releasing 10 by chloe walsh
and discuss we shall
many of you won’t like this, so bear with me, ok?
this book is the sixth in the boys of tommen series by chloe walsh. set in ireland, the series introduces readers to the lives of johnny kavanagh, shannon lynch, gibsie, claire, lizzie, hughie, joey, and their friends as they navigate tommen college and their transition into adulthood.
so if you’ve read them, you can skip this part. if not, let me just explain:
the first two books follow johnny and shannon.
the third and fourth are about aoife and joey (shannon’s brother).
the fifth is gibsie and claire’s.
the sixth—releasing 10—is hughie and lizzie’s, and that’s the one we’re settling on today since it’s the latest release and the most controversial so far.
all of these books touch on very sensitive topics: sexual abuse, abuse, parental neglect, death of a child, suicide, drug addiction, rape… and the list keeps growing. so if you’re considering jumping into this series, i suggest you check out the full trigger warnings. your mental health is important.
now we shall discuss.
this isn’t your average review. there will be no synopsis, no persuasive pitch to go read this book immediately. au contraire. this is me, hating on an absolutely atrocious book. if you’re planning to read it, you may want to look away now.
i downloaded it the day it came out (may 27th). but by page one, i knew this wasn’t going to be an emotional romance—it was a trauma dump.
i skimmed the last 50%. not because i was bored. because i felt sick. the book is filled with disturbing, sad, and sexually explicit scenes. i didn’t want to keep going. i just wanted it to be over.
the controversies (aka a list of all the things that made me mad):
YA? where? the first issue is that this book is promoted and labeled as young adult. if my teenage brain had read this, i would’ve been traumatized and sent to therapy immediately. this is not YA. the publishing house needs to fix that.
child POVs?? the entire book focuses on their childhoods. i felt weird reading from the POV of a 3-year-old, 5-year-old, 7-year-old. and that weirdness turned into full-on discomfort when graphic SA was described—toward a child.
kids talking like this? i’ve seen on tiktok that irish kids really do talk like they do in the book, but still—i couldn’t get past 11-year-olds dry humping, being lustful, and discussing girls they’ve kissed or had sex with. it was just… ridiculous.
yes, this is a list of things i hated. sorry not sorry.
awareness/ detail porn. bringing awareness to serious issues is fine. but writing detailed CSA scenes? heavy sexual content about young teens? from an adult author? it’s uncomfortable and weird.
plot holes. hughie talks in-depth about his family dynamic and relationship with his dad—so why didn’t we get any of that from claire in her book? they’re siblings! surely some overlap?
stuck in time. i’m kind of sick of every book resetting the timeline. like the next one will be back to b13, k13, t7 all over again, and we’ll have to start from scratch just to progress the story.
misleading promotion. this was sold as a “childhood friends to lovers” YA romance. it’s not. it’s a trauma-heavy, disturbing, 700+ page saga that barely feels romantic.
the katie stuff. i’ve seen people say katie forced hughie to date her, but that’s not true. they start off as friends, both openly not ready for a relationship, and then get together because they want to. he literally says he’s happy with her.
feely discourse. yeah, some of feely’s actions seem weird and make him look bad, but we haven’t read his book yet. it’s obvious he has a tough home life, and we don’t know the full history with katie. so let’s not write him off just yet. (because yes I will be reading the next ones ofc)
liz + gibsie conversation is a must. they need to talk. his experience could help liz validate her memories and understand herself better. she was manipulated into believing he was involved in caiohme’s death, and he obviously has deep trauma too. they need closure—for their own healing.
and finally: where were the parents??? most of the parents in this series are so fucking shitty at their jobs. and i just need to ask: where were the parents?
anyway so yes maybe this is not a review but this is how I feel and i’m sorry for those who liked this book. I just did not.
what do you think though? lets chat.
