Given Our History is a sweet romance. Clara and Teddy are two shy homeschool kids turned best friends turned strangers turned couple in this second chance romance. Clara and Teddy are history professors and as a professor I loved that! I love academics in books especially realistic depictions. Tenure and committee work are a big deal. The underlining story there is realistic but also blood boiling! Being a woman in higher education is fraught with challenges.

Back to the romance- the dual timeline is my favorite in second chance romances. It is so helpful to understand when and how the characters fell in love. It's well done here. The conflict that kept them apart for a decade is disappointing. Happy they reconnected in the end!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press: St. Martin's Griffin for this eARC!

I wanted to like this one but I just couldn’t get on board with the characters. I did like the story being told in two timelines.

A sweet fall vibe romance read. I enjoyed the relationship between the two main characters, all the history we learn about and the banter and such. I also liked the side characters and all their shenanigans as well as all the shenanigans that come with working at an educational institute.

this was really cute. i loved the timeskips, i loved the characters, i ADORED their summer camp backstory, and background character lesbians !! no notes from me.

Such a beautiful and touching love story. This book kept me glued to the pages and is definitely one of the best romances I read this year. Highly recommended.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for this ARC.

If I'm being honest, I was a little disappointed by this book. Don't get me wrong—it was incredibly sweet, cozy, and good for fall/winter vibes. I loved the ending, and I adored the fact that our two MCs jammed out to My Chemical Romance instead of rhe same 2000s trash pop. For me, however, it just felt really slow. Like so much time passed, and so little happened. I can completely see how this is going to be the perfect fall read for so many people—because it is very cute, and very unique in a few small ways—but it just didn't totally hit the mark for me.

I'm a fan of a good second chance romance. This one was good with interesting characters. It's told in both the past and present. I found the segments in the past a little hard to keep straight. But overall the story was good. I kind of lost the reason the main characters hadn't talked in so many years, but regardless the story in the present was good. I enjoyed the ending and the female main character seemed to finally find herself. I received an advance copy from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Clara is an Assistant History Professor at a small university in Maryland working her way towards tenure. Teddy has been her friend since they attended a sleep away camp for home schoolers, though they had a falling out while she was working on her master’s and have not talked since then. Clara has been so focused on her goals of achieving each step in her educational and career path that she hasn’t put much effort into other aspects of her life. When Teddy pops up as a visiting professor for the semester, she must decide what is important in her life. This is a great quick read about the importance of family and friends.

I didn’t find myself reaching for this book at first but once I was in it. It was a dash to end. A VERY slow burn - I’m talking years of it. But the ending was oh so satisfying.



Clara had to seek happiness in herself before she could find happiness outside. So good!

"Love is the hard road. The person you're meant to be with is whoever you choose to be with... You just have to choose someone who's worth all that trouble, and then you have to keep on choosing them, every day."

"Given Our History" is a wonderful second chance romance set in an academia setting. This is THE perfect setting for fall -- all the cozy vibes a girl could want. My favorite part was reading about the history graduate programs. The setting of the story was very interesting and nothing like I've read before. The character's friendship was adorable. They met in camp as two awkward tweens looking for a companion. Their friendship felt extremely genuine and warm.

Sadly, I never felt a strong urge to root for the characters to fall back in love. Their reasonings for not being together fell flat for me. The chapters set in the past lost my focus. I wish there was more of them falling back in love in the present time instead. It felt very much like I was being told that they used to love each other and were still attracted to each other, but I was never entirely shown their reconnection in the present. Something was missing to make the second chance romance more believable. Their feelings felt completely based off what they used to feel as teenagers, not what they feel about the people they are now.

Read if you like:
- second chance romance
- academia setting
- dual timeline
- right person, wrong time

Given our History
The author immediately drew me into the story. Not many books are able to do that, especially in the first couple pages. I think that really had to do with obviously the plot but also the writing style. This was my first KJM and definitely won’t be my last. Clara & Teddy clearly had something about them from the beginning. So what more can you ask for?
Highly, highly recommend.

Thank you to the publisher & Author for this wonderful ARC!

Clara Fernsby has wanted to be a history professor for most of her life and has succeeded, despite a few challenges related to having been homeschooled. But things seem to be going her way, when her department chair encourages her to apply for tenure ahead of schedule. At the same time, he drops the bombshell that she will be sharing her office with a visiting professor. Sounds like it shouldn't be a big deal, until she learns the visiting professor is Teddy, with whom she has a lot of history, beyond a shared profession.

They're hesitant around each other at first, but Teddy volunteers to help with a fundraising gala Clara is leading. They cannot deny their long-ignored attraction to each other.

This story has a great premise--appealing to this quasi-historian, but portions of the setting didn't really work. Teddy has been an adjunct in Pittsburgh, my hometown, and the author should have done more research on Pittsburgh. Nobody calls Carnegie-Mellon University "Carnegie" (unless that's a new thing). Really minor, but grating to this reader. But it's a fun and easy read that romance fans will enjoy. #GivenOurHistory #NetGalley

Clare and Teddy are 14 year old homeschooled students who meet at a camp designed just for homeschoolers. Teddy admits to not having many friends and finding it difficult to talk to people so Clare immediately declares them friends.

Over the years, Clare and Teddy maintain their friendship through letters, phone calls, and IM’s. But when they’re 18, Teddy admits to wanting to be more than friends. While Clare loves him as a friend, she’s determined not to make the same mistakes as their parents - pushing dreams and ambition away for their partner.

Clare is now a university history professor and her advisor informs her that a visiting professor will need to share her office due to construction at the university. Clare never would have believed she would be sharing her office with Teddy whom she’s not spoken to in six years. And before a random run-in six years ago, she hadn’t spoken to Teddy in three years.

Now adults, well established in their careers, Clare can’t help but wonder if their history could become their future. But Clare has been recommended for tenure while Teddy is just a visiting professor. Is she still determined not to compromise her own path? Or will she find a love with Teddy that is worth rethinking her path?

This was an engaging read that I didn’t want to put down. I was totally invested in both Clare’s independence and sense of responsibility to her family and Teddy’s more laid back nature who is fine taking chances. I highly recommend this for anyone looking for a love story that stretches over the decades!

I loved Kristyn J. Miller's first book and fell in love with this one as well! It is such a cute friends to lovers, second chance romance story and the light steam was perfectly done. I was rooting for these main characters and really enjoyed every second of this sweet story. Plus, with its academia setting, it's the perfect romance to transition from summer to fall!

What happens when the person who has always held your heart decides you're the right one but it's the wrong time for you? When the decisions you make seem so right for yourself at the time, based on not wanting to make the same mistakes your parents made (from your point of view). Clara is working towards what she wants in her life and chooses not to let anyone in. A series of chance meetings with her childhood best friend and crush always seem to solidify her choices. But...has she been making all the right choices. This wasn't all warm and gushy, but it was a satisfying friends to something to nothing to maybe something story. 3.5 stars.

Assistant professor Clara Fernsby is driven. At fourteen, she knew she wanted to teach history. Her hard work paid off, landing her a well-paid position at a private college, and now ,she is on track for a tenure. Nothing or no one will stand in her way-not even the love of her life. Theodore "Teddy" Harrison is a visiting scholar, and a blast from Clara's past. Both Clara and Teddy were home-schooled kids who met at sleepaway camp. Once upon a time, they were best friends, trading books and burned CDs. But then, they had a falling out and have not spoken to each other since.

After meeting as teens at sleepaway camp, Clara and Teddy had an instant connection. Clara's passion for history was contagious, and socially-awkward Teddy was more than happy to be passionate about the subject with her. They had many shared experiences as long-distance best friends. However, as they grew into young adulthood, their plans began to no longer align and their relationship became blurry as romantic feelings upset the balance. They were an example of "right person, wrong time." In the present time, Clara and Teddy are not the same people they were from the past, but their feelings for each other never wavered.

What to expect:
> Friends to lovers
> Second chance
> Workplace romance
> Academia setting
> Dual timeline/ 2000s nostalgia

Clara Fernsby is goal oriented and driven. She is on the tenure track at work and has been given the opportunity to apply. Trying to make a good impression, she agrees to share her office...with Teddy Harrison, whom she has not talked to for ten years, which brings up all the history that Clara has tried to forget.

This is a second chance slow burn open door romance that occurs over the course of more than two decades. They have been friends since they were 14, but the timing has never been right. I did like the heart of the relationship but struggled with the ease with which the conflicts resolved and the relationship rekindled despite not speaking for ten years. It made for a relatively easy quick read as it did not require a lot of emotional investment on my part, which also made it easy to put down.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and St. Martin's Griffith for this advanced copy! You can pick up Given Our History now.

This was a super cute second chance, friends-to-lovers romance! I loved how the dual timeline showcased the gradual build of Clara and Teddy's relationship, and the way they slowly grew closer once again in the present. I thought the romance was sweet, but I do wish the book had moved a bit quicker. This is definitely a slowburn book, but I thought it was done well!

It's also perfect for the fall season, set on a college campus with a Halloween ball and big academia vibes.

These darn second-chance romances get me every time. The dual timelines kept me gripped and I found myself deeply invested in the current timeline as well as the way the characters’ relationship built. The setting and backgrounds felt unique compared to similar setups and true to the struggles of academics. My rating might be a bit high because I just liked it so much - there were a few gaps and unresolved plot points, but I had too much investment in the story to care.

4.5 stars

ARC was provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book so much. Reading it felt like a cozy sweater on a brisk fall day. Clara is truly a woman after my own heart and I connected with her deeply. I loved the dual timeline style. I'm a huge fan of flashbacks, especially if they're well placed and add to story. Also, give me every second chance, right person-wrong time romance novel out there. I absolutely love those tropes, so Given Our History was a perfect read for me. Also, I think everyone deserves a friend like Teddy. He's loyal to a fault.