A review by ellie_janef
Binding 13 by Chloe Walsh

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Spoiler
i have no words. 
this is a 727399273 star for me. 

shannon has been bullied all her life and grew up in an abusive household, with a violent, alcoholic father and a forgiving mother, the only person she is close with is her older brother joey. shannon’s mam decides to pull her out of school in the middle of third year and enrol her in a private school, putting the family into further debt. 

shannon has 2 friends in her new school- Claire and Lizzie - who went to primary school with her. 
on her first day she is hit on her head by a rugby ball resulting in her having a concussion. the culprit? irelands future rugby star, Johnny Kavanagh. 
Johnny takes care of Shannon after her concussion and keeps an eye out for her in school. 

even though they’ve only briefly met, they can’t get each other out of their heads. 
johnny vows to protect shannon, but he can’t when her injuries show up daily and she won’t tell him who is giving her them. 
shannon vows to protect johnny, but she can’t when he’s just had surgery that he’s still in pain from after it healed badly and he continues playing rugby regardless. 

they end up seeing each other constantly. whether it’s shannon missing her bus and johnny driving her home, or shannon’s brother joey heading over to Johnny's house to drop off his phone. 

they get very close very fast and have such good chemistry. 

this book is just sos so sos so so good, and i just want all the characters to be happy and have some peace. 

the found family is so good and i love the friendships between the characters so much. 
found family:
shannon lynch
johnny kavanagh
gerard gibsie (likes claire)
claire
hughie (claire’s brother)
lizzie
pierce (lizzies boyfriend)

at the end johnny has a match in dublin and ends up passing out because of pain, he is brought to the hospital for emergency surgery. shannon sneaks out of the b&b where the school is staying with gibsie to visit johnny in hospital. when he is high on morphine he tells her he loves her and she admits her dad is hurting her. 

when she gets home her dad beats her badly and it ends on a cliffhanger of joey forcing their mother to choose - her husband or her kids. 




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