iwouldratherbereading 's review for:

Play for Keeps by Lily Miller

3.0

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Play for Keeps by Lily Miller 

✨read this if you enjoy✨ 

small town 

age gap 

single mom 

insta-love 

 

Thank you to Love Notes PR and Lily Miller for my e-arc of this book. All thoughts and opinions are entirely my own. 

 

In this book we follow Everly as she navigates her new life as a single mother after escaping her nightmare of an ex-husband. Her main focus is her daughter, Birdie, until she bumps into Jake one night while at work and everything changed. 

 

When I saw the tropes for this book, I knew I needed to read it immediately. I love the idea of starting over and the idea that Jake will really have to work hard to break down Everly’s walls. I wish that things would have been slower between Jake and Everly - things did move really quickly at least for Jake. Why is he so enthralled by her? What makes her so different? 

 

The main focus of the book is the romance, but I wish we could have spent more time with Everly. I wanted to see her build confidence and take risks but I felt these plot points were minimal or rushed over. As for the other characters or tension throughout the book, things overall felt surface level. The issues with the ex-husband? He threatened a lot but nothing happened that really caused turmoil. Jake’s ex-girlfriend was also really only a speed bump, if you blink, you’ll miss her. 

 

Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard not to fall in love with Jake. His patience and dedication to both Everly and Birdie is guaranteed to melt your heart. And all of his moments with Birdie were just absolutely the cutest. 

 

I will be giving this author another try in the future.