The moment I met her, I knew Frankie Zeferino was someone worth waiting for. Maaaaybe.Get ready for an emotional ride filled with laughter, longing, and a sweet slow-burn in this sports romance about love’s power not in spite of difference, but because of it. Her.) Despite that hiccup I still enjoyed myself, and I once I recover from the torture of just how slow Chloe Liese paces her slow burns, maybe I’ll dive back into the series. Sadly Always Only You, despite having a golden retriever of a male lead in Ren (a professional hockey player and all-around ginger prince), was far less successful thanks to its female lead, Frankie. I gave Only When It’s Us four stars thanks to the banter between Ryder and Willa, a D1 college soccer star and his “frenemy” classmate, and the unbearably romantic story that unfolds between them. But, when the heat and steam and swooning finally does arrive, I felt like it was one of the rare cases where it was actually worth the wait. An-elderly-grandmother-driving-through-a-blizzard-and-tornado-and-torrential-rainstorm-slow. written in ways that aren’t pitying or disrespectful (at least from my perspective, of course - Liese has made a note of these books being #OwnVoices novels, and also had her first story informed by a Deaf authenticity reader to ensure it came across accurately, following criticism).Īll of the stories fall solidly into the ‘slow-burn romance’ category, and let me say that again just in case you missed it: these are SLOW burns. The first two books that I read also featured main characters with disabilities - for instance Ryder is partially deaf following an illness in his freshman year of college, and the love interest in AOY, Frankie, is on the autism spectrum and uses a cane to deal with her severe arthritis - but their characters are so much more than that, i.e. (There are plenty more options out there if that doesn’t sound up your alley, though.)Ī quick blurb: all of the books in the series are contemporary romances about the Bergmans’, a Swedish-American family (big family trope? check) living in Los Angeles comprising of five brothers and two sisters, all of whom Extremely Hot in their own way (naturally). And absolutely worth giving a try if you’re looking for a sporty, inclusive dive into the romance world this month. Have you met any of the Bergman brothers yet? Those made famous by Chloe Liese’s ‘Bergman Brothers’ series? Well I’ve had the distinct pleasure of reading about both Ryder ( Only When It’s Us, the first book) and Ren ( Always Only You, the second) and their adventures in love, after seeing the covers every-damn-where on #bookstagram and # smuttok, and I’ll cut to the chase: they’re cute! I might even call them very cute.

Always Only You by Chloe Liese