*Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Pub date: June 10, 2021

This book had such a promising premise but ultimately left me confused and I struggled to stay interested toward the end. This was allegedly supposed to be about a jilted bride embarking on her honeymoon with a man that’s not her husband. Unfortunately that part of the story only takes up the middle third of the book and while it is the best part, the first third is a lot of build up and the last third is well...unnecessary. There’s so much time in this novel after her return from the honeymoon and her laundry list of issues (job uncertainty, unresolved teenage self esteem issues, mom relationship drama, changing friend groups, a lame first fight) that it took away from “the lucky escape” she managed to have.

The Lucky Escape would be the perfect beach read! Annie finds herself left at the altar by her fiancé Alexander. When the opportunity arises to go on their honeymoon anyway, she finds the she really does want to go. It would be a nice escape from the reality of her situation at home. When she unexpectedly runs into an old childhood friend, she decides to give him the spare ticket and together they embark on the "not a honeymoon-honeymoon."

Annie has lived her entire life pleasing others, making sure not to rock the boat, and sacrificing her own wants in order to keep the peace around her. She's finally realizing that she hasn't been developing authentic relationships because she hasn't been presenting her true self. Most of her life has been an act of pleasing others and trying to fit into a particular mold instead of going after what would truly make her happy.

Laura Jane Williams does an excellent job of developing Annie's character. I could feel Annie struggling to find her bearings but she never seemed whiny or wishy-washy to me. It was a genuine growth and process of maturing that took place. The Lucky Escape covered some deeper issues, but still kept the tone light and would make for an enjoyable summer read!

Thank you to NetGalley and Avon Books for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This was a cute, easy read. Nothing too strenuous or worrisome. A heartfelt romance with a story line that flowed and kept me smiling. Not soul altering but not awful either - a middle of the road read that I’m happy I read.

This was such a sweet book.. I loved that it was just as much about friendship and family, as it was about romance. I found Annie, the main character, and her friends and family very likable and Patrick, the new boyfriend, seems like the perfect guy. It made me wish I could go on a honeymoon to Australia just like them!

This book is pure escapism. It's sweet and light-hearted, but with enough depth to keep my attention. It made me desperate to go on holiday, I loved the luxurious descriptions of the hotels and beaches they visit on the honeymoon and ohhh my gosh did I wish I was reading the book while lying by a pool sipping a cocktail!

There was one point where I thought the story was going to go a different way, I was kind of hoping it would, but I wasn't surprised when it didn't! I really liked Annie and her sister Freddie, I thought she was a great character, and I loved their relationship.

I've noticed in Laura Jane Williams' previous books how inclusive she is with her characters, which is amazing, but sometimes it felt a little forced.

Overall, this is an enjoyable read - it's easy and charming and will absolutely make you want to go on holiday!

𝐑𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: ⁣

𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: ⁣Laura Jane Williams
𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: The Lucky Escape
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ⁣3 ⭐️
⁣
𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐬: ⁣
•I thought the writing was well written and engaging. It drew me in and kept me wanting to read.
•The honeymoon part in Australia was my favorite part of the book. The banter, the adventure, the humor, the sexual tension, it was just perfect!
•I loved the side characters so much (almost more than the main characters if I’m honest). Freddie brings so much insightfulness to the table that I feel like she’s the older sister and not the younger one. Then there’s the Core Four and Adzo, they brought so much to the table collectively!

𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬: ⁣
•I didn’t connect with the main character at all. There were times I was really confused about her age because of some of the choices she made and things she said. I found myself getting annoyed with her by the end of things. She was very wishy washy and I’m not sure if the author intended for her to be like that.
•The conflict between her mom was handled but also it wasn’t. Her mom never apologizes, she just makes excuses for her actions and then all was forgiven. HUGE pet peeve of mine. 🙊
•This book felt much too long once they returned home from their honeymoon and I didn’t enjoy the last 30% of the book at all. The build up to the HEA definitely missed its mark.

𝐅𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬:
Overall, this isn’t a bad book. It’s got great potential. I just think it could’ve used some tweaks and had better overall consistency to make it an even better book.

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐍𝐞𝐭𝐆𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐲, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐢𝐧 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰.

A predictable yet enjoyable destination romance story that starts with a bride being jilted, re-uniting with an old friend, and a nice love story developing throughout.

I have read all of Laura’s books and can confirm this is my favourite. A blast of summer romance which we all need after a rough 12 months

As always she is very conscious of inclusivity and all of her books have an air of modern life - touching on relevant topics for the times.
I loved Annie, and watching her journey of self discovery after being jilted on her wedding day. She is a likeable character and her internal understandings of her own sense of worth and how they have been tied to her romantic relationships is something a lot of people will be able to relate to. I also loved the dynamics of her friendship group - different friends for different roles but united in one thing - their strong love for Annie. Where can I find myself a Patrick... !

Thank you for the advanced copy. I throughly enjoyed this!

Thanks to Avon Books UK + Netgalley for the advance copy of "The Lucky Escape" by Laura Jane Williams.

Unfortunately "The Lucky Escape" is a DNF for me (at least for now) as I could not connect with Annie, didn't feel for her about being left at the alter, and wasn't curious about what would happen next.

I received this as an arc from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you!

I really enjoyed this books. I found the author's writing easy to follow and had a good flow. The beginning of the book was a little slow, just waiting for some more action to happen. However, it wasn't boring for me.

Annie gets left at the alter when her long time boyfriend Alexander decides to call it off via a text to the wedding planner. Annie is devastated and lost. Her almost-were in-laws convice her to go on the nonrefundable honeymoon anyways. Annie meets an old friend from childhood camp, Patrick and he convinces her to go on the honeymoon- and bring him with! Australia here they come! They find themselves and each other on the beaches of Australia. But can they keep it going back in London?

I loved reading Annie and Patrick's time in Australia and wanted more of that and less of the beginning half of the story after Annie was left at the alter. It was fun to grow along with Annie as she rediscovered herself and realized the break-up wasn't the end of the world.

It was hard seeing Annie and Patrick become so distanced when they got back to the reality of life in London. They went from being amazing at communication and discussion to completely not communicating to one another at all. They just dropped the ball and that was incredibly frustrating. It took a 13 year old to kick Annie in gear and realize that she loved Patrick and she was okay with moving on so quickly.

One of the hardest parts of this book for me was Annie and her mom's relationship, and that her dad really didn't do anything to try and help. Annie's mom was so hard on her and unreasonably so. The dad would just clam up and not try and defend Annie or say anything to the mom about her behavior. I thought the way the mom came around in the end was too quick and unrealistic. There were years and years worth of hurtful words and feelings from her to just suddenly turn around the way that she did.

All in all, I would have loved more Annie and Patrick on vacation and less sad, ditched Annie in the beginning. Overall I give this a 4/5.

This is a quick easy read. I had hoped it would be a little lighter and fluffier but no. There are some sad parts in this book and some frustrating parts and lots of contradictions. I enjoyed it but would run and tell all my friends to read it.

I loved the premise of this book but I did not love the characters! A great plot of Annie being jilted at the altar and yet risking it all to go on her honeymoon with a stranger. I loved Patrick, but found Annie to be a bit annoying - especially with the 'will they won't they' going on for a bit too long. However, I raced through it and it was an enjoyable summery read.

Fun and quirky. This light hearted romance is an entertaining page turner. A perfect summer read. Laugh out loud moments and surprising turns in the plot give this romantic comedy a little something extra.

2.5/5 stars

The Lucky Escape was not exactly what I expected. I think people who go into this expecting another feel good, beach/vacation theme rom com might find themselves getting quite bored at certain parts of the book. I’m disappointed that this didn’t click with me because it had a lot of things that I thought I was going to like but the execution left me conflicted.

The story mainly focuses on Annie, a woman who finds herself with a missing groom and a dump text on her wedding day. She eventually gets talked into going on a trip (paid by the groom’s parents) but not before bumping into an old time friend. They go on the trip. They fall in love. You know the drill.

For one, I found the main protagonist irritating, she’s not horrible. Just... irritating. She insists on putting on this... ‘look at me I’m a feminist™’ act with the most *bare minimum* actions, and then contradicting herself later. Like I can’t take it seriously when 10 pages in, she explains how she intended to make a point that she’s a feminist who just so happens to be married, by.... giving the first speech of the night. huh? It makes feminism into this quirky personality trait which just screams liberal, (white) girlboss feminism, I rolled my eyes so many times. Her thought process and the way she behaves can also be so juvenile at times that it’s hard to root for her or continue reading cause we’re stuck in her head for so long. The main guy was also generally uninteresting to me, he was possessive and weird at times. He comes across as really relaxed and easy going guy until he doesn’t get exactly what he wants from Annie, then he starts acting like an ass. Did not like him.

The back and forth between these two got old after a while. The miscommunication was not fun to sit through and because I couldn’t find myself rooting for them individually or together, I was just not invested. If anything I got kind of annoyed they even ended up together at the end.

I think going into this, people should expect more of a contemporary novel about a woman finding herself and having fun after a (probably traumatic) humiliating breakup/dump, and less of a fun romance comedy.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for providing an arc

This was such a fun lighthearted story that i managed to read in one day. I wasn’t sure about Patrick to begin with as i thought Annie wasn’t in the right head space to go away with him but he soon grew on me.!

Highly recommend!

For fans of Jackie Collins or Candace Bushnell this book is the perfect kind of fluff to devour at the beach this summer. Easy to follow and enjoyable to read. This book would be great for a book club as well, the kind where wine is more important than the book lol.

A huge thank-you to NetGalley and Avon Books UK for this e-arc of The Lucky Escape by Laura Jane Williams.

"If you could just put yourself at the centre of your own world for one second you'd see how much you deserve to be there."

Over the years, I've developed a love-hate relationship with contemporary romance. On the one hand, it's nice to have something light and fluffy to read when you need a mood-booster. On the other hand, I tend to feel frustrated that most of these books lack substance or originality. I've begun to pick up the genre with the assumption that I'll be somewhat disappointed or left wanting more.

So naturally, you can understand my excitement over the fact that The Lucky Escape had the perfect blend of everything a good rom-com should possess. Some chapters caused me to bubble over with deep belly-laughs. Others incited inspiration (note: I was very thankful that I read a digital copy of this novel because I do not like marking my physical books and this way, I was able to highlight to my heart's content). A few times, I even shed tears. I found myself quickly becoming wrapped up in Annie's story and loving every second of it!

There was less predictability in this plot than I originally expected, which I loved. I kept having moments where I would begin to cringe, thinking I knew what would come next, only to be pleasantly surprised!

I appreciated that The Lucky Escape focused a lot on the importance of friendships and sibling relationships. There was as much - if not more - emphasis on this as there was on the romance element. The sweet nicknames Annie and Freddie had for each other warmed my heart and I loved the serious support system that the Core Four provided.

If you find me sitting in a corner, writing sonnets for Patrick, don't be surprised. This cinnamon roll of a man has to be one of my favorite love interests of all time. Truthfully, I could spend forever telling you about how phenomenal he is - and he's not even an unrealistic "dream guy" sort of character. He has depth and soul and a seriously inspirational perspective on life.

This book is currently living rent-free in my mind. Every time I put it down to do my work or run errands, etc., I immediately missed it and wanted to pick it back up again to continue reading. It took virtually no time at all to make it on my list of favorite contemporary romance novels! I will certainly be reading it again and again.

I don't know what it says about my reading habits but from the premise and the title I was expecting things to go very badly wrong for the main character. Nice, readable book with very little surprise but that's not necessarily a bad thing!

I loved this book! If you are a fan of Laura Jane Williams you will love this book or if you're into RomComs.

I loved the slowish burn of Annie and Patrick and how the book kept me guessing until the end about whether of not they'd end up together. Usually with a romcom you can tell from the very begging however not this one!

I also really enjoyed Annies journey of self discovery throughout. By the end she is putting herself first and it is truly the love story of this book!

I usually get gripped by Laura Jane Williams' writing in the first few pages, on this occasion it took me a few chapters. I'm SO glad I never gave up on it though.

From chapter 20 onwards, I was gripped. Seeing romance blossom between two friends was exactly how things happen in real life and I think LJW put it perfectly. With the Honeymoon being set in Australia, that made me even more interested as I love it there and knew most of the places which were visited - good job!

Just one final thing to add, I love Patrick!

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this ARC - Loved it!