After some irresponsible choices threaten Seb’s professional hockey career and sponsorships, he is determined to pretend that he has turned over a new leaf. Ziggy is the youngest sibling in the Bergman family and the youngest member of the National soccer team and as such, she finds she is consistently being babied and underestimated. So, Ziggy comes up with a plan to restore Seb’s tainted reputation whilst giving her own reputation some much-needed edge—they will start a “fake” and public friendship. It soon becomes clear that there is nothing fake about Ziggy and Seb’s friendship, but their growing attraction towards each other makes it challenging for them to stay in the friend zone.
If Only You is the sixth installment of the Bergman Brothers series and it can be read as a standalone, but I highly recommend reading this series in order so you avoid spoilers. If Only You is a contemporary, slowburn, sports romance featuring the brother’s best friend and teammate, bad boy with good girl, and “(fake) friends to lovers” tropes. This is a perfect read for fans of Icebreaker by Hannah Grace, A Million Kisses in Your Lifetime by Monica Murphy, Mixed Signals by B.K. Borison, Good Girl Complex by Elle Kennedy, and Throttled by Lauren Asher. The topics and themes include celiac disease, autism, anxiety, mental health, family (including challenging family dynamics), character or growing up, change versus tradition, and love and companionship.
Firstly, I liked how If Only You was both unique (I think this is the only book I’ve read that featured celiac disease and angry yoga!) and authentic as like Ziggy, the author Chloe Liese is also neurodivergent, making this an “own voices” book. Readers may also appreciate this wasn’t a stereotypical third act break-up as I’m personally not a fan of that plot point. Being an avid reader, all the reading references and bookish content that was included in this book was delightful with the private bookstore visit and the bookish Halloween costumes were my personal favourites! One of the ways that Ziggy and Seb bonded was over books and it was reminiscent of Jess and Rory’s relationship on Gilmore Girls. Having read all the other Bergman Brothers books, I appreciated that the rest of the Bergmans made regular appearances throughout the book, and I enjoyed getting to see how the Bergmans’ relationships have grown and changed. I’m very excited for Viggo’s story, the next and final Bergman Brothers book which is expected in 2024 as Viggo is one of my favourite Bergmans since he’s very into reading historical romance, so I just know that I’m going to love his story!
On the downside, there were some loose ends at the conclusion of this book that I would have liked to be wrapped up better, including the Bergman parents’ financial struggles and Seb’s rocky relationship with his parents and stepfather. Even though I liked their relationship arc, Ziggy and Seb’s story was definitely a slowburn romance as it almost took them too long to finally explore their romantic feelings towards each other with low to moderate amount of spice. Lastly, some of the romantic monologues towards the end of the novel were a little cheesy for my taste.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would absolutely recommend the Bergman Brothers series to fellow sports romance fans.
If Only You is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other good book retailers, like your local bookstore.
Will you be picking up If Only You? Tell us in the comments below!
Synopsis | Goodreads
Brace yourself for longing, laughter, and a swoony slow-burn in this brother’s best friend sports romance about scoring the love of your life when you least expect to.
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 Marchand, 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.
