I absolutely adored this book. The characters were so real that it sucked you in and made you feel a part of the story. You didn't want it to end!

Loved this book, the story of Willa and Ryder. They both have their own issues and you learn these through the chapters from each of their points of view.

Looking forward to the rest of the series.

Five Stars for “Only When It’s Us” (Bergman Brothers #1) by Chloe Liese

Many thanks to NetGalley, NetGalley Connect and Chloe Liese for an ARC in exchange for an honest book review of “Only When It’s Us” (Bergman Brothers #1). My thoughts and opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

WRITING STYLE: 5/5
PLOT: 5/5
WORLD-BUILDING: 5/5
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 5/5
ROMANCE: 5/5 (slowburn and then fire!)
HEAT: 5/5 (see above)

“Only When It’s Us” is filled with more depth and poignancy than the description lets on. The blurb does provide the bare bones of the story but the heart of this story is much more powerful. Willa and Ryder are both in university and attending Business Mathematics, they get thrown together to do an assignment thanks to their interfering professor and a “frenemyship” develops. When they first meet they both make assumptions about the other and slowly they learn they were both completely wrong. The journey of Willa and Ryder’s first meeting to the last scene is beautiful, funny, sexy, challenging, fraught with heartbreak and loss and completely worth experiencing.

Willa and Ryder share a strong attraction that they fight from day one for their own different reasons. Through painful occurrences in their lives their “frenemyship” becomes much more. In a review for “Their Strictly Friends”, by Nathalie-the-Biblioholic (Goodreads) she writes, “Liese has really cornered the market on depicting people who face some of life’s hardest challenges and how they maneuver their way through these obstacles with courage, anger, bitterness, practicality and hope.” She does it again here.

Ryder and Willa each face life altering challenges and Liese doesn’t sugarcoat their reactions to them. Willa is angry. She has a temper. She can’t express herself. Ryder is blunt and stubborn to a fault. They have very real issues. What is truly great about “Only When It’s Us” is Willa and Ryder’s relationship: they accept each other, no matter their damage, from the beginning. As they learn more and more about each other it doesn’t change their feelings for one another, it only deepens them.

There is a great scene that involves a reading of Pride and Prejudice in which Willa realizes the parallels between Elizabeth and Darcy and her relationship with Ryder. The prejudice that stood in their way as each both deny their feelings - it’s poignant and a little funny too.

Willa and Ryder each battle their own personal hardships to get to a place where they can be together. “Only When It’s Us” is a slow burn but when it ignites, it is hotter than a Carolina pepper. When they finally become vulnerable to each other that leads to their true happiness.

Chloe Liese gives us an honest and beautiful depiction of love, loss, grief in all its forms, the journey back, family, friendship, and the very Swedish, lagom. I highly recommend this book.

We are also introduced to Ryder’s big Swedish-American family the Bergmans, the brothers will have a series of which this is the first book. I’m really looking forward to this series.

Chloe Liese provides a playlist on Spotify to get you through each chapter of Willa and Ryder’s journey. It was quite a wonderful experience to listen to those songs as I was reading.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1XA7KOUcjgBL0ilEDw8Lep?si=lahm4NewSOiCJ8zZKWr0NQ

#OnlyWhenItsUs #NetGalley