Synopsis:
It’s a room-mance for the books in this tender, steamy story about unexpectedly finding love and being brave enough to let it revise life’s narrative in the final book in the beloved Bergman Brothers series.
Viggo Bergman, hopeless romantic, is thoroughly weary of waiting for his happily ever after. But between opening a romance bookstore, running a romance book club, coaching kids’ soccer, and adopting a household of pets—just maybe, he’s overcommitted himself?—Viggo’s chaotic life has made finding his forever love seem downright improbable.
Enter Tallulah Clarke, chilly cynic with a massive case of writer’s block. Tallulah needs help with her thriller’s romantic subplot. Viggo needs another pair of hands to keep his store afloat. So they agree to swap skills and cohabitate for convenience—his romance expertise to revive her book, her organizational prowess to salvage his store. They hardly get along, and they couldn’t be more different, but who says roommate-coworkers need to be friends?
As they share a home and life, Tallulah and Viggo discover a connection that challenges everything they believe about love, and reveals the plot twist they never saw happily ever after is here already, right under their roof.
Publication Date: April 2nd, 2024
My Rating:
My Favourite Quote: *subject to change*
Tallulah’s quiet, fiddling with her chopsticks. And then she says the last thing I ever expected:
“I could help you.”
My Review
A big shout out and thank you to the publisher for including me in the blog tour for Only and Forever and providing me with a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.
*takes a deep breath*
I have so much to say, but no words to say it. I’m going to quote Chloe Liese who quotes Axel, whose lines Liese wrote: “If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more.”
When I started the Bergman Brothers series that fateful day I had no idea what I had been walking into. My every warm wish, thought and want for a book was laid before me in Ryder and Willa’s story and I was hooked. I then, became a part of Chloe Liese’s ARC team and was privy to all her upcoming releases and privileged with the chance to read her books in advance.
Then well deservingly, Berkley bought this series and I could not imagine a better thing happening for the author and this very worthy series. The ARC team was dissolved, but I think I’m somehow tied to this series because I was always lucky enough to acquire an eARC of every single book thus far in this series. I canNOT explain what it means that Viggo’s story is finally here.
I’ve mentioned this before and I’m going to rewrite it because Liese does this in every one of her books. Just like in real life, she shows meaningful glimpses of a character in another’s story and we make presumptions of them based on the little we see, boxing them into who we think they are and how their story will likely unfold. BUT, when it’s their actual story, that’s when we see who they really are. What they’ve been hiding, what they’ve been struggling with.
Exactly like that, Viggo who I’ve always thought was a sorted happy-go-lucky, got everything going for him, romance loving sweetheart is more than just that. He’s just as broken, just as perfect as you are, as I am. Nothing can get me crying as quickly as a Chloe Liese book. It makes SO much sense that Viggo is the last to find love, the ones that are searching for it are usually the last to find it. (Usually.) I loved delving into Viggo’s mind, seeing the world through his eyes and hearing him talk about love. I have never related more to a character than I have Viggo. He was perfect 🥹✨.
This book features a reverse grump to sunshine trope, so our lady Lula (as Viggo fondly calls her, amongst his many other nicknames for her) is the adorable grump. I loved how she was written with rough edges and rigid curves hiding a softer heart than you’d think. The kind of growth that Tallulah displays in this book is so heart moving. The conversations she shares with Viggo, the way they work out their kinks and manoeuver their relationship is so amazing.
The book handles so many different topics, from ADHD to diabetes, to feeling like too much, or being abandoned, emotional pain, trauma being a few. I don’t have ADHD or diabetes, so I checked some reviews and noted the love readers showed for her ability to write rep and how well it was done in Only and Forever too. But, I do struggle with something that requires me to work on myself and be consistent nearly constantly … and watching characters throughout Liese’s series experience struggles as a part of their life while also showing the amount of themselves that they have to give for it… has emotionally wrecked and healed me many times over.
I did a sneaky thing. Viggo’s story may be the last book in the series, but the series isn’t over for me. I’ve held off on reading Ziggy’s story because I just can’t imagine this ending … and baby Ziggy *sniffles*
Five stars. Feel all the feelings people. Start this series.
Heart's Content 