A review by thepaperbackcompany
Binding 13 by Chloe Walsh

5.0

For whatever reason, chapter 3 and 4 of this book served more chemistry than those in the so called romance books that are famous on booktok.
This is, hands down, one of the cutest books I have read in a while. With hilarious pointless banters and the funniest scenes ever, it made me laugh out loud like I am fckng crazy. I felt the author's writing style as so similar to Elle Kennedy's. Both of them rant so very well in their books. The book is both plot-driven and character- driven. So it's gonna be a nice ride whatsoever.

Characters: Shannon and Johnny are my new favourite couple. They are gold. Shannon is a pure soul. She was bullied at school and abused by her own father since childhood. Throughout the book, I wanted to hug her so tight and protect her from all those who broke her. And Johnny, one of the youngest international rugby players, also the school rugby team captain, was a rich but humble, workaholic (playing international at 17 calls for obsessive practice), the most popular boy at school. Both of them had the perfect slow burn chemistry which would make us blush without any kinky smut. Johnny tried to give a wide berth between them, cause he was crazy stuck on how Shannon was just fifteen while he was this big oldie at seventeen. In my country, this age difference would be nothing. I can count atleast half a dozen teenager couples with much bigger age difference.
Johnny had a great character development. He was this aggressive, immature, short tempered boy (who secretly has a heart made of gold, was a real workaholic, focused entirely on his sport and crazy diets) in the beginning but he turned out to be sweet, responsible and a real baby, to be exact. One of the last chapters were so funny that it would have it's own fan base.

Every grumpy MMC has a talkative annoying best friend, so let me introduce ***drum rolls**** the great Gerard Gibson aka Gibsie. He is something else. Johnny and Gibsie actually gave Alex and Josh.
Gibsie and his love interest, Claire ( Shannon's bsf) gave the best soon to be second couple romance. I hope they have their own book. While Shannon and Johnny are all about heated looks and plummeting hearts, Gibsie is full on flirting with Claire with no filter out his mouth.
Now, the character who deserves the whole world, Joey Lynch, Shannon's older brother.
He is Shannon's everything. The one who stepped in to help and raise his younger siblings when their own father became a dumb shit and their mother, a dummy in his hands. He did get trapped in wrong connections, but it may have been a surprise if he didn't, considering everything he went through. I am looking forward to read his book.

One major con I found while reading is that the narration was repetitive. It was like the author was trying so hard to explain how a character is or what's happening. It was more like an unedited rambling. To give an example, the emphasis on how attractive Johnny is and how hard it was for him to be training since young age was used more than necessary. It made the narrative long and boring, which may turn out to be minus points for the whole book.


P.S. the book cover calls for dirty smut but believe me it's far from it.