**listened to the audio book**

This was a highly anticipated book for me, as I read William's previous novel 'OUR STOP' and it was one of my favourite reads of last year.

I really enjoyed this book (not quite as much as I enjoyed Our Stop) as it felt incredibly epic! It spanned a decent amount of time, and I felt that I really got to know the books central character of Penny. I loved Penny! I could relate to her so much - despite not going through half the stuff she has. I could easily spend more time with Penny over more books - I really hope Laura Jane Williams does write more about Penny!

This book felt incredibly real, and despite being fiction I felt like it could easily have been an autobiography. I loved the fact that Penny had different relationships within the book, and I loved how she changed (just ever so slightly) with each different guy she was dating. It made me think about my own love life in that sense. I love what Penny got from each of the men, and how that helped her in coming out of herself and becoming a more confident person.

For me, it was completely obvious who Penny's true 'soulmate' would end up being - and although this was incredibly romantic, I would have liked it if the other blokes she dated would also be in the running ever so slightly. Just so it was more of a 'mystery' of who she would pick in the end. But maybe that's just me, as I'm a fan of a good mystery/thriller as well as a romance haha

The audiobook is read by Carrie Hope Fletcher, and she does a great job. I think that it's not just down to William's writing, but Fletcher's narration why I enjoyed the book so much. (and completely fell in love with Penny.)

I found this book incredibly funny too - a lot of 'chic-lit' or 'women's fiction' tends to try and add humour, but it never really comes off too well for me. The Love Square however, was hilarious! Again, that could be down to the delivery of Carrie Hope Fletcher's narration.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and am so so pleased I listened to it as an audiobook as the narration really added to the 'realness'.
I cannot wait to see what Laura Jane William's does next!

I liked Penny and how she overcame the cancer diagnosis she received in her 20s. It's something no one wants to go through, but she seems to have dealt with the news really well.

This was my first experience with Carrie Hope Fletcher as a narrator, and she brought the characters to life beautifully.

I felt Penny's suitors were not super fleshed out. We know a lot more of Francesco, but that's mainly because he's present since the first third of the book. I don't know who my favourite of the three men was, and I'm not sure I love who Penny ended up with.

I like the "moving home for family" trope a lot and this was done wonderfully here. I also loved the name of the pub, being a huge red panda fan.

There's also quite a lot of LGBT representation in the book, which I loved to see. However, at times it feels a little shoehorned in and underdeveloped.

Really quick and easy to listen to. I've listened to Carrie Hope Fletcher read an audiobook before and enjoyed her narration, so was pleasantly surprised to hear her reading this book.
I enjoyed the story, although I did find some of the characters' actions a bit irritating at times and I found the ending to be too perfect - especially considering that the MC was a bit undeserving of it at times.

It was a good read though and I would likely pick up more of Laura Jane Williams' books in the future.

The Love Square by Laura Jane Williams
3 Stars
I was given an audiobook on Netgalley for an honest review.
Penny is the classic romantic heroine; she is unlucky in love. Disenfranchised with dating after bad experiences, she has all but given up. Then she meets a guy and sparks fly, but when her Uncle (like a father to her) gets sick and she has to return home to look after the family business, they agree to part as friends. Then she meets another guy, and then another guy. And when the first guy decides to come to her to help, she finds herself in a Love Square.
So … the start of this book was strong. The first third really had the makings of a five-star read. I liked the build up of the first relationship. A lot of effort went into this, it was well developed, I was invested in all characters and excited for the rest. Then the conflict started and it fell apart a bit. The bad side of this was the following two relationships were very underdeveloped, and the third was especially rushed and weak. It made it hard to find any tension in the ‘choice’ the main character must make.
I feel like this was marketed as more of a conflict than it really was. There wasn’t a point where I doubted the direction it would go in and found the conclusion quite problematic. I didn’t want her to end up with any of them. I found all three romantic interests problematic for different reasons. The first I liked and then something that happened really put me off him. There was a little bit of slut shaming going on, which led to a bit of internalised misogyny in the main character. It ruined the final third of the book and really left it as a bitter end.
This had the potential to be a great book, especially considering the surrogacy story line. That felt promising and well handled. If that had been used more, as the main focus rather than a poorly defined love square, this could have been a refreshing rom com.
I wanted to love this as Derbyshire girl myself, there was definitely potential there and will keep a look out for more works from this author.

I loved Our Stop so was keen to get a copy of this one.

This is the story of Penny and the three guys she becomes involved with over the course of the book.

I really enjoyed Penny's character and found all the males had amusing qualities too, the story was easy to get into. I love the setting of café/pubs. I would say the first half of the book is based on Penny, her back story and her main love interest, it took a while for us to meet the other two characters that made up the square. There are some delicate subjects broached but I felt they were well handled, the only thing I would have like to have seen is the more diverse characters that were written about to be more of a main focus rather than just a supporting role.

Overall I thought this was an ok read but I felt like the end of this book missed the mark for me, it tried too hard to wrap everything in a neat bow when I didn't find it believable that her character would have forgiven him so easily for the nasty comments he made.

The narration was very good and easy to listen to.

To be frank, this was nothing like I expected.

The story starts light-hearted and fun but then it takes a weird turn. There were so much unnecessary conflict and misunderstandings, which I’m not a fan of.

The MC was annoying at times, especially when she didn’t communicate with her partners how she felt and went with the flow until shit hit the fan. I think she should have been truthful with all three men. I also think one of them was outright rude and an ass and the other started catching feelings for Penny and felt somewhat entitled to have them reciprocated.

The narrator was a delight and made the experience better than it would have been otherwise.

Sadly, this one was a let down. It was a very quick and easy read tho so if you don’t mind miscommunication, you might want to give it a read.

Sweet and very relatable story of finding love but most of all - finding oneself.
Penny thinks she’s unlovable. She is also running a successful cafe while her uncle is running a pub. When uncle’s circumstances change, Penny finds herself having to take over and... well, give up on the romance she’s just entered herself into. Funny, emotional and extremely sweet story of a woman and her struggles that go way beyond choosing her perfect life partner.

"The Love Square" by Laura Jane Williams is a warm-hearted romance novel, and I was lucky enough to be able to listen to the audiobook that is to Netgalley. I was excited for this one after having loved “Our Stop” and it certainly didn’t disappoint, I read an ARC a few months back so I was excited to give the audiobook a go!

I found the audiobook was perfectly narrated, the characters had their own personalities and it shown through, it was easy to listen to and loved that I could enjoy it while I got on with other tasks.

Oh my, Penny is so adorable, so loveable, so it’s is hard to imagine she isn’t all that lucky in love, but that all changes when Penny leaves London to help out her Uncle, running his pub. The change in location certainly helped her love life, and eventually she is faced with having to choose between what she has longed for, what she currently has and what she potentially could have.

There was one man that I just knew could never be right for Penny no matter how perfect he seemed, especially after he dog eared a corner of a book he was reading.... W.H.A.T😳! What person does such a thing 😆!!

This was such a great book to listen to!

Thank you Netgalley for the advance copy in exchange for a honest review.

I started this book not exactly putting the cover and title together. I was about 20% in before I figured it out. I have heard of love triangles but a love square was new to me especially with the girl connecting the square. That was very refreshing.

The love square as the title suggests is the story of the protagonist Penny who recently survived breast cancer, lost her mom to it. Her uncle is sick and she has to take over his cafe. In the midst of these life changes, she is also really unlucky with men but like me, i'm sure you're like surely, there's more to life than finding a man. In a short period of time, she goes from having no man to meeting three men. This story tells us how she tries to navigate her relationships with these men.

Laura Williams' style of writing is easy,witty, contemporary and flows effortlessly. Her characters are so realistic so much that you almost feel like you need to say one or two things to them. Penny frustrated me because I could relate to her. I am Penny. She tried to say/do things to make herself feel better and shy away from facing her emotions. My favorite part of this book was when Francesca read Penny to filth! I felt it.

This is a light summer read but Laura subtly explores heavy themes like surviving breast cancer, infertility, surrogacy, friendships, family, modern romance and the struggles. I also loved the LGBTQ+ representation.

3.5 Stars

A really charming and easy read. Well written with compelling characters. I didn't really like who the protag ends up with because of some of their actions but beyond that a really fab book.

Cute romance - I enjoyed that female pleasure was mentioned and championed.
The narrator of this was entertaining. Although her accents were not the best.

Another lovely light read without too much drama.
I instantly bonded with Penny and found her such an easy character to get along with and was quite happy going on her journey with her as she tried to figure out what she really wanted.
There are some very humorous parts within this story and some that I found myself nodding in agreeance with.
I had rated this book at 3 stars for quite a while of the book but I loved the ending so much that it got an extra star.
The narrator reads this story nicely and is also very easy to listen too.
Nice read that I would recommend to other Romance readers.

My thoughts: this is the second book of Laura’s that I’ve read, after reading our stop last year and absolutely adoring it I knew I had to read The Love Square too and it definitely didn’t disappoint.

We follow Penny, who after fighting cancer and freezing her eggs after having them fertilised with some German sperm, she feels like she’s ready to find love and maybe take her eggs off ice!

After falling in ‘friendship’ with Francesco, something happens within the family and she needs to move away, she is desperate to ask him to come with her but she’s just not brave enough.

6 months pass and she’s settled into her new life, she meets Thomas, who she very quickly learns is not “the one” but is always down for a bit of fun.

And then as if things aren’t complicated enough along comes Priyesh at the Christmas party, she seems to have found herself stuck in a live square with no idea who she wants!

What follows is absolutely hilarious and I absolutely adored it.

I had both the ebook and the audiobook, I won’t lie most of the book was read via audiobook because it was narrated by Carrie Hope Fletcher and she is a force to be reckoned with!

Laura Jane Williams has now cemented herself as an autobuy author for me and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next!

I really enjoyed the character of Penny. I could empathise as she tried to date in the modern world. And what I really loved about the book was that I didn’t know how it was going to end. Gave every possible spare minute to listening to it.