Clara and Teddy were an interesting pair. All the things that kept them together and yet threw them apart. I enjoyed them together and I wish there had been more of that and Teddy’s POV.

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

I love a friends to lovers romance and there was a lot to love about this book. However, the female main characters choices and the right person/wrong timing dilemma was INFURIATING! Their reasons for not being together didn’t work for me or feel believable.
I loved how the book jumped from past to present and we got to read about how they became friends. I also loved the fall vibes, academia setting, and all of the millennial references were on point. Overall, the main plots didn’t work well for me and it wasn’t as much as a winner as I was hoping.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the arc of this book. All opinions are my own.

I will give my thoughts once SMP addresses their readers with an explanation. Until then, all my reviews will be withheld.

4.5/5 ⭐️

More tender stories about elder emos in academia, please!

Given our History is just the sweetest, coziest story of Clara and Teddy, who never expected to make friends, let alone meet their soul persons as homeschooled teenagers at sleepaway camp. Dual timelines from Clara’s perspective follow them through seventeen years of friendship, young love, swapping history texts for mixtapes, regret, loss, and heartache until they find themselves reunited as history professors sharing the same small office space while navigating the politics of higher education.

I think this one will feel extra cozy for we early to mid-thirties millennials, because nothing inspires the warm and fuzzies quite like the nostalgia of downloading a Limewire virus to your family desktop computer. Trigger warning for the absolute shock and grief upon discovering that “Welcome to the Black Parade” is old enough to buy cigarettes now. Yes, I just heard your gasp from here.

The only thing missing was one very long epilogue about their life together as history professors in Edinburgh. Maybe a novella…or an entire second book…ok this a completely selfish criticism because I think I truly could have continued reading for a couple hundred more pages.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for a copy of this eARC! All opinions are my own.

As cozy as a knitted sweater, GIVEN OUR HISTORY captured my both my heart and my senses. Light and breezy, it's the kind of story one could soar through in just a couple days. Sure, there's barely tension; still, in a tale filled with 'autumn vibes' and 'second chances,' the lightness is a gleaming draw, marking the perfect read for those days where the leaves are turning, the breeze is crisp, and all you want is to curl up with a light story. Adored the academia setting; much like Ali Hazelwood, Miller captures the university setting, its departmental specificities and atmospheric allure, with both grace and skill, transporting the reader into a pitch-perfect campus replication. Anyone who's reminiscent of their college days, or eagerly awaiting their own time in post-secondary education, will simply adore the virtuosic landscape, and for this reason, this'll certainly become a 'must-recommend' to any fans of the aforementioned Hazelwood. The pacing is perfect, the friends-to-enemies-to-lovers second-chance romance hits on every trope desirable, and I couldn't feel more warm, nor satisfied with my experience with this read. I'll certainly be recommending this title throughout the autumn season.

If you found yourself drawn to Ali Hazelwood's The Love Hypothesis but hoped for a narrative rooted in liberal arts academia rather than STEM, look no further. In Given Our History, Clara Fernsby and Theodore (Teddy) Harrison, once best friends, find themselves working together at the same university, forced to reconcile after a falling out. Jumping between the origins of their relationship and their present lives as history professors, the book offers a charming and nostalgic journey. However, while Teddy shines as a love interest, Clara's portrayal may leave something to be desired. While her focused nature is evident, her depth and complexity seem lacking, leaving her character somewhat flat. A cute romance for lovers of history and academia alike!

This book was sweet, in many parts. I enjoyed the dual timeline and getting to know Clara in both timelines.
I just had the hardest time really latching onto this plot. Everything felt so low stakes. What was the main conflict? Getting tenure? Throwing a party.
Sadly it just did not enthrall me.
It also failed to create a setting that I fell in love with.

I read kristyn’s first book and loved it and was so excited to read this one too. i didn’t know if it would live up to her debut but hoooooo boy this one was EVEN BETTER.

kristyn j miller’s superpower is writing books that feel like big hugs. they make you feel safe and warm and tucked into bed all comfy. they make you feel at home.

given our history was so so so beautiful and so comforting. i cried a lot because I just love clara and teddy so much and i just think they deserve the world. their love for each other and how they grew up together and saw each other become real people and their long distance friendship? it all gave me butterflies. i LOVED the side characters and i feel like we truly had the chance to get to know them which i loved!!!!!!!

(reagan or izzy/bel book in the future? maybe?)

i also just wanted to shoutout the fact that SO many iconic things were mentioned. polyvore, myspace, dial up internet, my chemical romance, club penguin? this book really said ✨relatable✨!!!!!

tldr: I loved this book with my whole heart. i will read this again when it comes out and I’ll probably buy the physical copy just so I can write little notes and highlight my favourite lines just like teddy & clara do.

READ THIS BOOK✌🏻🩷

“Love is the hard road. The person you’re meant to be with is whoever you choose to be with. And you’ll have to fight for it and make sacrifices for it every step of the way. You just have to choose someone who’s worth all that trouble, and then you have to keep on choosing them, every day.”

I really loved this book. It was sweet, cozy, and a quick easy romance to get into. Honestly, what I truly loved was the reality of the romance. These two grew up together, fell in love, knew it wouldn’t work multiple times while they worked on pursuing their dreams and inevitably broke each other’s heart just to find them again years later. The dual timelines gave us beautiful perspective shift of our mains growing up and provided the background knowledge we needed. The story was great, and I would definitely recommend if you love:

📖 Friends to Lovers
📖 Second Chance Romance
📖 History Buff
📖 Academia
📖 Dual Timelines (Past & Present)

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing the arc for this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!
given our history is a friends to lovers & second chance romance about two history professors, unfolding in two timelines: one in the present and the other starting from when they met at 17. despite my initial excitement for the book, being a big fan of romance in academic settings, it ended up being just an okay read. to me, the characters weren't very charismatic, and i couldn't really understand the reasoning for why they couldn't be together, so i didn't feel any emotional connection to the story.

Given Our History by Kristyn J. Miller
5⭐️
Thank you @netgalley and @stmartinspress for this arc!
Don’t you just love a good friends-to-lovers romance?🤭
Clara Fernsby and Theodore Harrison the Third are history professors (insert failed pun right here)🥲. Clara’s is up for her tenure at her private liberal arts college where she teaches. For the fall semester, they bring in a visiting scholar who so happens to be Theodore.
Clara and Theo have known each other since childhood but have lost touch. Now, they’re working on projects and sharing the same office space as each other which stirs up past feelings.
I ate this book up in one evening! I also loved how they made mixtape for each other when they were younger. ALSO, My Chemical Romance! Be sure to pick up Given Our History on August 27, 2024!

This was such a cute read!

Clara Fernsby meets Teddy Harrison at a camp they both attend as teenagers. Both homeschooled and at camp to maintain socialization. They fall easily into friendship and over the years it doesn’t take long to realize, they may feel more for each other. When they start to think about exploring that, their futures and plans seem to stand in the way.

The story is told in the present with flashbacks to the past and how their relationship started and the events that took place to lead them to the present- where Clara is a history professor at Irving trying to secure a tenure position and Teddy is also there, as a visiting professor from Carnegie.

Clara is a planner and she has a certain direction she is planning for her life to take. Will Teddy being back in the picture and her career not taking exactly the path she planned help her realize that sometimes life will take a different direction, and that’s ok and may even end up better than she could have planned herself.

I appreciate the opportunity to read this ARC and would recommend, especially to any history lovers 😀

This was very cute and very cozy second chance romance that made this a quick and easy read! There are *multiple* timelines.

Absolutely lovely. This was a believable, romantic, and well-developed love story. I was enchanted by each and every character, hope there will be spin-offs for many of them, and can't wait to read more from this author.. well done!!

This was such a cute and special read to me!! I absolutely loved Teddy and Clara’s story and seeing the unique way they cared for each other for so many years. This was just so cozy and I found a lot of comfort with these characters!

I found the friends to lovers and second chance romance in this book really sweet and intriguing to read about. The homeschooling experience and summer camp storyline were very unique to me and I found it so sweet to see the way two people found lots of comfort and love within each other. While there were definitely parts of their story that frustrated me (especially Clara’s reasoning for them not being in a relationship), I actually didn’t mind it too much. Something about that frustration made the characters more realistic to me, and that coupled with the writing made me enjoy it all!

Clara’s character was complicated and I loved it. I really enjoyed exploring how she viewed life, friendship, love, and history. Witnessing her experience as a homeschooled girl who wanted to experience more than she was really resonated with me as well. Altogether it just made me feel for her character. Teddy! Harrington! My goodness did he give me butterflies the entire story!!! I loved the way we got to see him grow up and figure out what he wanted, and how that made him who he is in the present. Just everything he did all the way from when they first met had me kicking and squealing. It was just soooo apparent how much he cared for Clara!

I enjoyed the past and present time jumps, the way Teddy and Clara reconnect in their present life, and the university setting as a whole. I loved seeing their passion for history shine through both their job and relationship. Also, Clara’s sister being a student brought in such a fun element and just elevated the story as a whole. I was LIVING for the millennial references too :) I would have liked to explore Clara and Izzy’s relationship a little more (as I found it really interesting) as well as Clara and Reagan’s, as I was just so curious about Reagan as a character in general. Just more from these characters would have been amazing!

Overall, I really enjoyed this story, both Teddy and Clara’s characters, the dynamics explored within their friendships and families, and the way the story explores academia and chasing after your goals. I frequently find myself rereading bits of this story because it just brings a smile to my face and the comfiest feeling!!

5⭐️ 1🌶️

This was the perfect, feel-good, dual timeline, second chance romance. I LOVED this! The perfect cozy fall book.

I was beginning to get tired of second chance/dual timeline books, but I’m so glad I read this. Teddy and Clara have such great chemistry. I think my favorite part of it all was that it just felt so believable. There wasn’t just some horrible miscommunication trope. It wasn’t overly dramatic or childish. It truly felt like two people who loved each other deeply but needed to grow up individually before being able to be together in earnest. Right person, wrong time.

The author wrote it in such a way that I felt like I was living through it. The scenery of a college campus was done so well. The dual timeline was executed perfectly in my opinion. It didn’t feel like it was dragging out the past and trying to be dramatic in the way that other dual timeline books do.

I have no notes. This was so cute. Quick, easy, fun, and enjoyable read!! Thank you NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this eARC!

3.5 ⭐️ a cute and cozy second chance romance with a whole lot of friends to lovers. I did enjoy the past and present chapters but sometimes the jumps from past to present weren’t seamless. & listen I’m all for a good miscommunication moment but Clara’s reasoning for her and Teddy not being together seemed silly.

I did enjoy the academic setting of the book & location! All the extreme millennial references were SO REAL & gave me so much nostalgia I loved it!

This book was a very different and fun take on a second-chance romance and a friends-to-lovers romance; one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Clara and Teddy became friends as teenagers and quickly grew to be best friends. After a falling out post college, they spend years not speaking to each other before Teddy becomes a visiting professor at the college where Clara teaches. The two reunite, rebuild their long-lost friendship, and finally decide to commit to the feelings they’ve had since they were teens.

I am hesitant to fully call this book second-chance romance since Clara and Teddy were really friends with feelings rather than a couple, but it reads as one despite that technicality. This book uses flashbacks to create a dual timeline effect of things playing out both in the past and in the present, which is one of my absolute favorite tropes. This works quite well here, though there were times I wish the timelines had lined up a bit more perfectly (though these were few and far between considering the number of places in which they lined up quite well).

Clara and Teddy are great main characters, owning up to their own shortcomings readily in a way that felt very human. Clara is so relatably awkward in her initial interactions with Teddy after years apart, and even for a while after that.

Overall, this book was entertaining, binge-able, and utterly likable.

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

A great second-chance love story. The plot is a little slow at times between the past/present narrative, but the story is very well-written.

I truly love this sweet story! Clara and Teddy are such a beautiful pair, I loved, watching them, grow up together, becoming lovely, adorable, deeply feeling people. they both become better, more mature versions of themselves, while still keeping their true personalities and feelings for each other throughout their decade of knowing one another. In the same vein as LOVE AND OTHER WORDS characters are deeply lovely, beautiful people, and I just fell completely in love with both of them and their ever-evolving relationship ❤️

thank you for the arc :)