Thank you so much to NetGalley for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review. I loved every second of this book! As an academic girlie who loves a friends-to-lovers plot, this was a perfect read for me. I found myself relating to Clara so much, like the author saw into my brain lol. I fell in love with Clara and Teddy and their love story. I cant wait to purchase the physical copy of this book!! 5 stars across the board ✨

Clara is teaching history at the college level, and finds out her best friend from camp is coming to work at that same school for a semester. They’re asked by her department chair to share an office, but they’ve not actually been friends for almost a decade.

The timeline is split between flashbacks of their friendship over the years and the present moment when Clara and Teddy are reunited for the first time in several years.

Their present is full of stunted conversation and careful avoidance. Even though Ted volunteered to be on a subcommittee with Clara, they barely spent any time together on the page through the first half. While it is obvious something happened to shatter the relationship, and it’s hinted that Clara is the cause, it’s still quite murky by the halfway mark. When they finally confront each other, Teddy starts apologizing as well, and finally when the argument is revealed it wasn’t really worth the 9-10 year separation…. Most of their interactions are glossed over in favor of Clara’s inner dialogue. I really wanted to see more discourse between these two people that supposedly were best friends for roughly 7 years, and fell out over one telephone call and bad timing.

Despite starting off strong, I’d have to give this 3.5⭐️

Things I loved:
-The concept was intriguing, and I wanted to know more about the characters
-Clara and Teddy’s taste in music (MCR and Hawthorne Heights? Swoon.)
-Their creative long-distance friendship approach. Swapping books and music with each other through the mail
-They’re both historians
-Teddy/Ted seems to have some social anxiety and has trouble connecting with people, but he can easily communicate with Clara
-Reagan and Clara’s dynamic, they were teasing each other quite a bit and friendly despite the 10 year age gap


Things I didn’t:
-Clara and Teddy were supposed to be planning a gala together, but only had two minor conversations about it, and most of it was just summarized from Clara’s point of view. They wind up hooking up after the event, but their interactions on the page were extremely sparse.
-For two people sharing an office, we really didn’t see them share that office or interact within either situation. The forced proximity wasn’t really utilized.
-There wasn’t enough dialogue between the characters. Too much was just told instead of shown. There were so many paragraphs summarizing something that would’ve been better experienced for the sake of the plot and developing the relationship between Clara and Teddy.
-The flashbacks took a really long time to delve into the real reason Clara and Teddy were no longer close. It was 87% through the book by the time this one phone call happens, and it was arguably not a good time for either of them to be having it. It was a letdown. I both love and hate a split timeline, but this one left me wanting so much more.
-I didn’t feel strongly one way or another about Clara and Teddy by the end of the book.

This book had all the things I love, childhood friends to enemies to lovers. I really enjoyed this, especially the chemistry between Clara and Teddy.

I enjoyed this - mostly because Teddy and Clara’s chemistry and relationship. It was great to see them go from awkward ex-friends/lovers to friends and then to lovers.

I will saythough, while I think parts of the back story were needed, some weren’t, and that’s the issue I always find with second chance romances that show both timelines on page - I care much more about the present day love story then the past.

Kristyn J. Miller does it again!

Given Our History is a friends to lovers, second chance romance about two history professors who know that history shouldn’t be repeated. Some of Miller’s writing style in this book actually reminded me of Emily Henry and one thing about me is that I looooove Emily Henry’s writing!

All the things that I loved:
* dual timeline (I’m a sucker for this)
* the side characters, primarily Reagan and Bel! (can relate to Reagan’s adventures at Kappa Sigma)
* Clara was definitely getting in her own way at times, but I loved that we got to her and Teddy’s HEA without a miscommunication trope!
* the entire story was well grounded in reality from long-term career goals to family emergencies to realistic sex scenes. An absolute breath of fresh air!

Thank you Kristyn J. Miller and St. Martin’s Press for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!

Clara and Teddy met as homeschooled teens at sleep away camp, became best friends, and fell in love. But the timing was never right and they lost contact completely. Fast forward to present day when they are unexpectedly reunited and those feelings reignited. Can the timing finally be right for them to be together?

I loved this friends to lovers romance. The characters felt real and I rooted for them to get it right. The setting sounded beautiful and was described well;; I could picture myself there. I read this in one sitting! I'm excited to share it with others.

Thanks so much to SMP and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book!

Thank you Netgalley for the chance to review this! This is my second Kristyn Miller book and they are just absolute perfection.
This now and then timeline story follows Clara and Teddy, once best friends now co-workers (THANK YOU for the representation given to PhD's and academics!) as they navigate dealing with their unfinished romance and past trauma. I am a huge fan of the friends-to-lovers trope and I thought this did such a great job of layering in all of the emotionality and potential trauma that can come from jumping over the boundary into something 'more'. I particularly loved how well Teddy is characterized without ever being in his head: it plays out for him quite well.
I also really liked that the dramatic moment / tension related to their relationship happens in the past storyline: I love that it wasn't the main focal point of the current storyline. As a fellow PhD I much preferred the B plot on tenure taking the main focus and driving all the characters forward.
This has JUST the right amount of steam (and vibrator representation too :-D)
All in all: I loved everything about this!

This is impossible to put down once you’ve started reading. Mingling timeline with past and present until both culminate in a stunning series of revelations that hit all the feels. Readers will become deeply invested in Clara and Teddy, falling in love with them as a couple – not just once but twice – and rooting for them at each step along the way. Can't recommend this one enough!

A special thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This. Was. Excellent. I adored this story. As a fellow history major and nerd myself, I basically immediately connected with Clara and Teddy. I thought the use of the timeline “flashback” was extremely well executed here…the best possible way for the reader to immerse ourselves in Teddy and Clara’s history.

Many parts of this book made me swoon…top 3 for me would be the long distance history club, how Clara describes what falling in love is like, and the pitch perfect ending.

Set against the backdrop of academia, full of pining, growth, maturity, friendship, and family. This love story really has it all. I only wish this title was releasing sooner than August so that I could start selling it to people right now! Will certainly be doing a big pre-order push on this one.

"Given Our History" was an enjoyable friends-to-lovers romance. Clara and Teddy met at a summer camp for homeschooled children and developed a long-distance friendship that eventually developed the possibility of something more. However, life and stubbornness interfered, and they went from friends to strangers, not talking for years. But fate was not done with them, as they both became history professors, and as Teddy applied to be a visiting professor in the history department at the university where Clara teaches. Due to space constraints, they also end up sharing an office. The story alternates between the present and past, introducing the reader to how Clara and Teddy became friends and how that friendship became derailed, and the circumstances that give them a possible second chance, if they can grasp it.

I was amused that "Lectures on the Philosophy of History" by Hegel was the book that a teenage Clara chose to send to Teddy to start their long-distance book club. Definitely not the typical choice for a book club or an introduction to history and historiography. I would have chosen "What is History?" by E.H. Carr.

It was fabulously written, emotional and completely stunning. I can’t recommend it highly enough. The characters are both fantastic. They are loveable, realistic and the way their relationship blossoms is simply beautiful