audrey (draco's version, semi-hiatus)'s Reviews > Binding 13

update #2
11.28.24: changing my rating to infinite stars bc I love this book SO MUCH

update
11.6.24 pov me bouta reread this bc 'i need to be happy' when in reality its the first book that's every had me sobbing like a baby

also I'm reading the special edition from Barnes and noble that has extended scenes SO IM SO EXCITED

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‎‧₊˚✧final review✧˚₊‧

‧₊˚🖇️✩₊housekeeping˚🎧⊹♡
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ I will try to cover spoilers that I do want to talk about, but I am human and I do make mistakes, so please tread with caution if you have not read/finished this book.
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ ∞ stars
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ POSSIBLE TW: child abuse, rape
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ my reviews are not PG. I swear and i may talk dirty depending on the book. if that is not your thing, please consider finding another review to read. I don't want to make anyone uncomfy.
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ i registered this book as part of a reading challenge i am doing. I will probably be using part of what i wrote there in this review.

🫧𓇼𓏲rest of review✩‧₊˚🎐

·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ YA Fiction; YA romance

·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ tropes: miscommunication; sports romance; acquaintances to friends to lovers (?); "who did this to you"

·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ ∞/5

·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ .25/5 (spice)

·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ 1/5 (fluff)(it wasn't really there just because of the nature of the book)

「 ✦ Binding 13 ✦ 」
(noun) a guaranteed tearjerker <3

not a lot, just forever
↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺
2:22 ───ㅇ───── 1:47
❝As the rock bears the weather❞

☁️ . . . ⇢ ˗ˏˋ overall thoughts
╰┈➤ ❝Binding thirteen,"..."Little Shannon blew that shit clean out of the water❞

you know what actually got blown out of the water, Gibsie? my fucking expectations for this fucking book. Was I expecting to make me cry? yes. was I expecting it to make me cry like THAT? no fucking way. nope, not at all. This book KILLED me. I cried so hard I think I need to replenish my electrolytes. The way this book moved, the eb and flow of the writing, the relationship between Shannon and Johnny, the really, REALLY good representation of abuse, plus the added bonus of getting to learn about another sport, made this book absolutely breathtaking. It's beautiful in every sense of the word and I strongly encourage everyone to read it.

˚˖𓍢ִ໋🌷͙֒✧˚.🎀༘⋆ writing style
╰┈➤ ❝If feelings were objects, then I was teetering on the edge of a great precipice, and if girls were weapons, then Shannon Lynch was the greatest weapon of mass destruction my heart had ever been exposed to.❞

CHLOE WALSH YOUR WRITING HAS MY HEART AND SOUL AND PLEASE DON'T EVER LET IT GO. I absolutely ADORE the way Chloe writes. It flows so well and is so descriptive and beautiful. If I could find a way to write like that, I would. I'm SO jealous of the way she writes.

♡₊˚ 🦢・₊ ♪ ✧ plot
╰┈➤ ❝I could feel Johnny's eyes on my face from across the lunch hall on Monday.❞

This book gives us one main plot, but just like so many other books, there were so many mini plots inside of it, too! Obviously the main plot is Shannon and Johnny meeting and tentatively becoming friends but, let's be honest, some of the best content of the book comes from mini plots like Gerard and Claire's weird little story line.

˖◛⁺⑅♡relationship plots♡⑅⁺◛˖
╰┈➤ ❝Bring the lights back, Da,"..."Light up the world. You have to see this girl.❞

JOHNNY AND SHANNONNNNNNNNNNN I love them sm they have some of the best interactions ever and I can't wait to read Keeping 13 because I need to know what happens. That aside, however, I also love love love love LOVE Johnny and Gibsie's relationship, it's so wholesome and fun.

➶-͙˚ ༘✶ characters
╰┈➤ ❝I was young but I wasn't stupid, and I knew that harboring any sort of feelings, harmless crush or not, for a boy like Johnny Kavanagh would do me no favors in the long run.❞

FMC 「 ✦ Shannon Lynch ✦ 」
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛relatability?
[■■■■□□□□□□] 40%

She's sweet and kind, but she has a feisty, sassy side to her as well. I relate more to Lizzie than I do Shannon, but Shannon is great. I also relate to her short girl problems. I don't want to say she's a pick-me, because she's not, however she does have a serious 'i'm-not-like-other-girls' thing going (I think she actually says that or smth a lot like it at some point) that I don't really vibe with.

·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛how much i liked them
8/10

I LOVE her. Shannon is so incredible, and the reason I stated above that I don't like her is the only reason she doesn't get a 10/10 here.

(If you could carved a pumpkin with one of the main characters, who would you choose and why?) I think Shannon. We could just chill and talk and have fun. We could introduce each other to our music preferences, and I'd also be interested to know what she would carve into her pumpkin. i can see her going either really cutesy or really creepy, depending on her mood, and i'm the same way.

(If you had to choose to be friends with one of the characters who would you choose?) SHANNON! She's so sweet and kind and would be the best friend ever. We'd be the 'black cat, golden retriever' duo (i'm the black cat, she's the golden retriever). although i think we both fit traits of both. she would be the best friend to go to with all your problems bc she would just listen and hear you out and then give like world-shaking advice (at least that's the vibe i get from her).

MMC「 ✦ Johnny Kavanagh ✦ 」
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛relatability?
[■■□□□□□□□□] 20%

I relate to Johnny's hyper-fixation lmao. I also appreciate his work ethic, because when I decide I want something I'm going to get it, no matter how crazy it seems. I love that he did that for rugby, and then Shannon. It's so sweet bro I love it sm.

·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛how much i liked them
9/10

Easy 9/10. I LOVED Johnny. Again: he's so sweet, and the best kind of character is one that loves unconditionally but respects the boundaries of the ones he loves unconditionally.

My favorite side character「 ✦ Gerard Gibson (Gibsie) ✦ 」

(Who was your favorite character of the book?) Either Gibsie or Johnny. Gibsie is so dang stupid but so sweet, and y'all know im a sucker for a character like that. Plus, he's just the absolute BEST wingman. Johnny, on the other hand, is so sweet too, but smarter and the one I would want to date out of the two of them. I also don't really like Gibsie's treatment of Claire a lot of the time, but it is what it is.

⋆·˚ ༘ * 🔭 quotes
╰┈➤ ➸❝If feelings were objects, then I was teetering on the edge of a great precipice, and if girls were weapons, then Shannon Lynch was the greatest weapon of mass destruction my heart had ever been exposed to.❞
➸❝Hi, Shannon." "Hi, Johnny.❞
➸❝Come on."..."I'll take care of you.❞
➸❝And in the middle of it all, I could only see him. This boy.❞
➸❝I'll protect you, Shannon like the river.❞
➸❝What do you want me to do, Shannon?" Johnny strangled out. "Tell me what to do here." "Hold me," I sobbed, burying my face in his neck. "Don't let go.""Okay."❞
➸❝Masochistic or not, if I turned back and looked at those midnight blue eyes again, I was going to drown in them.❞
➸❝She was worth it all.❞
➸❝Well, thanks for caring." "Thanks for being worth it.❞
➸❝But I already felt like I was drowning in her. That's how consumed with this girl I was. That's how much I loved her.❞
➸❝I love him so much the thought of him not being okay is killing me.❞
➸❝She's a river. I'm keeping her, Da.❞
➸❝Boom, boom, fucking boom.❞
➸❝Bring the lights back, Da,"..."Light up the world. You have to see this girl.❞
➸❝I think I need you for keeps.""I think I need you for keeps, too.❞


‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ favorites
ˋ°•*⁀➷ favorite characters
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛Shannon
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ Johnny
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ Gibsie

ˋ°•*⁀➷favorite scenes
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ hospital scene at the end
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ Johnny vs Bella in cafateria

ˋ°•*⁀➷favorite quotes
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ ❝Bring the lights back, Da,"..."Light up the world. You have to see this girl.❞
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ ❝But I already felt like I was drowning in her. That's how consumed with this girl I was. That's how much I loved her.❞
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ ❝And in the middle of it all, I could only see him. This boy.❞

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ final thoughts
THIS BOOK IS EVERYTHING TO ME PLEASE READ IT I BEG OF YOU

⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ please comment or pm me if I missed anything, especially tropes!

♫₊˚.🎧 ✩｡ playlist
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ Last Chance by CHPTRS
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ Stereo Hearts by Gym Class Heries
·˚ ༘₊·꒰➳: ̗̀➛ 16 Mirrors by Alex G

↶*ೃ✧˚.❃ ↷ˊ- full playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7E0...

*UPDATE: I FIGURED OUT THE PLAYLIST THING YAYYY

ʚɞ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚ Love y’all. Let’s go light it up and rattle some stars! Mwah ♡
ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ♡ﮩ٨ـﮩﮩ٨ـ

‎‧₊˚✧pre-review✧˚₊‧
broooooooooooooo rtc 😭😭😭

‎‧₊˚✧pre-read✧˚₊‧
this is so nerve wracking what the heck??