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rebelbooks101's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
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? It's complicated
4.0
This book follows Shannon, who starts attending a new school after being heavily bullied at her last one. There she meets Johnny when he accidentally hits her in the head with a rugby ball and the story goes from there.
This book I have some complicated feelings about. On the one hand I would say I really enjoyed this book. On the other hand I also had some major issues with this book.
Let’s start out with the positives. I firstly liked the way the dual POV was written. Shannon and Johnny have such different voices and internal dialogue that their chapters sounded different and were well written.
I also enjoyed the romance. Was it maybe a little toxic? Yes. Did I still like it? Also yes. I really liked their connection and seeing the slow burn development of their relationship made me not want to put the book down. I spent all of yesterday just glued to this book as I waited to see these two get together. At the end of the day, these two just want the best for each other and wants the other to be safe.
What I couldn’t get behind was how violent of a character Johnny was. Given Shannon comes from an abusive household, I don’t know if a guy who solves his problems with his fists is the best guy for her. It’s not really addressed at all. Johnny’s flaws were very apparent so I’ll give the story that. He was always out to fix all of Shannon’s problems so you could take it as he’s in love with her or he’s just obsessed with her (or both). Maybe their relationship is not the healthiest but I also think this is one of those times I’m just going to separate fiction from reality.
Overall, I had a good time with this book. I would recommend it but I don’t think it’s a book for everyone so I’d be hesitant on who I’d recommend it to.
This book I have some complicated feelings about. On the one hand I would say I really enjoyed this book. On the other hand I also had some major issues with this book.
Let’s start out with the positives. I firstly liked the way the dual POV was written. Shannon and Johnny have such different voices and internal dialogue that their chapters sounded different and were well written.
I also enjoyed the romance. Was it maybe a little toxic? Yes. Did I still like it? Also yes. I really liked their connection and seeing the slow burn development of their relationship made me not want to put the book down. I spent all of yesterday just glued to this book as I waited to see these two get together. At the end of the day, these two just want the best for each other and wants the other to be safe.
What I couldn’t get behind was how violent of a character Johnny was. Given Shannon comes from an abusive household, I don’t know if a guy who solves his problems with his fists is the best guy for her. It’s not really addressed at all. Johnny’s flaws were very apparent so I’ll give the story that. He was always out to fix all of Shannon’s problems so you could take it as he’s in love with her or he’s just obsessed with her (or both). Maybe their relationship is not the healthiest but I also think this is one of those times I’m just going to separate fiction from reality.
Overall, I had a good time with this book. I would recommend it but I don’t think it’s a book for everyone so I’d be hesitant on who I’d recommend it to.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Domestic abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Vomit
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
rasbneon's review against another edition
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, and Vomit
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
crisisreading's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
me ha dejado con el corazón blandito❤️🩹
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Abortion, and Injury/Injury detail
jevette15's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Vomit, and Alcohol
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
zubizubizuzubizubizu's review against another edition
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Loved everything about this book, lots of layers on the building trust between Shannon and Johnny. Only thing mildly cringing is the fact they state how small Shannon is in like every chapter. Besides that this book is incredible, I love the storyline and i think its written perfectly for the fact that its 2 teenagers falling in love.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Vomit, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
amarahk's review against another edition
dark
hopeful
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Let me start by saying that I do not support this author, I’ve heard she is a zi0n1st so I bought the book second hand and I recommend you do too.
I’ll give an honest review though with no bias (may contain spoilers).
This book is 800 pages, yet I read it in two days because I have to admit - it is pretty addictive. There’s no spice but there is a lot of vulgar talk (and I mean a lot, so be warned).
I did really enjoy the beginning of this book, which is why I read it so fast, because it felt relatively realistic and quite cute.
However the closer I got to the end, the more whatpadd-coded (derogatory) it became. There were themes that were continually repeated through this book. For example, Shannon “so small uwu🥺🥺🥺” and johnny “so tall and strong🥺🥺”. Don’t even get me started on the amount of times Shannon walked into a wall of hard muscle 🤦♀️😭. In what world is every teenager boy at school, a walking Arnold Schwarzenegger??
I did love the fact that this book was set in Ireland though, but even though it was entertaining to read, I didn’t love a lot more. One thing that I did quite like was how protective Johnny was, although it got a bit unrealistic and cringe at times.
Also, Chloe Walsh’s writing was nothing special, in terms of language technique and stuff. It was easy to read and entreating, but not special.
Overall, this book was okay and fun to read but could have been better.
I’ll give an honest review though with no bias (may contain spoilers).
This book is 800 pages, yet I read it in two days because I have to admit - it is pretty addictive. There’s no spice but there is a lot of vulgar talk (and I mean a lot, so be warned).
I did really enjoy the beginning of this book, which is why I read it so fast, because it felt relatively realistic and quite cute.
However the closer I got to the end, the more whatpadd-coded (derogatory) it became. There were themes that were continually repeated through this book. For example, Shannon “so small uwu🥺🥺🥺” and johnny “so tall and strong🥺🥺”. Don’t even get me started on the amount of times Shannon walked into a wall of hard muscle 🤦♀️😭. In what world is every teenager boy at school, a walking Arnold Schwarzenegger??
I did love the fact that this book was set in Ireland though, but even though it was entertaining to read, I didn’t love a lot more. One thing that I did quite like was how protective Johnny was, although it got a bit unrealistic and cringe at times.
Also, Chloe Walsh’s writing was nothing special, in terms of language technique and stuff. It was easy to read and entreating, but not special.
Overall, this book was okay and fun to read but could have been better.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Vomit
lau9e's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
lighthearted
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Vomit
Minor: Abortion