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!

Annie and Alexander have been together for 10 years, and on the day of their wedding Alexander doesn’t show up. Weeks later Annie is trying to move on when she bumps into an old friend from her childhood. After meeting up with Patrick and his ‘grab life by the balls’ attitude, Annie decides to go on her honeymoon taking Patrick with her.

This is a journey of self discovery and moving on from the life you always expected to have.

This was a lighthearted read perfect for the beach or, in my case, after reading a heavy book to help lighten the mood. Although I didn't get too attached to the characters, I did like Patrick and how he and Annie's relationship grew. This book had a very Sex and the City vibe to it, so if you like that you'll probably enjoy this as well.

***Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me an advanced copy of this book!

I loved this book. It starts sad for Annie as she is jilted at the isle after being with who she thought was the love of her life after 10 years together. But not to be, after a few weeks of hiding from the world. Annie decides to start running again, one morning she sees a book camp session and decides to join. She begins to enjoy the hard work and the stress relief. After one session, a man shouts her name. Not wanting to engage she hastily leaves. But at the next session he says hi again and after a little chat she realises he is a happy reminder of her past. Patrick has an aura about him that makes Annie feel safe, understood and generally liked. On a drunken afternoon she asks Patrick to accompany her on her “not”, honeymoon. Over the weeks away they become closer and realise they have feelings for each other. But is it too soon??

I thought this was such a cute romance book! Without spoiling too much, it is a cute destination romance with some fun uses of the setting. I thought the characters and dialogue were great, and the writing style was easy to digest and read. What a great book!

2.5 stars

The Lucky Escape tells the story of Annie, a jilted bride, who at the request of her should-have-been mother-in-law, decides to go on her honeymoon solo.

Though initially reluctant, Annie reconnects with an old friend Patrick, who dares her to go on her honeymoon, not just solo, but with him, and the story picks up more from there.

Sadly this book didn't do much for me. It was a rather generic, light hearted read. I was curious to see if something different would be done with the plot, however, it was rather predictable. I think part of the problem was I never warmed to the character of Annie. She was just a bit bland. I found the side characters of her best friend, Adzo much more interesting.

I also didn't feel any genuine chemistry between these characters of Annie and Patrick. They both seemed to lack depth which was really disappointing. The descriptions of travel provided a decent amount of escapism, and that for me was the highight of this book.

Overall, I found The Lucky Escape to be a decent read, but nothing particularly special. If you're looking for an easy-going, light-hearted read, this could be a book for you.

Firstly, Laura Jane Williams is one of my favourite authors. I have read other books from her and loved them, she has me hooked all the time and this was no different.

Annie is one of the unluckiest brides, being jilted at the alter is one of the worst things I can think of when emotions are already high on what is meant to be the happiest day of Annie's life. The book takes you through the stages of what I can only imagine being Annie accepting she's been left at the alter and how she moves on with her life, accepting what's happened - she's one strong woman!

Thank you so much Laura and Netgalley for allowing me to read this ARC. It was one of the most exciting emails I've had all year!

Annie has one of the most humiliating things happen: she’s jilted on her wedding day. Bolstered by her close friends, she embarks on the honeymoon with someone from her past and a new romance is kindled. I liked Annie. I thought there was a lot of growth for her during the story. . There are several really good showdown scenes that aren’t to be missed. I cheered her on as she found her backbone. I winced at some parts when I didn’t think she was being fair to Patrick. The person who almost stole the entire book was Freddie. Although only 13, she had more sense than the adults. The cover is great.

Ooo y'all I loved this book! Seriously kept my attention the whole way through. Loved the main character, she was very relatable. Great writing as well. Cannot wait for the next read from Laura Jane Williams!