Review by hanreads__ - Play for Keeps

A review by hanreads__
Play for Keeps by Lily Miller

emotional hopeful lighthearted reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

"𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻 𝘀𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂, 𝗘𝘃. 𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲. 𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝘀 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂. 𝗜'𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹."

Excuse me, who doesn’t have this book in their TBR? I am telling you right now, you NEED this book in your life.

The first book of the series was enjoyable, it was a book that had beautiful characters that I enjoyed getting to know, and a small town that I wanted to visit. Something else the first book had was Jake Matthews. When I found out that Lily was bringing out a second book, I was jumping for joy (and crying on the inside because I was going to have to read about Jake falling in love with a woman that wasn’t me).

Play For Keeps is full of wholesome moments involving a sing,e mum and her precious daughter. Everly is an incredible mother who would do anything for her daughter, even if means she has to suffer a little bit. I found Everly to be some type of role model in my opinion as I don’t think I would be able to allow my child to continue to see a father who only puts in so much effort, yet she put her pride and feelings aside and allowed just that. Grant was someone who never deserved Everly, he treated her poorly and when Jake came along? I was overjoyed to see her get the love that she deserved from him, and the same goes for Birdie.

Jake is possibly one of the grumpiest men I have ever met. He has his life the way he wants it, and he doesn’t care about much apart from work and those close to him. I think the way he developed from a character like that to a character who was so kind and caring towards a child was something that left me falling in love with him. You see him turn into someone mature and ready for a family despite never thinking about that kind of future.

Jake and Everly together leave you jealous and wanting what they have (especially if you’re single). They may start off as friends who have a spark, but that’s what makes their relationship more beautiful. You see two people stray away from tropes that ruin a relationship before it’s started, and watch them fall into a relationship full of trust, communication and respect. The respect they both have for one another on and out of the bedroom is remarkable, and you can’t help but love the way Lily has written their story. They work as a team and they soon become a family, even if it’s not said out loud at first.

Sometimes authors can write books with children in really badly, but Birdie has a precious soul. I love that her and Jake hit things off instantly over a cat fact. That she has more of a father figure in Jake rather than her own father. Truthfully, my heart hurt at times when you read about how heartbroken or let down Birdie was because of Grant, but that little girl never allowed things to get in her way, and the way she approached life had me wanting to take her out for ice cream with her mother and buy her anything she wanted. She was just ADORABLE.

Unfortunately, there were two things that cringed me out a little, but it wasn’t enough to bring my rating down. At the start of the book, the way Jake and his friends talk to one another is a little off putting, it feels immature for their age and it’s just a little off putting. The second thing that cringed me out was Grant’s ending. I feel as though he was let off easily for the shit he did, aid anything, he wasn’t really held accountable for things. This small issue just left me disappointed.

Despite everything, I really did love this book. Jake made my top five book boyfriends list, Everly is someone I wish I knew in person, and I’m majorly excited for the next book in the series, especially when I can’t think of how it’ll turn out!

Content Warnings

A review by hanreads__ Play for Keeps by Lily Miller

A review by hanreads__
Play for Keeps by Lily Miller