Thank you so much to netgalley and St. Martin's Press for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I have learned that I don't like second chance romance and here is a classic case. I wanted to give this one a try but it wasn't for me.

I love the cover and the fall vibes.

However, I can never understand a person giving up love for her career? Maybe I just don't have that passion for a job lol but that just didn't work for me. I also didn't like the flashbacks that were happening either.

I don't like second chance romance typically because of the flashbacks and I never really feel like the reason they broke up is a good reason. (or if it is, they shouldn't be getting back together in the first place). Most of the time, they shouldn't have broken up in the first place and it just annoys me.

Anyways, I hope others love this one but it was not for me.

Very slow burn (like 17 years in the making), non linear timeline (jumps between past and present) story of two history buffs who just can’t quit each other.

Few standout items beyond the romance (which is quite good)that might be of interest:
- Learning about the world of academia and tenure track
- Both Teddy and Clara are home schooled and meet at an annual camp for homeschooled kids. That part I found fascinating. Also the idea that certain coping mechanisms that come with being homeschooled can be advantageous to adulting - like leading disparate lives and relationships not following consistent touch points but nonetheless being significant and profound.

I enjoyed that Clara realized that an employer who doesn’t know her value beyond surface and easily replaceable traits isn’t worth fighting for.

A small item: The premise of both characters not wanting to end up like their parents and this keeping them apart was not well justified- Was it the socio-economic limitations of the parents? Them marrying too young? Because everything else felt real and hard earned which is a good thing.

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC

I loved this book! Warm, emotional and brimming with hope, Given Our History is second chance romance at its finest.

📚 Given Our History
✍ Kristyn J. Miller
📖 Contemporary Romance
⭐4.5
🌶️ 🌶️

🙏 Thank you to St. Martin's Press, NetGalley and Kristyn J. Miller for the advanced copy of Given Our History. All opinions are my own.
◾
🎯 What I loved: I'm an absolute sucker for a second chance romance and I love dual timeline second chances that explore why the couple is right for each other but rationalizes why they couldn't be together previously. Clara and Teddy are complex characters that both struggle with trying to forge friendships after having been homeschooled but immediately jive with each other. Their chemistry with each other is evident and as a reader, I was easily pulled into their orbit, knowing that their connection was deep but that clearly, something had really driven them apart. Miller nailed her depiction of academia and the hoops professors must go through to gain tenure or entrance to a tenure track and I love the subtle ways she wove history into the book without making it feel like the primary subject.

🙅‍♀️ What I didn't: I was expecting something truly shocking to have wrecked Clara and Teddy's friendship (especially considering the buildup) but wasn't completely convinced that what initially pulled them apart would have created a 10 year rift. No matter, the reconciliation was worth the wait!
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Read if you love:
*dual timeline
*second chance
*academia setting
*summer camp connection
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See also: Love and Other Words, People We Meet on Vacation, Love, Theoretically

Clara Fersby is a passionate, driven assistant professor. She has worked hard at a private liberal arts college in order to obtain tenure, uncaring that she sacrificed love in order to get her goal.

Theodore Harrison is that love that Clara gave up in the pursuit of happiness - teaching. Ten years have passed since the breakup. This novel is set in the fall, a beautiful autumnal setting. Memories of the couple happy in the Blue Ridge Mountains camp stir, along with the bittersweet trading of books between the lovebirds.

Burned CDs were passed between the lovey dovey couple, listening to tracks as they fell in love. Once, she might have loved him. This new professor is nothing like tha man Clara had once known. The face is the same, the personality a cold reality from the lovesick boy of her dreams.

Of course, then the two enstranged had-been lovers are thrown together in a forced proximity project. Brainstorming at a bar, recalling memories and slowly fixing a broken thing. Clara is insistent that history will not repeat itself, it can't. A career is more import than love, right?

I think academic romance is a new trend I find myself gravitating towards. There is something intellectual and nostalgic about falling in love around an old, stone, beautiful architecture of a college campus. Falling in love between the stacks of an ancient library filled to the brim with textbooks and tales and endless stories.

I connected to this couple because they are both nerdy introverts, which I am, very much so. I remember loving studying. This couple is real, with real feelings, real problems. Painful memories. Mending a broken, fragile, beautiful, tender thing.

Both of our main characters are rife with family baggage. How one deals with stress has a very real impact on love and friendships and relationships. I felt that the emotions in this book were realistic. The burden of family troubles. All in love, lovely read! 🌟🌟🌟/5 Stars!

4.5 stars. I really enjoyed this book by Kristyn J Miller. It's my first time reading this author, but I will be searching out her first book. I believe this is her second. I might be partial to this one because I'm an academic librarian, who happens to have a degree in history, and, like the main character, studied Tudor history. Regardless, this second chance, friends to lovers romance was adorable, with just the right amount of spice.

Second chance romance is my favorite! I will admit that at times the tension between the two main characters got a bit annoying, especially in the beginning but I still found this book to be so adorable. Right person wrong time is now one of my favorite tropes

A heartwarming tale of parallel souls, love and second chances. The alternating timelines add depth and the characters come alive on the page. A beautiful story.
Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and to Netgalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I want to thank NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for letting me read this ARC.

This book had me obsessed by the prologue. The tension had me by the throat. Finding out that your ex best friend that you're still in love with is dating your old college roommate? Crazy.

I loved the academic setting of this book. It reminded me of an Ali Hazelwood but make it history instead of science. Romance books that are a little nerdy are just *chefs kiss*.

The flashbacks to their friendship before during their teenage years had me hooked to find out why they had a falling out. I read this book in a day to find out what happened.

This is the first book I've read from this author, and I can't wait to read more!

Thank you NetGallery for this amazing Arc!! I really enjoyed this one and as someone who went to overnight camp, loved that the characters met and went to an overnight camp! I enjoyed the plot and that there were two timelines going on. Some parts I did get bored at but it was a quick and easy read!

writing: loved it | plot: love a dual timeline | ending: yay

my opinion

I am quickly learning that I am a hoe for an academic romance. Nobody asked but my OG career dream was being a professor LMAOOOO. Anyways. The dual timeline had me up until 1:30 am. Usually I enjoy seeing how their relationship develops over the years in the flashbacks, but in this case, I was more tickled pink by how accurate the time period was depicted. Mall Madness? Yu-Gi-Oh? MSN? Secretly downloading Nelly Furtado, The Black Eyed Peas, and Akon songs to burn onto a CD and listen to via walkman???? I felt fully transported to the past. Loved the nostalgic vibes.

Okay, when you really deep it, their adult feelings were based on teenager feelings which were based on vibes and horniness, BUT I don't care. Kristyn somehow bamboozled me into feeling like they were soulmates who NEEDED to be together. I liked their dynamic together. Instead of an opposites attract situation that you usually see in books, Clara and Theo were both nerdy introverts, but Clara was slightly more extroverted. And while they both had family baggage, Theo definitely shouldered his differently. I like that they didn't have to become different people to be with each other.

Clara is the perfect example of how to do "quirky" without slamming on other women. She was supportive of her outgoing sister's lifestyle and never condescending about her behaviour or choices. TAKE NOTES PEOPLE. WE NEED MORE CLARAS.

Funny, well-written, and made me feel things... easy four stars. Looking forward to more from this author.

pros & cons

pros: love an academic romance, Clara and Theo were a great match, Clara was a fantastic FMC, FUNNYYYY, all the nostalgic vibes – she nailed the early 2000s, dual timeline!!!!!!! (not insta love for once)

cons: wish their connection had been a bit deeper during their college years but c'est la vie, great book overall

This was an adorable dual POV, dual timeline story about two homeschool kids rediscovering their love.
It's even better that they're two history professors who know the importance of the past.

Thank you so much Kristyn Miller, publishers, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an eARC!

I just had such an amazing time reading this book. The characters and the situations pulled at me and when it was over I immediately felt like reading this again. That’s the sign of a great story in my opinion.

Teddy and Clara are interesting, relatable, intriguing, complex, wounded, entertaining characters. The path to their HEA is full of twists and turns (that we get to see in present day and the past) and is entertaining to read. I enjoyed these two characters and their relationship. The secondary characters added to the fabric of the story and my enjoyment. The story is easy to read and get into.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher! Overall, this was a sweet friends to lovers, second-chance romance. Recommend if you need a palette cleanser after reading books with heavier content.

4.5 ⭐️
🌶️

Given Our History is a second chance romance that follows Clara and Teddy who met as teens at a camp for homeschooled kids. The story follows a present day timeline where Teddy and Clara reunite as well as a timeline of their past.

This story is just so sweet and cozy. It takes place on a college campus where Teddy and Clara are history professors and has light academia vibes.

If you love fall vibes and a super sweet friends to lovers, second chance romance this is a lovely story.

Second chance romances are usually my absolute favorite tropes, but this just didn’t capture my attention as much as I hoped. The dual timeline was so good, I actually loved the past one more.

This was a sweet, dual timelines, second chance romance. Unfortunately, it just was a bit of disappointment for me. The past timeline was more interesting, as we get to see our two main characters become friends and eventually fall for one another, but the present timeline was a little bit dull. We get party planning and wondering if the main character will get tenure. Overall, it was a nice story, it just didn't captivate me.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for the ARC!

Man. I love Clara and Teddy. AHHHH. I could spend an entire therapy session yapping about why this should have been an uncomfortable reading experience given my own history, but I absolutely loved these two little history nerds so much that it was just a delight to see their relationship as teens and as 20 to 30-somethings. It's an absolute NEED in my mind to have a sequel of them living together in Edinburgh.

Also-- I was inhaling this book so fast that I needed to take a two day breather so that I wouldn't read the rest of it in one sitting and then be disappointed when I finished it (like when you reach into a bowl of chips and realise you've eaten them all...), but I swear I could have read this in four hours if I didn't have self-restraint.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and St. Martin's Griffin for this eARC! I look forward to (nicely) forcing all of my history-major friends to buy this book when it comes out in August

Wow. What a book! I wasn't expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. The story revolves around Clara and Teddy, who share a 17-year friendship that evolved into a complicated relationship. After a falling out years ago, they stopped talking for nine years. Now, Clara has applied for tenure at the university and needs to prove herself, and Teddy, now a visiting professor, is eager to help her with her project. This raises the question: why is he so willing to help? Is he looking to rekindle their relationship?

Clara struggles with her feelings and needs time to process them. The back-and-forth timelines effectively illustrate the depth of their relationship. I was anxious to learn what had caused their drastic fallout.

I had some dislikes, particularly Clara’s parents. It was sad that she lacked a social group growing up, and I wondered why her parents didn't notice. Being homeschooled doesn't mean being antisocial! There were also moments when I didn't like Teddy; some of his behavior and attitude towards Clara were unfair. However, I enjoyed the parts where they rekindled their relationship. They were adorable and sweet together, and I appreciated Teddy's unwavering support for Clara's goals. I loved how Clara ultimately chose happiness.

I wish the ending had a more detailed epilogue, covering what happened in the following months or years. I wanted more closure. Overall, it was a really good second chance romance between two likable characters.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc!

After reading and being hooked by Seven Rules For Breaking Hearts I was excied to request this second chance romance. It ended up being an okay read for me, I didn't feel very invested in the characters. The duel timeline felt off to me as well.

I did love how they met and found friendship in each other and I am obsessed with the cover.