If Only You

        

Title: If Only You

Series: Bergman Brothers #6

Author: Chloe Liese

Publisher: April 11, 2023

Pages: 352

Genre: Contemporary Sport Romance

Ziggy

I’m the youngest player on the National Soccer team, the baby of my family, and thoroughly sick of being underestimated, so I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands. Which is where my brother’s best friend and teammate, the infamous Sebastian Gauthier, comes in.

Seb needs to rehab his reputation. I want to give mine an edge. So I propose a fake friendship with real benefits: spending time in the public eye, my good-girl image and his bad-boy notoriety rubbing off on each other. He’s my devious, dark-haired fantasy come to life, but his destructive ways make it easy to keep him in the (fake) friend zone. Or so I thought, until I start to see the heart of gold he’s been hiding beneath that sinister surface…

Sebastian

Like any self-respecting reprobate, I’ve been spiraling downward, and finally I’ve hit rock bottom. My hockey career and sponsorships are in jeopardy, and while I’m not ready to actually reform my ways, I’m happy to pretend that I have, to secure the life I’m on the brink of losing.

So when my best friend’s sister, Ziggy Bergman, proposes a public “friendship” to revamp our reputations, it’s an offer I can’t refuse. Up till now, I’ve stayed away from Ren’s sweet, shy little sister to avoid any risk of ruining my one good friendship. But I reassure myself there’s no risk in our scheme. I’ll fake a friendship with Ziggy, fix my reputation, and get back to hockey, the one and only thing I love. At least, it was, until what began as a transactional arrangement became the most loving relationship I’ve ever known.

If Only You is a brother’s best friend, (fake) friends with benefits to friends to lovers romance about a bighearted, quietly fierce soccer star on the autism spectrum, and a thoroughly unprincipled, almost irredeemable hockey player who has celiac disease. Complete with an absurd level of mutual pining, meddling family and friends, and a spicy slow burn, this standalone is the sixth in a series of novels about a Swedish-American family of five brothers, two sisters, and their wild adventures as they each find happily ever after.

When I found out that we were getting Ziggy's book before Viggo's, I have to admit that I was a little disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Ziggy and I am SO glad that we got her book. And she absolutely could never have disappointed in the actual content. I mean, she's a total badass and has been since we first met her through Ryder and Willa. But I am drooling for Viggo's story. I DON'T WANT TO WAIT AND I DON'T WANT IT TO BE OVER!!! I have a lot of feelings about it. But for now, I will give Ziggy her due.

Watching Ziggy own her perception and personality was a joy. This young woman is thriving and wants people to know it. She wants people to see the woman she is now and not the kid she was a few years ago. Which really helped me read about her falling in love because I was absolutely going into this still picturing the 17 year old kid described in previous books. She's grown up, folks! 

Sebastian is going through it. He has dug himself into this hate spiral of a life out of spite. The people who were supposed to love and care for him no matter what, flaked and failed miserably at it. So he chose to get back at them. Can't say I blame him. But as delightful as it was to watch Ziggy come into her own, watching Sebastian dig himself out of his pit of despair was even more satisfying. 

This book is so emotionally mature. Way more emotionally mature than me. It's so romantic and absolutely will get you all up in your feelings for these two. But honestly my favorite part was watching Seb's journey to his celiac diagnosis. My mom was diagnosed with celiac just a few years ago. And it really did turn her whole life upside down. Most of her social life revolved around food. Where she was going to eat, who was going to be there. Finding new restaurants and recipes to try for various gatherings and parties. And then she was told that food was the thing making her sick, it was the reason she had stopped attending events and parties. It changed her whole world and it took our whole family a long time to figure out how to function around the new restrictions. Watching the Bergmans navigate through that with Seb was really beautiful. 

I have to put a tiny disclaimer out there that this baby is a SLOOOOOOWWWWW burn. But what it doesn't have in spice, it makes up for in feelings. Like this thing is ROM.AN.TIC. All of the heart swelling and tear making and throat closing big feelings of twue love.

And now I'm back to very (im)patiently waiting for Viggo's happy ending. <3

Ratings

Stars: 5/5

Spice: 2/5