Taming 7 Summary, Characters and Themes
Taming 7 by Chloe Walsh is the fifth installment in the popular Boys of Tommen series, a new adult/young adult Irish romance known for its deep emotional content and complex character relationships.
The novel follows Gerard “Gibsie” Gibson, the class clown with hidden traumas, and Claire Biggs, his childhood best friend and the epitome of sunshine, as they navigate the delicate transition from friendship to love. Their journey is filled with angst, emotional struggles, and unresolved past wounds, making this book a heart-wrenching friends-to-lovers story that fans of the series have been eagerly anticipating.
Summary
Taming 7 centers on the evolving relationship between Gibsie (Gerard Gibson) and Claire Biggs, childhood best friends who share a bond that transcends friendship. Gibsie, the ever-joking, carefree character in the previous books, carries deep trauma beneath his lighthearted exterior.
Haunted by the death of his father and sister in a drowning accident, Gibsie struggles with the fear of water and unresolved childhood abuse, making it hard for him to open up emotionally. Claire, who has always been able to soothe him, offers him comfort and a safe space to heal, but their relationship remains platonic for much of the story.
The book begins shortly after the events of Keeping 13, with the characters returning from summer break. Claire, now 16, and Gibsie continue their close-knit friendship, which involves sleeping together—platonically—due to Gibsie’s nightmares.
While Claire hopes their relationship will evolve into romance, Gibsie holds back due to his emotional baggage. Their bond is put to the test as both characters try to navigate the line between friendship and love.
Meanwhile, Gibsie’s tensions with Lizzy, Claire’s brother Huey’s ex-girlfriend, form a significant subplot. Lizzy, still dealing with her own traumas—particularly her sister Kea’s suicide—blames Gibsie’s family for Kea’s death.
However, the truth is more complex: Kea had discovered that Gibsie was being sexually abused by his stepbrother, Mark, but the guilt of not believing him initially led her to take her own life. Gibsie has kept this a secret, holding onto a second suicide note from Kea, and his emotional turmoil over the incident strains his relationship with Lizzy.
As tensions escalate, Claire tries to intervene in Lizzy’s self-destructive behavior, which includes cutting.
This leads to further conflict, especially when Claire reveals the existence of Kea’s second note in front of the entire group, causing a massive emotional breakdown. Gibsie, overwhelmed by the resurfacing of his traumas, retreats, but his close friend Johnny provides him with much-needed support.
The group dynamic, already fragile, shatters as these secrets come to light. By the end of the novel, the once close-knit friend group has fractured, leaving the characters emotionally distant from one another.
While Gibsie and Claire’s relationship progresses, the resolution is bittersweet, as the group’s future hangs in the balance. The novel leaves readers with a cliffhanger, setting the stage for further exploration of the characters’ journeys in the next book.
Despite its heavy themes of trauma, abuse, and emotional turmoil, Taming 7 includes lighter moments involving other characters, offering a balance to the angst and intensity of Gibsie and Claire’s story.
Characters
Gerard “Gibsie” Gibson
Gibsie is the heart of Taming 7, and much of the story revolves around his journey from the fun-loving, comedic side character to someone grappling with his deeper traumas. On the surface, he’s the class clown, always quick with a joke or an easy smile, and this persona has been a constant throughout the Boys of Tommen series.
However, as the novel delves deeper into his life, it becomes clear that this cheerful facade masks intense emotional scars. Gibsie is haunted by childhood trauma—namely, the drowning of his father and sister, which triggers his fear of water, and later, the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his stepbrother, Mark.
This abuse, and the guilt he carries about his sister’s death, profoundly impacts his ability to connect with others emotionally, particularly in a romantic sense. His relationship with Claire is central to his growth, as she is one of the few people who sees past his humor to the pain underneath.
However, Gibsie’s struggle to move beyond his trauma keeps him from fully embracing his feelings for Claire, adding tension to their relationship. He is a complex character, balancing humor with vulnerability, and this internal conflict is one of the more compelling elements of the novel.
His deep friendship with Johnny and his eventual breakdown after the revelation of his darkest secret highlight how much he has been holding inside. This makes his journey one of gradual healing.
Claire Biggs
Claire’s role in Taming 7 is both as a love interest for Gibsie and as someone deeply enmeshed in the novel’s emotional landscape. She’s characterized as the quintessential “sunshine” girl—warm, caring, and relentlessly optimistic.
Her relationship with Gibsie is longstanding; they’ve been friends since childhood, and her love for him has always been evident. However, as a character, Claire feels underdeveloped in comparison to others.
Much of her identity is tied to Gibsie, and her actions often seem immature or impulsive, which detracts from the depth of her character. While Claire is good at providing comfort and stability to Gibsie, helping him through his nightmares and fears, she lacks her own distinct character arc.
She is portrayed more as a supportive figure than someone with her own struggles or growth. The story misses opportunities to flesh out her internal life or show her dealing with anything outside of her relationship with Gibsie, making her seem one-dimensional.
The immaturity in her behavior, such as her tendency to lash out or act impulsively, particularly in her interactions with Lizzy, often undermines the reader’s ability to fully empathize with her.
Lizzy
Lizzy is one of the most polarizing characters in the novel, and her arc is rife with emotional tension. She has a deeply complicated personality, marked by trauma and unresolved grief.
Much of her anger stems from the death of her sister, Kea, who committed suicide after being assaulted by Gibsie’s stepbrother, Mark. Lizzy’s misunderstanding of the full story behind her sister’s death leads to her building a narrative that places much of the blame on Gibsie’s family.
This misplaced anger fuels much of the conflict between her and Gibsie throughout the novel. Lizzy is also struggling with her own demons, particularly her habit of self-harming, which is revealed in more detail in this book.
While some readers may find her actions difficult to sympathize with, her emotional depth and trauma make her a complex character. Her tumultuous relationship with Huey, Claire’s brother, adds another layer to her character, as she oscillates between wanting support and pushing people away.
Lizzy’s cutting and her emotional volatility reflect the darker, more difficult side of the novel’s exploration of trauma and grief. Though not always likable, Lizzy’s character is one of the more deeply developed figures in the story, representing a portrait of someone battling internal pain in ways that aren’t easily understood by those around her.
Huey Biggs
Huey plays a quieter but significant role in Taming 7. As Claire’s brother, he has a protective streak, especially where Lizzy is concerned.
His past romantic involvement with Lizzy, coupled with his ongoing support for her, underscores his compassionate nature. Despite his role as a caretaker of sorts for Lizzy, his character remains somewhat in the background.
His relationship with Lizzy is filled with tension due to her emotional instability and his current relationship with Katie, which creates a sense of unresolved feelings between them. Huey’s role in the novel is to act as a bridge between various characters, but his own story is not fully explored in this book.
His relationship with Feely, a quieter and more mysterious character, hints at deeper layers that are left for future books. Huey is portrayed as someone dependable, yet his involvement in the main plot feels secondary to the emotional turmoil between Claire, Gibsie, and Lizzy.
Johnny Kavanagh
Johnny, who has been a central figure in previous books, remains a grounding force in this novel. His friendship with Gibsie is a crucial element of the story, particularly in the moments when Gibsie is at his lowest.
Johnny’s unwavering support for Gibsie, especially in the scenes where Gibsie confronts his trauma, highlights the depth of their friendship. As one of the older, more mature characters, Johnny serves as a mentor of sorts to the younger characters.
His strength provides a much-needed anchor amidst the chaos of the group’s fracturing relationships. Johnny’s character arc is less pronounced in Taming 7, but his role as a protector and loyal friend is vital to the emotional dynamics of the story.
His intervention in Gibsie’s breakdown shows his ability to be there for his friends when they need him the most, adding a layer of emotional depth to the group’s friendships.
Feely
Feely, another character who plays a quieter role in the novel, remains something of a mystery. While his relationship with Lizzy and Huey hints at a deeper backstory, it is not fully explored in this installment.
He is portrayed as a more reserved, almost enigmatic figure, and his connection with the other characters adds to the novel’s web of complicated friendships and emotional ties. Feely’s story seems to be one that will unfold in greater detail in future books, as his role here is primarily supportive, rather than central to the main conflicts.
Themes
The Complexity of Trauma, Repression, and Emotional Healing
“Taming 7” by Chloe Walsh delves deeply into how trauma shapes the identities of its characters and, most importantly, how it manifests in their interactions, relationships, and personal development. Central to this exploration is Gibsy, whose traumatic past—marked by the tragic deaths of his father and sister and compounded by childhood abuse at the hands of his stepbrother—has become a significant barrier in his emotional life.
Gibsy’s humor and light-hearted persona serve as a coping mechanism, a way to hide his emotional wounds and avoid confronting the deeper scars he carries. Walsh’s portrayal of trauma doesn’t only reveal the long-term psychological impacts but also emphasizes how it interferes with intimate connections, both platonic and romantic.
While Gibsy’s trauma is at the forefront, Claire, his best friend and love interest, acts as the anchor in his life. Her role in Gibsy’s healing process is pivotal, offering him emotional security and understanding, but she is also presented as someone limited by her own emotional immaturity.
Despite her position as Gibsy’s safe harbor, the novel emphasizes how both characters must face their own emotional stagnation before they can truly heal. Claire’s inability to fully comprehend Gibsy’s trauma, combined with her lack of depth in her personal life, showcases how emotional healing is not just about proximity to someone else’s pain but about understanding and navigating one’s own emotional landscape.
The Burden of Secrets, Guilt, and the Weight of Responsibility
The novel portrays the complex moral and emotional dimensions of keeping secrets, specifically through Gibsy’s decision to withhold Kea’s second suicide note. This secret holds immense weight over the characters, especially as it relates to Lizzy, whose grief and anger over her sister’s death are misdirected at Gibsy’s family.
Gibsy’s decision to remain silent, although initially framed as an act of self-preservation, is later revealed as a form of emotional repression—his way of avoiding the catastrophic impact that the truth might have on the fragile social and emotional dynamics of their friend group. The theme of guilt is closely intertwined with this burden of secrets.
Gibsy’s reluctance to reveal the truth is not only fueled by fear of confrontation but by deep-seated guilt. His relationship with Kea is mired in unresolved guilt over her death, which was, in part, spurred by her disbelief in his abuse.
The novel illustrates how the weight of this unspoken truth infects not only Gibsy’s relationship with Lizzy but the entire social fabric of their friend group. This burden grows heavier as the novel progresses, creating an emotional rift that culminates in Claire’s revelation of the second letter, shattering the fragile stability of their relationships.
The Intersection of Trauma, Anger, and Misplaced Blame
One of the most striking themes in Taming 7 is the manner in which trauma manifests as anger, and how this anger is often misdirected. Lizzy, whose emotional volatility is a central conflict in the story, serves as the embodiment of unresolved trauma festering into destructive anger.
Her sister Kea’s suicide, a trauma that has shaped her life and her interactions with others, particularly Gibsy, becomes a source of intense emotional turmoil. Lizzy’s anger toward Gibsy stems from a narrative she has constructed—one in which Gibsy’s family bears sole responsibility for her sister’s death.
This misplaced blame creates a complex emotional barrier between her and the other characters, deepening the fractures in their relationships. The novel subtly unpacks how trauma can cloud judgment, leading to emotionally charged and often irrational behavior.
Lizzy’s inability to see beyond her version of events prevents her from healing or seeking true resolution. Moreover, her self-destructive tendencies, such as cutting, illustrate how unresolved trauma can lead to harmful coping mechanisms.
The emotional tension between Lizzy and Gibsy is emblematic of how trauma, when unacknowledged or misunderstood, leads to interpersonal conflict. Ultimately, this theme highlights the complexities of how trauma is processed differently by individuals, and how that processing—or lack thereof—affects their relationships with others.
The Fracturing of Friendships and the Disillusionment with Idealized Relationships
Another major theme in the novel is the disillusionment with the idealized notions of friendship and love. The Boys of Tommen series portrays a tightly-knit group of friends who share deep bonds, yet in Taming 7, this sense of unity begins to unravel.
The weight of personal traumas, unspoken truths, and emotional baggage begins to erode the group’s cohesion. The book suggests that even the most tightly-bound friendships cannot survive under the strain of unaddressed emotional wounds and unresolved conflicts.
Claire’s narrative highlights this disillusionment, particularly in how her idealized perception of her relationship with Gibsy—rooted in years of friendship and emotional intimacy—collides with the harsh realities of Gibsy’s emotional barriers. Claire’s hope of “taming” Gibsy is representative of the unrealistic expectations we sometimes place on friendships or romantic relationships, expecting that love or proximity can heal deep emotional scars.
This idealism is shattered as both Claire and Gibsy realize that their relationship cannot move forward without confronting their individual traumas. The novel also addresses the idea of friendship as a safe haven.
The group’s close-knit dynamic begins to fracture as the emotional weight of past secrets is revealed, leaving the characters disillusioned with the very relationships they once found solace in. This theme resonates with the broader message of the novel—that idealized relationships, whether platonic or romantic, must evolve to accommodate the complexities of individual pain, growth, and healing.
Gender, Emotional Labor, and the Burden of Support in Relationships
In Taming 7, there is an underlying theme of gender and emotional labor, particularly in how Claire is positioned as the emotional caretaker for Gibsy. Claire, though a somewhat underdeveloped character in comparison to Gibsy, is often portrayed as his emotional anchor.
Her role in their relationship is to provide emotional support, offering a space where Gibsy feels safe and understood. However, the novel subtly critiques the imbalance in their relationship, where Claire’s emotional needs and growth are sidelined in favor of Gibsy’s trauma and healing process.
This imbalance points to a larger theme regarding the burden of emotional labor often placed on women in romantic relationships. Claire’s primary function within the narrative seems to be as Gibsy’s emotional caretaker, a role that limits her own development and highlights the often unspoken expectation that women bear the emotional weight of their partner’s struggles.
This theme resonates in broader conversations about how gender roles in relationships often assign women the task of nurturing and healing, while their own emotional needs are either minimized or ignored entirely.