Given Our History is a dual timeline of friends-to-lovers romance that takes place in the setting of academia. We learn early on Clara and Teddy met at age 14 but have not spoken since a falling out almost a decade before and I couldn’t put this book down in order to find out why. I fell quickly for both Clara and Teddy and enjoyed seeing their story play out. 

Clara is hoping to avoid what she sees as the “mistakes” of her mother, who has put her career above everything and everyone as she pursues tenure. With Clara, Miller really set this book apart, shining light on the difficulty of being a highly educated woman in a male-dominated field and the lengths women go to enter the “old boys club.” Through her descriptions of the lengths Clara took to ensure she checked the correct boxes for her career (given up swearing, no romantic life, etc.) Miller really brought a unique perspective to the romance genre. Enter Teddy, also an academic but also the one more willing to put his career in perspective and seemingly more wiling to accept his feelings. A refreshing spin where the man has to “save” the woman from herself. 

Overall, I really enjoyed both timelines and felt Miller captured both career woman guilt and teenage crushes with equal skill. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to see an advanced degree woman achieve success and love!

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