I was so excited to read this. It started off strong but ultimately left me irritated and just wanting it to be done. Fun premise for a story but ended up not being my cup of tea.

"The Love Square" by Laura Jane Williams aims to explore the complexities of love and relationships through a modern romantic narrative, but unfortunately, it falls short of its ambitious goals. The premise, while promising a fresh take on love's unpredictable nature, ends up feeling contrived and overly simplistic in its execution. The protagonist's journey through various romantic entanglements lacks depth, making it difficult for readers to fully engage or empathize with her dilemmas. Additionally, the characters around her feel underdeveloped, serving more as plot devices than as fully realized individuals with their own stories and motivations. Despite Williams' attempt to capture the essence of contemporary romance, "The Love Square" struggles to deliver a compelling or memorable exploration of love, settling instead into the realm of predictable clichés.

Thank you to Netgalley for a pre publication copy. In return for an honest review #thelovesquare #netgalley

Penny was brought up, with her sister, by her uncle and his husband in their pub and kitchen after the untimely death of her mother. When Penny became a chef she left Havingley and went south to London where she owns and runs a cafe in a more sedate style after her own health issues until she gets the phone call from her Uncle that turns her whole world upside down. Will she get more than she bargained for? Can you have love and fun?

The title and cover of this book drew me to it.

This is a light hearted laugh on loud page turner of a book. It is what I call a "sandwich" romance. You get that feel good feeling of romance that's working right from the start with a few twists and turns thrown in later and a lovely romance ending too.

The only thing I would say is that I think the prologue gave too much away rather than being an introductory piece it revealed what would happen about halfway through the book which reduced the suspense of that turn later on.

Re-read this recently as I had almost forgotten it but soon it all came back to me. Would make a great holiday read and I recommend reading the other books by the author too.

Love triangles (or squares, in this case) can be great to create tension and suspense in a romance, but for that to happen you need to root for the protagonist to find their best partner, and you need to be invested in at least one of the partners. That's where this book fell short for me: I didn't particularly like the main character and how she handled things (or people, for that matter) and I had no attachment to the outcome of who she could end up with. It was a book with too many ideas (and too many partners) and some more considered choices in the plot, and from the main character, would have made it all a bit more relatable,

I listened to this on audio and I almost DNf'ed this, but stuck on reading it. It was a messy love triangle as we follow a woman who doesn't have any lucky in love. So it seems totally unreal when she meets not one, but three men who like her and she goes on dates and sees if one of them is The One. There was a third act and that was where I was like really that she didn't think that it was going to blow up in her face and the three guys weren't going to find out. I did overall enjoy the book.

Fancy a feel good read then this is the book for you. I throughly enjoyed reading this one. Great writing.
Thank you to both NetGalley and publishers for gifting me this book

This was such a heartwarming and entertaining story. I loved all of the characters but there were definitely a few times I wanted to smack Penny and tell her to get it together! All in all it was a really sweet book and I look forward to reading more from this author. Thank you netgalley for my free copy.

Good. Nice romantic story. Shows that love can come in many forms. Enjoyed it from start to finish. Good characters.

As much as the premise of this book appealed to me, unfortunately I found reading it a bit of a chore with little enjoyment.

I'm sure this book would appeal to many different people - cancer survivors, food lovers or people who even in their 30s feel a bit lost.

Unfortunately for me, I struggled to relate to any of the characters and did not feel emotially invested in this read

I really enjoyed Our Stop so was excited to read this one. Unfortunately it just didn’t work for me and I decided to DNF. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advance reading copy.

This was a fun romcom that enjoyed and sped through very quickly. I love One Stop and knew I had to request more from Laura Jane Williams, it's just a shame it has taken me this long to read it! I loved watching Penny discovering herself, making important decisions in her life and ultimately who she wanted to be with, even if I did want to shake her at times for the hurt and pain she caused. Yes, Lizzo was a stretch of the imagination, but I could roll with it. Will I be reading more from the author? Without a doubt.

I thought I would like this one, but I didn't realize there would be cheating. Also Lizzo? Really? Just too much of a leap for me.

As rom coms go this is a decent book. It has all it needs: believable characters and a plot that keeps you mostly interested. It sagged at times and I didn’t think there was much original about it but it was okay.

I loved this book! It was fun watching Penny determine who she would choose and it kept me guessing until the end. I like Williams' writing style and felt the characters had enough depth to pull this story off, as love triangles (squares) aren't typically my favorite - but this worked for me. Will definitely be reading more by this author!

A fast-paced, easy read but ultimately too messy to be very entertaining. Nothing about these characters was compelling and I found it hard to root for any of them - even the heroine.

I adore Our Stop and was hoping for something similar. Unfortunately, The Love Square didn't hit the spot. I wasn't taken in with the plot and found Penny to be incredibly irritating throughout. I, like other reviewers, also found the diversity was a bit tick box - great to see non-binary folk in books, but I wouldn't qualify it as representation if they don't actually do much...

Cute premise, total miss on execution. You have to be able to root for the main character in a romcom/women's fiction story like this to some extent, right? But I found Penny unappealing and grating, and the actual plot twists and turns just kept getting worse and worse (and, yes, the Lizzo inclusion is weird??). It isn't a very long book, really, but it still manages to drag, with clunky writing and obnoxious characterization.

Thank you to Avon for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

⭐ Funny, warm & feel good.
⭐ I found the characters really engaging.
⭐ Has more depth & development than the average rom com.
⭐ It's fast paced.
☆ I lost connection with Penny as she couldn't decide who she loved, when you know you know right?

This was a brilliant read and is being featured on my blog for my quick star reviews feature, which I have created on my blog so I can catch up with all the books I have read and therefore review.
See www.chellsandbooks.wordpress.com.