The Love Square by Laura Jane Williams wasn’t quite what I was expecting, but it was a quick and fairly enjoyable read.

I liked the friendships, especially the one she had with her sister, but I wasn’t really sold on any of the romance. My favorite contender was Thomas, but I still didn’t want her to end up with him. So I liked that the author focused on more than just the romance. This book also focuses on Penny’s journey of self-discovery, her relationships with family/friends, and her career.

I LOVED that she and her sister did what they called, “personal podcasts.” Which is basically just them taking turns leaving very long voicemails. This way, they could still connect even when their schedules didn’t match up.

I also liked that this book involved so much food! And I thought it was so relatable that Penny was motivated by chips.

Thank you, NetGalley, for the opportunity to read this for free in exchange for an honest review. I would definitely read another one by this author. I think Our Stop is next!

The cover is cute. The concept is cute. The heroine is so whiny and neurotic, she makes me anxious. DNF.

when I picked up The Love Square to read, I was really expecting to get a funny light-hearted rom-com, but I was a bit off course on my thoughts. While, yes, this was listed as a rom-com, I found very little laughter in the book. In fact, there were a lot of big issues that were dealt with. I don’t run from big issues when I am reading a book, but it kind of throws you off-kilter when that is not what you are expecting.

With that being said, Penny losing her parents, surviving cancer, dealing with infertility, those subjects were dealt with greatly and gave the book an emotional edge that helped the reader connect with Penny.

As far as the romance in the book…I really wasn't that invested in it, by the time that Penny makes her choice between the three love interests, I didn’t care which one she picked, none of them really stood out to me. Personally, I was more interested in the secondary characters that filled Penny’s life, her family, and friends.

The author did do a good job at representing the LGBTQ community with two family members of Penny’s, each in a strong long-term relationship. My favorite character was her friend Charlie, whom she worked with, written as nonbinary, they provided great banter with Penny and the friendship was fantastic.

For the most part, I enjoyed the book. It had its slow parts, and I didn't really connect with the majority of the characters, but it was a fast and easy read and I am glad to have met Penny.

Café owner and head chef Penny Bridge is lucky in business but not so lucky in love. Until she unexpectedly meets "the one" followed by another one and then, amazingly, another one and they all want to date her! Suddenly Penny has too many choices and too little time. Quite appropriately named 'The Love Square", author Laura Jane Williams leads her readers on a comical, sweet and altogether satisfying romp through the life and loves of Penny Bridge.

Oooooh, I loved this! What I expected to be a light, fun read was really a self-discovery novel with many good laughs. The author's style was so fun and the pace was spot-on for me! I can't wait to read more of her books!

This was a fun rom-com, and it even had some nice LGBT+ representation! That's so, so important in novels, and I'm really glad we're seeing more of that these days!

I enjoyed this romantic realistic story about Penny, a cafe owner in London who has a whirlwind romance but before she can go farther her Uncle gets sick and she is asked to help run his Pub out in the countryside, where she grew up. They decide to remain friends.
In the countryside, she ends up dating another guy from her former school which was very casual and he left for an extended work trip. Then she ended up dating an older wine merchant for a while. Her London friend asks if she needs a friend. Then all of a sudden all 3 of them are in the same place and she is dating them, which to be fair she was single and being casual. And honestly it would be ok if a guy was doing this i.e. Bachelor, Bachelorette shows. But two of them might have wanted a more serious relationship. So she has to take a step back and think about what she really wants in life. Which is a great question, some of us are on auto-pilot doing the societal norms, trying to get any attention but are we doing what is really in our hearts? Are we picking the right person for our hearts, our lives, our passions in lives or are we settling for the only person who is interested?
As a cancer survivor Penny had been trying to figure out timing with doing surrogacy with her sister who offered. She had frozen and fertlilzed her embryos at her doctors recommendation since she really wanted to be a mother. But this was something she put on hold for relationships seeing if they would be compatible. I liked how she took a step back and made choices for herself and then the romance with the one of the 3 at the end was very sweet.
There were a lot of mistakes, misunderstandings, hard choices, sweet moments, steamy moments. They were harsh with each other, they ignored each other, but they came back to each other because they were who they wanted to be with. It is a lovely realistic hard love story.
Definitely the tragic lifecycle of dating is represented. I could never date more than 1 person at a time in my dating days cause I would end up at the same place at the same time.
That reminds me of a mortifying moment that happened right before I fell asleep - I wonder what happened between the two guys that tried to hold my hand but they ended up touching each other's hands. hmmm.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you NetGalley and Avonbooks for the arc for my honest and voluntary review.

I would like to start by saying that I felt like the summary was misleading. I expected something a lot more fun and light hearted. While there are some funny scenes, there’s more pain, bad decisions, and growth. I cried more than I laughed.

I really liked Penny, for the most part. She was definitely problematic- low self esteem, inability to say “no”, and she’s often lost in her own mind and past. On the other hand, she was willing to learn and grow- to see people and change her opinions. Her loyalty is also one of the things I loved about her, even when it frustrated me because her loyalty to her uncle got in the way of her living her life. Through out the book she met three very different men that showed her very different parts to relationships. She “fell into friendship” with an Italian chef who, if not for bad timing and a huge misunderstanding, could have been love. Then there was the blonde in the music industry that introduced her to ten mile hikes and “non-monogamy”- sweet, funny and charming, he helped her find herself again. Lastly, the older, serious man with a naughty streak. A physical match made in heaven… but can any of these men become her everything?

The book spent a lot of time going through the different relationships, but also going over her past, the loss of her mother and her own status as a cancer survivor. When David got sick she had to set her own dream of motherhood (as she is now infertile, she had her eggs harvested and fertilized; ready for a surrogate), and her three week relationship with the Italian to head to her home town and run his pub. She would have brought Francisco, but… misunderstandings. Six months later she’s met Thomas and Preyesh. Thomas is on the road again and she and Preyesh are a thing…. but suddenly she and Francisco are not only talking again but “friends” who decide that he would be the perfect pastry chef for the pub. What? The man hurt her, deeply, and it only just got to the point that she can even say his name and then… this? She could have handled everything better, differently. The relationships, and how they found out about each other, was definitely off putting. Also, she was lost and maybe using these men to make herself feel better. I liked that once she saw what she had done, though, she owned it. She went to therapy, she got help, she thought hard about what she wanted in life. The amount of character growth in the last third of the book alone made up for a lot of the messy drama. In the end I was actually sad to say goodbye to these characters, I would have loved to see more of Preyesh especially, and hope he gets a love story down the line.

As far as the writing goes, there was no real flow to the book. There were times where it dragged so badly that I had to set it aside, and there were times where it flew by things that I really wanted to explore. Most of the narrative revolves around Penny (third person), but there are times where you see thoughts and feelings from others even though it doesn’t seem like the author meant to break the narrative. It’s a bit sloppy, but forgivable- small issues, really, when you think about it. For me, this is a four star book.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
On the adult content scale, there is a lot sexual content, but none of it is too explicit. There’s language as well. I would say that this one is for a more mature crowd. PG17 at the very least.


I was lucky enough to receive an eARC of this book from Netgalley and Harper 360 in exchange for an honest review. My thanks!

Penny has been unlucky in love, until she meets Francesco, but a family emergency tears them apart and now Penny suddenly has three men on her plate.

I loved the idea of a woman unlucky in love suddenly having too many interested men in her life. I was hoping for something fun and maybe humorous alongside a down to Earth female lead. Williams is also the author of Our Stop, so, since I read so many good reviews about it, I thought I couldn't pass this one up. The Love Square has an interesting premise, but I'm not sure the story and the book description are completely in sync.

Penny is a breast cancer survivor, but it's left her without the ability to bear her children herself. After her most recent relationship failed, she decides it's time to get a start on having her own family, with or without a man, and her sister is more than willing to help as her surrogate. But then Penny meets the oh so handsome Francesco.

Just about everything about their relationship is perfect, and what isn't becomes a work in progress they attack together with gusto. Everything is turning up roses for them, even though it means Penny shelves her desire to have a child. But then the unthinkable happens and Penny must leave London for at least a year to help out at her uncle's restaurant, tearing apart the new couple.

Months later, Penny has successfully revived her uncle's faltering restaurant, but is lonely. Until an old (male) classmate pops in. It's just fun, but she enjoys spending time with him. And then is surprised by her attraction to the wine vendor. And then, to complicate her life further, Francesco comes to visit, only to stay and become the new pastry chef at her uncle's restaurant. Penny thinks she has time to sort things out, to keep having fun, to live her own life the way she wants. But does she really?

The Love Square was really not what I was expecting. I wanted a book where a woman unlucky in love does something magical that suddenly has three men ready to swoon over her and then details some humorous situations she finds herself in as she juggles them. The Love Square is not that story. Actually, I was quite bothered by most of it and then kind of angry at one of the men at the end of it. The way the book ended, though, was it's saving grace.

I found the beginning to be quite boring. I had no idea where any of it was going. It was sweet, but not much seemed to be happening, and I could not for the life of me figure out where the three men interested in Penny were going to be coming from and how she was going to reach that point. The middle was a muddled mess of a sexually explorative woman who became wrapped up in men and sex. It was little more than romps between the sheets mixed with a light dose of drama. The end felt a little disjointed, as though it had to happen that way in order to get to the ending the author envisioned. But it made me angry and I hated how Penny responded to it as I felt it was almost completely unfounded. On a positive note, the book does end very sweetly and nicely.

The Love Square felt more like a circular kind of story than anything else. I loved Penny at the beginning. As unlucky in love as she seemed to be, she was really succeeding as chef and owner of a cute little cafe in London and was starting her journey into becoming a mother. I loved that she was so willing to take on responsibility and make her life into what she wanted without having to wait for a guy. As a breast cancer survivor, who was still dealing with the effects of it even though they seemingly vanished halfway through the book, she's strong and determined, but still has a softer, somewhat unsure of herself side. But I was irritated by her in the middle when she just kept falling into bed with all these men and the exhaustion she suffered from as a cancer survivor was pushed way out of the book. I suppose she seemed a little lost and upset about having to rearrange her life due to family responsibilities and duties, but it was a little annoying and made the whole middle seem really slow and sex-filled.

Overall: A Bit Lackluster

I'm just disappointed this was not what I expected based on the book description. Overall, I found it was a bit lackluster and I couldn't wait for it to hurry up and wrap up. It went from boring to a muddled mess to an end that barely made me feel better about reading it. Not that it was all bad. Penny did have a couple of wonderful friends who made reading it feel worthwhile, and I did like that she was challenged at the end to figure out what she wanted. Overall, though, it felt less like a love square and more about a woman who didn't want to face, and have to deal with, reality. It was nice, though, that all the missteps she took throughout the story forced her to figure out what to do with her life and what her truth was.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper 360 for a review copy. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thanks to Harper 360/Avon + NetGalley for the eARC of THE LOVE SQUARE by Laura Jane Williams.

A rom-com with substance that I have mixed feelings on...

Here's what worked:
* characters with heart
* a storyline that wasn't light and fluffy (included cancer remission, loss of parents, and the grief that comes with aging caregivers)


Here's what didn't work for me:
* not enough depth to the characters to really care about them - especially the main character - they fell flat which also made me not care enough to really be invested in the ultimate HEA ending or believe it was even remotely possible
* a female lead that seemed to not care emotionally about the men she was long-term involved with - I don't like it in male leads and I apparently don't like it in female leads either

Whelp. Honestly, when you have this many love interests things can get messy, but I was not expecting a basically uncleanable mess by the end. This started off so strong, but by the end with all the slut-shaming weird jokes and chaos that ensued I am starting to lose faith that I even enjoyed the first bit as much as I did.

A very witty rom-com that was so easy to get lost in! After struggling to find love, Penny suddenly finds herself in quite an unexpected situation, there are multiple guys interested in her and they all bring something positive to her life. This book was such an easy read and really just a pleasure. If you're looking for a happy love-fest pick this up!

4/5 Stars!

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper 360, Avon for providing me with an e-arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you NetGalley, Avon and Laura Jane Williams for gifting me an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review!
Do you ever finish a book and then see the reviews on Goodreads and think... Did we read the novel??? I think this one is landing pretty 50/50, so at least I’m not totally alone when I say this is not good. It’s just not. The main character, Penny, was very unlikable. There’s nothing worse than not connecting with the leads in a romance! Which leads me to the three love interests. While the idea behind this was super fun and I was excited to read it, the men just really fell flat. There was no spark with really any of them.
But none of that is the real issue. The true issue is the pacing. When I first started this I blew through the first 25%. I was super invested and I thought I was going to end up finishing it in one sitting. Wrong. The pace in this was WONKY. The POV was a little all over the place which made the pacing fall off at weird points. I just couldn’t really focus on the writing enough to actually absorb and get into what I was reading

What a lovely fun twist on a modern romance! Penny Bridges starts out with absolutely zero romantic prospects but quickly finds herself, to some extent involved with three different men. From start to finish i was on the edge of my seat wondering where the story was going to take me and never quite knowing who are heroine was going to end up with but I was so pleased with the result. The completely non-traditional HEA with her family of choice was the absolute best way for this story to end. As I read this book I found myself both laughing and crying with heartfelt tears for my heroine as she put herself out there to figure out what she truly wanted. One of my absolute favorite things was the inclusive of strong confident male characters who weren't afraid to express how they felt.

Although they were not the two main characters, this book gets major points for including strong representation from gender non-binary and LGBTQ+ community.

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I finished this book a few days ago and am still not quite sure where to place it. It means to be funny but I can't say I found it very humorous. There were some very serious issues addressed very well and I liked the fact that Penny was not the typical heroine - smart, beautiful and with a single problem - men not appreciating her. The premise of the story was good (though I did find 3 options to be a little over the top, it would have worked better with only two) and I kept reading mostly out of curiosity to see what the choice would be but I didn't really get that invested in any of the characters. I admit I did thing about just not finishing this one but in the end I guess it was a 2.5 rounded to 3 stars.

What a fun and modern love story! Penny is thirty, and due to cancer has frozen embryos she is ready to use. Throughout a series of fate, second-chances, tragedies, and taking risks, she ends up dating and falling for three different men in a short period of time. But due to her past she isn't sure she is ready to trust ANY of them.

Penny is realistic and flawed and when she makes a mistake, she is called out for it. She struggles, and ends up in therapy (YAY!) There is a lot of diversity and different depictions of love in this story. Characters who are non-binary, LGBT, from different countries, of different financial statuses. There is an age gap of 20+ years, and even non-monogamy is explored.

The Love Square is a story about Penny, a 31 year old cancer survivor, who loves what she does and where she lives. All that is missing is a family. The book follows Penny’s attempts to find love and to please the people she loves, but unfortunately those two things don’t go hand in hand. Ultimately a story about figuring out what she really wants in life, (and who can’t relate to that?) this was a unique look at some of the challenges a single woman has in a changing world.

I enjoyed the book a lot. There were quite a few times when I was pretty upset with Penny and her choices, but ultimately I liked her and was rooting for her!

Thanks to Netgalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Love Square - Laura Jane Williams

I had high hopes for this book, however it fell short for me.

I wasn’t a fan of the writing style. The POV was wonky & going in all directions. The book just didn’t flow for me, and I couldn’t connect with it.

The pace of the story was so so slow. It just felt like it was dragging, and it was boring. I lost interest and almost didn’t finish it. There were slow sections that were irrelevant and then super quick parts that I really wanted more from.

Unfortunately, this one was a total let down for me. It was decent in the beginning, but as I continued to read I lost interest and it almost ended up in my DNF pile.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to review this ARC. I really enjoyed it!! This book is about a girl named Penny. She is a chef in London. Her uncle David is like a father to her and he's constantly pressuring her to move out to the country and help him run his pub, but she has no desire to do so. She is a cancer survivor, a 30-something single, and a chef-- but she's not sure how to make all of those roles and hats fit her. She meets a guy named Francesco at the restaurant one day and they have an instant connection. It wasn't instalove, but definitely insta-interest. However, something happens that makes it so she has to leave town for a year and instead of being vulnerable and asking him to come with her, she breaks it off. While she's in the country for a year, she meets 2 other guys, then Francesco comes back and so she finds herself in a love square. The premise of this sounded like something that could either go really wrong or really right depending on how you feel about the main character and I loved it. She has been through a lot and I really felt like she was just trying to find her way. She intentionally picked guys that were known to be temporary and she was pretty up front with them. She also wasn't hot and heavy with anyone so it wasn't a book full of smut. I love the relationship between her and her uncle as well as her and her sister. I thought the infertility story line was good because it felt very true to life. It was pretty obvious throughout which guy was "the one", but that didn't bother me. I really liked this book overall!

SPOILERS AHEAD:
Her uncle has his 2nd heart attack and can't work so she goes for a year to run his pub. She turns it around and gets it back in the black and then in a year she decides she wants to go back to London and the uncle realizes its time to sell. He stops pressuring her and they're both at peace with the decision. Her sister is a lesbian and she and her partner don't want any kids so she agrees to be a surrogate for Penny. She had frozen some eggs with donor sperm so they implant it into her sister and in the very end she has a baby girl. She and Francesco get married and he's the daddy and they all live happily ever after.

This was a truly lovely, easy romance read that I quite enjoyed. Set in London, Penny is single and quite unlucky in love. Suddenly, she meets three remarkable men one after another that all want to date her. She must decide if any of the three is The One for her, what she wants, and confront if she's really as unloveable as she believes. This rom-com story is full of relatable language that draws me in from the beginning. It's sweeping and cute. While there's no need to reread this again, it's perfectly lovely as a first read. It does become more of a women's fiction novel than a romance where she must decide what she, and she alone, wants and I'm ok with that self-realization and empowering story arc.