This book was provided to me by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book but I didn't love it. All the ingredients were there: a well rounded heroine, an interesting plot and loveable side characters. Where did the book fall flat for me? The love interests. I just didn't think any of the three men were worthy of our heroine's time! They came across as selfish and none of them seemed to understand Penny or her needs.

Would I recommend this book? Yes. But read it for Penny's relationship with her wonderful sister and not for the romances.

(Content warning: cancer; infertility issues)

The Love Square is Laura Jane Williams 2nd fiction book after releasing her first Our Stop last year. As a writer Laura has a talent for creating characters you either like or you don't. Penny the protagonist in The Love Square is an entirely likeable and relatable character whereas some of the love interests are not. Whether that was an intentional plot device on Laura's part or it's just that as a reader there wasn't the connection, who knows?

While being a humorous read and quite light hearted, The Love Square is about self love. Having read all Laura's previous releases this is a theme she often weaves in to her stories and clearly a subject she's very passionate about.

This is a book that when you read it, you will either engage with it fully or not at all. It was more led by emotion than plot which at times made it feel like an unnecessarily heavy read in certain parts.

If you want a (mostly) light hearted read full of self love, humour, romance and fully diverse and inclusive cast of characters then you cannot go wrong with The Love Square.

Thanks to NetGalley and Avon Books for an advanced copy in exchange for my review.

I wanted to like THE LOVE SQUARE, but I was just underwhelmed with it. I loved Our Stop and was excited to revieve an advanced copy. The writing was super and that's what kept me going but overall it fell short for me.

I didn't love Penny, the main character and thought she brough her drama upon herself with all of a sudden finding 3 men who wanted to be with her. But I did like the other cast of characters and that the book does hit on some real issues of grief, cancer, IVF and I thought that was all done extremely well. There were some funny bit and it is a cute rom-com, but it was just an ok book.

Penny Bridges is the owner of a small café in London and taking the big step toward IVF treatment to have a baby on her own. Then comes along Francesco. Then she has to help out a sickly uncle in Derbyshire. Then comes along Thomas and Priyesh. And Francesco is back. And suddenly, it's all a bit much for Penny who has lost sight of what she really wanted all a long.

This book wasn't really for me, despite it having a really good message of doing what you want and what makes you happy.

The main character really annoyed me, so I never felt much connected to her or to her problems (some of which were entirely her own fault).

There were some good bits though! I liked the representation of LGBT couples and characters, I liked Francesco who was really well written and seemed very much a real and rounded character.

So yeah, I didn't really enjoy this book as much as I had hoped.

ARC provided by #netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a very fast-paced read with a lot of cute moments. Highly entertaining, I devoured it in one sitting.

I'm sure that 'The Love Square' wanted to convey the message of finding your true self, loving yourself unconditionally and allowing yourself to believe that you deserve good things happening to you. And I wholeheartedly love that message. It's hard to see your worth when life is tough, and just like a normal person, Penny had trouble perceiving herself as ""enough ".

Penny is such a strong woman and I loved reading her story. She lost both of her parents and she had to fight the battle against breast cancer. On top of that, she has to go through every issue that society issues on women in general. To see her finally stand up for herself and for her own happiness was liberating.

Now we know from the premise that 3 men,-not only 1 , were interested in Penny. And she handled them well, but when it all blew up on Penny, and all 3 confronted her all at once, I absolutely HATED the way she was treated. Especially the words that were thrown at her head from Francesco. It left a bitter taste in my mouth.

All in all, I enjoyed the book. I loved the message at it's core and I liked Penny a lot. It's a witty and fast-paced read. I would recommend this to readers who like their reads with a lot of emotional depth.

Oh my! That was an adventure! I never thought I would read a book in 3 days with my baby trying to sit on my head (yes he literally does that). And I'm so happy I had the opportunity to read it because it was a delicious story! (see what I did? Delicious... The main character is a chef.. No? OK. I will stop).

I enjoyed reading about Penny's adventures with men. Mostly because I never read a book about a love square. And this one was really fun. I'm glad that the author includes every type of person. You can find non-binary, gay, lesbian, even polygamist. This book is for everyone!

Thank you NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for an honest review. It was an easy read, perfect for a boring day.

Penny Lane is a baker who is unlucky in love. Her personal and professional lives, on the other hand, are perfect. As a new professional opportunity begins for her, multiple new romantic possibilities appear - including a face from the not-so-distant past. I was really looking forward to reading this book, as the main character seemed relatable and the idea of a love square seemed intriguing. And the book really paid off, and I loved it........for about the first ¾ of it.

I didn't mind the 3 different men, though none of them seemed particularly *great*. And I thought that Penny handled them very well; she didn't lead anyone on and for the most part the men knew what they signed up for (a fling, or friendship). But when it all blew up on Penny, and all 3 men confronted her all at once, I absolutely HATED the way she was treated. Francesco, who we are led to believe is her true love, treated Penny terribly; he was hurtful to her and blamed a lot of things on her that, to me, did not make sense. It felt like the Penny he was seeing was not the Penny that was presented as a character - which would have been fine if the entire book was presented from Penny as an unreliable narrator. But that's not the case; perspective shifted between characters and the book was written in third person.

Because of the way Penny was treated by her "true love", the happy-ever-after that we get at the end of the book seemed false. Unfortunately, this left a bad taste in my mouth regarding this book - I really loved the author's writing style, and the first ¾ of the book was great, but because of the ending of it I feel I need to rate it lower than I was planning to in earlier chapters of the book.

Laura Jane WIlliams' last book Our Stop was one of my favourite summer reads of last year so I had high expectations of this one.

This is a fun read about finding yourself and the need to know who you are and want you want before you find someone else. This is full of life-affirming brilliant female friendships and male characters who completely go against the stereotypes. I loved that.

For me, Our Stop just about still holds the title of my favourite read by Laura Jane Williams' but if you want an enjoyable, touching read that will thoroughly take your mind off everything that's currently happening, this is one to pick up!

This romantic novel was pretty good, with an interesting premise of a protagonist who has to decide whether to follow her heart or support her family. I did find some of the characters’ motivations to be a bit questionable, but I wasn’t going into this looking for a believable storyline, just some light and heartwarming entertainment, which it provided.

The Love Square follows the story of Penny, a thirty year old cafe owner who can't seem to find a relationship since her boyfriend, Mo, left her 5yrs ago. The story starts as Penny is leaving her lovely behind to go to the countryside to run her uncles restaurant, leaving her very new relationship in tatters - flashback to three months before when a chance bread delivery brings about the gorgeous Francesco who leaves Penny his number, but Penny is convinced that she is unloveable and decides to put him out of her mind, until a month later when she meets him again. We follow Penny's relationship with Francesco developing, but its stopped in it's tracks by Penny's uncle taking ill, and Penny stepping up to help with the family business, So, breaking up with Francesco, Penny drives into the sunset, but not before seeing something that crushes her fragile heart even more...

I absolitely adored The Love Square, it was refreshing and funny and didn't shy away from the often funny sights of sexual relationships - I loved how Penny went about her life, she was great and the love square was fantastically done - though I could see the very inevitable car crash tv part coming head on.

Perfect summer read; read it in one sitting!

I loved this book, got me over a reading block.

It tells the story of Penny who owns her own cafe in London and meets a new man just as she has to go and help her Uncle run his pub and restaurant for him after he has a heart attack. She puts her life on hold to help him out but ends up spoilt for choice for male company. She meets an older man who is great in bed and a person from her childhood who is great company and great fun but not around much as he is travelling for work and the reappearance of new boyfriend from London.

She happily enjoys all their company and has to decide which man is for her.

I am a fan of Laura Jane's work from her instagram posts to her last novel, Our Stop - she really does know how to construct a story and I'm a sucker for good romantic fiction but boy, do I feel inferior to her characters! Sometimes I feel as if they have almost *too* multidimensional...the main protagonist is a cancer survivor, their mum died when they were younger a successful business owner AND considering becoming a single mum through IVF - they kinda make me feel like I haven't achieved much...sThe male characters are well written and whilst sometimes a bit earnest, don't we all want a man like any of them featured in this book - it's escapism isn't it?! All that said, I did really enjoy this novel and would recommend it to other readers - the story was interesting enough to keep my attention and I read it really quickly! I would definitely read more from Laura Jane :)

I’ve been eyeing up this book for a while I won’t lie. 😂 I really enjoyed OUR STOP last year so I had high hopes for this knowing that I enjoy William’s writing. It’s fun, witty with poignant and heartfelt moments. And thankfully, that’s what I got with THE LOVE SQUARE. I flew through this book! It’s really easy to read, has very lovable characters and great settings. Trendy coffee shops, cozy pubs, and even a celeb makes a cameo. 🤩 No spoilers but it’s epic! 😎

The plot is fun. I love the idea of a love square. Penny is single and unlucky in love (aren’t we all...Oh just me? Okay 😆) and then she meets a wonderful man. Then another and then another. Hence the square! But are any of them THE ONE?!! Does the course of love ever run smoothly? Nope. Is life picture perfect? Nope. Is it best just to accept our imperfect humanness and be thankful for what we have??Absobloodylutely! 💃🏼

I’m a fan of contemporary fiction and I need it right now. I love nothing more than feeling my heart swell up with happiness and joy. At the same time, I like drama and for the characters to have depth, be flawed and authentic. Williams writes about infertility, grief and illness so openly and with compassion and sensitivity. And the characters? I applaud the way Williams writes such diverse, real and relatable characters. Penny Bridge is strong, independent and definitely grew as a person through the book. Her friends and family are supportive, kind and really compliment the essence of the story. Oh and I may have liked some of the sexy male characters too...ahem. 😏

THE LOVE SQUARE is a refreshing, modern “feel good” story of romance, hope, and trusting in love. One to look out for this summer! ❤️

“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”. Amen! 🙏

A super cute book
I loved Penny’s closeness with her sister and video podcasts.
She was so unlucky in love with guys ghosting her. Readers can relate to that.

Her relationship with all three guys I really enjoyed.
Francesca, especially who was so understanding to her and for everything she’s been through.
And why not, it’s good to have a bit of fun. She’s strong and independent.
Recommend it.

I had the chance to read an ARC of The Love Square courtesy of Net Galley and the publisher. This is not your average modern romance novel. We've all come to expect some sort of love triangle in a romance novel, but Williams takes it a bit further giving us a full-on love square. I know, one woman finding herself in a relationship with three different men? But our main character Penny finds herself in this awkward situation quite honestly. She's always been unlucky in love so when a seemingly perfect man falls for her she's always waiting for the bomb to drop, and she thinks she finds it as she's forced to leave town for a while on family business. When she settles into her "new: life, she meets another guy who is interested in her, but travels a lot and wants to keep things open, and then she meets another guy. Then the first guy finds his way back into her life - but only as her friend. Or is he? And next thing you know, Penny finds herself with a monumental quadrilateral problem.

As with any romance, I found myself liking one of the guys way more than the other two and spent a large portion of the book wishing she'd just ditch the other two, even when they weren't together. But all in all, it was an enjoyable read, and when all the men came face to face with one another and realized what was happening - well that was golden awkwardness that I loved.

I really really enjoyed “our stop”. It was one of my favourite books of last year. Perhaps I compared this book too much to that novel, but I felt that this didn’t grab me as much as I thought it would do. It had a good storyline, but the book felt almost rushed and too short. I did enjoy the book and was laughing in places and crying in others.

A sincere thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for providing me an ebook copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This is not my usual genre, I’m more of a crime/thriller reader however this story intrigued me. I absolutely loved it, truly one of the best books I have read. I am extremely pleased and grateful to both for opening up my mind to something totally different.

Penny is searching for ‘the one’ and she thinks she has met him then she meets another two men and it all gets confusing and emotional for Penny.

I really enjoyed Our Stop and was excited to read this but this fell a little short for me. It didn’t seem as funny but was still a nice read.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

I really enjoyed the setting of this book, I used to live near Stoke Newington so that was lovely to read about as well as all the other London landmarks as well as the countryside. I couldn't take to the main character at all which I know is normal but it felt like she was meant to be endearing but it just didn't quite catch. I felt like it tried to deal with two much e.g. grief, IVF etc and then didn't do justice to topics as well as could have been done. I loved the concept of the book but it left me a bit cold. I did love the style of writing though.

Finding a decently written romance that reflects the complexities of our lives is becoming slightly easier to find. Among them sits The Love Square that initially starts off with the possibility of love but is more to do with feeling displaced and out of control of one’s life.

In the depths of Stoke Newington, London lives Penny, a talented chef who runs her own cafe, whose life is turned upside down when her uncle falls sick and is forced to shoulder the responsibility of running his pub restaurant in Havingley, a village in Derbyshire. In the midst of what she hopes to be a temporary life change are the three men she meets along the way – Francesco, Thomas and Priyesh. Spending time with each man, Penny realises that this isn’t who she is or what she wanted in the first place and comes to terms with what she truly wants, as well as with whom.

Pleasantly surprising, The Love Square holds some of Beth O’Leary’s The Flat Share vibes partly due to it being based in London with a refreshing shift to the Derbyshire hills bringing it an earthy experience where Penny gets in touch with nature. As the novel progresses, however, it becomes apparent that she’s not the same woman we meet in the beginning who thrives on being in the capital, a place she feels she belongs and can be the best version of herself. The book is frank and emotionally honest about Penny’s past pain. She’s clearly strong in spite of losing her mother, being deserted by her father as well as surviving breast cancer at 25. Yet her self-confidence wavers when it comes to love due to her poor experiences with men and she wonders if she’ll ever be able to find a lifelong, supportive companion.

You could be forgiven for thinking this is going to be a hilarious comedy of errors – after all, being caught between three men at the same time is a recipe for disaster of colossal proportions. Yet this isn’t a funny story as Penny appears to use men as a distraction from the truth and undergoes some serious introspection to understand herself better. That’s not to say the men in her life are entirely negative influences. Thomas’ sense of adventure allows her to go out of her comfort zone and explore the surrounding wilderness, Priyesh is attentive, sweet and kind, while Francesco has a lot in common with her. The choice she ultimately makes is one that’s best for the life goals she holds in mind. Between the three men, I don’t think I preferred any of them strongly enough – Thomas is a little one-dimensional and superficial, Priyesh comes off too eager and Francesco, towards whom I was initially inclined, is judgemental and unfair to Penny. It seems slim pickings for a short while until Penny realises she needs to be her true, authentic self before she can choose a man.

Away from Penny’s drama, Laura Jane Williams has seamlessly written numerous LGBTQ+ friends and family into the storyline who provide her with the loving stability and enable her to eventually find her feet. The close bond between herself and her sister, Clementine, is heartwarming while the banter her friend Charlie provides is the source of some comic relief. Between the men and the temporary displacement, Penny isn’t merely caught between a romance of who she wants but also where she wants to be. Ultimately, Penny ends up making the decisions she wants instead of what the men want her to do and finds herself in control of her life again.

The Love Square is a satisfyingly light, feel-good fiction with some honest soul-searching beyond a typically disastrous romance. It’s fast-paced and doesn’t dwell too much on emotional angst but still offers some depth in allowing characters to realise their full potential by refocusing, knowing what they want and standing up for it. Amidst all of this, what it quite wonderfully offers is that none of this can be possible without a support network of family and friends that help Penny achieve her dreams.