I don’t tend to read many unashamedly romantic books, ones that have a love story at the centre of their story, but after enjoying one or two great ones recently – including this very book – I’m starting to wonder why I don’t. I think you definitely have to be in the right mood for one (although you could argue that about all genres, really) but it just so happens that a sunny weekend spent in my garden was just the setting for a super-easy-to-read book about hope and love.

The cover of this book has a travel theme and as someone who dedicated the title of her blog to the fact she travels (and reads) on London transport a lot, this appealed to me. As someone who also loves the Rush Hour Crush section in the Metro newspaper, Our Stop appealed to me even more. You see, the plot is a simple but effective one; a tale of crossed-wires and missed opportunities between Nadia and Daniel that all starts when Daniel sees Nadia on the tube and decides an advert in the Missed Connections section of the paper would be the best way to get her attention. To be fair, it worked, (‘Nadia and Emma were obsessed with Missed Connections’) she did realise he was talking to her and it sparked her interest. But will they ever meet and how will they really feel about each other? Readers of the daily newspaper in the story who are following Nadia and Daniel’s romance give it its own hashtag #OurStop, nicely aligning the plot with its IRL marketing campaign; first time I’ve seen it done so directly. Bravo.

As lead characters, I really found myself rooting for Daniel and Nadia, they have just enough back story to make them feel real and are both very likeable. Daniel is recently bereaved and struggling with that while trying to balance his work / life situation and Nadia works in artificial intelligence for a company called RAINFOREST (yep, love it) and has two close friends, Emma and Gaby who are important to her. Another massive bonus throughout are the great pop-culture one liners (‘Nadia headed for the bar with the confidence of Blue Ivy’) and the cutting advice on the kind of guys to run a mile from (‘the guy turned out to be an axe-wielding serial killer who lived with his mother and had voted LEAVE’ or ‘there is no man to be trusted less than one who has feminist in his Twitter bio’) that all made me chuckle on the train.

A thoroughly charming read, Our Stop has enough witty lines and cheekiness to keep it fresh and a lovely, heartwarming story at its core that keeps you hooked, all while putting a smile on your face. If you’re looking for a great contemporary romance book this summer, you’ve found it!

Excellently Executed. This is a romance tale where the entire premise is that our central couple keeps *just* missing each other, and it *really* works. The cuts between perspectives in different scenes are amazing, showing the couple at various points literally in the same place at the same time... and completely missing each other. It *is* a romance though and *does* have a happily ever after, but Williams does an amazing job of holding that off until almost literally the last second. Funny where it needs to be, serious where it needs to be, and overall a fun romantic comedy. Very much recommended.

It really pains me to say this, as I'm a big fan of Laura Jane Williams on Instagram. I loved her column in Red magazine and I enjoy her non fiction, but I didn't enjoy Our Stop.

The premise I was down for. A sort of You've Got Mail, will they won't they meet storyline centred around the London Underground and the Missed Connections section of what I'm assuming is basically The Metro. Sadly I felt like the book could have done with a huge edit/re-write. The characters were incredibly flat, millennial cliches, spouting Tumblresque inspo quotes. Events in the book felt unnaturally set up so that one of the main characters could take the moral high ground and I felt the author's presence throughout, her strong opinions are littered throughout the book, which would be fine if done more subtly, but as I follow her on Insta I instantly noticed when an opinion or statement was actually one I've seen her make online. It threw me out of the story on numerous occasions. A character has to have some flaws to feel well rounded and relatable, and I don't just mean being someone who is late for a train or gets a few spots in their 30s.

Sadly the book feels like it has been rushed to hit a summer market. It is very padded out and could do with some very sharp editing. The author has a habit of explaining every last detail to you rather than trusting the reader to get it. Her writing is good enough and she should trust it more.

I was reading a proof copy from Net Galley so I'm hoping that some of the errors have been corrected before going to print and that the book has since been edited further. There's a good story in there it just needed more time, more edits and more depth. But fuck it, others are enjoying it and I'm an over critical, basically edit for a living, fluff hating grump.

A sweet funny story of perpetually late, disorganised, honest and kind-hearted Nadia and shy, all-round-good, romantic Daniel.
Nadia has just come out of a really bad relationship and feels she needs to change her lifestyle and daily routine to make it calmer, healthier, more organised. One of the changes in her routine is making sure she does get on that 7.30 am train to work. And so she does..on Monday, sometimes even Tuesday. Then life creeps in, late nights with friends, Netflix, too much wine..and the New Routine gets abandoned until next Monday. One day her friend Emma texts her that The Missing Connections, a lonely hearts section in the newspaper they both flick through on a regular basis, has a message describing somebody who sounds like Nadia. Naida is intrigued, so when her friend responds on her behalf, she is more embarrassed and excited than angry. Unfortunately, meeting each other in real life proves unexpectedly difficult as they keep missing their opportunities for months and months. meanwhile, the story goes viral and lots of people root for the Train Guy and Girl from #Our Stop entry to meet and fall in love.
The book was a bit slow at the beginning, but by the middle I was so involved that I couldn't put it down. It is lovely, heart-warming and very modern. Only in our times, it can be considered creepy to start a conversation on the underground train, but not so to search for somebody's recent and not so recent photos on Instagram.
Loved the story of Nadia's friends Emma and Gaby.
Recommended for anybody who loves romcoms and believes you can meet your One anywhere as long as you are emotionally ready.
Thank you to NetGalley and Avon for the ARC provided in exchange for an honest opinion.

This was quirky and adorable and read like a cute rom-com movie along the lines of You've Got Mail. I finished it in less than a day and wanted to find out if Nadia and Daniel would ever offically meet. It was a bit frustrating at times because it seemed liked everything kept getting in their way. Howver, I was very happy with the ending and how things get tied up by the end of the book!

People rushing to work on the tube and trains in London. Guy meets girl and finds her attractive with coffee stains on her dress and wants to ask her out. He puts an advert in the paper to find her, in the section called Missed Connections where you can track down people you fancy on your commute.

A cute idea and with so many tube lines and stations in London, this book might just have you racing around London wishing for your own meet cute. There are lots of instances of missed connections, late arrivals and rushing along platforms to catch trains so it's realistic from a London view point as people are always rushing around here and jumping on trains at the last minute.

A cute idea this but I did feel that it started to get a bit unbelievable with all the near misses. I was also disappointed with the end as I was waiting and hoping for something more ( no spoilers) and got a quick snapshot of what happens next.

It's going to make a lot of people think about running for trains, meeting someone and finding love on the underground though!

A lighthearted read, concerning two characters destined to meet....eventually.
Nadia is disorganised, always promising herself that she will get her life together, but always falling short. She's late for the train more often than not. Daniel is the opposite, shy, but highly organised. He sees Nadia on the train and is determined to meet her.......through 'Missed Connections', a lonely hearts agency.
Nadia felt to me as though she was a teenager. I really found it difficult to relate to her and her habit of constantly using four letter words was just irritating.
But all in all it was a very readable book.
Thank you for the review copy.

Have you had a rough day? Feeling a book hangover? Our Stop is the perfect cure! This book is such a delight! This is the romcom I want to read - smart, funny and feminist.

Nadia gets a text from her best friend Emma about a message in the paper’s Missed Connections. Emma says - I think this is about you! The post reads in part:

To the cute girl with the coffee stains on her dress. I’m the guy who’s always standing near the doors...drink sometime?

What would you do if you thought that message was to you? Following along as Nadia chooses what to do and if/how to respond was a total delight.

I stayed up well past my bedtime because I couldn’t put this down and was squealing with delight. I was texting quotes from this book to friends as I read and trying to convince them to drop what they are reading and pick this up immediately. If you like romcoms, READ THIS BOOK NOW.

Thank you so much to Teresa for posting about it and bringing this to my attention. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance review copy in exchange for my honest review.

“Missed connections “ that’s how I would name this book actually. It had everything for a sweet, light summer read at the beach while having a cocktail and relaxing.
While the first part of the story felt dragging a bit, to much inside of work colleagues, friends and family for both Nadia and Daniel, the second part takes a faster pace and it’s more about their feelings towards each other and what ifs and how they get to know each other.
I liked that she took a time for herself to just enjoy the moment and met a nice guy, before actually dating Daniel.
Overall was a good read and will definitely recommend it.

I loved the description of this book and thought it would be a lighthearted and funny read. Sadly that was not the case for me. I found it much too slow, with nothing of any interest happen until about the last 20% of the book. I also did not really find the main female lead, Nadia, a very well rounded character, and felt she behaved, in many ways, more like a 19 year old than a 29 year old woman!
It was also not very funny. Sorry, this book was just not for me.
However, I am happy that I persevered with it as the last 20% was the best part of the book and the action all happened then.
Thanks to NetGalley for a Kindle copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Such a lovely story! It has a reality about it, you really can imagine it happening in real life, even the way that Nadia and Daniel manage to keep missing each other even though they are in the same places at the same time.

Nadia has a good job in Artificial Intelligence, and is always planning to be more efficient, and catch the 7:30 tube from Angel to London Bridge; so that she starts work early. She often oversleeps, so only manages it a couple of times a week. Daniel is an Engineer, and much more organised, he is always on that train, standing in the same place near the door, and he sees her every time she catches it. He had first seen her one day in Borough Market, talking about artificial intelligence, and he was entranced by her. He is too shy to talk to her, but one day, frustrated by his nervousness he places a letter to her in Missed Connections, a lonely hearts column in the newspaper, which he has seen her read from time to time. He gets a reply, which she actually did not write, her best friend did so on her behalf. And so begins a relationship of lost opportunities, often missing each other by a whisker! It is very funny at times, a wee bit sad on occasion, and quite thoughtful in places. There is very much a feel-good factor to this book, a very satisfying read. You get emotionally involved with this couple, willing it all to work out for them. Well done Laura Jane Williams!

A great quick, funny, romantic read. This is a humorous story with likeable characters. It is a light read perfect for holidays.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

Lovely read, relatable and easy to get into. Somewhat predictable but makes the journey more enjoyable!

‘Our Stop’ by Laura Jane Williams published THURSDAY (13/6) by Avon Books UK

368 Pages

This book is fab! Like the ice lolly, all different bits but altogether is just perfect!!
Nadia and Daniel, Daniel and Nadia, sigh, destined for each other.....but can they ever meet, through an advert Daniel places in ‘Missed Connections’ after he sees Nadia on the tube the book whirls you through a rom com of a story as they write back to each other but because of events keep missing each other....its a new and extremely up to the minute ( 2019 wise ) take on an old theme AND its done so well, really well, I loved them both, their good points, their insecurities, their personalities and was rooting, literally shouting for them to meet....
In parts the book is too funny and I was laughing out loud and re reading some of the lines, on point narrative on todays life and social media, politics ( non boring!!! ) and love, there is opinion and verse on everything about modern life and as said above all done so well
There is a part of the book I really loved, a surprising look at how grief re a loss of a parent can affect adult men, this was moving, poignant and integrated very well into all the humour, I also loved Nadia and her friends views on feminism and how they adapted it to various thoughts and situations
Honestly this book is amazing, I sooooo cant wait for the authors next book and loved every single paragraph
10/10 5 Stars

This was a super-quick rom-com that I gobbled up in 2 sittings. Nadia and Daniel were confident but also sometimes full of self-doubt, which is human and realistic. I really enjoyed the alternating viewpoints, the side-story with Nadia's best friends, and the references to pop culture, like the hashtag trending on Twitter. It was predictable, but I still agonized over all the misses and if they would ever actually meet! Deducting a star because it dragged a bit in the middle and the epilogue were superfluous and uninteresting; I liked the ending better without it. Daniel seemed a bit smug in his self-awareness, and the scene with his housemate was completely unnecessary and really didn't add anything to the overall story except to color it a bit.

I thought it would be a funny reading but... I didn't enjoy this book. I couldn't feel a great big love, there are a lot of blablabla and a several parts about friendship and an another relationship with other guy!! There was most pages with the other guy than the male character!!
I needed more of the couple, when I really enjoyed was during last 5%, there I saw something emotional.

Daniel was a perfect character but Nadia... she didn't like me.

During all the reading there was too much explaning but when I needed pages there was a couple of kisses and "The End".

The idea of the story was good and my personal opinion is that this book could have been better.

I think this just wasn’t for me. The romance itself was so slllllooooow, and it’s not like I wasn’t warned about their “near misses” in the synopsis, but I didn’t think it would take as long as it did to culminate. It was mostly their lives playing out with a romantic sub-plot, and I didn’t care enough about their lives 😂 I did like that Nadia had such a tight friend group.

There were some moments that felt like they were a stretch just to include a progressive scene (whether about feminism, sexuality, gender performance, etc) which I would have really enjoyed if they hadn’t felt a little forced to me.

I would absolutely be willing to try another book from this author because it wasn’t horrible, it just fell a little flat for me - probably because my expectation was wrong going in.

Such a cute, sweet fun read!! Loved this one!

Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams a five-star read that will make you stop whatever you are doing to read. I had read some of the reviews for this one and wasn’t sure so put it off and read something else, then had a random convo about a tube station insta story about a meet cute with a friend and this novel popped into my head, it was like a sign and one I am so glad I acted on as I loved this novel so hard!! So many what ifs and missed connections kept me hooked and reading to the point I ignored everyone and everything. This was so sublime I want to take an ad out in the paper telling everyone to buy it!! I plan on buying a bunch of paperbacks just to give out to people waiting on the train tracks because more people need this story in their lives, they need the inspiration and power that the written word brings to life in these pages, more people need to hear the passion is Nadia’s voice as she talks to her boss, and the heart break she feels at different points in the story. There are so many near misses in this story, will they ever get their happily ever after? Go read the book and find out as I can’t tell you as its all part of the bigger story.

What an absolutely fab book!

If you believe in destiny, then this book is filled with it.

And... who knew the London Underground could be so romantic!

Nadia is a feisty, successful 20-something Londoner, going about her life, ricochetting between bad relationships, wondering when her time will come. She loves sensitive men, who aren't scared to show their emotions.
Daniel is a sensitive, successful 20-something Londoner, recovering from the shock of his father's death, looking for someone to share life, and reality TV with. He loves feisty women, who are clumsy with their coffee.

But how will their paths ever cross?

Cue the Underground and Missing Connections.

Daniel sees Nadia and just knows there is something about her. But, how to approach?

Using a series of messages in the local commuters newspaper, these two slowly get sucked into a will they/won't they situation.

We can see they are perfect for each other. Their friends can sense they are perfect for each other. Why can't they just meet and see if they hit it off?

With a series of twists and turns, we see the story of Nadia and Daniel develop, and I can say, hand on heart, that I finished this book with a gooey smile on my face!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.