Binding 13 by Chloe Walsh Review
I was going through a bit of a book slump before picking up this book. I didn't have much hope of getting out of my slump but I thought I should just try. I was throughly surprised by this book and I can’t wait to dive deeper into this series and universe.
Binding 13 by Chloe Walsh #1 of Boys of Tommen
Binding 13 is the first installment of the Boys of Tommen series. This book is centered around Johnny star Rugby player set to play professionally for his country who is recovering from an injury and Shannon who is a new student at Tommen College after altercations at her public school. Johnny feeling the pressure to stay at the top of his game while hiding his injury starts to become curious with Shannon and the secrets she’s hiding.
Content Warnings: age 16+, language, sexual content, violence, mature themes
My thoughts
I went into this knowing their ages were around high school age and expected your typical YA. This book although is YA is still mature and reads almost adult. The diaglog that characters use is mature and feels real. I felt that this made them more relatable to how my high school felt and how my friends and I spoke to each other at that age.
This book has a slow burn. I enjoyed that and felt it allowed Johnny and Shannon to really get to know each other. There is so many obstacles that they have to over come that helps to build their connection and I enjoyed every part of it. I feel there’s a montage of different interactions of the couple to build the connection and this one helped too spread out their interactions as well as explaining their feelings at different points that helps to understand why they do what they do.
The characters are so great. The main and side characters creates a well rounded group of characters. Although we only really go through the main characters point of view their connections with the other characters creates the dynamics and give just enough of the side characters to be entrigued with them as well as understanding them the same way the main characters. Johnny has his best friend Gibson who is my favorite side character. Shannon has her brother Joey and best friend Claire who are so great to her. Some times side characters get forgotten but these there were written so well I wanted more of their stories which helps to set up the next books in the series.
Overall this was a great start to a new series so much that I had to pick up the second book Keeping 13 which continues Johnny and Shannons story right after. I will also say that I HIGHLY recommend that you have the second book on hand to continue. I’m so glad I did I had a 3 hour gap between ending Binding 13 to when I started Keeping 13 and I was desperate to start the book.
I ended up rating this book 5 stars over all. I do feel this gave me new perspective and had me feeling a new sense of understanding for people in my life and I enjoyed every minute reading this book.