Hey ForeverBookers,
I’ve just finished perhaps my favourite contemporary romance book that I’ve read in YEARS! “Binding 13” is a story based around the sport of rugby, first and foremost I’d say. It has a lot of rugby jargon in it, which I didn’t understand. In my copy there was an index at the front that explains the terms that I didn’t know the meaning of. While rugby is a main part of the story, the driving focus is the relationship that develops between Shannon and Johnny, or FMC and our MMC. They’re what holds the story together.
5 STARS!
“Binding 13” is set in Ireland and starts when Shannon, our FMC has to start at a new school because she’s getting bullied at her current school. The new school is called Tommen, hence the series name “The Boys of Tommen.” Shannon was bullied for lots of different things at school, but her main trouble is at home with her abusive father. I just wanted to kill him if I’m being honest, but I think that’s how you’re meant to feel towards his character. Her mother is also a waste of space too, who always takes the easy option when it comes to her dad. I think she’s scared of him, like Shannon. Anyway, Shannon meets Johnny, a boy from Tommen on her first day when she has to go across the school fields to avoid being late for class. Johnny at first doesn’t like her. He has a girlfriend and what appears to be the perfect life. How do things change? I’ll let you read for yourself but it’s a really good story for one with no fantastical elements! I got through it in a matter of days and the text is really small in my copy!
In “Binding 13” we get both our lead characters, Johnny and Shannon’s perspectives. This was good because we could see and feel what they were feeling in each event. The chapters almost alternate throughout the novel. There are some circumstances when we get two Johnny chapters or two Shannon chapters together but for the most part we see from both their perspectives on each event that occurs that involves both of them.
If you’re triggered by physical/mental abuse of ANY type then I’m not sure this is the book for you. Shannon, our FMC is abused by her father. There are multiple abusive scenes in the story for her. Not just one. There is bad language use too. In one of the quotes in the spoiler section below, Johnny uses the F word.
I read Binding 13 for a few readathons. They were:
Reading Rivalry - Perserverance against the odds - I think that Shannon and Johnny have this sort of relationship! They’ll always support each other no matter what!
Always Fully Booked Reading Challenge 2026 - A Book with a pun in the title - Binding is a rugby reference and 13 is Johnny’s shirt number.
Always Fully Booked, On the Cover Book Challenge 2026 - Cursive writing - The title is printed in cursive font.
26 in 2026 Reading Challenge - this is the 3rd book I’ve crossed off that list!
Spoilers Below (a few for the Twilight Saga too. I use it as a comparison below).
“Who are you?” she croaked out, depending entirely on my hands to keep her head upright.
“I’m Johnny,” I told her, biting back a smirk. “Who are you?”
“Shannon,” she whispered. Her eyelids drooped a little but quickly sprung back open when I nudged her cheeks. “Like the river,” she added with a small sigh.
I chuckled at her response.
“Well, Shannon like the river,” I said brightly, desperate to keep her focused and talking. “Your parents are on the way. They’re probably going to take you to the hospital for a checkup.”
“Johnny,” she groaned and then winced. “Johnny. Johnny. Johnny. This is bad…”
“What?” I urged. “What’s bad?”
“My dad,” I whispered.
I frowned. “Your dad?”
“Can you save me?”
“Do you need me to save you?”
This is our main couple’s first main interaction. I loved how Johnny kept referring to Shannon as “Shannon, like the river,” in the story because that’s how Shannon introduced herself to him. It was sweet. Johnny is a reliable hero throughout the story. I didn’t feel as if he would have left Shannon at any point. When she tells him to go later in the book he does but he doesn’t want to. He wants to be her stable thing, the thing that won’t change no matter how much she wants him to leave her alone at first.
Shannon is obviously scared of her father because he abuses her, as I noted above. Her mother doesn’t give a flip about this. I honestly thought this was because she was scared until the end when she openly watches her husband abuse Shannon! I was angry at this point in the novel. I’ll reiterate again, if you’re triggered by physical/mental abuse of ANY type then I reiterate that I’m not sure this is the book for you.
The story is really about Shannon and Johnny learning that it’s okay to make mistakes and be themselves. We see this in, “I didn’t bother denying it anymore. There was no point. I had never felt this much for another person in my entire life.” Here, Johnny is saying that he doesn’t need rugby like he needs Shannon. I loved this. It’s nice to see a guy so openly devoted to his girl, even if it is only in fiction. Shannon is not a mistake. Rugby is! Or at least that’s how Johnny comes to see it in “Binding 13.” Rugby is just a passion, Shannon is his forever. He’ll sacrifice his love of it for her. I call that devotion. “I just wanted her for keeps” also shows this. Johnny is 17 years old, which although is young, I’ve read about lots of characters younger than him in the past and I don’t think any of those were this devoted to their partners, apart from maybe Edward Cullen in Twilight, also a 17 year old, but he had several hundred years on Johnny as he was a vampire and he had a child on the way with Bella too in “Breaking Dawn” at least, so REALLY different circumstances.
“In this moment being here with him was as easy as breathing.
It was an odd reaction being in such close proximity to Johnny. But there it was. I was enjoying being with him.”
Shannon just wants an easy life, which she certainly doesn’t get at home! She knows that she won’t get an easy life, either if things remain the way they are. This was really sad. I don’t think I’ve read a book about abuse before. At least not one that portrays events so open and violently. I don’t want to put any triggering quotes here but there are several circumstances where she’s at home alone with her father and although nothing sexual arises, violence is the key to those scenes.
Lastly, I’ll sum up the friend group in the Boys of Tommen series. Shannon has two friends before she gets to Tommen, who go there, Claire and Lizzie. Claire is certainly more of a friend than Lizzie in my eyes, however, as Lizzie is more concerned with her love life. They’re not too present in the story but I want another duology set in this world to be about about Gibsie and his girlfriend, Claire where I can read their love story. I liked Gibsie, another player on the rugby team and a good friend of Johnny’s, a lot. He was very funny! I actually laughed a few times while reading this book, something that I never do in books. One of those times was when Johnny is in hospital and wants Shannon. He’s delirious about her below.
“No, Johnny love, you’re not dying.”
“Thank fuck,” I groaned. “Cause I wanna see that girl again.”
“Okay, Johnny. Just relax buddy.”
“No, no, no, Da. I’m serious.” I slurred. I think I love that girl.
“Well, who’s this girl?”
“She’s a river,” I sighed and closed my eyes. “I’m keeping her, Da.”
“Okay, son,” he coaxed. “You keep the girl.”
“She makes my heart go, like, whoa.”
“Is that right?” he mused.
“So bad, Da.” I sighed. “Boom, boom, fucking boom.” I shook my head. “All the time.”
“Is he awake?” my mothers voice filled my ears, followed by another flash of light and the sound of another door clicking.
“He’s something alright,” Da chuckled.”
Johnny has had an accident while playing rugby above. He’s in hospital and high on drugs. He has no idea what he’s saying. His dad isn’t present in the book apart from this scene. His mam is in another scene earlier in the book. She meets Shannon and likes her. Another character in “Binding 13” is Shannon’s older brother, Joey. I believe the next duology after “Keeping 13,” is about him and his girlfriend, Aoife.
Overall then, Binding 13 was really good. I loved the story and the characters. I can’t wait to read Keeping 13, the 2nd book in the series, which I believe closes Shannon and Johnny’s story. I loved how the romance was very much central to the story. I’m going to read a manga next, which I don’t review here, unless its a series review like I did for “Inuyasha” last time I posted.
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