shei ღ (very busy)'s Reviews > Binding 13

—— 5 ✰ stars.

‘Because you’re beautiful. Inside and out. Everywhere’

・❥・ Mood of the book:
: ̗̀➛ Look After You by The Fray
: ̗̀➛ She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5
: ̗̀➛ Those Eyes by New West
: ̗̀➛ Brutal by Olivia Rodrigo

I've been staring at my computer screen for half an hour without knowing what to write about this book. I still don't know how to feel about it, I really didn't even expect to like it this much, but I was really surprised.

'she was like a tornado I never saw coming'

First of all, I want to say that my dear giuls gave me this book for Christmas, and surely if it weren't for her, I wouldn't have read it, therefore, this book is even more special just because of you. I love you bleeding eejit.

Returning to the book, I could say a few reasons why this book might not be 5.✰ stars, small details that in other books would make me lower the rating, but as I have said other times, 5.✰ stars is a feeling, not a set of objective things that a book has to bring together, if not a set of emotions that it has to make me feel. This book is not perfect objectively speaking, but it is perfect in my heart.

‘Relax’ Johnny whispered in my ear, distracting me from my memories. ‘You are safe with me.’

Before continuing with the review, I advise that, if you want to read the book, you check the trigger warnings first, since it deals with quite strong topics. Also make it clear that the love story is not the main plot, and that the main characters are TEENAGERS, they are 15/16 and 17 years old. Once this is noted, we can continue.

•┈••✦ 𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒕 ✦••┈•:

We follow Shannon Lynch, a 15-year-old girl with a very hard life, who due to constant bullying at her previous school, has transferred to Tommen, there, after an accident with a rugby ball, she meets Johnny Kavanagh, a young rugby promise, at this moment, everything changes for them, Johnny finds himself interested in something other than rugby for the first time in his life, and Shannon will find for the first time a feeling foreign to her, feeling safe.

'come on, I'll look after you'

If you're expecting a book full of plot twists or action, turn around and leave because this isn't it. I wouldn't say it's a character driven story, but it's not a plot story either. It's very slice of life. I know the length of the book is intimidating, but the writing is so fast and addictive that I read it as if it were 300 pages instead of 800.

•┈••✦ 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 ✦••┈•:

*:･ﾟ｡ 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒏 𝑳𝒚𝒏𝒄𝒉 *ੈ✩‧₊˚

Better known as Shannon like the river. Shannon is a fragile girl, who has a very hard and complicated life, she doesn't trust anyone, only her brother Joey. Reading Shannon's points of views were really painful, her way of seeing life, her desperation, her fear, her pain, her feelings, I could feel her fear on my own skin.

'I once read somewhere that we mature with damage, not with age'

She is very innocent and sometimes her innocence created cringe moments where I wanted to hide under my blanket and not come out for the next three months, but at the same time it was funny because, at the end of the day, they are teenagers, and we all went through these things.

*:･ﾟ｡ 𝑱𝒐𝒉𝒏𝒏𝒚 𝑲𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒉 *ੈ✩‧₊˚

LISTEN TO ME. JOHNNY FUCKING KAVANAGH IS IT. HE IS THE STANDARD, AND WE DESERVE SOMEONE LIKE HIM, NOTHING LESS.

Johnny is 17 years old, and he is a promising rugby player, his whole life revolves around that, his future plans and how he behaves, but there is a problem, Johnny had surgery not long ago, which still hasn't properly healed, and he still decides to play and put his health at risk for fear of being left without his opportunity.

He is a very mature boy for his age, with enormous respect for girls. He immediately sees Shannon's fragility and feels that he must keep her safe. Shannon's age is very important to him, since he feels that he is too old for her. , which is understandable, but at the same time it was frustrating, since we all had a crush in high school older or younger than us, after all they are both teenagers.

'tell me who made you cry and I'll fix it'

*:･ﾟ｡ 𝑱𝒐𝒆𝒚 𝑳𝒚𝒏𝒄𝒉 *ੈ✩‧₊˚

Joey is Shannon's older brother, and for her, her hero. We didn't get much of him, but I'm already looking forward to reading his books and his relationship with Aoife. He takes care of his siblings like no one else and is one of the strongest people in the book. My heart breaks for him.

'He was the reason we were all in one piece. He was our hero'

*:･ﾟ｡ 𝑮𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒓𝒅 '𝑮𝒊𝒃𝒔𝒊𝒆' 𝑮𝒊𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒏 *ੈ✩‧₊˚

GIBSIEEEEEEEE MY BABYYYY AAAAA!!!! OK, we need to calm down. I have loved him with all my heart, he is Johnny's best friend and teammate in Tommen, the relationship between them is wonderful, there were a couple of times I cried from laughter with their conversations. Gibsie cares for Johnny even though he doesn't let himself be cared for, and also from Shannon since he knows how much she means to Johnny. I am very interested in his relationship with Claire and knowing that he is going to have his book makes me go AAAAAAAAAA!

'Hail, rain or snow, Gibsie had my back'

•┈••✦ 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 ✦••┈•:

'Hi, Johnny'
'Hi, Shannon'

When I tell you that it is the sweetest and purest romance I have ever read, I am not kidding. It is the perfect definition of first love. And this is one of the reasons for my 5.✰ stars, I could feel the butterflies fluttering in my stomach the entire time, it was like feeling my first high school love again.

'Jesus, this girl was beautiful.'
'I'd noticed it earlier of course, she had a striking look about her, but now, seeing her up close like this and being able to count the freckles on her face – eleven by the way – it was hitting home just how striking she was.'

I don't want to delve too deeply into their relationship because apart from not being the main theme of the book, it is better that you see it for yourself when you read it.

•┈••✦ 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒒𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒔 ✦••┈•:

I could add countless more, but I really don't want to give clues about anything at all.

‘But it was those wild eyes that really struck me and I had this crazy urge to google eye color charts just so I could figure out the fucking color blue in her eyes’

‘Sooner or later, he would be back, promising heaven and delivering hell.’

‘she was lovely. she didn’t need to hide any of her shine behind those bleeding shutters’

‘im yours, please be gentle with me because I’m here to stay.'

‘The smile Johnny rewarded me with was wide, genuine and breathtakingly beautiful. God, he looked like a different person when he smiled’

Well lads, this was all. I hope to read the next one very soon because the ending was painful as shite and I’m hurt as balls.

➙ Old Updates:

well. I’m not ok 👍🏻 I might need Chloe billing address to send her my therapy bills bitch

rtc of course

feb 7: let’s see what’s with this 👀. Also giuls pls DONT have a heart attack but… it’s finally happening