Releasing 10 by Chloe Walsh

With Releasing 10, Chloe Walsh concludes her iconic Boys of Tommen series not with a dramatic bang, but with a tender, aching crescendo that reverberates through every chapter. This sixth and final installment departs from the sports-heavy adrenaline of its predecessors and ventures into emotionally raw terrain—guided by the haunting voice of Lizzie Young and the quiet strength of Hugh Biggs.

Where Binding 13 introduced readers to the shy, gifted Shannon and rugby golden boy Johnny Kavanagh, and Saving 6/ Redeeming 6 tackled addiction and grief through Joey Lynch, Releasing 10 is perhaps the most intimate installment yet. This isn’t about victory on the pitch or redemption arcs in public. This is about surviving the private battles—the kind fought behind closed doors, inside hospital walls, and within the ever-fluctuating tides of mental illness.

Summary: A Love That Grows in the Dark

The story opens with Lizzie Young—a girl who has never quite belonged. With a bipolar diagnosis at a young age and a family that doesn’t understand how to love her through it, Lizzie is isolated, often punished more than protected. Her connection to Hugh Biggs, formed on a school bus in childhood, quickly evolves into something elemental. Their bond is forged in whispered conversations, silent gestures, and years of shared understanding.

What follows is not just a love story. It’s a chronicle of endurance. Of relapse and recovery. Of identity and isolation. Hugh becomes Lizzie’s harbor in every storm—fighting her battles alongside her, even when she can barely lift her own sword.

Set in Ireland’s Tommen, with flashbacks threading through their childhood into young adulthood, the book captures how life’s harshest truths can coexist with love’s most tender moments. And how some hearts, no matter how bruised, still choose to stay open.

Core Characters: Beautifully Broken and Brave

Lizzie Young: The Girl Who Feels Too Much

Lizzie is among Chloe Walsh’s most powerfully realized characters. Her journey is not linear, nor is it conveniently resolved. She experiences childhood misdiagnosis, institutionalization, emotional abuse, and moments of paralyzing despair. But she’s also fierce in her self-awareness and fights like hell for clarity, for connection, and eventually, for herself.

Walsh never uses Lizzie’s mental health as a plot device—it is the plot. Through Lizzie’s lens, readers feel the confusion of a manic high, the crushing isolation of depression, and the indignity of being misjudged for simply being “too much.” Yet she never becomes a victim of her story. She’s the architect of her healing, however imperfect.

Hugh Biggs: The Quiet Hero

If Lizzie is fire and chaos, Hugh is calm water and earth. He is patient, loyal, and heartbreakingly consistent. But he’s not without complexity. Raised by a neglectful mother and emotionally distant father, Hugh’s nurturing instincts often mask his own pain. What makes Hugh remarkable isn’t just his love for Lizzie—but his understanding that love alone isn’t enough. He educates himself, advocates for Lizzie, and ultimately gives her the space she needs to grow.

Hugh’s evolution from a sweet child to a compassionate man mirrors Lizzie’s chaotic arc in the most compelling way. Their love is the kind that doesn’t ask to be easy—it asks to be honest.

Themes and Symbolism

Walsh has always infused her work with rich thematic material, but Releasing 10 takes that to a new level:

• Mental Health and Misdiagnosis: The novel lays bare the harsh realities of misdiagnosed teens and the failings of mental healthcare systems, especially in the 1990s–2000s. Lizzie’s struggle isn’t romanticized—it’s treated with clinical nuance and human compassion.
• Unseen Battles: While earlier Tommen books showcased visible trauma—bullying, poverty, substance abuse—this story centers on invisible wounds. The war Lizzie fights is internal, and Walsh treats that war with just as much urgency.
• Chosen Family vs Biological Bonds: Lizzie’s biological family fails her in critical ways. Yet she is not without love. Hugh, his family, and eventually her own understanding of self-worth fill the void where familial affection should’ve been.
• Love as Practice, Not Promise: The novel constantly reiterates that love isn’t a cure. It’s a decision—a practice—one that must be made repeatedly, even in the face of uncertainty.

Structure and Style

Structurally, Releasing 10 adopts a dual POV with timestamped chapters, offering emotional immediacy and narrative depth. Lizzie’s chapters often read like journal entries—fragmented, reflective, and raw—while Hugh’s voice is steadier, grounded in logic and love. This stylistic contrast is purposeful and elegant.

Walsh’s prose is emotionally immersive but never indulgent. Her language is lyrical but restrained, balancing intensity with moments of levity and stillness. Dialogues crackle with authenticity, especially during high-stakes emotional confrontations. And like all Tommen books, there’s an Irish lilt to the rhythm of her sentences that makes them sing.

The pacing is deliberate—slow in parts, but never without purpose. Time lapses aren’t used to skip over trauma but to emphasize how healing is never immediate.

Strengths: Where the Book Shines

1. Authentic Mental Health Representation: Few YA novels portray bipolar disorder with such care. Walsh neither sugarcoats nor villainizes Lizzie’s condition.
2. Deep Emotional Resonance: The story is emotionally rich, often painfully so. Readers will cry, rage, and hope alongside Lizzie and Hugh.
3. Character-Driven Storytelling: This is a relationship book through and through. Every plot point serves character development, not the other way around.
4. Closure Without Cliché: While it’s the final book, Releasing 10 doesn’t tie everything in a neat bow. Its ending is more cathartic than conclusive, which feels true to life.

Critique: A Few Cracks in the Mirror

While Releasing 10 is deeply impactful, some readers may find:

• Emotional Exhaustion: The relentless intensity of Lizzie’s journey may be overwhelming. There are few emotional reprieves.
• Lack of Subplots: Compared to earlier books that featured multiple character arcs, this story stays laser-focused on Lizzie and Hugh, occasionally to the detriment of the worldbuilding.
• Uneven Pacing: Some mid-section chapters meander slightly, revisiting conflicts that could have been condensed without losing impact.

Despite these minor drawbacks, the story’s core emotional power remains intact.

Context Within the Series

Here’s how Releasing 10 fits into the Boys of Tommen timeline:

1. Binding 13 (2018): Introduces Shannon Lynch and Johnny Kavanagh—sports, first love, trauma.
2. Keeping 13 (2018): Continues Shannon and Johnny’s growth, offers emotional payoffs.
3. Saving 6 (2023): The backstory of Joey Lynch, steeped in poverty, rage, and grief.
4. Redeeming 6 (2023): Joey’s healing arc and romantic redemption with Aoife Molloy.
5. Taming 7 (2024): Gibsie and Claire’s charming and fiery romance.
6. Releasing 10 (2025): Lizzie and Hugh’s emotionally rich love story, a profound look at mental health.

This final installment differs in tone but remains thematically aligned. While previous books examined external conflict, Releasing 10 is about the wars waged within.

Related Reads and Reader Recommendations

If Releasing 10 resonates with you, you may also enjoy:

• Verity by Colleen Hoover (for its psychological intensity)
• Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow (for its unflinching portrait of trauma)
• A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas (for its mental health-focused fantasy romance)
• When We Collided by Emery Lord (another sensitive depiction of bipolar disorder)

Final Thoughts

Releasing 10 is not a light read—but it is a necessary one. Chloe Walsh has created a heroine who bleeds truth and a love story that refuses to promise fairy tales. Instead, it offers something rarer: hope that doesn’t require perfection.

Lizzie Young’s voice will echo long after the final page. And Hugh Biggs will join the ranks of book boyfriends not for his bravado, but for his capacity to love without condition.

This is a book for anyone who’s ever felt like too much. Or not enough. For anyone who’s had to fight just to stay. For anyone who’s loved someone through the hard parts.