As usual, the author has great neurodivergent and chronic illness rep. We saw in Always Only You how Ziggy struggled in school until she was able to start getting the help she needed once she was diagnosed with autism. Seeing her out on her own using her coping skills made my heart warm because I feel like we've grown with her from the start of this series. I liked seeing how Sebastian coped with his celiac disease diagnosis. As a professional athlete, he was afraid of how his life would change with the newfound diagnosis. I loved that Ziggy was 1000% supportive of the diagnosis by helping him navigate a new diet and meal prep techniques! Brace yourself for longing, laughter, and a swoony slow-burn in this brothers best friend sports romance about scoring the love of your life when you least expect to.

He's been going through so much that I just want to give him a hug. The way he took his time to be better with Ziggy. He really made sure to love himself enough to love her. Ziggy is so tired of being seen as the baby of the family and being underestimated. She was, in fact, very brave, self-sufficient, and hardworking. Chloe took two characters who were fighting their own inner battles against themselves, and gave them someone to stand beside them in the battle. They’re both trying to move on from things in their past and ways they’ve been viewed. And I loved how the focus wasn’t on the previous things they had done and how it was more about their journey as individuals and their friendship growing. I love you. I’ve loved you so many different ways since you said yes to my harebrained scheme and showed me in so many tiny, beautiful ways, that you saw the brave person inside me that I was just learning to see and love and listen to, since you bravely opened up and let me in and took my hand in yours. I loved you, and I won’t stop loving you. I want to love you as my friend, as my partner, as someone I’ll discover life’s possibilities with—within ourselves and out in this wild, wide world.”🙃

if only

The Bergman family meddling was perfect, where it wasn't too much. I really enjoyed getting to see Ziggy as her own person, instead of just "the youngest Bergman." There is also such a good Viggo scene in this book, and it makes me really excited to read his story next. It doesn't make sense to say I wish I helped you because the action of "helping you" is, we would normally assume, something that is really possible and not just an imaginary or hypothetical action. So it would be usual to add "could" to show that I wanted to help you, but I was not able to do it or it was impossible to do it (for some reason).

My money is on Ziggy & Chloe keeping us on our toes + waiting for romcom loving Viggo - would serve this meddlesome man cub right to be last to find his HEA 🤭 i didn't think i would love a book in this series more than i loved always only you but this book is so great! it's safe to say that it's my favorite book of the year and i don't think it'll change easily

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I’ll start praying again if that’s what it takes for this trope to get hyped. Instead of non-consensual kisses forced by situations, we got our kisses by pure need of the characters and there was no miscommunication about whether or not they felt something. They were trying to figure out how to do things, putting themselves first and then proceeding to fall because 💫 chemistry was in the air 💫The only thing I would have changed was having a bit more time with them together before the book was over. Ziggy says, “While you can’t rewrite life’s previous chapters, you have every present moment to do something new, something better, and I can hold on to hope that anyone who wants to can shape their life into a story they’re proud of.” — and that’s exactly what this book is. They've known each other for years now, but they've never actually talked/interacted until a very weird moment during Ren and Frankie's wedding. And after that, they don't talk again until Ziggy realizes that they're what each other needs—she wants to be seen as more of a badass, and Sebastian needs to recover his public image—and that a fake but public friendship between them might solve their problems. To be completely truthful, I was kind of disappointed with this one.. Maybe it's because I was expecting more.. I appreciated how easy it was for them to communicate, that they felt safe enough to be vulnerable around each other.

That’s how I’ve felt so often lately, like I’m on the cusp of telling a lot of people a lot of things that are long overdue, but the truth is a knot in my throat that I can’t untangle, the force to tug it free something I can’t yet find inside myself. The tropes on paper were perfect, good girl x bad boy and ulterior motive relationship but I feel like it wasn’t well developed. There is a huge chunk of story that is missing in my opinion, the vital step from being friends to actual lovers in a way was watered down and wrote in a rush with the characters telling us how over the span of x time they grew closer. We see only parts of their journey: start and finish, but not so much of the middle part. and my goodness their development from “fake” friends to real friends to lovers was everything. their friendship was so pure they were just so tender and soft with each other. there’s so much he did for her that literally makes me want to SCREAM. i might have almost chewed my arm off and he’s definitely very high up in my favorites. i need him. Ziggy es una chica con autismo y es la más pequeña de los hermanos por lo que siempre la tratan como si fuera una niña y la sobreprotegen y para el colmó en su equipo de futbol y para los medios es la chica buena que no toman en serio. That’s not what I asked,” I whispered, nuzzling his nose. I can’t believe I’m doing this. I can’t believe I’ve lasted this long not doing this.We can use wish/if only + a past form to talk about a present situation we would like to be different. The Bergman Brothers series is definitely my guilty pleasure that I want to revisit a few more times and enjoy the entire re-reading experience by spending more time with those amazing characters! I love each and every one of them!

Because of Frankie’s nearly ubiquitous presence in If Only You, I can only rate this novel 1.9/5 stars. I had the busiest week this week, one that mentally drained me, which affected my reading throughout it all and I was desperately craving a story to escape into, to lose myself in. Ziggy dealt with her own demons throughout the storyline and her character gained little by little the confidence and affirmation she was seeking for to affirme herself between her family and soccer team. So far in this series, she’s the most lovable and relatable Bergman sibling with her kindness and non-judgmental mantra. Her relationship with her family wasn’t revolving only in the way they perceived her because the Bergman’s dynamic didn’t fail once again to create this warm feeling while reading about their beautiful bonds and how they always accept new members in their clan with open arms.

If Only You Would Listen lyrics

This was one of my anticipated reads for 2023 and I still don't really know how I feel tbh. I adore Ziggy and am so glad she got her HEA, but this felt less like a romance read and more like a bff book - maybe 🤔 We use wish and if only to talk about things that we would like to be different in either the present or the past. If only is usually a bit stronger than wish. In the present