Everything for You (Bergman Brothers) – book review

Everything for You
by Chloe Liese
Release Date: May 10, 2022
Book #5 in the Bergman Brothers series
Number of pages: 354
Contemporary Romance
Ages 16 and up
CW: chronic pain, anxiety,
cheating, homophobia
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Gavin
We’ve been teammates for two years, but it feels like a lifetime that Oliver Bergman’s been on my last nerve. A demanding captain and veteran player, I’m feared and friendless, while he’s the beloved rising star, all sunshine smiles and upbeat team spirit. To make matters worse, he’s obscenely attractive. In short: he’s genetically designed to get under my skin.
Avoiding Oliver has been my survival tactic on and off the field. But when Coach drops the bomb that we’re now co-captains, avoiding him becomes impossible, and keeping the truth from him–let alone my distance–is harder than ever.

Oliver
Life was great until soccer legend Gavin Hayes joined the team and proved he’s nothing like the guy I grew up idolizing. Instead, he’s a giant–albeit gorgeous–grump who lives to rain on my parade. I’ve sworn off pranks since entering the public eye, so rather than settle our differences the Bergman way, I’ve had to settle for killing Gavin with kindness. There’s just one problem: killing him with kindness is killing me.

To make matters worse, Coach gives us an ultimatum: put an end to our enmity or say goodbye to being captains. I’m prepared to be miserable while we meet her demands and make nice, but the last thing I expect is to discover an explosive attraction we can’t help but act on, and worse yet, to realize the man hiding beneath Gavin’s gruff exterior is all I’ve ever wanted.

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When this book first came out I was seeing it everywhere. Everyone loved this story. I don’t generally like to read hyped books right away because my expectations are too high at that point, but since I hadn’t read the previous books in the series I figured I should start and by the time I got here my expectations would be a bit more realistic. The thing is, I adore the previous four books in the series so I don’t think that tactic worked. Luckily, this is a pretty great story so I wasn’t disappointed.

Oliver and his brother Viggo have often been quite mischievous throughout this series. In fact, in one particular book, I was very disappointed with how far the duo took their antics. It’s good to see he has grown up in more ways than one. This story picks up in the same time frame as the last book left off, but then there is a time jump to get Ollie settled into a different aspect of his life. No longer a young college athlete, he has now been playing professional soccer for years. (I want to note here for those who haven’t read this series, I think this story can stand on its own if you haven’t read the others.)

While Ollie is at the beginning of his pro career, still gaining skills and getting better and better, Gavin is at the end of his illustrious soccer journey. He’s still a better player than most professional players in the US, but he can no longer compete with the European leagues and his body is breaking down each time he’s out on the field. When Gavin started playing for the same team as Oliver he got a double whammy. On one hand, he had an instant attraction to the tall ray of sunshine. On the other hand, watching Ollie play reminded him of all the things he could no longer do with such ease. Gavin is naturally taciturn and grumpy, being around Oliver’s enthusiasm and optimism made him even more so. Of course, these two have been butting heads ever since.

As someone who lives with chronic pain and anxiety, both of these characters spoke to me in different ways. I have seen some reviews that are critical of how the author portrays anxiety, but we all experience anxiety differently. There is not one way to experience a panic attack. In my eyes, she did a good job with the emotions and inner dialogue Ollie was going through.

These two gave me a lot of warm fuzzies. There were times, a lot of times, I wish they would have been a bit more upfront with one another. It’s obvious why they aren’t but still got frustrating. I would have also liked more of Gavin’s back story, and what we’re given is just hints until almost the end of the book. It still works, but I did find myself wanting more. I didn’t feel as though I got to know Gavin as well as I have the other significant others in this series. Which kept this story from hitting the same way some of the other books did. I would still highly recommend this story, as well as all the others. It’s a fantastic read. The scenes where Ollie and Gavin are talking, really talking, are perfect and gave me all the feels.

4 stars