Via Netgalley, I was given the opportunity to read the four books in the "Playing the field" series written by Sasha Lace:

Playing the game
Playing to score
Playing for keeps,
Playing to win

As I had all four downloaded, I read them all one after the other. They are quick, feel-good reads, bringing back my own footballing memories from playing for one of the top women's teams in my country.

Lane has created some great 'book role models' for aspiring young female footballers. The male lead characters are supportive, sweet, suitably geeky and all round cinnamon roll book boyfriends...

Madison was excited to leave behind home and play for the Calderdale Ladies football team. On a break from the team, she is snowed in at a pub with the sexy owner, Geraint. When they give in to their mutual attraction, Madison makes it clear that she won't be around for long and is only interested in a physical relationship. Geraint agrees but quickly starts to wish they could be more.

We jump right into hearteake and cold weather - and this time the story mostly takes place in Wales over the Christmas Holidays.

We follow Madison and Geraint, and oh how the are cute together!

The season timing is perfect! This could be a Christmas romance. Defently a great read for Autumn/Christmas.

A thanks to NetGalley and Sasha Lace for this books and this wonderful series (aobut women playing proffesional football)

Post on IG (one_fairy_tale_at_the_time) on 5 nov. 2024

This one felt more like the slower Christmas novella, but every series needs one! I liked all the cultural differences in Wales, and Geralt (what I read in my head) was a big lumbersexy golden retriever.

Madison wants to spend Christmas alone she ends up snowed in, in a Welsh pub. Geraint runs the pub. will Madison stay after Christmas or will she leave?

This was a lovely conclusion to the series. I particularly liked the Wales backdrop of the Dragon Inn. The golden retriever vibes from Geraint were cute and I loved how hard he fell for Madison. This was a quick and easy read that left me longing for all things Christmassy and snowy!

Gah! Madison and Geraint were perfection. It is so hard to choose a favourite couple from this series but these two are definitely up there. Sasha Lace has really blown me away with these books. I started off just liking the first book but over the course of the series I have grown to absolutely love the Calverdale crew. I am also obsessed with the ending to this one! SO GOOD!

I rated this a 3.5 star read! I thought it was such a good book which if you’re a fan of football you would probably really enjoy. I also think that this book coming out at Christmas is the perfect time of year as it is mainly based at Christmas time. Therefore if your looking for a Christmas book that’s not too in your face with festivities this is perfect!

Such a fantastic read and series. I loved the characters and all the connections from book to book. They all felt like a family by the end and really linked so well together.

I am SO glad to discover this series! They were addicting and easy to binge. Geraint & Madison brought a newness with their characters and this was an amazing conclusion to Calverdale ✨

This was a gorgeous fourth book to what has been a phenomenal series. I absolutely adored Madison and Geraint and I loved being reunited with my favourite characters.

This is a 4.25 star read. I definitely enjoyed the book and had fun reading it but i didn't like how closed off she was at times. It felt like they weren't connecting as much. Some moments were also a little cringe and the book in general didn't not give off five star read vibes still it was very fun and a fast paced read. I would have preferred to see more of them after they finally got together like we did with the other couples. The spicy scenes were amazing in all of the books but the best were in the third. I will say you don't have to read all of them in order but it will make you connect with the characters more. Another reason why i didn't enjoy this book as much is because we didn't see any of her in the other books.

"𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎, 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚠𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚙 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚗𝚘 𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚘𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚗."

4,75⭐

I loved the atmosphere of this last book: cosy and warm, in a small town in Wales at Christmas. I loved every moment of it.

I really liked Lana: complex, endearing, funny, a strong temper, slightly grumpy. I loved seeing this broken, lost heart in need of a break from everyday life, grow. She mends and heals her heart, gains self-confidence, builds her family and transforms her defensive, solitary shell.

I fell in love with Geraint : a Welsh golden retriever who is tender, welcoming, funny, protective, selfless and dedicated to his family, loving completely and without false promises. They are polar opposites but complete each other and push each other forward, to accept the past, to forgive and to know what they really want to embrace their future.

It was full of introspection, pain and suffering, forgiveness, second chances, self-rediscovery, friendship and family.

The book's vibe was like a warm blanket on a cold winter's day: comforting, soft. We dive right in, yearning to get to know the characters, to stay close to them, to discover more, and to never want to leave this family we feel part of. A perfect series to read on an autumn or rainy day.

I'm afraid this was my least favourite book in the series. The previous books set the bar very high so my expectations were high, but I felt like the attraction between the two leads felt too instant and didn't feel as natural or as emotionally involved as the leads in the previous books where the author had written the build up perfectly and the pace had felt just right. Still, it was an enjoyable read and a well written book, and I'll keep an eye out for the author's future works.

Similar to the first book - slow at times but overall an enjoyable story. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this story - I thought that it was a really good football based romance!

The book had a well developed storyline that was strong and well planned romantic read.
This is the fourth book in the series and I have read books two, three and four now and they are also fine as stand alone stories.

I found that the book was well written and I liked the character development and it was a great romantic, and sexy story.

it is 4 stars from me for this one - highly recommended!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my copy of this e-arc

Unfortunately I didn’t love the end of the series the way I did the beginning of the series! I had to end as I couldn’t get into it the same way unfortunately

This was a fun, spicy sports romance series! Loved the interconnected characters and how they had real problems, but it was still an escape read. Maddie and Geraint were my favorite couple from this series!

This was a cute romance book! The banter in this book was so cute! I have really enjoyed this series. Would highly recommend!

Sasha is a gifted author and her characters are so funny - such typical British comedy banter BUT without getting too ridiculous.
I thoroughly enjoyed this series, and the last book was the best. The characters felt more deeper and well thought out versus the first 2 books.
I’d definitely be looking out for future books from Sasha!