I enjoy this author, which is what drew me to this title, but I really struggled to get into the story and ended up not finishing it. Thank you for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

Given Our History by Kristyn J. Miller
Pub date: August 27, 2024
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I really loved this book. After being immediately drawn to the cover and very excited to read it, when I finally got an ARC, I worried the book wouldn’t live up to my anticipation. But it absolutely lived up to it.

First, dual timeline is usually not my thing. But it really worked in this book. I felt pretty much the entire way through that the “before” chapters were just as good as—and especially in the beginning, actually better than—the present day chapters. The dual timeline truly added depth to Teddy and Clara and their friendship and eventual love. By about the 25% mark I was desperate that these two would end up together happily, both romantically and professionally. The care that they have for each other was so evident, even when they were messing up.

In addition to loving Teddy and Clara (I don’t think I can talk more about that without going overboard and giving spoilers, but I really do love them!) I also really enjoyed the supporting and side characters.

The setting of this book and their jobs felt personally catered to my own interests as someone with a degree in history. It made me long for fall days on campus and history lectures and research. This book so perfectly captured that for me.

Very thankful I got to read an ARC of this book and would definitely purchase it and recommend it to friends.

ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley in exchange for honest review.

The beginning felt a little slow to get going, but once it started picking up I fell in love with the characters and the alternating timeline felt really well paced. Overall a great book, I definitely recommend!

I had high expectations for “Given Our History” since I was such a huge fan of books like, “Every Summer After” and, “Love and Other Words,” and it definitely did not disappoint.

I gravitate towards second chance romances (fiend for them really), so it was a no brainer to give this book five stars. The author did a great job of navigating the past and present timelines, and I loved Clara and Teddy in both of them.

A relatable tale of finding the right person at the wrong time, “Given Our History” is worth the wait to grab this August.

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

This book is my dream book! I adored it! All my favourite tropes in one.Academia and second chance .Say less! I am in absolute awe of this author's writing.Multidimensional characters and captivating storyline.Absolutely beautiful! Most definitely recommend! 10 stars.

*thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

This one was such a cozy read!

I really enjoyed this book. It's about love found and love lost and all that happens in between. Both the main characters, Clara and Teddy, are professors and I really loved what that added to the book. The long distance book club was so sweet and my millennial heart loved the MySpace parts.

I found Clara to be very relatable, and I totally understood why everything happened as it did. It was wonderful to see her grow throughout the book. Teddy I felt much less connected to, but he was still a very likeable character.

Thank you NetGallery and St. Martin's Press for the ARC! Definitely recommended for anyone looking for a quick, cozy, romantic, and lighthearted read.

Thank you to NetGalley, Kristyn J. Miller, and St. Martin’s Press for the early access copy of Given Our History.

Well now I have a reason to wish it was August. After not being able to put this book down, I am longing for a physical copy of this book to live in my library.

Given Our History tells the story of childhood friends, who after a decade of separation meet again as coworkers. This sweet, second-chance love story is told through dual timelines of the past and present, leaving the readers to experience firsthand the heartbreak of the falling out and the growth of the protagonists.

The musical references to My Chemical Romance, The Used, Taking Back Sunday, Hawthorne Heights (and many more) was refreshing and exciting to see.

This story is a great fit for anyone who loves second chance romances, with dual timelines; throwbacks to early 2000’s references like limewire, MySpace, and MSN; and who has an interest in academia.

Fantastic sweet and steamy romance told from alternating timelines. What started as a simple friendship between a boy and a girl at a summer camp for home schooled students grew into a first love, only to crumble under pressure. Fast forward about a decade and fate brings them back together, both teaching history at a small college.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book of what-ifs and winding paths. It's a quick and enjoyable read. Highly recommend adding to your "to read" list!

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book!
This book!!!
Second chance romances! Friend-to-lovers-to-strangers-to-coworkers-to-lovers-again!
I really liked this book. I really liked these characters. They were messy and imperfect, but they were also mature and believable (which, as I delve more into the romance genre, I find is incredibly rare) adults trying to navigate their adult lives. It was tender and sweet, and reading it kind of gave me a heartache.
Normally, I don’t like romance books where they jump between earlier perspectives, especially when the protagonists were children. There is usually this weird, hyper-sexualized element to it, these adult characters revisiting their youth. This book could not be farther from that. Any mentions of sex from their younger selves felt appropriate for the age they were. Nothing was super explicit, and it was more about the emotions of tentatively exploring new feelings with someone they trusted. It felt very true and real. Probably helped that any mentions of the characters getting together in that way happened when they were in college/not minors.
I definitely enjoyed the present storyline more. I liked seeing characters still trying to figure out their lives and careers even into their late 20s/early 30s. I think out society and our media leans so hard on the coming-of-age moments that when you’ve come of age already, its hard not to feel like you should have had it all sorted out. Life is full of “coming-of-age” moments, and diversions from the “set” plan. I liked that the main character was struggling with differing options for her future.
Aside from the main characters, and the main romance, I particularly adored the relationship between the main character and her sister (shout out to the Sylvia Plath Fig Metaphor, I see you). As someone who often feels like she has to step in to help parent her sister, I understand how the main character feels, and what it’s like to see your younger sister grow up. You have to learn how to let them make their own choices, how to be their own person. It was a really sweet, genuine part of the book.
Also, spoiler, but girlie is going to Edinburgh with her “Clark-Kent-Knockoff” boyfriend. How can you be mad at that? That’s the dream, no?

I found this book enjoyable and cozy. Clara and Teddy are very relatable. Their romance is sweet in both timelines- bumbling and new as teens and, as it matures into adulthood, exploratory and full of character growth.

My only gripe with the story is that I found some of the breaking-up and making-up repetitive. I understand that this is a second-chance romance but after the third break-up, I began to wonder if the novel really would have a happily ever after. In the end, I stuck with it and adored the life lessons and academic elements throughout.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a unique romance featuring a couple of history nerds.

I LOVE a good academics romance and this one hit! This was so sweet and swoony. I love a childhood friends to lovers romance with my whole heart and it was done perfectly! I loved the dual timeline and the very realistic love story about how life just happens.

Given Our History by Kristen J. Miller is the story of Clara Fernsby, a young history professor at a Maryland college, who has spent most of her life working toward achieving academic and career success, often to the detriment of her personal relationships. Up until 9 years ago, one of the few exceptions to that had been Teddy Harrison, her best friend since they met at camp when they were 14. Although it was clear early on that they had mutual feelings for the other, the long-distance/timing never seemed to work out. And then a falling out in their 20s seemed to put an end to everything, until Teddy shows up as a visiting professor where Clara works. Can they reconcile the past and find a way forward in the future?

I love a childhood friends to lovers to strangers to lovers romance! I liked here that it was clear early on the these are two friends who always wanted to be more—it was just never the right time and they couldn’t get out of their own way. I thought the structure was effective—starting with the prologue that showed the final nail in their initial relationship and then alternating between the present and the past allowed us to see their relationship evolve in both timelines. I wish we could have had more of Teddy—either his POV or more conversation in the present in which he shared his perspective. We can see how he was hurt in the past by Clara’s decisions but he didn’t ever reveal much about how he handled the falling out and the confrontation/reconciliation seemed rather brief (I honestly can’t believe there was no discussion about the fact that he dated her college roommate after the falling out…that was pretty nuts/hurtful!). I also felt like the family dynamics which seemed to drive a lot of decisions for both Teddy and especially Clara (each have a parent that gave up a lot for their spouse leading to turbulent times in their childhoods) was a little underdeveloped. Clara in particular tells the readers that this led her to seeking financial and emotional security above all else, but it was a little more telling than showing. Overall, I thought this was a cute, low angst read right up my alley.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s for the e-ARC; all opinions are my own!

For some reason, I found the beginning to be very slow. Slow to the point where I had to set it aside for a while before binging the rest in one night. Second-chance romances are sort of touch-and-go sometimes, but I thought this one was well-written. I liked how we had flashes of how they first met and continued to grow up with their friendship tied in through the present.

The problem I had was with Teddy. I think I would have liked more of a declaration from him that he was here for her and that she was his priority, etc. I'm not sure why, but it felt like she was going through everything and dredging up memories herself and he was just there. It wasn't until the last quarter or so that he seemed to be pursuing her; otherwise, he was just a character she happened to have a history with.

*Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an E-ARC in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.*

I chose this book as my first ARC on NetGalley because it has a number of tropes I enjoy in a romance plus the cover was very charming. The book definitely did not disappoint and earned a solid 4.25 stars from me. Given Our History is a second chance romance that skips back and forth between the high school/college years of the main couple to present day when they are both college professors. Both were homeschooled and met at a homeschooler summer camp.

I appreciated that flashback parts of the book weren't too over the top dramatic, both in their lives and the reason they split. There are some famous books in this trope where the reason for the split include someone murdering their parent or sleeping with their brother. Some authors like to pile it on. This book's reason for the 9 year relationship hiatus were far less dramatic but still had that healthy dose of angst that the second-chance genre needs to deliver on.

The book was very smartly written. I liked all the characters a lot and the relationships between the main characters and their families and friends. I was really rooting for couple. Everything seemed very believable and no character drove me nuts. There were a few side plots but they didn't distract from the main story.

A few things were a little annoying and distracting - lots of musical references that I didn't understand or relate to plus a lot of the protagonist referencing a lot of things I had to look up on wikipedia to understand (stuff so archaic most non-history majors wouldn't get it). If I wasn't reading on my kindle where wikipedia was right there I would have been annoyed by it. Still, it does beat pop culture references in books imo. Finally, a fairly large part of the plot was <spoiler> planning a gala to raise money for scholarships which, when mentioned as an idea at a scholarship committee, made my eyes nearly pop out of my head. And then three people plan it in three weeks!! On a shoestring budget because they get businesses to donate everything!! I have helped plan many conferences, events etc to know all of this is completely absurd and if anyone were to mention this as an easy, last minute, fundraising idea they would be thrown out of whatever meeting they were attending. It turned out find and yes, brought the main couple together, </spoiler> but I had to suspend some major disbelief.

I will definitely read another book by this author!

ACADEMICS *clapping emoji* FALLING *clapping emoji* IN LOVE *clap clap clap clap*. What a tender, inviting, and engrossing romance from Kristyn J. Miller. I was swept away by the vibe of this one, and cannot wait until fall so I can give this a proper seasonal re-read.

As someone with a background in higher education, I’m a sucker for anything written in the setting of academia. This hit the spot! It’s also the first romance I’ve read that centers around homeschool. I had to keep reminding myself that the teens in these flashbacks weren’t public school kids, and that a lot of homeschoolers I know *would* be reading history books for fun in high school.

Dropped one star because there were a few places that felt a bit disjointed, and the spice actually took me out of the story a bit. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

i will not be rating or reviewing outside of netgalley as long as st. martin's press is still under boycott.

A solid four stars. I think Clara is the perfect character for a “Zillennial” to read and relate to. The writing is very good and I think the second chance aspect was done really well with the alternative timelines. I do wish we had been able to see more of their current day relationship and getting to know each other again. That did feel a bit rushed. Overall, an enjoyable and cute rom com with major fall vibes! A copy of this book provided to me by NetGalley and the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

A sweet and gentle story of two history professors who fall in love as teens, drift apart as adults, and find their way back to each other years later, ready to revisit the questions of their youth and decide if they can learn from their history or not. The story deftly alternates between past and present, building a nostalgic friendship over summer camp games, a long-distance book club, and coveted visits during school breaks; and an adult relationship that has to balance career pressures and family responsibilities in more complicated ways. Both main characters are loving and kind, making them easy to root for as they struggle with relatable choices about if or how to let career ambitions take a back seat when a fuller, richer, more connected life is on offer. As a long-time academic, I enjoyed seeing Miller's fictional academy come to life, with its echoing lecture halls, book-filled offices, bustling student life, and worn balustrades, I also enjoyed the characters with whom Miller populates her world, from a Plath-loving younger sister to a quietly encouraging department chair. A refreshingly realistic--and still very romantic--love story, perfect for readers who enjoy reading about the kinds of relationships that take years to build, the ones that ebb and flow and aren't always perfect, but in the end, are the ones we most want to hold onto.

Cute, Lighthearted, ex-friends to lovers.

Flashbacks in books are sometimes hard for me especially if the characters are very young in flashbacks, however I think Kristyn did well with them for the most part. I did wish we had more development of Teddy & Clara’s relationship in the present however. Clara & Reagan’s relationship was lovable. Overall it’s a cute lighthearted read.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for honest review!