Scan barcode
glorysibrary's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, and Cursing
Minor: Miscarriage, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Gaslighting
lottie_j's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, and Cursing
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
alligatoralyssa's review against another edition
- Strong character development? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
This book could be cut in half, if not more, by going through with a red pen and slashing out all the repetitive conversations. Every chapter feels like a reiteration of one of the same five interactions. If I took a drink every time Jonny went on about how he, "can't do this, it's wrong, I'm crazy over this girl, she's messing with my head", I'd have alcohol poisoning. Despite the large volume of words, the dialogue is choppy and underdeveloped at best.
And his friend Gibsie ALWAYS replies with the same thing. I was able to finish this thing in less than a week because of how much skimming I could do.
I picked up this book initially to have fun reading some poor writing, and I was rewarded. It just could have been so much shorter.
There was no character development. It felt like every character stayed the exact same as how they appeared on page 1, excepting some of the side characters, like Joey. But even then, it's barely.
I got the Barnes & Noble exclusive edition, and was annoyed/disappointed with how poorly the book was made. The plastic film covering the spine was peeling after a few days, and the front cover was curling into a U-shape after just a few hours of owning it. I haven't seen a single copy that doesn't do it. So maybe instead of Binding 13 they should put some effort into Binding Their Damn Book Better. Seriously, it's clearly cheaply made, showing little regard for their consumers. If you want to buy a copy, just get the regular edition. The exclusive content is just two short scenes that added nothing.
Also, I don't think this novel should be categorized as YA. I'm sincerely concerned about teen audiences reading this as a desirable relationship in any form.
Edit: After cracking open Haunting Adeline, I am looking back at Binding 13 with a much more gracious view. By god that book is disturbing.
Edit: After cracking open Haunting Adeline, I am looking back at Binding 13 with a much more gracious view. By god that book is disturbing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Miscarriage
holliechristina's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Firstly I didn’t even know if I was going to like this series! I brought the American bloom books editions! (US Amazon) Present self is very happy about this because I love these editions! I love Mr Boom Boom and Miss like the river so very much 💕 I am fully submerged into my boys of Tommen era! I need bookmarks, jumpers and all the merchandise! It is now part of my brain!
Ok we’ve gone very off track here.. maybe we should go back to the book? Yeah? (I can be very easily distracted) Shannon is moved to Tommen after some rather traumatic times at her old school. (I was bullied at school, it’s the worst thing I’ve ever had to deal with. My heart went out to her) Shannon’s and Johnnys paths collide on her first day. I love the Irish accent! I feel you can easily picture the conversations between characters.
I have a personal hate for rugby, I know little about the sport. You pass the ball backwards?! But this book is making me like it! I blame Johnny and Gibsie. I just love all the character development, it has a sense of found family. I found myself giggling away at parts, crying my eyes out at others. This is such a rollercoaster of emotions.
I loved that she got a McFly CD! I’ve met them and seen them live so many times I’ve lost count! So that was an added bonus for me. I love how much music is related to in this book, especially for Shannon.
As soon as I finished this I ran upstairs to get Keeping 13! It is a difficult read in places so please read up on trigger warnings, I also loved the breakdown at the beginning about all the Irish slag words used throughout the book.
Johnny and Shannon you’ve both stolen my heart and I don’t want to leave this series anytime soon.
♾️⭐️
Ok we’ve gone very off track here.. maybe we should go back to the book? Yeah? (I can be very easily distracted) Shannon is moved to Tommen after some rather traumatic times at her old school. (I was bullied at school, it’s the worst thing I’ve ever had to deal with. My heart went out to her) Shannon’s and Johnnys paths collide on her first day. I love the Irish accent! I feel you can easily picture the conversations between characters.
I have a personal hate for rugby, I know little about the sport. You pass the ball backwards?! But this book is making me like it! I blame Johnny and Gibsie. I just love all the character development, it has a sense of found family. I found myself giggling away at parts, crying my eyes out at others. This is such a rollercoaster of emotions.
I loved that she got a McFly CD! I’ve met them and seen them live so many times I’ve lost count! So that was an added bonus for me. I love how much music is related to in this book, especially for Shannon.
As soon as I finished this I ran upstairs to get Keeping 13! It is a difficult read in places so please read up on trigger warnings, I also loved the breakdown at the beginning about all the Irish slag words used throughout the book.
Johnny and Shannon you’ve both stolen my heart and I don’t want to leave this series anytime soon.
♾️⭐️
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
urgirljaylabug's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Injury/Injury detail
aimicampbell's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cursing, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Blood, Medical trauma, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
aukohler's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Suicidal thoughts
nataliahl's review against another edition
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexism, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit
tabea_a's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Wow, this was...something! Here's what I loved about Binding 13:
・❥・ This was so intense and triggering right from the start. I'd heard from a lot of people that this "isn't easy" to read about but I kinda didn't expect this! I love when books make me feel intense feelings and make me think about serious topics, so that was good.
・❥・ Every time I picked this book up I somehow couldn't put it down. I had put this off for a long time since I was scared because this is essentially a "romance" with 800 pages, but it didn't feel like that long for a second!
・❥・ The "Touch her and you'll die"-vibes were immaculate, ugh, loved it.
・❥・ I was able to empathize with Shannon a lot, I have (thankfully) never experienced domestic violence, but I have infact gotten bullied for 8 years so that made me pretty emotional and I felt for her a lot.
・❥・ Can we just talk about Gibsie for a second? Oh my god, I love that man. I wasn't able to get enough from him and every time he came onto the page I lost it. I'm can't wait to read Taming 7!! 😫
・❥・ Every time Shannon and Johnny had a minor interaction it got me giggling and kicking my feet! Sadly that stopped after like 400 pages, but it was great at first.
・❥・ Reading about the domestic violence was so hard at times. Just the fact that she has to lock her door in her own home because she doesn't feel safe is insane.
・❥・ I loved how supportive Gibsie was of Johnny's feelings towards Shannon omg.
・❥・ Claire's and Shannon's friendship was everything, I loved every second of it.
Now let's get to the things I didn't particularly love:
𖤓 I HATE the "she's so tiny and fragile" talk and it just KEPT GOING!! That's something that can really destroy a book for me and the stuff that Johnny said sometimes really made me like him less.
𖤓 I just have to bring this up: There were sooo many grammatical mistakes! In the first 100 pages there were already about 4 or 5 and that sucked.
𖤓 I get it, Johnny's kinda grumpy and everything and swearing doesn't annoy me normally, but here it was just waaay too much. He swore so much in every single sentence, I couldn't stand it.
𖤓 From like half way through Johnny and Shannon began to feel distant to me, I felt like I couldn't get as close as I was to the main characters which really sucked. I truly don't know why I felt that way but I just kept wishing for it to change, but it didn't.
I really had the 5-star feelings up until like page 350 but then they vanished because of the reasons I just stated.
𖤓 I get it, Shannon is broken, really sad and traumatized but her just saying "yes" and "okay" to everything Johnny said didn't make me feel closer to her at all. It made reading painful at times and sometimes it was hard to get through their dialogue.
𖤓 Can we just talk about that "hospital talk" at the end of the book? At first I was laughing and found it kinda cute, but when it just kept going and going I was cringing so hard lmao!
Here are some 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, since the topics of this book can be very disturbing:
Drug abuse, bullying, toxic parents, alcoholism, sexual assault, domestic violence, violence, violent language, miscarriage and vomiting.
And last but not least, some amazing and heartwrenching 𝐪𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬! :
༊*·˚ "I liked safe. In my world, invisibility equaled safety. I was happy to be wallpaper and blend in". - Shannon Lynch
༊*·˚ "I started lying to my mother and telling her that I felt better. I didn't feel better. I never felt better. I just couldn't bear to watch my mother struggle. I despised being a financial burden on her, so I sucked it up, slapped on a smile, and continued to walk into hell every day. But the bullying never stopped. Nothing stopped." - Shannon Lynch
༊*·˚ "I had one earplug in when the screaming started. Seconds later, the sound of furniture crashing filled my ears. My stomach churned and I quickly rammed the other earplud in before firing up the old, discolored discman. Fumbling with the buttons, I pressed play and turned the colume up to maximum level, praying the batteries had enough juice left in them to block out the hell that was my home." - Shannon Lynch
༊*·˚ "You are so concerned with fighting the bullies at school, Mam. When the biggest bully of them all lives under this roof." - Shannon Lynch
Even though this was no near perfect, I'm really looking forward to Keeping 13. I already miss the characters and their world and even though it's terrible at times, it still gave me comfort!
I think Chloe Walsh did something amazing when creating this series and I'm excited to see where it's going to go.
・❥・ This was so intense and triggering right from the start. I'd heard from a lot of people that this "isn't easy" to read about but I kinda didn't expect this! I love when books make me feel intense feelings and make me think about serious topics, so that was good.
・❥・ Every time I picked this book up I somehow couldn't put it down. I had put this off for a long time since I was scared because this is essentially a "romance" with 800 pages, but it didn't feel like that long for a second!
・❥・ The "Touch her and you'll die"-vibes were immaculate, ugh, loved it.
・❥・ I was able to empathize with Shannon a lot, I have (thankfully) never experienced domestic violence, but I have infact gotten bullied for 8 years so that made me pretty emotional and I felt for her a lot.
・❥・ Can we just talk about Gibsie for a second? Oh my god, I love that man. I wasn't able to get enough from him and every time he came onto the page I lost it. I'm can't wait to read Taming 7!! 😫
・❥・ Every time Shannon and Johnny had a minor interaction it got me giggling and kicking my feet! Sadly that stopped after like 400 pages, but it was great at first.
・❥・ Reading about the domestic violence was so hard at times. Just the fact that she has to lock her door in her own home because she doesn't feel safe is insane.
・❥・ I loved how supportive Gibsie was of Johnny's feelings towards Shannon omg.
・❥・ Claire's and Shannon's friendship was everything, I loved every second of it.
Now let's get to the things I didn't particularly love:
𖤓 I HATE the "she's so tiny and fragile" talk and it just KEPT GOING!! That's something that can really destroy a book for me and the stuff that Johnny said sometimes really made me like him less.
𖤓 I just have to bring this up: There were sooo many grammatical mistakes! In the first 100 pages there were already about 4 or 5 and that sucked.
𖤓 I get it, Johnny's kinda grumpy and everything and swearing doesn't annoy me normally, but here it was just waaay too much. He swore so much in every single sentence, I couldn't stand it.
𖤓 From like half way through Johnny and Shannon began to feel distant to me, I felt like I couldn't get as close as I was to the main characters which really sucked. I truly don't know why I felt that way but I just kept wishing for it to change, but it didn't.
I really had the 5-star feelings up until like page 350 but then they vanished because of the reasons I just stated.
𖤓 I get it, Shannon is broken, really sad and traumatized but her just saying "yes" and "okay" to everything Johnny said didn't make me feel closer to her at all. It made reading painful at times and sometimes it was hard to get through their dialogue.
𖤓 Can we just talk about that "hospital talk" at the end of the book? At first I was laughing and found it kinda cute, but when it just kept going and going I was cringing so hard lmao!
Here are some 𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬, since the topics of this book can be very disturbing:
Drug abuse, bullying, toxic parents, alcoholism, sexual assault, domestic violence, violence, violent language, miscarriage and vomiting.
And last but not least, some amazing and heartwrenching 𝐪𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬! :
༊*·˚ "I liked safe. In my world, invisibility equaled safety. I was happy to be wallpaper and blend in". - Shannon Lynch
༊*·˚ "I started lying to my mother and telling her that I felt better. I didn't feel better. I never felt better. I just couldn't bear to watch my mother struggle. I despised being a financial burden on her, so I sucked it up, slapped on a smile, and continued to walk into hell every day. But the bullying never stopped. Nothing stopped." - Shannon Lynch
༊*·˚ "I had one earplug in when the screaming started. Seconds later, the sound of furniture crashing filled my ears. My stomach churned and I quickly rammed the other earplud in before firing up the old, discolored discman. Fumbling with the buttons, I pressed play and turned the colume up to maximum level, praying the batteries had enough juice left in them to block out the hell that was my home." - Shannon Lynch
༊*·˚ "You are so concerned with fighting the bullies at school, Mam. When the biggest bully of them all lives under this roof." - Shannon Lynch
Even though this was no near perfect, I'm really looking forward to Keeping 13. I already miss the characters and their world and even though it's terrible at times, it still gave me comfort!
I think Chloe Walsh did something amazing when creating this series and I'm excited to see where it's going to go.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Infidelity, Misogyny, and Suicidal thoughts
bookdreamer2024's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Vomit, and Injury/Injury detail