Random Things Tours – Book Review – It Only Takes A Minute by Sasha Lane

“I stare at the back of the closed front door for what could be five seconds, five minutes or five hours; I have no idea.”

Genre: Romantic Comedy 

Number of Pages: 159

Date of Publication: 27 May 2022

Publisher: Published by the Author

Rated: 5/5

My Review Summary: An enjoyable novella that kept me hooked until the end!

📖PLOT SUMMARY FROM GOODREADS📖

What if you could live in a different country for four weeks?

What if you could live a different life for four weeks?

That’s what this was supposed to be. Four weeks of sun, sea, and cocktails.

I wasn’t supposed to fall in love.

Do I go back to my old life, or risk starting a brand new one?

Does that really happen in real life, or just in the movies?

Life can change in an instant though. After all, it only takes a minute…

💭THOUGHTS💭  

I saw this come up and had to go for it. I rarely read novellas and as I like to read the odd rom com it was the perfect combination! I was quite excited to get started on it and I was right to be. 

The writing was light, enjoyable and had me hooked from the beginning. I particularly liked the details of the little things, for example how the main character was packing her suitcase and what she was eating. It really brought the story to life without feeling like it was extra padding. It was cleverly done in that a lot of information was given, yet it didn’t drag. The style also made you feel involved in the story with the way that it was written i.e the characters thoughts were presented to you in such a way that it made you think about what she said.

The story also had an excellent pace to it.  The small details helped to slow it down and gave you a more rounded picture of what was happening specifically to the character at the time. Nothing felt rushed and there was good closure at the end. Sometimes I find that shorter stories aren’t able to fit in everything that is needed and end in an unsatisfactory manner, however this one was perfectly balanced. 

The chapters were mainly short with a couple of longer ones thrown in to make you want to keep on reading. I sometimes thought that there would be a new chapter then it carried on, which I didn’t mind (sometimes it can be annoying when you were just getting in to something and it moves away and on to something else!). 

The main character was likable and I enjoyed being on her journey of discovery. The story had a chatty style that focussed mainly on her thoughts (and her arguing with herself!) with the small details and conversations as secondary. I enjoyed this writing style as I didn’t have to think too much and I could just enjoy it for what it was. 

Lastly the settings. I loved being in Portugal and I enjoyed the way that the places and the food that the main character was eating was described. It was done in a neat manner that added to the story, rather than diverted your attention.

Overall I really enjoyed this story and wouldn’t mind reading more rom com novellas. I highly recommend it if you just want a light read.

⭐Rated 5/5⭐

📖THE AUTHOR📖

 I live in South Yorkshire and work full time in the finance industry but write in my spare time allowing my imagination to have a whole lot of freedom as I write Chick lit/Romantic Comedy novels with a bit of added depth. They’re everyday women, dealing with trying to balance family, friends, careers and relationships, that hopefully readers can associate with. There’s plenty of humour added in there too.

I grew up in a small village and my writing came from always daydreaming about living somewhere exciting and doing something different. When I was about thirteen my friend and I used to write stories on her computer (which was really old and basic back then!). We wrote about boys and being grown up. It was probably just overactive teenage imagination but I was hooked on story telling from then on!

I didn’t dare believe that people from where I came from could ever achieve anything as exciting as writing a book. I’m glad that I proved myself wrong.

Although the main character is completely fictional, she does bare some of the characteristics that I do, but that’s also part of my writing style – I can laugh at myself, and this helps me to add humour to the story.

I have previously written a four book Rom Com series, and ‘It Only Takes A Minute’ is my first stand alone Novella.

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