Think about it. We don’t bother with people we’re indifferent to. We provoke and prank and tease those who get under our skin and make us feel, people who incite our passion.

Only When It’s Us

Ryder

Ever since she sat next to me in class and gave me death eyes, Willa Sutter’s been on my shit list. Why she hates me, I don’t know. What I do know is that Willa is the kind of chaos I don’t need in my tidy life. She’s the next generation of women’s soccer. Wild hair, wilder eyes. Bee-stung lips that should be illegal. And a temper that makes the devil seem friendly.

She’s a thorn in my side, a menacing, cantankerous, pain-in-the-ass who’s turned our Business Mathematics course into a goddamn gladiator arena. I’ll leave this war zone unscathed, coming out on top…And if I have my way with that crazy-haired, ball-busting hellion, that will be in more than one sense of the word. 

Willa

Rather than give me the lecture notes I missed like every other instructor I’ve had, my asshole professor tells me to get them from the silent, surly flannel-wearing mountain man sitting next to me in class. Well, I tried. And what did I get from Ryder Bergman? Ignored. What a complete lumbersexual neanderthal. Mangy beard and mangier hair. Frayed ball cap that hides his eyes. And a stubborn refusal to acknowledge my existence.

I’ve battled men before, but with Ryder, it’s war. I’ll get those notes and crack that Sasquatch nut if it’s the last thing I do, then I’ll have him at my mercy. Victory will have never tasted so sweet.

This month I’m doing a read-a-thon of The Bergman Brothers Series by Chloe Liese with LoveARCtually on Instagram in preparation for the fourth book in the series coming out in September. The series follows a group of 7 siblings and their path to love.

Only When It’s Us is the first in the series and follows Ryder Bergman and his love interest, Willa Sutter. From their first meeting, Ryder and Will don’t get along. When Willa misses a series of classes due to her D1 soccer schedule, her professor refuses to give her the class notes, instead telling her to get them from Ryder. When she asks him for them, she’s ignored. 

What she doesn’t know, though, is that Ryder is hard of hearing and simply didn’t hear her. But the damage is done, and war has been declared. And when the same professor, who also happens to be Ryder’s brother-in-law, forces them together to work on a group project, they start to find that underneath their hatred for each other is some wild chemistry. 

I want to start by talking about content warnings. Chloe Liese added a sensitivity note at the beginning about the terminal illness of a parent. I genuinely appreciate when authors include these kinds of messages in their work. I never understood the appeal of content and sensitivity warnings until I started reading fanfiction, but not I am a firm believer that everything should have them. In my opinion, it is more important than a person is prepared to read sensitive content than it is to prevent possible spoilers, so I want to thank Chloe Liese for including that.

Now, onto my review of the book itself. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. This book was marketed to me as a slow-burn frenemies to lovers, and it is just that. There is a perfect mix of Willa and Ryder’s antagonism toward each other and genuinely caring for each other. One moment they’re trying to get the upper hand on each other, and the next, they’re comforting and supporting each other. The pair also have unbelievable chemistry. They, of course, try to ignore it, making them actually getting together a bit of a slow burn, which I loved.

I also loved the fundamental understanding the two have of each other. Even throughout their constant pranks, they try to meet the other where they are. Willa takes Ryder’s hearing problems in stride, meeting him on his level to communicate, and when Willa experiences a loss toward the end of the book, Ryder doesn’t rush her grief. 

Overall, I would definitely recommend reading this. Ryder and Willa are such a sweet couple, and I loved the family dynamic of the Bergmans. I’m so excited to keep reading to get to know the rest of them.