Actual rating: 4.5🌟

This book is like a portal to Japan for me, not just the place but also the culture.❤

At first I thought I'll dnf this one because it has (for me) a very slow start. There's a lot of info dumping and just too much descriptions and the story got lost along the way. But I persevered and little by little learned to appreciate our main character, Charlotte.

Charlotte just cancelled her wedding and decided to still go for the honeymoon trip alone. She was all brave and confident on her way to Japan but upon arriving she realized how unprepared she really is.

This story is more on Charlotte's soul searching and self discovery sprinkled with a rich background of Japan and its culture. The thing that really resonated with me is the concept of ikigai. This is the first time I've heard of it. I googled it and it means 'a reason for being'. Knowing what your purpose is in a given time and just embracing who you are.

I have lots of realizations while reading the latter half of the book. It was a very calming and cleansing read.😏

Recommended for those who loves Women's Fiction, travelling and soul searching or self discovery kind of books.👍

***Thanks to the publisher and author for making this book available for review via Netgalley.***

Cute read. Definitely made me feel homesick for Japan. I wasn't a fan of the spliced narrative—flashbacks to time with ex being inserted into the present timeline. It just felt unnecessary.

I've been loving this cute light reads lately and this one was super good. I loved the characters and the story line and I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend of you are looking for something to get you out of a reading slump. A perfect beach read.

Thanks to Random House UK, Cornerstone and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC. The below opinions are my own.

This story follows Charlotte who embarks on a solo honeymoon trip to Japan after she breaks off the engagement with her fiancé. She doesn't want to lose out on the non refundable trip costs and she's also wanted to visit Japan for a long time.

I've always wanted to travel to Japan for a long time and I could do a bit of arm chair travel with this book. The Japanese culture is explained well in this book and I felt as if I was also experiencing the same things as Charlie.

It was fun reading about Charlie's adventures in Japan and especially in Tokyo. It was very realistic and the camaraderie between Charlie and her siblings was heart warming. They are but fleeting characters in this novel as it focuses only on Charlie. People who have already visited Japan can reminisce with this novel and it encourages others to want to visit Japan.

Sometimes the flashbacks disrupted the plot but it was nice to read how Charlie used this trip and social media to inch closer towards her dream job. I love hoe she falls in love with herself and how she discovers who she is when she is alone.

A delightful heartwarming read!

If you don't want to go Japan after reading this book, I don't know if you ever will!
This book was such an amazing read and I really enjoyed getting to know the Japanease culture much more.


I was a bit confused in the beginning because I found the setting of the first thing happening quite unrealistic.. Other than that I didn't really connect with Matts charachter and that is the reason that it wasn't a five star read, because other than that it was amazing to read!

What do you do when you need a thrilling adventure in a country you’ve long dreamed of visiting but have no currently realistic way of actually going to?

Well - you read a book, of course!

The book is dedicated “to anybody in need of an armchair adventure”, and thanks to author Lucy Dickens, I just had the most wonderful, calming, lovely, vicarious immersion into the culture, people and places of Japan and savored every moment! It was just what I needed before my family and I jump into a slightly less relaxing and enjoyable adventure of packing up and moving this month.

Charlotte has been with her fiance, Matt, since they were school children, and they’ve never known an existence without the other. Now three weeks before their wedding, followed by their planned month-long honeymoon tour of Japan, Matt presents this brilliant option to Charlotte:

“... how about we take a week off … a pre-wedding break … a holiday from each other … a week off from our relationship, to sow some wild oats, to make sure that we’re doing the right thing?”

*Record scratch* Um. What?? Needless to say, this suggestion is NOT received favorably by his wife-to-be, and Charlotte puts a literal break in their wedding plans. Broken heart aside and life dreams smashed to pieces what does she decide to do?

Duh … go on her honeymoon minus her honey!

What should have been a month of celebrating the beginning of her new life as a married woman, and her upcoming internship at travel magazine Adventure Awaits in pursuit of her goal to be a travel writer, her honeymoon instead becomes a journey of self-discovery in this foreign land, a la Eat, Pray, Love style. In Japan, this is called ‘ikigai’, which means finding your purpose and living happily. By its nature it’s flexible and fluid, changing with each day and experience that comes.

It took me a short minute to get invested in Charlotte as a character, and I couldn’t really relate to her “decision by sibling committee” way of making major decisions, since that’s not my own experience with my siblings, but despite that, she grew on me quickly. It was fun to journey alongside her as she experienced the color, lights and sounds of busy Tokyo and Harajuku, and immersed herself in the natural beauty of the ocean, bamboo forests, cherry blossoms, Japanese gardens, temple shrines, hot springs and mountains in places like Kyoto, Ishigaki Island, Hiroshima and Nagano. Don’t even get me started on the food. I want to eat it all.

Those are some of the places she went, but I’ll leave the joy of discovering her specific adventures - which range from fun and light-hearted to more thoughtful and contemplative - to those who choose to read this. Her experiences in each place and what she learned about the Japanese ideas of life are what made this such a fun and delightful book to read, and one with some added meaning and depth. Those thinking it’ll be a fluffy romance will be disappointed. It’s not absent altogether, but it’s barely there, and I really appreciated that. It wasn’t about Charlotte finding her meaning in a man, it was about her finding the meaning and joy of being herself and creating the life of adventure she’s always wanted. First stop, Japan. Next stop … who knows? Adventure awaits!

★★★★ ½
Thanks to NetGalley, Rand0mHouse UK/Cornerstone and author Lucy Dickens for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. It will be published May 27, 2021.

2 1/2 stars

Charlotte and Matt are a few weeks away from their wedding when it gets cancelled. Charlotte has always dreamed of being a travel journalist and has an internship at her favorite travel magazine starting when she would of returned from the honeymoon. She decides to go ahead & take the trip to Japan alone in order to experience some adventure in the wake of her heartbreak.

It was slow going in the beginning. I found Charlotte annoying at the start. Also, I had issues with the premise.
I mean they've been together since high school, 10 year relationship, living together and you're still not married! Just engaged. Really!!! What's the point of that????

It did pick up about 1/3 way thru once she's on her trip. I've been lucky enough to have traveled to Japan. I was able to invoke memories of my trip thru the narrative. The writer does a great job of painting a visual of the sights, sounds, food & people of that country. Definitely makes you want to travel there or return for another visit.

There was some humor and Charlotte does develop as a person while on the trip so she became less annoying.

I enjoyed this novel for the most part. Although I've never had plans to travel to Japan, there are definitely a variety of locations I wasn't aware of that this character was able to travel too. At certain times the story dragged on a bit, and I did find myself putting down the book and picking up something else, but overall it was a sweet story, even though I wish we found out more in the end.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to review this book.

Fun plot concept but I found that I didn’t connect with the main characters. I think it was the jumping back and forward between present day and flashbacks combined with the use of lists so early in the story. I think that was the main reason I never made a connection with Charlotte and so didn’t really didn’t care that the wedding was off. Plus I never really got the feeling Charlotte cared all that much either.
.

I received this book complimentary from NetGalley but all opinions are my own.

This book was a joy to read and one that was very relatable. To me and i'm sure many other people who have experienced heartbreak. The story follows Charlotte who calls off her wedding and goes off on her honeymoon to Japan by herself.

I loved the setting of Japan and the way it was described it made me feel like I was really there along with her. As someone who has gone on a group holiday (not a couples one) I could really relate to her, this book was fast paced maybe a little too fast paced at points I felt like I was zipping through Japan. It had everything I wanted for a lighthearted read. The openly other downside was I didn’t enjoy the flashbacks that were scatted throughout the book.

I loved this book!
Charlotte calls off her perfect country wedding (because her fiance turns out to be a jerk) and leaves for her one month honeymoon in Japan on her own. I already love her!
This is not the usual rom-com /chick lit read (I must add fortunately!), it's a story of self discover: the honeymoon is an actual journey, but also a journey of self discovering during which Charlotte learns to be on her own, to understand who she really is and what she really wants.
The second main character of this book is Japan and so well described that you want to leave for Japan immediately, too! I love travel books and I also love Japan, so I guess this was the perfect combination for me, but I think this book is highly enjoyable by anyone, really.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

What would you do if your fiance suggested you take a week-long break three weeks before your wedding?

Yeah, I would have lost it. But, our lovely protagonist Charlotte, takes a different route. We follow Charlotte, after the whole break fiasco, as she goes on their honeymoon alone and embarks on the quest to lose-find herself.

Charlotte was such a sweet soul. If I were in her situation, I would have totally handled the situation differently. Her ex-fiance Matt is such a little weasel.

Although I expected this to be all about love, it actually isn't. Sure, there is that element in the beginning and towards the end, but mostly this is a story of self-discovery. When Charlotte goes to Japan, she starts the journey of discovering who she really is. Having been with Matt all her life, she realised she didn't know how to live life on her own, what she really wanted from life and who she was all on her own.

If you love Japan or like to travel, you'll be thrilled with this book. The majority of this book shows her travels throughout Japan, what she sees, tastes, feels and experiences. It's a neat way to learn more about Japan if you don't know anything.

I loved the tone of this book, because Charlotte was hilarious. While in Japan, she, of course, meets someone and engages in a night of fun and a little bit of making out. It was adorable!

Who would like it? If you love romance, stories about self-discovery, Japan, books about travel.

I loved it! I traveled through it, I loved the main character and her journey. I liked the story and how it developed and also the scenery!

This book felt extremely promising for me to begin with. I was super intrigued by the cover and the story and it got even better when I started reading. Often in stories the girl is with a guy that is obviously a big jerk, but he is the one leaving the girl. For once the guy acts like an idiot and the girls leaves him before the wedding – felt like breath of fresh air compared to other books I read. I really started to like the female main character and thought that I was really going to like this book when I saw something unfortunate. Flashbacks. Flashbacks I usually never really care for. They are usually lazy and unnecessary for the story. And I could have tolerated a flashback or two. But there was a lot of them. Every time a flashback happened, I felt annoyed, and it felt like I was dragged away from the story for something that did not feel relevant. The flashback did become fewer and is the reason I did not put the book sown and the few there after I actually just skipped.

The story is heavily focused around the theme about finding yourself. The main character came out of an eight-year relationship despite being only 24. In Japan she now tries to figure out who she really is with a backdrop of Japanese concept such as ikigai and forest bathing and touring around the country. I guess it gives a very tourist version of Japan, but it really makes you want to travel there – preferably yesterday. It is a book I would recommend for people who want to think about the concept about finding yourself, really want to travel alone, or want a women’s fiction book that do not really have any romance in it.

I'm sorry but this book wasnt what I expected and I just couldn't get into it
The beginning was good but once she took off on her travels alone after cancelling their wedding I lost the thread and struggled to reconnect to the book

This was a great quarantine read! I felt like I had the opportunity to "travel" vicariously through these characters! This was a super fun, witty, light read!

Charlotte and Matt have it all planned out. First, the wedding. Then, the month-long honeymoon in Japan, after which they were going to move to London, to start their lives together.

Only, there’s one problem.

Matt suddenly decides he doesn’t like the plan.

THE BROKEN HEARTS HONEYMOON is a fairly breezy story about one woman’s quest to re-find herself after her fiancé decides they need a break just a few weeks before their wedding. As they’ve been together since school, Charlotte isn’t quite sure who she is without Matt and when the opportunity arises for her to embark upon their planned honeymoon trip–albeit solo–she takes it in the hopes that a new perspective will help clear her mind and provide direction.

This is a tricky book for me to rate because some things I thought were done well. There was a good bit of humor that really worked for me. However I also think I was just thrown off by my own expectations. I went into this expecting a romance and its decidedly more Women’s Lit. That said, its not bad. Just not what I typically read.

The one thing that I did really struggle with was the pacing at times. Some of the scene transitions felt a bit wonky to me and I also felt like the flashbacks at the start of the novel were mostly unnecessary and took me out of the story. That said, I think the author did a wonderful job with describing the locations and making the setting really come alive. Had I been in the mood to read a travelogue (as this at times reads as one with fourth-wall breaking asides to the reader) I probably would have enjoyed it much more than I did. As it is, I would rate it a solid 3.5 stars. If you’re a reader of women’s lit and the sort of ‘eat, pray, love’ adventures of self discovery, you’ll almost certainly love this.

**Thanks so much to Netgalley for providing an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
**Review originally posted on my blog

This book certainly took me through a range of emotions!
The authors wonderfully refreshing writing style really caught my attention and kept it fully to the very end.
Charlotte's unique personality was just perfect! It added humour and emotion, and following her story as she grows as a person made me smile so much.
A heart warming, laugh out loud read that will keep you hooked. I love this book.

I really struggled with this book, a DNF at 15%. I kept trying to come back to it, but failed. There were too many flashbacks. Just not a good fit for me, which is a shame as I love romance and travel.

Charlotte’s life is turned upside down when her fiancé, Matt, tells her he’s having second thoughts on their wedding that is only weeks away. The wedding is called off but Charlotte decides to still go on her month long honeymoon to Japan alone. While she’s on a journey across the country, she’s also discovering who she is as a single woman and what she wants to do with her life.

This powerful self-discovery story was so intriguing and eye opening. Charlotte learned so much about herself that could be helpful to any young person experiencing a difficult transition in their life. Also, the trek through different regions of Japan made me want to hop on a plane and see all of the sites for myself. Overall, this was a fun contemporary read with a plot unlike anything I’ve read before.