I was immediately drawn in by the concept and title of this book, and I truly wanted to enjoy it! It starts off really well, but after a number of unbelievable twists and turns, it lost all direction. This plot just kept going in circles without any resolution.

The story has a few really adorable moments, however the really important issues were dismissed by the author. When it seemed like the author was taking you into a really significant story about alcoholism and other substance misuse, only to retract it and make it seem insignificant, that's when things started to go wrong for me. The book just grew worse, and neither breakup made sense.

I found the writing style to be a little strange, and I found the characters to be a little too juvenile and undeveloped, which was kind of bothersome.

The Blurb :
Stranded in Rome, with all planes grounded due to volcanic ash, Callum gratefully accepts a lift back to London with a friend-of-a-friend who's on her way home after a European road trip in a campervan.
But when he meets her, his heart plummets - she's Emma, his ex, The ex, and he can't be stuck in a van with her.
When Emma sees Callum again, she's horrified. It's taken so many years to heal her heart - she really doesn't want to spend the next few days in close quarters with him.
As they embark on the drive of a lifetime, it begins to feel as though fate might have had a hand in reuniting them. But understanding what happened in the past and coming to terms with the present isn't easy. Can the gift of time - and forced proximity – bring them back together again?

My Thoughts:
We meet Emma, on her way back to England with her friend in her beloved Camper van named Miranda. When they agree to give a lift to a friend of a friend who has had his flight cancelled due to the Volcanic ash. It turns out to be none other than her first love, Callum, she gave him an ultimatum to 12 years ago and hasnt seen him since.
As the couple spend a week together travelling through Italy and France, we learn more about what happened and how they got to where they are now.
I loved how the couple were none too happy to see each other at first but as the story develops we can see that there is unfinished business, told from both points of view, there is clearly still some chemisty between them.
Jo Lovett delivers a refreshing read about second chances. She has a love for the characters and grips the reader into the storyline, its a summer read of fun and romance all rolled into one.
Looking forward to the next book from Jo Lovett.

Emma and Callum hadn't seen each other since twelve years before when they had a messy breakup of sorts. All flights in Europe were grounded due to volcanic ash and Callum needed to get back to London from Rome immediately. Emma was doing a road trip in her van and was roped into helping Callum get back home. They just didn't know that they knew each other until the day they met again.

That day was awkward and they had to decide whether they'd be able to bear close quarters for over a week until they got home. Emma never got closure from their past relationship so that conversation had to happen.

They soon got into a fling of sorts which Callum insisted would be temporary but as expected, past feelings were resurrected and that made for a messy goodbye when they parted ways. When they did get back together it was months later and I loved the ending.

The highlight of this book for me was the road trip itself. I loved coming along as they toured the Italian countryside, met up with all sorts of characters, and even faked marriage at some point to get into a hotel 😂

Thank you to Netgalley and Publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I wanted to love but but it is just not for me - i ended up DNF-in about 35% in - just not the book for me

This is definitely a does as it says-on-the-tin romance, we've got a second chance romance with vibes of friends from the title (a la Ross and Rachel) and definitely vibes of it in the story, it's very fun.
I loved it from page one, it was such an easy-to-read book with a friendly writing style and I pretty much devoured it in a day because it was so fun to follow Callum and Emma's story. I loved how we gradually got the story of how they ended up on a break and then we got their relationship history through them talking or thinking it over rather than through flashbacks, it was refreshing because normally flashbacks are used a heck of a lot for this. I found both Emma and Callum very likeable and relatable characters, everyone has their first love that sits fondly in their mind no matter how the relationship ended. I quite liked the forced proximity aspect to their growing relationship, the need to travel across France and Italy in just a campervan did just what any long car journey does, made difficult conversations happen. And the banter! I so loved the banter between the two of them and how easily they slipped back into the easy back and forth that they had as a couple.
It's brilliantly written and I definitely want to pick up more by Jo Lovett, also how cute is the cover!

We Were On A Break by Jo Lovett

I received an advance review copy for free thanks to Rachel's Random Resources and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Blurb

A summer to remember...

A love to last a lifetime...

Stranded in Rome, with all planes grounded due to volcanic ash, Callum gratefully accepts a lift back to London with a friend-of-a-friend who's on her way home after a European road trip in a campervan.

But when he meets her, his heart plummets - she's Emma, his ex, The ex, and he can't be stuck in a van with her.

When Emma sees Callum again, she's horrified. It's taken so many years to heal her heart - she really doesn't want to spend the next few days in close quarters with him.

As they embark on the drive of a lifetime, it begins to feel as though fate might have had a hand in reuniting them. But understanding what happened in the past and coming to terms with the present isn't easy. Can the gift of time - and forced proximity – bring them back together again?

My Opinion

We Were on a Break was a sweet, second chance romance. Callum and Emma are forced to spend a couple of days in close proximity when all flights back home are cancelled. The title really appealed to me and the plot was just as interesting. Jo Lovett has written a relatively short book that will take you on a journey from Rome to London. Overall this was a very enjoyable book that I finished in an afternoon.

Rating 4/5

Emma is traveling through Italy on her way back to England in her camper van when her friend asks her to give another friend a ride as all the flights and trains are canceled. Emma agrees, not realizing that it's her first love, Callum, who she gave an ultimatum to 12 years ago to get his act together so they can be together or they were through and that was the last time she saw him. Now they are stuck together for a few days, will their feelings start again?

Cross country travel, forced proximity and a not so fantastic shared history all lend to making this cute rom com a very fun, easy read.

Callum and Emma didn’t think would ever see each other again, but a pesky Volcano spewing ash leads to planes being cancelled and the only way for Callum to get home is to hitch a ride.. with his ex!

It was clear they had chemistry from the start; I found Callum a bit rude and stand offish and Emma was fun and interesting. As the journey gets underway, we discover more about each of them but also what happened in their past.

As the days pass the spark between to two ignites, but is it just because of being so close?

Both characters have things they have overcome, they are very different to the people they once were. I wished we could have delved more into Callum’s history, it was such a big thing for his story.

Well written and full of fun, laughs and entertaining moments; a must read for rom com lovers, a great summer read!

A cute second chance romance from Jo Lovett. Emma and Callum have history but never really had the Oporto come to terms with their break up. So when I saw that they’d unwittingly been put together in a journey home to London from
Europe, I knew we were in for a treat.
Their journey through Italy and France sounded great if not a little tense and I loved seeing their new relationship develop over the miles. You could see both of them had changed over the years and Jo Lovett managed to capture the humour and emotion of their journey in Miranda completely.
With a lot of laughter and tears at times, this is an entertaining light romance read.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy of this book in return for my opinion. The story of two people that were once a couple until an ultimatum caused one of them to disappear, to then be brought back together some years later through a mutual friend. We read each of their thoughts and feelings and hopefully find out why they split & what happened in those years they were apart. A funny fairly fast paced story. Definitely one to add to your tbr pile.

Read and reviewed in exchange for a free copy from NetGalley. This was an enjoyable read. I liked the protagonists and was invested in the story. Lovett used the dual narrative well and created authentic, engaging characters.

I enjoyed reading We Were on a Break by Jo Lovett. You will fall in love with all the characters. I received an ARC of this book courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and given freely. Happy Reading!

I'm reviewing this via NetGalley, as part of a tour with Rachel's Random Resources.

This was a delightful romantic comedy. The two main characters are Callum and Emma, a former couple who find themselves in each other's company again, by an unfortunate coincidence.

Throughout the book, the perspective switches between Callum and Emma. I enjoyed the fact that as a reader, I was given both perspectives on the situation, as it was an opportunity to connect with both characters equally. From the beginning, I found both of them quite humorous, and related to both of them in different ways. Their interactions and behaviour made me chuckle.

While this was a very funny book, I found that as the story progressed, there were also some deeper moments that tugged at my heartstrings, and some heartwarming moments that made me smile. This was a very light read too; I finished it in a couple of hours.

If you are a romance reader, this could put a smile on your face. Thank you to NetGalley, Rachel's Random Resources, Boldwood Books, and to the author, for the opportunity to read and review this.

I really was looking forward to the book for the concept of it. Second chance romance, forced proximity, etc. All things I love. Except that this book unfortunately didn't deliver for me. It sure was more on the down to earth realistic side of romance (if you skip the huge coincidences in this story that maybe were a bit too much at times), but it left me quite frustrated and not fully sure what to think of it.

The characters. At first, I really loved Emma. A free spirit who decided to do something daring, got herself a beat up van and traveled across Europe. But you don't really learn more about her except from that, and her fear of driving faster than 50 km/h. Overall, I felt like the personalities of the characters simply weren't developed, and they both could have been anyone because of it. It is said that Callum, the other main character, has great humor, but at no point in the book was it proven or showed to me. There was a lot of tell, and not enough show to my taste.
I do love a closed door romance, maybe more than I like other kinds, but here the romantic tension also wasn't present enough, which left me not caring for the characters or their relationship.

The dialogues honestly didn't work for me. I couldn't take them seriously, nor believe in them. Most of the things the characters said was polished, hyper polite and unrealistic to my opinion. I do love a thoughtful character, but not if they are going to stay this way the whole book. I also think that, once again, a lot of things were told in the dialogues but not shown enough.

Finally, I found the story a bit too "easy". Meaning that besides the big coincidence that starts the story, there were others just as big and it made me lose the belief I had in the plot line altogether. I kind of wish some aspects were more developed if the story line was going to be so easy, because it could have made a very good emotional romance.

On a side note, since it's something that isn't influencing my rating and review: with the title, I would have expected the characters to have some kind of connection to Friends. Maybe one of them really loves it and always quotes the show, maybe one of them was called like Ross or Rachel, etc. Because this line is so anchored in our entertainment culture that it simply made sense.

An awkward scenario indeed, stuck with your ex, traveling across Europe in a camper van. It made for interesting reading researching the reasons for the break up between Callum and Emma.
My sympathy was completely with Emma. I felt bad that she was left hanging for so long and still carrying a torch for Callum.
Callum, honestly, was annoying. He kept saying I don’t want to hurt you yet was driving the knife into Emma while he was saying the insipid phrase repeatedly. He also kept a huge secret from Emma.
Still the heart wants what it wants and the ending was decent.

📚 PRE-PUBLICATION BOOK REVIEW 📚

We Were On A Break By Jo Lovett
Publication Date: July 29, 2024
Publisher: Boldwood Books

📚MY RATING: ⭐⭐⭐✨
(Rounded up to 4⭐)

📚MY REVIEW:

This second chance rom-com from Jo Lovett features the classic will-they-won't-they trope with a fun twist: the main characters, Emma and Callum, are exes who are unexpectedly thrown together twelve years after their relationship ended.

This story has so many cute moments as Emma and Callum traverse across Europe together on a road trip, after all Europe flights are grounded. In their attempt to get back home to London, they find themselves in so many beautiful places and participating in so many fun adventures.

While this story was endearing overall, I found myself getting a little annoyed by the main characters' refusal to communicate well with one another. Maybe this is also a miscommunication trope? If it is, maybe that trope just isn't my favorite. 😉 I just wanted to reach into the book and shake both Emma and Callum, yelling at them to "just say it!" There may have been so much focus on them miscommunicating that there were missed chances for the story to take cuter twists and turns sometimes.

If your favorite tropes include will-they-won't-they, miscommunication, or second chances, or if you love an HEA rom-com involving a European holiday, I think you'll really enjoy this book. While it wasn't my favorite rom-com ever, it WAS really cute and a quick read. Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for this advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

#WeWereOnABreak #JoLovett #NetGalley #ARC #BoldwoodVIPs #boldwoodbookclub #bookreviews #bookrecommendations #romcomreads #romcoms #bookcommunity #booklover

I had such a lovely time with this story and these characters. This was a lighthearted romance that had lots of comedy in it as well as some emotional parts.

I am a bit of a sucker for a second chance romance, so these characters finding themselves in each other's company after twelve years apart, played right into my weak spot. I liked both Callum and Emma a lot and I wanted the very best for both of them (of course I believed that this involved them being together). I thought that as characters they complemented each other well and they were very much the ying to each other's yang.

This was a fast read, even though the chapters were a little lengthy. I loved the alternating perspectives and learning what each character was feeling. A great little rom-com book that was entertaining and heart warming.

Emma is traveling through Italy on her way back to England in her camper van when her friend asks her to give another friend a ride as all the flights and trains are canceled. Emma agrees, not realizing that it’s her first love, Callum, who she gave an ultimatum to 12 years ago to get his act together so they can be together or they were through and that was the last time she saw him.
Now they’re stuck together in the camper for a few days with no option but to face the past and their feelings and whether or not things could be different this time around or if this is just a vacation fling.
This was a slow burn, closed door, second chance romance that will make you believe in love.
Thanks to Boldwood Books and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my review.

This story just didn't go anywhere except round and round. Shame as I was very interested in reading it. Just disappointing. My thanks to netgalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.

The blurb intrigued me and the beginning was fun but the longer that I was reading, how more I got bored? The story was repetitive and it was just annoying. The point of the story had much potential but it wasn't for me. After all it was a quick read, but just not for me.

Thank you Netgalley and Boldwood Books for this arc.