[Skye’s Review]: With You Forever (The Bergman Brothers #4) by Chloe Liese

With You Forever
by Chloe Liese
Release Date: September 14th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary Romance, Diverse, Romance
Source: Author
Format Read: ARC
Goodreads

Cozy up for a heartfelt, humorous, sizzling slow-burn in this marriage of convenience romance about finding love—and home—in the most unlikely of places.​

Axel

Rooney Sullivan is sunshine incarnate. Warm, bright, always smiling, she’s everything I’m not and the last person I have any business desiring. Desperate to hide a hopeless attraction, I’ve done everything possible to keep my distance...until a charades game gone wrong brought that to a grinding halt.

Since then, steering clear of Rooney has been impossible. In a matter of months, she’s kissed me speechless, commandeered my art career, and infiltrated not only my dreams but my home. The woman who was once avoidable has become the last thing I needed: temptingly within reach.

Rooney

Axel Bergman is a gorgeous grump who doesn’t have the time of day for me. Thankfully, I’ve kept my crush under wraps...well, until I kissed him. Charades got away from me, okay? It was an accident! I haven’t seen him since, which is for the best. My life is a mess, and the last thing I need is to embarrass myself further with the man who avoids me like that’s his job rather than painting modern masterpieces.

It seems the universe, however, has a different plan. When Axel and I unexpectedly find our paths—and problems—converging, a marriage of convenience proves the perfect solution. At least, until I’m facing my most serious problem yet: a once-loveless marriage of convenience that’s inconveniently become a love match, after all.

With You Forever is a sunshine and grump, marriage of convenience romance about a shy artist on the autism spectrum*, and a smiley smartypants who has a chronic IBD. Complete with combustible cooking lessons, interfering family and friends, and a steamy slow burn, this standalone is the fourth 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.

*This is an #OwnVoices story for its portrayal of autism by an autistic author.

I received this book for free from Author in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Chloe Liese is one of my favorite authors, and her Bergmans series is one of my all-time favorite romance series. Needless to say, With You Forever was one of my most anticipated reads for 2021. I squealed with glee when I realized I got to read an arc of it!!

I’ve been waiting for Rooney and Axel’s book with bated breath. I couldn’t wait to see how Liese was going to write their love story. She didn’t disappoint. This book was everything I wanted and more.
This book has everything you could want! Sunshine and grump trope? Check. Slow-burn romance? Check. Marriage of convenience? Check. Swoonworthy romance? Check. Witty banter? Check. Great representation? Check. Seriously, what else could you ask for in a romance book?
Oh yeah, nothing. 

Once I started this book, I struggled to put it down. I’m not kidding. I read it on my lunch break because working instead of reading was slowly killing me. Rooney and Axel’s romance was nothing short of beautiful. They formed such a strong friendship which then turned into a romantic relationship. Everything felt natural between them. I adore them. They understand each other on a deeper level and never judge each other. 

One of my favorite things about this series and Liese’s writing is the representation. Her characters are diverse and written exceptionally well. So far in this series, there has been loss of hearing rep, anxiety rep, (ownvoices) autism rep, chronic IBD rep, curvy rep, and rheumatoid arthritis rep. As usual, Liese knocked it out of the park with the representation in this book. Liese wrote Rooney’s character arc beautifully. Throughout this book, we watch Rooney learn to accept that IBD is part of her life, and we see her become comfortable talking about it instead of being embarrassed. The same goes for Axel; he had grown comfortable in his ways and with his autism diagnosis.  Axel had convinced himself that he couldn’t have a meaningful romantic relationship with anyone. He thought he was better off alone.

I could go on and on about this book and this series, but I’ll end this review by saying everyone needs to check out this book. You’ll love it.