Always Only You (Bergman Brothers Book 2)

cw: autoimmune disease, autism, depression, bullying Frankie Zeferino is the In-Game Social Media Coordinator for the LA Kings. Ren Bergman is the star forward for the team and has secretly been besotted with Frankie from the day he met her. With a no-fraternization clause, he's biding his time.Ren is every bit as adorable as Ryder Bergman, but well, he's also a hockey player, which is my ultimate weakness. Add in his adorable sunshine personality and nerdy obsession with Shakespeare, and I was absolutely done for. Frankie is sassy, seemingly grumpy, and pining for the ginger cinnamon roll/Viking god. I loved that both her autism and her rheumatoid arthritis were written sensitively and realistically, as well as including the side effects of having an autoimmune disease. I particularly loved her friendships with Lo and Ren's sister, Ziggy. I also loved seeing more of the rest of the Bergman's, as well as catching up with Ryder and Willa (and applauded Willa's speech about a certain RL person 😉). There's also a few intriguing plot set-ups for the rest of the series. But it's Ren and Frankie's love story that shines brightest in this book. They are just so stinking cute together, and I loved their development as a couple. The intimacy was particularly beautiful but still steamy. I also adored their easy banter throughout, and I want to join Ren's Shakespeare club! I now have a new favourite cinnamon roll hockey book boyfriend. Another absolute delight of a story. Overall Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️Heat Rating: 🔥🔥Emotional Rating: 🙈😍😉👏🏻💓🥰😂🙈💓😍🥰💓😭💔💓🙈💓💔👏🏻💓🥰

I’d probably give this book 4.5 ⭐️ if I could.I’ll start off by saying I am very impressed with how well this author wrote about disability. As a woman who became disabled in my 20s I can understand the FMC, Frankie, and how she views living with an invisible illness and how people view her. I also love several neurodivergent people and seeing how well this author described living with condition and how it affects themselves and those around them I was elated. This book reveals so well how people whose bodies and brains work differently from the norm are whole and worthy of love.On top of all that, the disability isn’t the star of the show. The FMC has let how people have treated her in the past alter the way she views people who may have the power to hurt her in the future, but we all do that to a certain extent. The way her brain works differently also affects the way she approaches relationships because she’s unable to comprehend the less nuanced expressions of other people’s emotions.Setting these facts aside, this is actually a really sweet love story. Frankie is smart and resourceful. She’s always on point with her job, which she adores, and though she only has a couple of close friends, she loves them fiercely. I love her brilliant mind and her determination to work through her body’s limitations.The MMC, Ren, is a star ice hockey player, for the team that Frankie does the social media for. He’s always smiling, he’s kind, incredibly professional,, adores his huge Swedish-American family and has has an unrequited crush on Frankie since he met her 3 years ago, but his professionalism prevents him from making a move on her.When Frankie gets the opportunity to leave her job to go to law school things shift. Things happen to make her see Ren in a slightly different light and Ren finally sees his opportunity to make a move.I adored Ren, he’s an amazing character. He’s sweet, funny, kind and patient. He’s this fantastic blend of physically powerful and competent hockey player, with a shy sweet nerd who loves Shakespeare.Both these characters are utterly unique and I loved them both. When you love characters this much the plot almost doesn’t matter, but I like the way this book was paced. This ways completely about their feelings for one another and working their way together. There were no big dramas with exes or families, no huge misunderstandings, just two people working through their emotions and history to reach each other.This book reminds me a little of Mariana Zapata’s work. It’s a little more spicy than Zapata’s work, but it has the same deft hand at character building and emotional layering.This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I will be reading more.

The book was beautifully written but what made it 5* for me was how wonderfully accurate the representation of someone on the autistic spectrum was especially a female. It was insightful, inclusive and all round a perfect romance.

I enjoyed this book. It's the first book I've read that has an accompanying playlist to set the mood for each chapter, an idea that I love.The story was cute and sweet. An interesting insight into autism and how it can affect people. Also a sweet story of the two of them falling in love.

So many aspects of this book hit deep for me, and it made me feel heard and hopeful while providing an amazing and entertaining distraction to get lost in for a while. The way that Ren and Frankie’s story developed was slow and sweet, they had time to learn to love each other how they needed to be loved while learning to love themselves too and they made a pretty awesome couple. There was humor that made the dialogue very fun and a bit of spice that made reading even better. Honestly, I am loving this author and her portrayal of strong characters that have very real struggles yet incredible fortitude to hope and reach for happiness.

I have read an alarming amount of books with adult MMCs that are virgins. And yet, I’m not sure many of them exist? But are these men anything but precious? No. They are consistently adorable and should be protected at all costs. Ren is this. He is the fantasy. Gorgeous, kind, sweet and absolutely gone for his lady. Melt. Frankie is great, but Ren is the ✨star of the show✨What to expect:- workplace romance- sports romance- he falls first- it’s always been you- autistic FMC- autoimmune rep

Two great characters, lovely writing of two people who are “hiding in plain sight” finally getting together. Portrayal of autism in FMC felt very real. Did not like the shoe horned in reference to JKRs Twitter. The high incidence of ROGD in girls with spectrum traits should ring alarm bells in this author who very clearly articulates how someone can feel different and that they don’t fit in because of the divergent thinking processes.

El libro llegó en el tiempo indicado y el precio que lo compré fue muy bueno.10/10

Tropes:- workplace (in a sense)- he falls first (and so hard)- Autism rep (own voices story)- sports romance (professional hockey)As an Autistic female, reading this book was an absolute joy. It was refreshing to read a book with an Autistic female mc who felt so much like me. I loved that Frankie didn't have major dating hang-ups that she blamed on her diagnosis. Obviously, (as many Autistics do) she felt like a burden to those she loved and was afraid to accept the love she deserves but she was open to it and excited about meeting someone.That being said, I think Frankie is the best autistic mc I have ever read. She felt so relatable and I appreciated reading about someone who suffers from some of the many co-morbidities that Autistics encounter. Additionally, I REALLY appreciate that she wasn't just another Autistic mc in a STEM job. In fact, her comments about observing how other people engage with social media and how that helps her to do her job was relatable and refreshing.Watching her character growth and learning to accept the love she deserves was so beautiful."And for the first time in too many years, I know that I'm loved for exactly who I am."Now on to Ren.One of the biggest fears that so many Autistics have in relationships (not just romantic ones) is people "falling in love" with our masks and not us. The fear of losing someone we care about because they start to see us unmasked is exhausting and consumes so much of our mental energy. I was terrified that something like this would happen with Ren, especially considering how long he has liked her from afar. It was so beautiful to see him fall in love with her even more, support her when she wants it (and sometimes when she's afraid to admit she needs it) and love her unconditionally. Thank you, Chloe Liese, for giving all of us hopeless romantic Autistics some hope.Ren was one of my favorite book boyfriends to date and I LOVE his family. The Bergmans have this chokehold on me and they are not letting go any time soon.At the end of the day, I loved this book. It was a joy to read and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone looking for a strong Autistic mc and/or the most beautiful family bond.

Chloe Liese is an amazing writer

Ohhh, this book! I’m still swooning.We have a grumpy-sunshine trope, and our hero is the ‘sunshine’. Ren, the third of the Bergman bunch, is a sweet, cinnamon roll with red hair and beard... and a publicly declared Love of Shakespeare *swoons*.For years, Ren has been secretly in love with his team’s Social Media Coordinator, Frankie. He’s been waiting for the right moment to confess his feelings, but when unusual circumstances bring Frankie under Ren’s roof, he might need to change his plans *double swoons*.Want more reason to swoon? Frankie, our heroine, is ITALIAN! She calls Ren zenzero (ginger, awww); her dog is called pazza (crazy, lol); and Ren thinks that Italian is a “Sexy Romance Language”!I never feel myself represented in romance books (I think this is maybe the second time that I come across an Italian heroine), so this is huge for me. Frankie’s Catholic jokes cracked me up, and her Harry Potter Love was the cherry on the cake.Frankie is also autistic, and struggles with arthritis; and though she is, as I said, unapologetically herself, letting Ren -and his family- love her for exactly who she is, that’s a whole different story. I loved reading Ren and Frankie’s journey to trust, acceptance and love, and this book hit me deep.I am in love with Chloe Liese at this point and am definitely reading book 3, as well!

Se il primo libro di questa serie mi era piaciuto, ma con qualche riserva, questo mi ha proprio conquistata!Apprezzo tantissimo l’impegno che ci mette l’autrice nel dare voce a personaggi che riescono ad essere inclusivi: Frankie, la nostra protagonista soffre di una patrologia autoimmune reumatoide e non solo, perché a questo si aggiunge lo spettro dell’autismo funzionale. La cosa che mi piace è la normalità con cui questo viene rappresentato, mi spiego: spesso leggiamo personaggi che sono solo i loro disturbi, che la loro personalità è esclusivamente quello che hanno, mentre qui la Liese ci racconta una storia d’amore, il focus è chiaramente romantico, ma con personaggi veri, che vivono le loro difficoltà nella normalità della vita. Ed è bellissimo. Ren poi, il protagonista maschile è meraviglioso: dolce, comprensivo, innamoratissimo, gentile, protettivo. Chloe Liese si conferma l’autrice della vita se vuoi un protagonista privo di mascolinità tossica che vorresti tutto per te!