The Lucky Escape by Laura Jane Williams was at first glance a fluffy chick lit book. But, at the true heart of the book were great truths shared that we all need to hear. Annie was on the brink of finding her happily ever after with her boyfriend of nine years, Alexander. He changes his mind and Annie falls to pieces.

This leads Annie to take a literal journey far from home, but also to undergo deep reflection. Annie examines everything about herself from where she works, lives, exercises, and even her relationship with her mother. She wonders about her nature as a people pleaser and decides to not let her fears stop her from finding love again. I know my default is to prove my worth by how well I look after those in my care and often on the list of priorities I come in last. Annie’s courage rubbed off a bit on me and I have moved my needs way up on my long to-do list.

I also loved this advice from her grandmother about how “life’s lows are so entwined, the happiness and sorrow is so interconnected that it’s impossible to be totally happy or totally sad....we can’t outrun the crappy, awful, horrible stuff. So the job of our lives is to let it exist alongside the good stuff, making the good stuff so much sweeter.”

This book had an enjoyable cast of characters with sometimes laughable and sometimes heart wrenching side storylines. I enjoyed seeing how her friends and family grew and changed throughout the story. Her friends and family were true to life and reminded me of people I have known and loved. They all had satisfying character arcs, and were very well written.

At the end of the book I felt almost as if I had attended a few counseling sessions as the struggles Annie has are relatable to most women. But, the book at its true core was entertaining and a fun read, not a preachy self-help book. It was another excellent book from the author of Our Stop and The Love Square. Laura Jane Williams will become one of your favorite new authors also.

I was provided a free advance reader copy from Avon Books UK in exchange for my honest review on Net Galley. The opinions shared in this review are my own.

The Lucky Escape is a journey of self-discovery after the end of a relationship. Laura Jane Williams writes beautifully and tells a story of personal growth beautifully.

I was given a NetGalley Arc in exchange for review.

The Lucky Escape by Laura Jane Williams was a truly lovely book! This book starts out when Annie is left almost at the alter on her wedding day. I cannot imagine how you would begin to cope, but Annie gets out from under the duvet and through a workout class reconnects with a friend from camp, Patrick. When the world's sweetest almost mother-in-law insists Annie go on the paid for honeymoon, she does with Patrick. The two set off as just friends on an extravagant Australian honeymoon washing away all the cold and wet of Autumn in London. If this was a different type of book or Williams was a different author it would end on the glorious honeymoon. What I enjoy about this book is that it doesn't. We travel back to London with Annie and get to see her sorting her life out. While The Lucky Escape is a love story, it feels so much more modern. Annie prioritizes relationships with friends and family and we see her grow into her own! It also includes a blossoming relationship and plenty of romcom elements, but it has depth for even the least romcom inclined!

This book was a very lighthearted read, with a plot that was easy to follow and enjoyable. Although the plot was kind of unrealistic, I still enjoyed the book. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

Unfortunately I couldn't finish this book as it was so slow, even by chapter 5 we were still at the point where her fiance ditched her at the altar and she wasn't sad at home. It's good to see backstory but when the backstory carries on for 1/3 of the book it's too much. I wouldn't recommend

I read an ARC of The Love Square recently and it didn't do it for me. This one, however, was adorable and a lot deeper than I anticipated. The current synopsis made it sound like a light frothy fun read, and while there is definitely a lot of that to be had, there were also deeper themes about loving yourself and being present in the moment.

Kindly received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Lucky Escape by Laura Jane Williams a five-star read that you should run away with. This was exactly what I needed, we just seem to have been living in a never-ending year this year, it brightened my day no end, I have been one of the lucky ones who has stayed in work all during the year as I am one of those annoying people that keep the health care wheel moving. I have been so much luckier than lots of people but still it has taken a toll, this story just gave me the oomph I needed to realise that you can only say yes and be the helpful person for so long, sometimes you need to say yes for you and you only. My goodness what I would wish to run away to Australia, I even tried to persuade my hubby it is a good idea, we didn’t get a proper honeymoon all those years ago so who knows maybe next year we will have our moment. If you need something light and life affirming, then you need this story in your life. If you just want funny and entertaining then you also need this in your life, basically if you are looking for something amazing pick it up. I didn't think you could get better that Our stop, but this proved me wrong.

This book was a very quick and easy read and I really enjoyed it. I loved the concept of the story and I really liked the characters too. It was amazing how all the people in the spa said their pronouns that they wanted to be used, very current and I’m so glad it was included.

It was nice to read an adult genre story that still focused on putting yourself first, no matter your age. It was lovely to see the main characters story evolve and gradually learn to overcome their fears with one another. A very sweet read!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this arc. I adored Our Stop, of my favourite debut about a contemporary city romance. I didn’t enjoy The Love Square as much, nonetheless Laura Jane Williams is someone who I follow on social media and I find her such a sweet and lovely woman that I was willing to give her future books a try. The Lucky Escape definitely hit the mark for me, more than The Love Square but I didn’t love as much as Our Stop, which still remains my favourite book of hers. I think part of the problem was that the way this book is being promoted- the synopsis just didn’t quite evenly match up to the story, which led to expectations that weren’t fulfilled 😕

The premise of this is that a thirty-year old woman is jilted on her wedding day. Her boyfriend of a decade has vanished without giving any reasons for changing his mind. She has a thirteen-year old younger sister, a loving family and friends who encourage her to move on. Her friends remind her that she’s better of without him, and that he was never good enough for her, which has her wondering: if this how her friends feel why didn’t they say this before? She starts to re-evaluate her decade long relationship. Her almost mother-in-law feels awful about her son’s behaviour and insists she treats herself to the all expenses paid honeymoon to Australia. Along the way the protagonist starts going to the gym where she bumps into an old friend...he’s cute and they get along. Is there a chance for romance?

The good parts:
* the protagonist is engaging and relatable. I enjoyed reading about her reflecting on her relationship and realising how flawed it was and much she had compromised and altered herself to please her boyfriend, who once her rose tinted glasses come off, she realises took her for granted and was emotionally unavailable. This regret and bittersweet aspect of the novel was moving and poignant.
* Her family who are so sweet and supportive. I particularly enjoyed her relationship with her little sister.
* Her friends - being 30-year Annie constantly compares herself to her friends, who are married themselves and having babies. Her reflection on how female friendship changes and once people have moved onto their own lives friendship dissipate was poignant and sweet.
* The philosophical dialogues between Annie and Patrick.

My not so favourite parts:
* the romance plot being shoe-horned. It was obvious that Patrick is Annie’s endgame and there just wasn’t any conflict or barriers between them getting together. This part of the story was predictable and the least engaging bit for me. We discover 40% through that Patrick is a widower and he even declares he won’t marry again, yet he’s overtly tactile and affectionate towards Annie, when it’s not warranted plot-wise. That dimmed the tension for me.
* She doesn’t go on the honeymoon until a good 30% into the story. I thought this would’ve happened a lot sooner due to the way the synopsis has been written, so I found this a tad disappointing that it took so long.
* The last 30% - the story goes off on a tangent and Annie changes her mind about what she wants to do with her life more frequently than my four month-old niece changes her clothes full of spit-ups. And she’s teething!!

Mismatched expectations and minor gripes aside, this was on the whole a good escapist read. The two leads do have chemistry and it’s not saccharine-sweet, which was good. I liked the slow build up and that they don’t immediately start pouncing each other. The pacing is good, and the setting of the honeymoon was drool-worthy. Perfect armchair travel escapism. The way to describe this book is more accurately like this: after being dumped on her wedding day Annie reassesses her relationship with her fiancé while bumping into an old handsome friend from her adolescence, who reminds her of the person she used to be. Insisting on a platonic friendship the duo take the offer from Annie’s in-laws to go on the all expenses paid honeymoon, where Annie starts to rediscovers who she wants to be and falls in love...
There are some cliched scenes of the romance genre where the two leads are assumed to be a couple, as the two embark on the honeymoon, but that aside this was an alright escapist read, if you’re looking for a fun, easy romance novel that includes a holiday abroad, which at this point in time seems like a novelty. 3.5/5.

Thanks for the early copy. I’m a huge Laura Jane Williams fan and always love her books for a must pack when going on holiday. This book would be perfect to read on a sun lounger but I enjoyed it just as much for some escapism in this mad time we are in just now.

It was such a feel good, page turning romance with some hot scenes, laugh out moments and the brilliant set of characters that come with each of LJW’s books. Loved it! 5*

I feel like this story’s plot was a bit far fetched I mean sending your ex future daughter in law on a honeymoon that’s not in the least likely to happen in real life.

Though that being said this book was lighthearted read it would be the perfect beach read. The plot was simple and easy to follow but for me it did really have that wow factor that I get with books I keep coming back to years after first reading them.

3.5 stars
Lighthearted and somewhat steamy!
Getting stood up at the alter seems to be a common trope these days.
I was interested in this one because of the traveling aspect. Obviously, this year has been lacking on the travel front, so I’ve enjoyed romantic contemporaries that involve far off
places.
I found the characters a lot more likable in this novel than in “The Love Square”. Everything seemed more believable. And the romance was much sweeter.
The plot in this starts out a bit far fetched, but I found it to be a fun read. I think this will be a nice summer or beach read for a lot of people!

The Lucky Escape was an easy lighthearted read; it would make the perfect beach read. The plot was fairly simple and easy to follow and the characters were likeable.

How nice it would have been to have read The Lucky Escape on a sunny beach abroad instead of in a miserable UK lockdown! It’s a classic beach read, particularly with a great deal of the novel being set in Australia, and a romantic plot with a lovely protagonist you can root for. While I always appreciate when genre fiction reaches beyond patriarchal traditional tropes, I did feel like this was trying to hard to be diverse, with lots of pointed references to friends and colleagues of the (white straight cis) protagonist who are Black, or gay, or use non-cis pronouns. I just think it could have been subtler, but I really do enjoy a romance novel, like this one, that I can be sure has a good heart!

I love Laura Jane Williams’ books! The Love Square got me hooked first and now The Lucky Escape. The character development in this book was so incredibly good, I found myself constantly rooting for Annie and for the happiness that she truly deserved! 4 stars!

I really enjoyed so much about this book. I found Annie to be a strong, believable character. You could easily see how she became what she became given how her mother treated her. So it was super reasonable that she would have stayed with Alexander all that time.

I found the send your son’s ex-fiance on a luxurious honeymoon thing to be a bit far-fetched, and I wished there was a bit more development of the relationship she had with Fernanda early in the book to help me buy into that piece a bit more. Most of that relationship occurs off-screen, so it was a bit of a tough sell.

I adored Freddie and how close Annie and she were. It was sweet to see that side of Annie and the side of Annie you saw with her best friends. The different spheres of adult friendship thing is very relatable.

I loved Patrick. His past was so sad, but it really made a lot of aspects of his personality make sense. It did take me a little while to feel the sexual chemistry between them, but once it was there, it was super hot. It definitely aligned with Annie’s realizations about her attraction. The final conflict between them was reasonable and didn’t seem cheap which I also appreciated.

Overall, to me, this felt like a lovely blend of Beth O’Leary’s The Flatshare and Christina Lauren’s Unhoneymooners in the best possible way while also feeling very unique. I really enjoyed it!

The Lucky Escape was an easy lighthearted read; it would make the perfect beach read. The plot was fairly simple and easy to follow and the characters were likable.

What a cute romantic comedy book! I absolutely adore this. It’s very girl meets boy in a destination spot but with a ring of truth. I highly recommend it I think a lot of people who enjoy this one