What a fantastic book! 
Penny the main character was complex but kept the reader engaged. All the characters were real and believable.. The book covered many issues sensitively with many plot twists 
A really enjoyable book I would recommend.
Thank you to Netgalley, Avon books and Laura Jane Williams for letting me read this book in exchange for an honest review

3 stars. 

'The Love Square' started off really strong & I read the first 20% really quickly, however I felt it started to fall flat during the middle/second half. 

I didn't feel the strong connection/chemistry that Penny had with 2 of her love interests except for Thomas - I liked their 'friendship' that they had going. 

I did really enjoy the portrayal of strong female bonds/friends she had with Sharon & her sister Clementine. I also liked the LGBTQ+ representation. 

This is my first Laura Jane Williams book & although I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd hoped I would, I'm still looking forward to reading her other book 'Our Stop'. 

Thank you to Netgalley, Avon & the author for a e-ARC in return for an honest review.

A good 3.5 star read. 

Penny has survived breast cancer and owns her own business but somehow ends up taking a year out of her life to look after her uncle’s pub/restaurant and dates a couple of guys in an entangled mess. 

This book discusses cancer, death of a loved one and infertility/IVF. Despite these, it’s an easy read. 

I enjoyed the first half of the book more than the second half and I liked Penny less as the book went on.

I received an eARC of this book from the publishers via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. These opinions are my own.

Penny is in a love square rather than a triangle...

First is Italian Francesco, a chef like Penny, who she meets in London. They feel a pull to each other but their burgeoning relationships cut short when Penny needs to take over her uncles restaurant in the countryside after her uncle has a heart attack.

She meets two other men who she dates/sleeps with until Francesco abruptly decides to visit Penny, and stays...as a friend. Voilà, love square.

This is an enjoyable and non taxing read.  A lot of the issues Penny deals with are the ins and outs of modern dating, plus life after cancer.  This really underlines that Penny is so much more than a typical romcom/chick lit heroine. I won’t forget her.

The love interests though.....hated the slut shaming by one, the presumption of another. At least Thomas was straight up with what he wanted! Life & people aren’t perfect though, so this is fine. 

I recommend this book for a lockdown staycation! 
Thank you to #NetGalley and the publisher for my free advance copy of #TheLoveSquare in return for an unbiased review.

I want to start by saying that I loved Our Stop so much, so I grabbed at the chance to read this one as part of a readalong gifted by the publisher.
We follow Penny as she embarks on a series of relationships with different men as she also tried to juggle what she wants to do with her life vs what her family want her to do.
Unfortunately for me I think the author tried to throw too many different things into this book and I felt that some of these were added as a tick box exercise and could have been explored in much greater detail. I didn't feel there was much of a connection between Penny and one of the guys and I would have like to have more time with the other two.
I did like the secondary characters and felt the family unit for Penny was a strong one, although was misguided at times.
Overall, I did enjoy reading this book, I liked the dialogue between characters, I just wanted a bit more from it after loving Our Stop so much.

I was excited to read The Love Square because I was looking forward to reading something fun and funny, and whilst it was both of these (in abundance!), Williams hits the reader hard with a number of serious themes, including life after breast cancer, fertility, and the question of women starting a family without the pre-requisite of a relationship.  It also has almost as many heartbreaking moments as it does belly laughs: This is not mindless chic lit (which of course there is nothing wrong with, but this isn’t it).
🟦 
HOWEVER, I did for the most part find poor Penny’s predicament to be pant-wettingly funny and it was exciting finding out what (or who 🤣 ) was waiting round the corner at each new stage of her path!  Warm, tender, and such a fun, feel good read; I really enjoyed this book and was sad to leave Penny and her friends behind.
🟦 
The Love Square had me snorting and wheezing with laughter like a chain smoking Walrus - it was just brilliant and I loved it.

AudioBook Review 
Stars: Overall 4  Narration 5 Story 4 

I’ll share a tidbit here – I was fortunate enough to be provided BOTH the eArc and the AudioBook copy of this title –so I spent a few hours and went through BOTH copies – first I listened, then I read.  And I found so much enjoyment and moments to think and laugh in BOTH versions that I can’t pick a ‘favorite option’. If you choose to pick up this little gem – in either format - you won’t be disappointed.  And, if you are a fan of love choices (or triangles) - this is that with a plus one.....  

Surprisingly emotionally deeper than the synopsis would suggest – Penny has had a rough time in life and love: losing her parents, battling cancer, finding one inappropriate man after another – she's in need of something different – and believes that a ‘new relationship’ will be the best option.  Not one, or two –but three men pop up on the horizon, and Penny needs to weigh the pros and cons of each and make a choice. Indecision is the least of the problems she has: each man ticks several (but not all) of the boxes, and her ‘testing’ the waters is cute – and probably provides a bit of necessary esteem boosters.  But she’s got to decide – and with the help of some wonderful friends to work out both her confusion and grief – she makes a choice, eventually, and starts to work toward her own happily ever after.  
 
The story is cute and the lightness balances some of the very real issues that Penny faces or has faced – with particular sense from her friend Sharon and her solid support and honest words.  Narration for this story is provided by Carrie Hope Fisher and she does a marvelous job balancing the bits of ‘foreshadowed’ moments with the present and gives listeners a true sense of the deeper emotions and issues within.  Easy to listen to, with voices that are distinct and clear for Penny and the ‘Boys”, Fisher takes the read to another level, bringing that immediate “reach out and touch’ emotional access that arrives with the read, but is better translated in audio.  The second I’ve read from this author and purely enjoyable – and a great summer escape read.  

I received an eArc and an AudioBook copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.  
 
Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aM9 /” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

I enjoyed this book.  I would recommend it to others and I would like to read more from this author in the future.

This is an entertaining, fast-paced, light and easy read even though the book deals with some darker topics (loss of a parent, cancer, infertility). 

The book follows the story of Penny, a woman in her 30s managing her own little café in London, who has to move away for a year for family reasons. She is usually unlucky in love but manages to find herself in the middle of a love square.

I liked all the characters but I must say the love interests were my least favourite of all! I love the special relationship between Penny and her sister as well as with her uncle. I'm glad there was LGBT representation but I'd have loved to see more of them and have their characters a bit more developed.

I enjoyed reading this book but it didn't really seem to be a "love square" to me, rather one lover after the other and the square was only at the end of the book. It was pretty obvious who Penny would end up with according to the description of the three love interests and I thought her struggles to choose weren't very believable. The ending was okay although it was wrapped up a bit quickly and I thought Penny was quick to forgive some things that had been said. 

All in all, I recommend this book as a light summer read.

Thank you to the publisher who provided me with an e-copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Love Square was an entertaining read, but I had some issues with it. Penny Bridge, usually unlucky in love, has to deal with a drastic change in plans when she has to leave her successful café to run her uncle’s pub while he recovers from a heart attack. Not only that, but amid all these changes in her life she also has to choose between three different men. 

I really enjoyed how Williams dealt with really serious themes in the novel, namely the after effects of cancer and infertility. I thought these themes were discussed with great sensitivity and helped the reader understand Penny’s point of view and the decisions that she makes. It helped to see how much Penny grows during the whole novel and how she becomes much more confident and unapologetic. I also really liked Penny’s relationship with her sister and her friends and how supportive they were of each other. 

However, I didn’t quite enjoy the character development of the love interests. There was a point in which one of them seemed to change into a totally different person, and that left me quite confused. Apart from that, Penny’s inability to choose one of them started to bother me by the end, because it seemed quite clear who she was in love with. 

All in all, I find this novel a perfect read for the summer, fast-paced and light-hearted, but also with its touch of more serious and necessary discussions.

The Love Square by Laura Jane Williams is the story of Penelope Hermione Bridge aka Penny. She is a chef in her early 30s and is single. She survived breast cancer in her 20s which has made her incapable to carry a child because of early menopause.  She doesn’t have much luck when it comes to dating until pastry chef Francesco, comes in her life she starts dating him.  Things went well for the next 3 weeks.

Francesco and Penny were torn apart by circumstances. An unfortunate event in her life made her move to Derbyshire from London to look after her uncle’s restaurant. At Derbyshire, she meets not one, but two men who also want to date her. Thomas is from the music industry, while Priyesh is a wine merchant.

Now penny is stuck not in a love triangle but in a love square.

I did flip back and forth between the audio and the book so I can safely recommend both versions, basically you cannot go wrong here! Carrie Hope Fletcher has done justice to the narration. 

I liked the book there's less comedy, but more emotion. I adore the bond Penny shares with her sister. I like the character of Penny, seeing so much in life still, she is optimistic and hopeful for life. It is a sweet and  heart-warming read that packs an emotional punch.

I savored this book. Without giving any spoilers, I loved how it was real and showed strong female characters. Loved this.

A really sweet and entertaining romcom that I enjoyed living vicariously through (who wouldn't want three incredible love interests???) Penny has had a romance drought for the past five years. Since her ex left her in the midst of her cancer battle, her hope and optimism that she will ever meet someone again is now non-existent. Then a new man walks into her life, and another, and another...
Within the charming meet-cutes and stay-cutes, there's some handling of very important issues that don't get talked about enough - from struggles of sexual compatibility to hereditary battles with cancel, bereavement, non-monogamy and inclusive  coupling.
This is a perfect summer read, escapist, hopeful and with great heart. After this and 'Our Stop', Laura Jane Williams has swiftly and firmly become a staple of the genre.

If you're a fan of Bridget Jones, The Love Square is for you. Adorable chick lit! What a charming read! Delightful beach reading. 

Many thanks to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for my ARC. All opinions are my own.

I'm not usually one for love triangles, let alone a love square so I didn't have my hopes up too high. It's a lighter read when you're not in the mood for anything dark but it also touches on some important topics such as death, losing parents, cancer, infertility etc. Penny wasn't very likable unfortunately. I did admire how strong she was given that she's a business owner and had went through some hardships. What ruined it for me was that she kept talking about how independent she was yet she complained about being single and how one would love her or be with her for far too long and it got on my nerves.. Then she just got a little bit more annoying as the love interests were introduced. This has some potential and definitely would have been better if Penny was different. I also do think this dragged on a bit too long, it should've been shorter rather than 400 pages.

Thanks very much to the publisher and to netgalley for the arc!

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. 

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.

The Love Square is Laura Jane William’s second fiction novel. Her first, Our Stop was a huge success last year and I suspect that The Love Square will follow suit.

It’s about the quite fantastic Penny Bridge, chef and owner of her own cafe in London. She’s single, utterly fed up of being on dating apps, of meeting men she feels a connection with only to find out that they have a girlfriend or are getting back with their ex and she can’t quite work out what exactly is going wrong. She just wants to live her life.

A breast cancer survivor, she has fought hard for the life she has. She’s appreciative of her family and friends, of the world she has created for herself, her business and reputation. She’d like to settle down and have a family using the eggs she had frozen before starting chemotherapy. She’d happily do this by herself using a surrogate but she’d quite like to do it with somebody alongside her. She’d like to be loved.

Enter Francesco, a sexy Italian chef who she forms a connection with, but then something happens and she has to return to her native Derbyshire. It is there she meets Thomas and then Priyesh. Based on Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy, Penny is a modern Bathsheba Everdene. She is tenacious, fun and braver than she thinks.

I really need to talk about the representation of illness in The Love Square. Penny has had a hard time, she lost her mother to breast cancer and as a young woman was diagnosed with the same disease. She is recovered but can get both physically and mentally tired and Laura Jane Williams writes so eloquently and sensitively about the struggle of balancing life and illness. I have a long term health condition and although I can look fine, the reality is I am likely to be in pain. It was so refreshing to read about somebody dealing with this sort of thing, somebody living her absolute best life but having to find the emotional and mental strength to deal with her body letting her down. It would be so easy for the breast cancer to define Penny, to be the thing which is associated with her, but it doesn’t all. And actually while I’m talking about this, bravo for the depiction of infertility and the complexities and nuance of it.

Penny is written so brilliantly and I fell in love with her. I loved her loyalty to those she loves, that she knows her worth, that she isn’t afraid to call out bad behaviour or disappointing actions. She is a great protagonist and her romances are sexy and fun to read about. Each man brings something different to Penny’s life and, without making her sound like an X Factor contestant, help her on her journey.

This is a great summer read filled with romance, fun relationships and friendships, humour and a lot of heart. I’d say that it would be perfect to read on a sun lounger but lets settle for the back garden on a sunny day eh?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved that it wasn’t just your typical rom com book. Boy meets girl and falls in love, this book had lots of twists and turns and I was genuinely interested in who penny was going to fall for. I had my preference for an ending as soon as o started reading and although it was a bit predictable I got what I wanted! Each of the men were really likeable characters. Laura touched on some really modern day themes and that was so refreshing in a chick lit. I rated it ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This has to be one of my least favourite reads of the year. I think the key thing about my distaste for this book lies in the fact that I don't like short stories generally. This book feels like it's comprised of three, chronological short romance stories whereby the character has 3 different love interests in succession. 

This book really wasn't to my tastes, because these individual romances felt like they just skimmed the surface. I never felt any angst or tension that I like from a good romance. This book could be more aptly described as chick lit or contemporary, I felt that those elements were a lot stronger than the romance.

Also as a 20 something year old, I just don't resonate with the struggles the main character has as she enters her 30s single. I appreciated these conversations about infertility and starting a family, but these discussions felt really important to the characters interpersonal life. The author generally explore these issues with a mix of sincerity and comicalness that I enjoyed to but ultimately just couldn't connect with. 

I think the main thing I thrived off was that this book had a lot of charm to it. The character feels imperfect and human, she smokes, she swears and is generally aware of her own flaws. Honestly this is characterisation that feels somewhat rare to me in romance. This book is also charming because it felt intrinsically British and I enjoyed reading that too.

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.