In the final chapter of the beloved Bergman Brothers series, Chloe Liese weaves a heartwarming tale of unexpected love and self-discovery. Viggo Bergman, a hopeless romantic balancing a busy life, finds an unlikely partner in Tallulah Clarke, a writer struggling with her creativity. They strike a deal: Tallulah helps revive Viggo’s struggling bookstore, and he assists her with overcoming her intense writer’s block. Despite their differences, sparks fly as they navigate their unconventional arrangement, leading to a profound connection that challenges their beliefs about love. With humor and warmth, Liese reminds us that sometimes, love can be found where we least expect it.
1. “ONLY AND FOREVER” is the seventh and final book in the Bergman Brothers Series. How does it feel seeing this series come to conclusion? Is it everything you’d hoped it’d be?
It’s bittersweet to bring this series to a close because I have grown to know and love these characters so deeply, they feel like family to me! But, at the same time, it feels right to be ending the Bergmans—I truly feel like every sibling got a love story and growth journey that I’m proud of, that allowed them to shine, that gave readers a nuanced, unique experience in each book while at the same time allowing them to revisit characters they loved and to see characters who’d once played secondary roles getting their moment in the spotlight. I’m very proud of how this series unfolded as a whole, and I’m incredibly happy with how ONLY AND FOREVER unfolded as its own story but also in how it wrapped up the series, too. I think it gave Viggo his moment to shine, gave readers a love interest who’s delightfully different form him and also his perfect match, while at the same time giving them plenty of Bergman family presence to bring this series to a satisfying, joyful close.
2. How does this book tie into the rest of the series? Can we expect to see characters from other books?
This book actually picks up right where Ziggy’s book, IF ONLY YOU, the previous installment in the series, left off. It was fun to show a beat from Ziggy’s story from Viggo’s perspective, and to really immerse readers right off the bat in how Viggo’s feeling about life and love (and how ready he is for his happily ever after!). You can absolutely expect to see all the Bergmans, including the siblings’ kids. This story has a fun little time jump that allows us to see how couples and their kids are growing and how Viggo’s both carving his own path unique from his siblings’ but also how he leans on them and stays connected to them, too.
3. Do any of these secondary characters play significant roles in the plot?
I don’t think anyone will be surprised that Oliver, who’s always been so tethered to Viggo, closest to him in age, and so close to him emotionally, plays an important part in this story, but honestly all the siblings and their partners play meaningful roles in how ONLY AND FOREVER unfolds. It’s only natural that Viggo, who’s so devoted to his family, always up in their business, meddling, and checking in and invested in their happiness, has forged close bonds with them and that this closeness means everyone shows up for him and also his love interest, Tallulah, throughout the story.
4. What makes “ONLY AND FOREVER” unique compared to your previous works?
I explored a trope I haven’t before in making this a “room-mance” (a romance between roommates), and it’s probably the most meta book I’ve written, talking lots about the romance genre, which Viggo loves and builds his livelihood around as a romance bookstore owner and bookseller; and also talking about writing and storytelling more generally, from the perspective of Tallulah, who’s a writer suffering from writer’s block. Viggo and Tallulah, too, are very original types of characters in this story world, too. Sure, they’re a golden retriever / black cat dynamic and I’ve done the adjacent grumpy gal / sunshine guy trope before, but they’re intense expressions of that. Viggo is a deeply optimistic, hopeless romantic. Tallulah is a very wounded, guarded, cynical person. This makes them clash at the outset quite fundamentally on their outlooks when it comes to the meaning of love, intimacy, and life, and it means they have, probably more than any other romantic pairing in the Bergman series, a significant growth arc as their perspectives are challenged and as they realize that their outlooks are evolving, not at the expense of who they are, but in a way that expands their lives and beliefs. I think they’re a beautiful example of how falling in love really can upend your perspective without coming at the cost of your authentic self, but instead enriches it.
5. What challenges did you face while writing this particular story?
Motivating myself to start was really my biggest challenge—I was reluctant to begin what I knew was the ending. Once I finished this story, that was it for the Bergmans, and I was sad at the thought of having to say goodbye. But once I got started, I just fell in love with Viggo and Tallulah as I spent time in their perspectives and realized how they were going to grow as individuals and as a couple.
6. Are there any personal experiences or influences that shaped the narrative?
As a writer, I have certainly, like Tallulah struggled with burnout and writer’s block, so as I wrote her perspective, I tapped into the struggle you feel when you want to write but you feel like you have nothing to give or like no matter what you write, it’s falling short of what you wanted. As a romance reader and lover of the genre, I poured my appreciation for this beautiful genre into Viggo’s character and how central it is to his path personally and professionally. I also spent time really exploring the vulnerabilities and also gifts of neurodivergence as well as chronic conditions, how they certainly make life hard and isolating sometimes, but how they also can be bridges to building greater intimacy, when we entrust our needs and struggles to people who make us feel seen and safe and loved not in spite of those aspects but simply because they’re part of who we are.
7. Can you describe the emotional journey readers can expect from the book?
I’d say readers should expect a tender, healing, joyful story. In terms of its emotional tenor, I’d say it’s maybe closest to book four, WITH YOU FOREVER—lots of real life being lived, the intimacies of sharing your daily existence under the same roof. And yet it’s also energetic and sexy in that Tallulah and Viggo have lots of shared interests, including their attraction to each other (which they try to resist acting on), so they parry and tease and poke and taunt each other fondly, making for lots of playfulness and pining and, I hope, a very satisfying pay-off when these two finally throw themselves at each other and confess their love.
8. How do you balance the elements of romance, drama, and any other genres present in the book?
It always comes down to the characters for me, the kind of growth journey I think they need as individuals and as a couple. Romance is always central of course, because this is the genre I’m writing, but I also devote time in my stories to facing and healing from past wounds, leaning into the support of friends and family for wisdom and comfort, as well as turning to therapy for emotional and mental health self-care and healing.
9. What kind of research did you undertake for this book?
I pulled from my own experience of neurodivergence, including ADHD, but I also connected with sources who have lived experience of ADHD and type one diabetes, interviewing them and receiving as well as incorporating their authenticity feedback on the book once they read it. I also dug into learning the logistics of running a bookstore, which is pretty central to the plot.
10. Did you face any unexpected surprises or twists while writing “ONLY AND FOREVER”?
Honestly, no. I had this story framed out, which is as detailed as I go in my plotting, and then I let the characters take the wheel. By the time I finished, I wasn’t one bit surprised by where I’d landed—with a story that is emotional, playful, and hopeful, and with two characters who for all their differences, really do feel like a perfect match.
11. What advice would you give to aspiring writers who are working on their own romance novels and want to build a series like yours?
I would say that you should write the kind of stories you love to read, the stories you want to read even more of. As for building a series, take notes as you go! I have what I call the “Bergman Bible” where I noted all sorts of important chronological events, details of characterization, and significant traits, tropes, and plot points so that I could keep track of who was doing what and when as I continued writing this series and having formerly main characters now as secondary characters showing up, their lives and life events intertwining with my current book’s main characters’.
12. How do you approach writing complex characters like those in “ONLY AND FOREVER”?
My writing’s heartbeat is the complexity of my characters. That’s what I focus on, first and foremost. I ask myself, who are they? What do they want from life? What do they fear? What lies about themselves and the world around them do they believe that’s holding them back from growth, from healing, from love, in all its many forms? I really spend time getting to know my characters and developing them as much as I can before I start writing, and then, as I’m writing, I keep asking myself what’s motivating them from one scene to another, what do they need next, how do they feel about this situation? I always find that these characters end up being even richer, more nuanced, from what I envisioned at the outset, and then I go back to the beginning as I revise and really work in those idiosyncrasies and character traits into their perspectives so that the place I ended up with them at the end of my first draft now bears out in every beat of the story.
13. What was your favorite scene to write in this book?
I really do love every chapter of this book, but I think the one that made me laugh the hardest and just feel the magic of their snarky, playful, teasing dynamic was when they go to IKEA and get into it about flatpack furniture and fake plants; their banter was just so delightful and the energy had me grinning ear to ear as I wrote it. The scene that made me most emotional was later on, when Tallulah’s blood sugar gets low, and she lets Viggo in quite literally, into her room, to help her, but also really opens her heart to him in that chapter, too, and lets him in that way as well.
14. What do you hope readers will take away from “ONLY AND FOREVER”?
I hope they take away the encouragement and challenge to explore connections with people different from us, to open ourselves up to the possibility that people don’t have to be like us to be people that we can like, and learn from, and even learn to love. I hope they feel like they’ve been hugged and filled with hope and reminded that the people worthy of our time and lives and hearts are people who won’t make us feel bad for the parts of ourselves that we feel vulnerable about and that we struggle with, people who do the work to see and understand us and love us just as we are.
15. Without giving away spoilers, what can readers expect as they finish the final chapter of the book?
It’s pretty hard to say without spoiling it, but I’d say readers can expect a big familial presence, a celebration of love, in all its many forms, and a happy ending not just for Viggo and Tallulah, but for all the Bergmans.