A fun light read, loved reading this on a long car trip. kept me focused enough to keep from getting carsick, which is no easy feat. Strong heroine, and a cast of characters who are well rounded without being over the top.

Thank you to Netgalley, Avon Books & Laura Jane Williams for my arc of The Love Square in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis: Penny Bridge has always been unlucky in love, so she can't believe it when she meets a remarkable new man, then another, then another. Penny has to choose between the three but is any of them the one?

Ok, so I think my main reason for not enjoying this book was because it wasn't exactly what I expected. Judging a book by its cover and all that but also from the synopsis i was thinking it would be the fun, flirty, easy read I needed to get me out of a bit of a reading slump. A super fun summer read it was not.

It started off well up until about halfway through it was exactly what I was expecting. Penny, always unlucky in love meets a hot new guy and they hit it off, it seemed like the typical will they won't they sort of thing and then it fell apart.

For me this book tried way to hard to be inclusive. Obviously I want there to be more diversity in this book but this book just had so much it felt forced. There was immediately a point that the main character Penny had dated a guy from every single race, culture and religion. Fair enough not saying this wouldn't happen it just felt like it was in there to 'tell' inclusivity rather than show it.
Then we have no sign of any LGBTQ+ reps other than Penny's uncle who is gay, all of a sudden we add in Charlie who is a NB character, great! Except that's all there is to them, Charlie does add some humour but mainly feels like they're there just to tick another box. The list goes on, we have a surrogacy, eggs fertilised by donor sperm frozen away, a 20 year age gap, a polygamous Guy, sex outdoors, indoors always in outlandish places and outlandish ways. It just felt like the story got lost some where behind all these attempts at including everyone and everything.

Also the POV was just all over the place it was mostly from Penny's point of view with other people's random thoughts thrown in willy nilly which made it confusing. Penny also came across as very self centred and full of herself despite being written to appear as an unlucky in love type.

Overall it gains an extra star for the first part of the book which I enjoyed otherwise I would have rated it 1*.

This had so much promise but didn't deliver. The book is described as "it will have you laughing, crying and cheering Penny on in this funny and feel-good exploration of hope, romance and the trust it takes to finally fall in love". Well I didn't get many laughs and I wasn't cheering Penny on in fact near the end she was annoying me. I was hoping for a feel good Rom Com which I didn't get. I loved the idea of Penny being caught between 3 men it wasn't something I'd touch upon in a story before. I thought that the subjects of cancer, death and infertility were handled really well and not just blown over. I just found Penny really irritating and by the end very hypocritical. The writing didn't flow well for me either. In a few places we had Pennys pov then without warning it changed to someone else and I had to keep going back over bits to track who said what or on what day we were on. I didn't get to see any real romance blossom between any of the men penny was with it was just a bit wham bam thank you mam and I found I wasnt bothered who she ended up with. I am glad I saw it through to the end as even though it was a very predictable end (as alot of romance books are) it was a very nice feel good ending.

I’ve read some great books recently and ‘The Love Square’ by Laura Jane Williams is another one I’d recommend! It has some heart breaking moment but it was such a wholesome, lovely read that I got stuck into very quickly. There was something about Penny getting caught up in life and losing track of what you really want I found relatable as a twenty something. I quickly fell in love with Francesco myself but found myself wanting the best for Penny with Thomas and Priyesh too. I think this is because all three characters seemed really well rounded.

Thank you #netgalley and Avon Books UK for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

****ARC provided by Netgalley for free review*** I’ve heard of a love triangle but Penny has found herself in a love square! Penny is a smart, independent and respected chef. She loves her family, friends and work! She has it all, except love. This book had more emotional depth to it than I was expecting, but in a good way! Penny’s story will have you cheering, laughing and crying! The supporting characters are all lovable and relatable. I really enjoyed this read! Quick paced, current and fun! How will Penny navigate through her love triangle? Is one of them Mr. Right? Does she take a stand and realize she’s come to terms with being alone? You won’t be disappointed in this book!

Penny Bridge is no longer focusing on her love life, she has a cafe she loves and a family she would do anything for... Then she meets Francesco, and all that flies out of the window.

However life throws a curveball and she has to relocate to Darbyshire to run her uncle’s restaurant, leaving Francesco behind. Here she meets two other men, each very different, and with Francesco in the mix suddenly Penny finds herself in the middle of a massive dilemma.

I love that Penny had flaws, and wasn’t a perfect character. She was well rounded, she had her selfish bitchy moments, but don’t we all? I also love the inclusion of LGBTQI characters, which I felt were not just plopped into the book as a statement, they just were who they were.

Oh help me; how & where do I begin to start with this book?

I was really looking forward to reading a contemporary romance, as it is not often that I dive into them. For me, it is a real treat. But unfortunately, it was no treat, it was an awful trick.

Penny Bridge has so far had it bad. She has had cancer, her boyfriend bailed on her, her mum died when she was young, causing her father to also bail on her and her sister Clementine, and basically sucks at dating.


One of my main issues with the book was that the first romance took up nearly 30% of the first part of the story. Not to mention that it felt very 'insta-romancey', causing me to constantly cringe. Francesco is our first love interest. I did not like him at all. This just generally made it difficult to enjoy and get into the story.


Closer to the end of the book, it is very clear that he is not a nice person. He basically just slut-shames Penny; I was not here for it.


The other "love interests" felt super forced into the narrative. It didn't work for me. Neither of them had any real depth; to be honest they could have all been the same person.


I had a real big issue with Penny. She comes across as a strong independent woman, who "doesn't need no man" but throughout the story, SHE JUST MOANS AND WHINES. That is just her in a nutshell. There isn't anything else to her. The contrasts just didn't blend well together and it felt like she was two different people. I feel the writer could have written this a lot better.


My other issue with her was how she treated her friends and families. It never once seemed that she cared about their issues or problems. It constantly felt that is was "Penny this, Penny that." Boring much? It made me question whether she actually gave a damn about other people.

I would have one good point about this book but it quickly changed into a negative. There is a representation of LGBTQ+ characters in the book, which is great! Her sister is a lesbian, her uncle is gay and her friend is non-binary. Wonderful!


But it is never explored. It felt like a tick in the box. The writer spends so much time with Penny that we never get to learn about these, interesting and diverse characters. One thing that also bothered me is Charlie, who refers to themselves as they/them, is momentarily forgotten that they are non-binary and the writer writes "....SHE said." Just made me think that this author really doesn't care.


The pacing of the book felt overwhelmingly jumpy and annoyed the hell out of me.


And....to top it all off. The unbelievable celebrity references. OH GOOD LORD. I have never cringed so hard in my life. It was terrible. I know books are not meant to be totally realistic but this just took the cake. It was an absolute joke.


I never want to think about this book ever again. It was the absolute worse.

It took a while for me to get into this one, and overall, I never really felt like I got to know the main character, Penny, enough to feel invested in her love life and sexcapades with three different men (some overlapping, even). It had charming moments, but mostly, it felt like a Hallmark movie set in the UK, with a underdeveloped main character. I did appreciate that she was a woman who had battled breast cancer (and won) and desired to be a mother (although it would need to be through surrogacy), but I wanted to know much more about Penny to really be able to root for her.

This ended up being an average read for me. I liked the characters alright. I don't feel like we got any actual substance from anyone other than the main character (and I liked her less as the story went on). The plot was more predictable than I expected given how much time we sent with certain characters. I enjoyed the restaurant aspect of the story line. It was engaging and fresh. The actual character driven moments unfortunately didn't really work for me. There was also a few uber specific pop culture references that took me out of the story. Overall, it was a quick and easy read, pretty much what I expected.

I wasn’t a huge fan of this one. I felt like all the characters ran together and so many parts felt really repetitive. I do love me a story with diversity and representation, so I appreciated the author adding LGBTQ+ characters but it almost felt like it was more “token” character adding in a sense. There wasn’t a lot of depth and it just fell flat for me in a lot of ways.

An entertaining, fast-paced, feel-good, swoony, cute read that makes you smile and gives you positive energy.

REVIEW | The Love Square by Laura Jane Williams

“Life is about how you handle being thrown off course, not discounting yourself from the race because you were thrown off in the first place”

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

"She’s single. But that doesn’t mean it’s not complicated…
Penny Bridge has, historically, been very unlucky in love. She’s pledged to focus on other things - her friends, her career - making the most of what busy London life has to offer. But when difficult circumstances mean that Penny’s uncle must has over the kitchen of his beloved restaurant in Derbyshire, she finds herself stepping into a new life in a new town. And as luck would have it, she’s suddenly confronted with one remarkable man who wants to date her, followed by another. And then another…so begins a hilarious love-square with Penny firmly in the middle."

My thoughts
Love triangles are so 2000s, love squares is where it’s at.

I read Our Stop a few weeks ago - which I really enjoyed because of its modern take on romance. I read the Love Square before Our Stop though and would argue it is even better!

What I liked
- I loved the idea of a love square - the book celebrates the idea that women can have no-strings attached sex, just like men;

- The Love Square tosses the idea of The One out of the window and focuses on the idea that we should figure out our own life priorities first before committing to a relationship;

- As with Our Stop, the Love Square has plenty of LGBTQ+ representation. Penny’s sister and uncle are both in loving same-sex relationships. Penny’s colleague, Charlie, identifies as non-binary and the story also features POC and people of different religions.

- The ways in which the book focused on love in all its shapes and forms: romantic love, familial love, platonic love, sexual love and self-love.

I would recommend this book to anyone who’s looking for a dose of smart-storytelling, modern romance and complex, diverse and relatable characters.

Thank you @netgalley and Avon Books UK for my free copy of The Love Square in exchange for an honest review.

This book did take me longer to get into than I expected, although having said that I’m pleased I persevered as it’s a lovely light summer read. Thank you to Netgalley and the author for the advance preview.

Although I really enjoyed Our Stop (another book by Laura Jane Williams) I find this book difficult to get through. The beginning of the novel was quite slow in my opinion. The whole premise of the love square (as opposed to being in a love triangle) was very cute but the man Penny was going to end up with seemed quite obvious from the beginning as the other two men had large flaws that Penny could not seem to get past. This book was unsurprising and at times, sort of boring. I think if you are looking for a light read that you won't get too invested in this book would be perfect. Otherwise, I would recommend something different--Our Stop perhaps!

Oh my GOSH this gave me so many feels. Although I couldn't particularly relate to the struggles the protagonist Penny went through, I was rooting for her the ENTIRE time which made me cry more than once. All the love interests were unexpectedly loveable and although I thought I knew what would happen, I truly did not know what her decisions would be and I didnt really care as I just loved everyone. SIGH I'll be thinking about this one for a while!

Thank you @netgalley and @avonpublishing for this ARC of a “The Love Square” by Laura Jane Williams. I’m always a sucker for a good love story and this was exactly that. It was such a fun read with such interesting and easy to relate to characters, that I just couldn’t put it down! The Love Square is due out July 2020!!

Penny has been unlucky in life and love. After losing her mother at a very young age and surviving cancer herself, Penny wants to settle down with a good man and raise a baby. After repeated dating failures she finally meets an amazing guy. Francisco is everything she is looking for and after a rocky start, Penny starts to feel like she is moving on the right direction. Just when things are starting to heat up, Penny is called away to manage her Uncle’s restaurant. Not wanting a long distance relationship, she ends things with Francisco. Penny thinks about him a lot and is very lonely when she first arrives but that doesn’t last long and soon she has more men than she can handle. When Francisco shows up again out of the blue will this mean an opportunity for a fresh start or does Penny have just too many men in her life? A fun and fresh new read! Pick up a copy to find out what happens to Penny and her love square!

I really struggled to get into this book and didn’t enjoy some of the topics it focused on at all which meant I really didn’t enjoy it unfortunately

I read a lot of romance. I think I’ve said that before. Historical, fantasy, thriller, paranormal, contemporary and pretty much any combination of genres anyone would care to mash. This one left me a little bit cold. And that saddens me.

I had high hopes – all the boxes were ticked – but I felt something of a disconnect from the heroine Penny. She seemed too deliberately quirky. Too self-deprecating. It was all so… nice. Even the stuff that wasn’t.

The Love Square feels like a story that had been constructed out of all the gaps in other contemporary RomComs but ultimately led a pretty conformist life. I’d read other books by this author as her reviews suggest that, this time, it might just have been me.

I was really excited to read this book and I'm so disappointed in myself to say that it wasn't for me.

I felt like I had to push myself to read it through, I wasn't captivated in the story and my lack of interest and the lack of flow found it the story, for me, put me off reading it.

I'm grateful for being given the opportunity to receive and read this arc and I'm devastated that I couldn't provide a more positive review.

There is an attempt at non-binary representation but I honestly thought it felt a bit forced and there's nothing worse than when a character feels forced in a story. I understand the want to have inclusion in your story but I personally think it looks worse to habe inclusion and for it to seem like you're only doing it to say it's inclusive.

Characterisation for me was not a strong suit in this book. I felt nothing for Penny or any of her love interests. They were fine but nothing stuck or made me interested in continuing to read for enjoyment.

Don't be fooled by the colourful cover and tongue in cheek title, this book is a heart wrencher!
Scarred by loss and suffering, Penny struggles to let love in until she meets Francesco. Then a turn of events tears the two apart after just three weeks.
Back in Derbyshire the way Penny heals her heart is questionable and I struggled as a reader to understand her selflessness but nevertheless I enjoyed this ride of a read. Laura Jane William's is at the forefront of diversifying modern fiction; this is the first book I have read with a non-binary character, I must admit it took me time to adjust to the appropriate plurals. Brilliant relationships and a great cast of diverse characters. Thank you netgalley!