lifeonasofa's reviews
231 reviews

You Had Your Chance, Lee Burrows by Piper Rayne

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

You Had Your Chance, Lee Burrows 🏈

⭐️⭐️💫 2.5 Stars 

Thank you valentine pr and piper rayne for giving me the opportunity to read this new release.

USA Today Bestselling Author Piper Rayne begins the Kingsmen Football Stars series with an enemies-to-lovers, second chance story set in the world of professional football.

If you’re a fan of sports star romances, this series, and this author, is for you! I read this book in like 2 days so safe to say, I enjoyed it! 🏉

I adored our lead girlie Shayna, she was a proper badass. We love a driven, stubborn  female. I loved Brady and Miles. Honestly, the team banter was my favourite part and made me want to pick up all the other books in the series 🙈

Whilst there were moments that I enjoyed Lee, his character didn’t feel AS strong. He was overly possessive and reactive at the beginning considering we knew nothing of their history. And then, he lost a lot of his alphahole charm as the story went on. 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

The story progresses as you’d expect, fun and flirty. Nice level of steam. I was disappointed with the route the book took - our girl deserved better! The epilogue made me a little happier, I just wanted  more. Overall, a very quick and easy read! 💕

#currentlyreading #piperrayne #kingsmenfootball #sportsromance #footballromance #AdultRomance #ContemporaryRomance #RomanticComedy #Athlete #Enemiestolovers #ForcedProximity #NeighborstoLovers #Redemption #SecondChance #SportsRomance #WorkplaceRomance

I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day by Milly Johnson

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 4.75 stars

Oh my gosh, what a beautiful story! I never got around to finishing this last year. I’ve always struggled with slow paced cozy reads but I REALLY wanted to get a festive book finished this year. I’m so glad I did! 😍

Stranded in a snowy, remote village inn? PERFECT Christmas setting. It gave me all the festive feels I was after. The hot chocolate, the tree, the snow angels, the Carol singing and boxing bay breakfast - it was all just so warm and cozy. ❄️

This book focuses on characters, as many festive reads do. Millie Johnson did a BRILLIANT job at making me fall in love with their personalities. Charlie, Robin, Mary and Bridge were stand outs for me but as a group, just such a great bond. 💕

As expected, pretty romance heavy. All 3 couples have history, but I like that it didn’t feel like the centre of the story. TW: cancer, this book did get me welling up, there are a few super sad chapters, but beautifully written. ✨

Some how this book made me just feel christmassy inside my chest. A bit soppy and cheesey but if you need a bit of a pick me up, I think this will do it. It really highlights the true meaning of Christmas, friendship and appreciating life ☃️
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The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

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4.0

A Wayne in a Manger by Gervase Phinn

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funny lighthearted medium-paced

3.0

A Wayne in a Manger 👶🏽


‘The baby was called Jesus’ the Vicar told him, slowly and deliberately. 
‘It were Wayne’ persisted the child, nodding vigorously.
‘Jesus!’ Snapped the vicar.
‘Wayne’ repeated the child. ‘I know ‘cos we all sang about it in assembly: “a Wayne in a manger, no crib for a bed.”

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 Stars

A fun and short read to get some festive books sprinkled into December. I LOVE the idea of this, I’m a big fan of diary style memoirs, especially when funny. And this book was no different, there were a few one liners that got me! Working in schools myself, I found it all pretty relatable and cozy. 🏫

The illustrations are STAND OUT, really lovely style and suit the book well. Shout out to Chris Mould, he brought the children to life. The poems were a lovely addition, I’d have liked more of them. ✨ 

Unfortunately, you could tell that these snippets were randomly taken from other books. A lot of repetition of the same story and descriptions - bare it mind this is only 144 pages long. It felt disjointed and plonked together. ✏️ 
A Mouse Called Miika by Matt Haig

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funny hopeful lighthearted medium-paced

3.25

“It is better to be disliked for being who you are than to be liked for who you are not. Being who you are not is exhausting” - Matt Haig 🧚🏽‍♂️ 

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3.25 Stars 

A super short addition to the Christmas series. This was pretty cute. Miika is my favourite character so I’m all for more of him. We also got more Truth Pixie which is always good fun. 🎄

A lovely story for kids, lots of talk about being who you are, honesty and helping your friends. The narrator was also pretty great on this audio book, lots of emotion. 👍🏻

Not as good as book 1, but highly recommend this whole series if you enjoy reading to your children! Nice festive choice. ✨
The Girl Who Saved Christmas by Matt Haig

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adventurous funny hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

“You can always tell if someone is kind because kindness is the sparkle inside their eyes” - Matt Haig ✨ 

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 Stars 

As expected, another cozy Christmas read for adults and children alike. I like that this followed on from A Boy Called Christmas. We got more of Nikolas and Blitzen as well as some new characters - Charles Dickens?! 👀💕

Whilst this book follows a similar storyline to book 1, miserable opening, lots of hope and a festive happy ending - it didn’t give me the same magically feeling. 🎅🏼

It was funny at times. But I just felt sad, until maybe the last 30 mins of the book? I don’t think the narrator was as emotive with their voice as Stephen Fry either which made it harder to pay attention 🙈

Still a good festive pick - book 3 could be everything I’m looking for? 🤞🏻
Underneath the Christmas Tree by Heidi Swain

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hopeful lighthearted relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0


⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 Stars

My first festive read of the year! I still have an ever growing list that inevitably will be left until next year AGAIN. I saw this one EVERYWHERE on booksta last year so I jumped on it when I saw it on BorrowBox. 📚

So this novel takes place on a Christmas tree farm - SO FESTIVE AND COZY! Lots of snow, lights and nostalgia. The setting was lovely, the small town folk were a delight. 🎄

As expected, this book is very predictable but I feel like all Xmas movies/book are right? This story obviously has a bit of luke warm romance at the heart of it, just to make it all the more heartwarming. 💕

Whilst I loved most of the characters, I wasn’t a huge fan of our main girly. I’m not a fan of miscommunication in a relationship so I wasn’t completely into the love interest side of the story. 🙈

Im not sure I would’ve seen this book through had it not been an audiobook. I struggle with slow paced reads but it was great for a relaxing wind down which I know many people love this time of year. 📖
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The Curfew by T.M. Logan

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

“Protect our beautiful boy, whatever it takes” - T M Logan 💕

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 4 Stars

I was nervous going into this, as I found a previous book, The Holiday, such a let down. But I enjoyed this more than expected! 😁 

I love how straight off the bat, we were questioning everyone and everything thing going on. I was pretty confident that Connor was innocent but didn’t have a Scooby what had happened. 🤷🏻‍♀️

The family were pretty likeable in the sense that they had faith in their son. Harriett was a stand out character, I wish we’d had more of her, she deserves the world. 🥰

I really enjoyed how the plot unraveled in the last few chapters. It wasn’t mind blowing but it all fell into place pretty well. I felt it should’ve all happened sooner, it’s a pretty long book - but as least we had short chapters. 🙏🏻
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The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black

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adventurous hopeful tense 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

4.0

Queen of Nothing 👑 Review

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“My sweet nemesis, how glad I am that you returned.” - Holly Black 💕

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A big thank you to @ for sending across this trilogy for the readalong. The group chat and prompts were truly engaging! 📚 

What a trilogy! I cannot believe it’s taken me this long to get around to this series. Safe to say, I get the hype. If you’re new to fantasy - I highly recommend, you’re in safe hands. ✨

Jude was back at it again with all her badass behaviour. I really liked her power in this book, I just wish she’d had a little more confidence in herself. Cardan was top tier, I’m just sad we didn’t get more of him/them. He is a clever cookie 🍪 

I really enjoyed the sheer amount of action in this book. But I cannot fathom why this book was the shortest. It definitely felt a little too fast for my liking, I wanted a little more explanation as well as time with our characters. Maybe I’m being greedy? 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

Madoc was on top form - what an arse! I liked that we still got a bit of trickery going on. Jude was smart with the punishments, even if he did get off lightly. I have to say, nothing in this book went the way I expected, but it was a nice round up to the trilogy. 🥰

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Undoctored: The Story of a Medic Who Ran Out of Patients by Adam Kay

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emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

3.25

Undoctored 👨🏽‍⚕️ Review 


⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 3.25 stars

Adam Kay‘s ‘This is Going to Hurt’ is one of my all time favourite books, I always recommend it. I also really enjoyed ‘The Nightshift Before Christmas’. Safe to say, I was SO EXCITED about this new release. 🤩

Undoctored opens with the same humourous but infuriating accounts of working in the NHS. Our nurses and doctors deserve better! This book was more about Kay after leaving medical and building his comedic profession, it felt quite personal. 🩺

Whilst I can’t say anything negative about Kay writing about his life experiences (it’s brave) - this book wasn’t a stand out for me this time. I appreciate his openness, I couldn’t help but feel for him. I’m sure a lot of people will enjoy reading about his journey but this was just very different to his previous books. 🩻

The humour felt forced at the start and almost disappears as the rest of the book gets quite heavy. Looking back, I enjoyed this book more than I did whilst actually reading it - if that makes sense? I found the audiobook a little difficult to get into, I’d recommend reading his memoirs physically. 🎧 

There are several TWs so please check. For me, I didn’t expect the r*pe and the e*ting d*sorder sections so I had to mention those - it was hard to read. 📖 


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