skip pages. It's insane how often I've checked to see how many pages I still have left.🥲✋🏼 Also, this book included a ton of miscommunications, which is one of my least favorite tropes!! So it wasn’t really enjoyable for me.☹️

ᴛʀᴏᴘᴇꜱ:
⊹ ꜰʀɪᴇɴᴅꜱ ᴛᴏ ʟᴏᴠᴇʀꜱ
⊹ ᴡᴏʀᴋᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ʀᴏᴍᴀɴᴄᴇ
⊹ ʀɪɢʜᴛ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴ, ᴡʀᴏɴɢ ᴛɪᴍᴇ
⊹ ꜱᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ᴄʜᴀɴᴄᴇ
⊹ ᴍɪꜱᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ (ᴇᴡ)

𝚂𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚎: 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚒𝚜 𝙼𝚈 𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗. 𝙿𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚒𝚝 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝚘𝚙𝚒𝚗𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚘𝚘𝚔, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚍 𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚝.🫂

!!𝗜 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗡𝗲𝘁𝗴𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆 & 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁. 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻'𝘀 𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 & 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝗞𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘆𝗻 𝗝. 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗰 𝗶𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮𝗻 𝗵𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄!!

Given Our History was a sweet love story told in both the past and present. Teddy and Clara met and connected when they were very young. They knew they had something special, but each had to grow a bit before they could make it work. It’s probably a very common story in real life, and therefore not all that exciting but still enjoyable as it unfolded. The elements of homeschooling and that both ended up working in academia added some interest to the book. Overall, it was well written and pleasant, but in my opinion, not necessarily something that will make a splash. I’d say this is rounded up from a 3.5. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc.

I coudnt get behind this book unfortunately. Given that childhood romance is a trope i love, this one kind of fell flat. The characters had no chemistry , the fallout reasons were a lil stretched. Maybe the author was going for realism here, but some things were overdone.

I really enjoyed this book! It was a good story and I could relate to some of it. I would recommend this book for sure.

Very good autumnal, academia vibes here. I loved the bond of history books and homeschooling, plus I found out I knew nothing about homeschooling before reading this and Miller provided a unique look in on it. A strong debut that will put her future work on my radar for sure.

Great romance with background and detail. I loved these characters as kids and identified with them as adults. This was my first book by this author, but it won't be my last.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for an unbiased review

Given Our History is a second chance, friends to lovers, alternating timeline about the love story of Teddy and Clara. They first met as teenagers at a homeschool camp where both were drawn into a trivia game. From there, they kept in touch over the phone or through email/Myspace (those were the days!) and continued to meet up at this annual camp.

In present day, Teddy and Clara find themselves teaching History at the same university but are a little awkward around each other due to their falling out a few years back. When both of them are paired together to plan a gala for the university, old feelings creep back up and they will have to decide if they want to give their relationship a second chance.

This is my first read from Kristyn J. Miller, and I picked up this book because of the cover and title. I enjoyed the alternating timeline more than I thought I would. I also loved the nod to millennials (i.e. Myspace, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Guess Who, and Limewire). I liked how they became best friends and how Clara's love for history influenced Teddy's life.

But, I had a hard time getting into the book and finishing it. I really wanted to like this book because of the back cover synopsis, However, the story was slow for me (and I don't just mean a slow burn, though there is that, too). There were a lot of descriptive paragraphs that I found myself skimming. As for the love story itself, Teddy and Clara's reason for not getting together sooner didn't convince me that it should have taken them 15 years. I wish there was a little more angst or ramped-up chemistry between them.

Overall, if you like slow burn, second chance romance, childhood best friends to lovers, single POV, alternating timeline, and a healthy dose of history--this could be the book for you!

Thank you NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC.

This story revolves around Clara and Teddy who meet at a summer camp as kids and reunite there every year. They come together again many years later as adults when they work together as history professors at a college. The chapters go back and forth between their teenage/college years and present day.

This has a friends-to-lovers trope with miscommunication/no communication and the old “should we/shouldn’t we” dilemma. I mostly enjoyed it, but felt frustrated at times with the repetitive nature of their relationship cycle over the years and how simply not communicating led to it taking forever for their story to conclude. I haven’t read a ton of romance, but my guess is that this plot has been done many times over. Readers that still enjoy the repeated romance tropes will probably eat this one up.

*Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this advanced “read now” copy. This book hits shelves on 8/27/24.*

I really wanted to love this one, the premise sounded great- 2 old friends in a long term will they or won't they, who lost touch then suddenly meet back up? Fantastic!
Then I started reading it.
This wasn't a bad book, but it took nearly 300 pages to say * I have always loved you let's get together after years apart*.
There was somehow not much happening, and events that were completely rushed (fundraiser banquet was being set up- then it was just....over?)

Maybe I'm in a bad mood because this took me much too long to slog through, or maybe this book was just OK.

2*S

Wow! I really enjoyed this book! I think it’ll be the perfect fall read when it comes out in August.

Clara is a burgeoning history academic up for tenure in a “boys club” type department. When she’s asked to share her office space with a visiting professor, she quickly learns said scholar is her ex-best friend Teddy. Estranged for nearly a decade, the two form a tentative friendship as they learn to navigate their new shared space (campus), responsibilities (fundraising committee), and their long shared history. Will Clara and Teddy rekindle what they had, or will their history remain in the past?

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this book! I particularly liked the chapters that took place in the past, which I felt really gave depth to the characters. I could feel the two fall in love over two separate timelines and I swooned the entire time. Plus the writing was so beautifully done, I couldn’t help but binge read the entire book.

I had not read anything by Kristyn J. Miller before, but she is definitely on my radar now! If you loved Love and Other Words, Every Summer After, and Same Time Next Summer, you’ll definitely love Given Our History.

Thank you to Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!

I’ve read a lot of romance books, and I really liked this one. Low drama, light, great characters and plot, and it seems so real like it could have been a true story. Although the friends-to-lovers trope is quite popular, the author did a great job of connecting the then-and-now so it flowed seamlessly. Thank you NetGalley for allowing me access to this book.

Just from looking at the description, I was hooked. I couldn’t wait to read it. This story contain a dual timeline point of view from the female main character. Usually, I have a hard time with dual timeline books because it feels like the transition between gets confusing and it’s gets blurry about where I am and what I know about the characters. Although, Kristyn has done a beautiful and seamless job at this. The transition between present and now definitely helped with the development of the plot! Although, Teddy and Clara have known each other for years, I could only see the friendship and not chemistry between them. Felt like there was no romance developing, just interactions between two friends who wanted something. Occasionally, I felt like there was too much information that dragged on the scene. Which didn’t help the dialogue go smoothly! During the present timeline, a nice interaction happens at like 62% and then moments later they are in a fight about the past. In the present, it mainly focused on what was going on in Clara’s current life for her work. I did love the premises of the book, it is the reason I wanted to pick it. Just wish there was more romance building because it’s categorized as a romance.

I enjoyed the atmospheric, childhood friends to lovers plot in Given Our History. Writing was easy to follow but I felt the present day POVs were missing something. I did fall in love with Teddy, what a sweet character!

I actually don’t know if I’ve ever truly enjoyed reading a book more??? I don’t know if I just happened to pick it up at the perfect time for me, but I just fell in love with these characters and getting to see into their past, how their friendship formed and crumbled and came back together, just everything about it was so beautiful.

10/10, highly recommend you read this when you get the chance 🩷

This digital ARC was obtainable via NetGalley for an honest review!

"Given Our History" is a childhood friends to sort of lovers, but it never seems to be the right time for them. It was interesting reading why things didn't go right between Clara & Teddy. I think Teddy was a sweet character. I was satisfied with the ending.

4.5
A delight! Enjoyed this read very much. Game me very ‘love and other words’ vibes. A total win.

Thanks always to St Martin’s Press and Netgalley for the chance to read this ARC!

I loved a lot about this book—it felt very atmospheric, was honest about some problems in academia, had a fun cast of characters. The plot was good! I mostly enjoyed reading it! The caveat was that there were a LOT of flashbacks, and it didn’t feel like we got the pay off of the build up of continually cutting off the action to be in a flashback. I think even adding an epilogue could have helped, the ending just felt rushed and unresolved to me.

3.5 ⭐️
I really liked the premise of this book, and found that the writing was smooth and super easy to read (which has been a problem with my last couple of reads, so this was refreshing). However, I needed some more yearning/pining/tension/etc. in the present-day POVs. I really felt it in the flashbacks, and for once, I liked the timelines moving in tandem because I felt like they were working off of each other fairly well. But it seemed like they just up and resolved their issues in the present-day timeline-- which, to be clear, is exactly what adults should do, but maybe not so fast for the purposes of a romantic novel, lol. Overall, I liked this story + its writing and would recommend it to others, but was hoping for just a little bit more from it.