When I read the description of this one, I knew I would like the story, but I never expected it to rip my heart out and have me sitting there sobbing. And I do need to add a trigger warning for death of a parent, it’s a trigger for me, and I’m sure for others.

All of that being said, this book is an amazing kickoff to the Bergman Brothers series (though I think it should be Bergman Siblings, as there are 2 sisters), and I’m looking forward to getting to know the rest of the Bergman siblings throughout the rest of the series.

Willa carries a lot of anger and resentment towards men. Yes, this stems from some personal experiences, but I think it’s mostly just a protective wall to keep her from getting hurt. Her immediate anger at Ryder, while understandable to an extent, is completely over the top, especially as it continues throughout the story.

Ryder is also hiding behind a wall, though I think his is more of a fear of being rejected for his hearing loss. His entire life changed and he kind of closed himself off from everything.

Together, Willa and Ryder bring out the worst and best in each other. Ryder is truly a caring and helpful person, though he likes to push Willa’s buttons. Willa is also a very caring person, but hides herself so much.

I loved most of the side characters and the family (though Aiden has a lot to answer for) and liked the way many of the plot lines layered over each other. I didn’t see the surprise coming until right before, when Ryder discloses his father’s profession, and even then, I didn’t fully expect the way things played out.

There are so many other things I loved, but can’t share without providing big spoilers, so I’ll just say that I loved the ending and can’t wait to read the next book in the series.

Disclaimer: I received an eARC for review consideration though NetGalley, on behalf of the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

𝙄 𝙙𝙞𝙙𝙣’𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪.
𝙄 𝙙𝙤𝙣’𝙩 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚.
“𝘽𝙪𝙩, 𝙎𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙚, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙛 𝙄 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪?”

𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗨𝘀 is the first book in the Bergman Brothers series and my first by the author! And let me tell you, it became my favourite ❤️

What to expect from the first book of the series, 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗨𝘀? It’s a story of two college students- Ryder, who is deaf/hard of hearing, trying to navigate through his daily life, and Willa, a professional soccer player who is struggling with her mother’s health. They are brought together by their teacher through a group project and ultimately learn to trust each other while navigating their past traumas, struggles and an undeniable attraction towards each other.

Some pointers to get you all excited:
-> frenemies to lovers who play juvenile pranks
-> grumpy x grumpy
-> disability rep
-> soccer players
-> hot bickering, cooking, studying and hiking sessions
-> slow burn steamy with forced proximity

If you enjoy the above 👆🏽 in your romance, then definitely pick it up!

"Only When It's Us" by Chloe Liese is a contemporary romance that strives to blend emotional depth with a unique set of characters. The story follows the evolving relationship between a driven college soccer star and a brooding, silent type, tackling themes of vulnerability, miscommunication, and personal growth. Liese's writing is heartfelt, and she commendably attempts to address serious issues such as illness and disability within the framework of a romantic narrative. However, the book occasionally suffers from pacing issues and a tendency towards overly dramatic conflicts that can detract from its more genuine moments. Despite these shortcomings, "Only When It's Us" is a commendable effort, offering readers an emotional journey and a reminder of the power of understanding and love.

3.5 stars

It was a good book but it didn’t really blow my mind. I have read fairly similar romance books so this one wasn’t that memorable.

thank you NetGalley for the arc

A fun enemies to lovers read centered around sports. Nothing out of the ordinary, but kept my attention and made me smile. I do love Chloe Liese and would recommend this book. Will certainly continue to read her books.

If you like new adult, college romance, this is for you. It’s emotional, funny, and sweet, all rolled into one.

Emotional, compelling new adult romance. Willa and Ryder are classmates who are set up by their professor (aka Ryder's brother-in-law). Willa is a soccer player going through an emotional upheaval, and Ryder is coping with fairly new hearing impairment. The first in an outstanding series, this book is a great introduction to Chloe Liese and the Bergman Brothers...I tore through the rest, which is very unusual for me!

When when I look for tihis on Goodreads..it is not there!!!!!..REPOSTING from NetGalley


thank you NetGalley for this book.

I am giving this book a 4 out of 5 stars. I didn't really like it when I started but the end made it come to the 4 out of 5 stars rating.
This is a book about a female soccer player that is going to make it big and join internationals after university. The book starts out with her in business class and she hates him because she has to be paired up with him and he has all of the teachers notes. The lumberjack guy seems mean and she judges him a great deal and it was not clear for why she judged him so fast. The reason why he is like that is because he can't hear her...he is deaf...

Read away..go on!!

But once again, thank you NetGalley and the publisher!!

Normally, this book probably would have fallen under a sports romance but it is college fiction. However, there was something about both characters that made them slightly awkward and geek-like, and I saw it more as a Geek Chic Lit read. Our main female Willa is a hot-headed fiery redhead who plays soccer, but on the other hand, she is awful with conflict, not great at small talk, is quick to judge and speak out loud and she doesn't think before she speaks. Our male character Ryder has the opposite problem a few years ago he was diagnosed with meningitis and lost his hearing, after that he completely withdrew and became mute. He only talks through texting and he does read lips. Overall, he is the strong silent moody type. When these two are paired up at first, Willa thinks he is being rude and ignoring her but the truth is he didn't hear her. She immediately gets her wall up and sees him as a big fat jerk. What happens though when they are forced to work together if they don't Willa will not only fail the class but it will halt her dream of becoming a professional female soccer player. At the same time as being a sweet geeky romance, this book does feature some tough topics especially when it comes to death and grief. I was able to relate somewhat to this, as my mum passed away - it will be 9 years in December and I remember what I was like during that time. I also quite liked the way the author connected Willa’s mum to Ryder’s dad as well as it made the story more realistic. I am now looking forward to reading more of Chloe Liese’s books.

Only When It’s Us was so adorable, I seriously feel like I have a cavity now! I love enemies to lovers (or well, frenemies to lovers) so I ate this book up. It was fun but it also handled the serious topics quite well. Overall, I had a blast watching these characters fall in love, overcome their difficulties, and grow as people!

Oh what a great read, I loved the frenemies aspect of Ryder and Willa’s story. Even though Ryder has his hearing disability he is most certainly not the only one struggling with life. Willa is dealing with her Moms declining health and terminal illness, Once Ryder discovers this he Is a great emotional support and I really liked how Willa’s mom was connected to Ryders parents and how they had some really heartfelt moments throughout the book.

I'm kicking myself for not reading this sooner. I've always heard incredible things about Liese and her books so I knew it was going to be good before going in but holy crap.... this is one of the bingiest romances I've ever read. I love the enemies to lovers and this did it so much justice! Their foreplay was playing pranks on each other and the banter was hilarious. The SLOW BURN tho ugh..... so worth it. There was so much sexual tension, I thought my Kindle screen was gonna crack. The STEAAAAMMMMMMM... oh my gawd.

Honestly, now I am kind of happy that I waited this long to start this series because now there are so many published that I can full on binge this series.

I struggled with how I wanted to rate this. I loved it very much and want to continue with the series. But the exploration and discussions of grief and loss were very heavy and hit very close to home for me and much like Willa, I'm not in a place where I want to feel or acknowledge those feelings. But then I had to get a grip - grief and loss are a part of life and really played a part in developing both of the MCs into real, fully fleshed out characters, as well as added real stakes and joy to the couples HEA. So 5 out of 5 wine glasses. Be prepared to shed tears though.

1.5 stars.
High hopes that wasn`t meet. Ryder and Willa were annoying, like really making me roll my eyes and groan- annoying. They had no chemistry at all. Ryder tried to be this broad shouldered, silent type who is a hero and Willa tried to be this badass feminist and just ugh. I felt Ryder was sour most of the time, especially to his siblings. Though, I found his siblings to be pushy and annoying too. Willa was just trying too hard and hated Ryder….for why? Because he had the notes that the asshole of a teacher gave? It wasn`t his fault. Bah.

I found this to be an enjoyable read, keeping me on my toes throughout. The storyline was written well and flowed seamlessly. I look forward to reading more by this author!

The writing style is superb , but I didn't like the story that much .
The characters were kinda annoying, and the plot wasn't that interesting .
I would give the author another chance and read more books by her as I liked her writing style .

I received this free eARC novel from NetGalley. This is my honest review.

I loved the beginning of this novel, with all of the banter and sexual anger that Ryder and Willa had between each other. I even loved them reluctantly having to spend time together for their class project. What I didn't like so much was all of the secrets. And the hypocrisy. Neither one of them were getting deep enough with each other to really know the other person, yet they were complaining about the other one keeping secrets and not revealing their true lives. You can't have it all, and yet they wanted the other to expose their deep secrets while keeping their own feelings safe and sound.

It was enough to make me quite annoyed by the end of the novel, but I will say there were a lot of great moments in this novel to keep me going. I adore Rooney and I loved seeing Ryder with his family. Both characters have A LOT of stuff going on, so it was nice to see them overcome their own struggles, but to see them sabotage their relationship was frustrating to no end.

Overall, I enjoyed this story and I'm glad I got the chance to read this novel. Maybe I'll revisit the Bergman family and see about how Ryder's siblings find their own true love in the future.

I finally read this book and I’m so sad it took me this long to read it. It was truly enjoyable and I can’t wait to read the next book. I loved learning about Ryder’s hearing and treatment. I cried when Willa’s mother passed away.

This book follows a grumpy gal and a grumpy girl as their relationship changes from "enemies" to more. I was living for this book in the beginning, I was like wow the lady is a grump with anger issues, that's new, that's different and then at about 20% the book hit a point where I knew I was either going to be surprised or let down and I was let down.. I think my biggest issues is probably with the main character being deaf/hard of hearing and a lot of it didn't work for me as a reader. It seemed really weird that this life changing thing would happen and no one in his family would try to accommodate him at all, by learning ASL.

Being a mood reader can be hard. I'm fairly certain I could love this book, however it isn't grabbing my attention at the time I went to read it. For now, it is a DNF from me, but I can see loving it. There is a chance I may come back to in it the future and will update my review at that time.