Review on 'Binding 13' by Chloe Walsh 🏉

Amazon Link: https://amzn.eu/d/j4eJfbP

Author: Chloe Walsh

Format Read: Paperback Pages: 801

Publication Date: 24th July 2018

Author Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorchloewalsh/ Author Website: https://www.chloewalshauthor.com/

Content Warnings:

Severe physical abuse, miscarriage, drugs, swearing, explicit sexual content

Review:

It was all over TikTok and I had to have it. Especially, after constantly seeing the aesthetics and the quote videos. Me being me, I delayed it for such a long time, but I brought the books with my first paycheck before I started College. To be honest, I don’t know why I bothered holding back for some of these books, because in the end I still buy them later on a whim. Maybe the waiting makes the heart grow fonder.

I loved the glossary at the front of the book, and it was so helpful otherwise some of the things they were saying, were in situations where I would just have to nod and smile and just read on. But Chloe Walsh had already thought about that, and given me the peace of gold into the Irish idiolect. However, the problem that did occur with this novel is that I am very British - and I cannot do accents to save my life. Even though, the characters may be talking in Irish with Irish slang as I read, they were very British with Irish slang words when I said it out loud. Even when I did try the accent, I embarrassed myself and probably every Irish person ever, and for that I truly apologise.  🤭

Anyway, the book was incredible! This review is written after I read it for the second time and though you can never get that first read feeling back, the emotions I felt towards the characters were brought back just like the first time. However this time, I already knew the premise of the plot so all the little moments only made it that much sweeter.

In this novel, the first book in their book duet and the first in the Boys of Tommen series (took me a while to figure out how that was going to work) you get to know Johnny and Shannon and the basic worlds they are living in. With over 800 pages, including the bonus chapter, they barely talk, which would usually annoy me but with this book, because I knew there was another one it made it that much better. When they were barely hanging out 200 pages in, I could be like ‘I have 600 pages left and another book, no need to worry'.

It all started with Shannon moving to Tommen after being bullied her entire school career. On the first day, after running back to get her phone from the toilets, she gets knocked out cold by Johnny’s rugby ball. And from there their relationship blossomed. I mean with another nearly 800 pages to go 😊. Her mum was horrified and wanted Johnny nowhere near her daughter, because we learn that Shannon is 15 and Johnny is 17. The age is really shown when you also learn that Shannon is 5ft and Johnny is 6’3”. Though for such a tall and stocky guy, he is an absolute sweetheart to her throughout her injury and the rest of the book.

Johhny learnt about what had happened at her previous school and was determined to ensure that never happened again, and with the popularity he had of being the star Rugby player, that was pretty easy for him to do. Shannon begins to settle in at school and slowly gets to know Johnny more, about his injury and his dreams. However, at home is not the same situation.

Johnny knows that Shannon hates going home but he doesn’t know why. He begins to notice all the bruises she is getting but believes them to be from school, though the readers learn very quickly that her father is an abusive alcoholic. Though Johnny can’t protect her yet, Joey is trying his best to look after his 4 young siblings, especially Shannon, his only sister.

Though you learn she has 3 younger brothers and another older brother, I feel like the main characters in this book were Joey, her older brother, Shannon, Johnny, and maybe their friends Gibsie, Claire, and Liz. There was definitely information about all the characters involved in their world but this one, compared to the second one, was rooting the relationship between Johnny and Shannon. If I was really analysing, it was probably so that the hard-hitting topics in the second book could be spoken about with care.

The reread took longer than the original read, I don’t get how that happened, but suddenly I was finishing the second book and the week I had spent reading about this beloved couple was just gone, and that hurt. Especially with the ending of the first book. That is a very detailed scene of abuse, but it made me realise the different environments people have to live in. It made me understand that people live like that, which you don't always think about until it’s someone you know. As of now, for me, it is just a book, but it made me think deeply.

Aside from the hard-hitting reality check, the budding relationship between Johnny and Shannon is incredible and adorable. As Johnny says “boom, boom, fucking boom.”

Until the next chapter,

#BellesBookBabble