Happy Autism Awareness Month friends! As always, it’s important to read diversely all the time, not just in the awareness months, but this is the perfect month to pick up books with autism representation. It’s a happy coincidence that today’s review is about If Only You, Chloe Liese’s latest romance in the Bergman Brothers series, and a book with a main character on the autism spectrum.
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Quick Synopsis
Brace yourself for longing, laughter, and a swoony slow-burn in this brother’s best friend sports romance about scoring the love of your life when you least expect to.
Perfect for readers who want:
- Sports Romance
- Brother’s Best Friend Romance
- Fake Friends with Benefits
- Bisexual & Pansexual Main Characters
About If Only You
Title: If Only You
Author: Chloe Liese
Rating: 5 Stars
Genre: Romance
Content Warnings: Child abuse (mentioned)
Pages: 352
Age Range: 18+
Publisher: Penguin Random House
Date Published: 11 April 2023
Goodreads Description: Ziggy – I’m the youngest player on the National Soccer team, the baby of my family, and thoroughly sick of being underestimated, so I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands. Which is where my brother’s best friend and teammate, the infamous Sebastian Marchand, comes in.
Seb needs to rehab his reputation. I want to give mine an edge. So I propose a fake friendship with real benefits: spending time in the public eye, my good-girl image and his bad-boy notoriety rubbing off on each other. He’s my devious, dark-haired fantasy come to life, but his destructive ways make it easy to keep him in the (fake) friend zone. Or so I thought, until I start to see the heart of gold he’s been hiding beneath that sinister surface…
Sebastian
Like any self-respecting reprobate, I’ve been spiraling downward, and finally I’ve hit rock bottom. My hockey career and sponsorships are in jeopardy, and while I’m not ready to actually reform my ways, I’m happy to pretend that I have, to secure the life I’m on the brink of losing.
So when my best friend’s sister, Ziggy Bergman, proposes a public “friendship” to revamp our reputations, it’s an offer I can’t refuse. Up till now, I’ve stayed away from Ren’s sweet, shy little sister to avoid any risk of ruining my one good friendship. But I reassure myself there’s no risk in our scheme. I’ll fake a friendship with Ziggy, fix my reputation, and get back to hockey, the one and only thing I love. At least, it was, until what began as a transactional arrangement became the most loving relationship I’ve ever known.
I received a review copy from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.
Purchase Links
If Only You Review
Okay, so this book has me in a chokehold. I binged the whole thing in two days, it might just be my favourite of the bunch. I absolutely fell in love with Ziggy and Sebastian. And of course, the rest of the Bergmans.
Ziggy and Sebastian’s banter was top-notch, and I really rooted for their friendship as much as their relationship. I love how honest they were with each other, and how well they communicated. I also just really liked how this book was plotted and how their relationship evolved.
This book also has bisexual and pansexual rep, as well as autism and celiac disease rep. As someone who is gluten-free and also pan, I thought the rep was really productive. It captures some of the struggles people who eat gluten-free face, and how our relationship with food isn’t always the best, and how we struggle to find quality ingredients at affordable prices. The bi/pan rep was so casual, which in my opinion is the best kind of rep. They are just existing as they are, which is always good to see.
This series remains one of my favourites, and I loved how we got to touch base with the previous Bergmans as well. There’s only one book left to go, which makes me sad. (Unless we get Elin’s book? Please Chloe I’m begging).
If you haven’t read this series, I highly suggest you give it a go. You can read my full series review of the Bergman Brothers books here!
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Thanks to you, I added the Bergman Brothers books to my TBR 🙂 I was thrilled to find out that they’re all available to listen to on my Hoopla, so I’ll be beginning the series soon. I’m looking forward to making my way to this one, which sounds right up my alley!