Perfect summer read. Fake dating trope with believable (albeit boring!) characters! Lots of funny little moments.

Meet Me Under the Clock by Jo Lovett is a sweet and easy read.

After being stood up at Waterloo Station, Nadia and Tom meet by chance and form a close friendship - along with Carole, Bea and Ruth (The Waterloo Five). I loved this meet cute!

Tired of attending events alone and being nagged about their relationship status, Nadia and Tom agree to fake date as each other's plus-one. However, as their pretend relationship deepens, they begin to question if their connection is more than just convenient.

The story is told from both Nadia and Tom's perspective which works well. It's very simplistically written which makes it a quick and easy read. However it is quite repetitive throughout. And Tom and Nadia's dialogue is so polite, it almost feels like how you would write speech opposed to sounding like natural dialogue between two friends.

I like both the MCs however I wanted to bash their heads together - Tom especially! But that's a sign of a good will they/won't they.

I do wish their was more showing us and allowing us to feel their connection instead of just telling us. But that's just my preference.

I love the supporting characters and let me tell you I'd love to be invited to one of Carole's parties!

The book is available from Aprill 11th 2025.

Thanks to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a really cute book, strangers meet under the clock tower while going about their lives. It’s unexpected as they all get on so well. All from different backgrounds with their own problems they manage to keep the friendships alive. A lovely feel good read, a 4 star read. Thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for a copy.

📚 3.5 stars – A charming, slightly chaotic romcom that’s equal parts heartwarming and mildly frustrating! 💘💭

Okay, so Meet Me Under the Clock had big potential, and honestly? I was fully on board for the premise. Like yes please, two people getting stood up under the Waterloo clock and ending up in a fake dating situation?? Iconic setup. Very Richard Curtis, very You’ve Got Mail meets fake dating tropes and I was HERE for it. 🙌

Let’s start with the good stuff, yeah?

💫 Nadia and Tom? Adorable. They’ve got this really sweet, awkward chemistry that almost gave me butterflies. And their banter? Kinda cracked me up. It’s got that very British, dry humour that just hits right.
Also the internal monologues??? Unhinged in the best way – like someone let a squirrel loose in their brains 🐿️💭 but honestly, same. If you’ve got a bit of a chaotic brain that jumps from one idea to another like it's a trampoline park, you’ll probably relate 😂

✨ The Waterloo Five = found family vibes. Were they a tad insta-friends? Yeah. Did I care? Not really. It was giving slightly unrealistic but very wholesome energy and sometimes, you just want a group of randoms who bond over being stood up and make a group chat about it. Would die for Carole btw – divorced queen living her absolute best life, sipping cocktails and serving wisdom 🍸👑

BUT... (and it’s kind of a big but 👀)

💔 Tom. Mate. What are you doing?!
The whole still hung up on Lola from TEN years ago after literally one convo thing?? Unhinged. Like, be so serious. This man had the emotional depth of a puddle when it came to her and I was just sitting there like why are we pretending this is romantic? Bro, you were like 25. Get a grip 😅

Then THAT SCENE. You know the one. No spoilers, but I honestly couldn’t look at Tom the same after that. Nadia deserved better and I wanted her to make him grovel, write a 5-page essay, AND show up with at least two apology cakes. Instead, she just kind of... let it go? And I’m sorry but no. Even Elsa wouldn’t have let it slide that easily ❄️🚫

💖 Nadia, though, was a gem. Soft girl energy with a backbone. I loved how honest and emotionally available she was – even while fake dating someone and having feelings she didn’t want to admit. Felt very real and relatable.

So overall?

👉 Cute concept
👉 Loveable supporting cast
👉 Great pacing – flew through it
👉 But Tom really tested my patience 😤 and the romance didn’t fully hit like I wanted it to.

Would I recommend it? Yeah – if you’re after something light, a bit silly, and full of heart. Just be warned that you may want to throw something at Tom at some point...

Thank you so much to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I received a complimentary copy of this book "Meet Me Under the Clock" and all opinions expressed are my own. A fun romcom that I enjoyed reading. I love how the strangers got together - waterloo five. It was a bit hard because I didn't understand some of the British terms. Overall I liked it.

This was a sweet, enjoyable read. Nothing too serious but sometimes you just need a fun, easy book. I liked the premise of this one and that the Waterloo Five stayed in touch after the start of the book that brought them together.

This is a cute story about a man and a woman who don’t quite know what they want. Fortunately, they meet and figure things out! Fans of romantic comedies will love this one!

Serendipitously, Nadia and Tom meet under the clock at the train station after being stood up by their dates, along with 3 other strangers in a strange situation. It leads to a very enduring friendship amongst 5 unlikely people. Tom and Nadia genuinely enjoy one another’s company and spend more time together. However, during this time in their lives they are preoccupied with different situations, Nadia going through a “boyfriend detox” and Tom is hung up with a girl from his past. So, the timing is off and they keep pushing the narrative that they’re not right for each other but can’t help but get involved.

I found the characters enduring and I felt like some of these scenes were familiar but in a good way. I found some humor throughout the chapters and I enjoyed some of the straightforwardness that came from certain characters and the admission when they weren’t. However, I felt like things didn’t move along until past the halfway point. I felt like the characters lacked some depth and the time jumps were a bit fast at times.

Overall, I enjoyed it 3.75

My favorite one so far from this author. Love the unique story and cast of characters. Definitely a feel good read! Keep em coming Jo Lovett!

Enjoyed this book but I did want to batter the main characters heads together. It was a cute, romantic read. Worth a read.

This is one of those books where you want to knock the two main character's heads together, in this case Nadia and Tom, refusing to acknowledge their feelings for each other. I enjoyed the opening scene with five strangers meeting under the clock at Waterloo Station and their subsequent friendships and interactions. It is slow paced, which won't appeal to some readers, but does allow the relationship to grow naturally. They are totally opposite characters, with very little in common, for example pie and chips versus Italian cuisine and football versus tennis,but despite this their friendship grows and you really hope that they will end up together. I would score this at 4.5* due to the slow nature of the story, but,rounded up to 5*as I did enjoy the book.
I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley, however this did not influence my review of the book.

It pains me to say this because I usually see books through to the end, even when I’m not vibing with them, but I had to DNF this one. Unfortunately, the characters felt flat, and there was little to no chemistry between the two main leads.

Meet Me Under the Clock follows Tom and Nadia, who are both stood up by their respective dates under the same clock. To avoid the pressure from family and friends about being single, they agree to be each other’s plus-ones for events.

The premise sounded great, but at 40% in, I still wasn’t seeing any emotional connection or romantic development between them. Without that spark, the story just didn’t hold my interest.

Thank you to NetGalley and Boldwood Books for the opportunity to read and review this title.

Firstly I would like to thank the author, the publisher and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read an ARC of this book, I absolutely loved it.
It had a great story and really good characters that I felt I really got to know. I will be recommending this book to everyone I know.

Sweet, swoony, and engaging. A recommended purchase for collections where contemporary romance is popular.

Perfect, short romcom! The book was easy to read and at points made me laugh out loud. While the storyline was predictable, I still immensely enjoyed the book. One of the main parts of this book include the "Waterloo Five" - five random strangers who became friends at the very beginning of this book. I thought this detail was perfect and enjoyed seeing their friendships bloom in addition to Tom and Nadia's budding romance.

Thank you to Jo Lovett, Boldwood Books, and NetGalley for the eARC!

I think the overall premise of the book is very cute but it missed the mark in a lot of places for me.

I felt both Tom and Nadia lacked humor in their personalities and that made it boring for me. And that’s some of my own personal taste that wasn’t satisfied.

There were a lot of British terms that I didn’t know and had to look up and that kinda made me feel disconnected. Idk I think the whole thing for me had a sort of cultural barrier I couldn’t get over.

I enjoyed this one, but oh my goodness…I wanted to give Nadia and especially Tim a shake! Shake some sense into him , lol.

The main characters were interesting- The Waterloo Five were all so different.

Good read, I’d recommend

Really good book that i will recommend to others.

Thanks for the opportunity to read & review it.

Don’t you just want to grab this, switch off the phone and curl up on the sofa
By far one of my favourite books I've read this month… I loved every minute… I laughed out loud so many times!!…

"Meet Me Under the Clock" by Jo Lovett is a sweet romance comedy that charms with the novelty of chance encounters. The premise is about Nadia and Tom, who find themselves stood up by their blind dates under Waterloo Station's iconic clock. This is initially supposed to be an entertaining story to tell at future dinner parties, but it morphs into an intense friendship and a pretend-dating setup. When their make-believe relationship begins to feel real, the story touches on issues of love, friendship, and self-inflicted surprises in the fabric of fate.

At first, Nadia is guarded and standoffish because of previous heartaches in love. Her path is one of recovery from vulnerability and learning to believe in others again. As she moves deeper with her pretend date with Tom into actual feelings for him, she starts to destroy the walls that she has put up, hoping for true love.

Tom begins as being okay with staying within his comfort zones and maintaining emotional distance. He comes to challenge his own fears of emotional intimacy and commitment through his dealings with Nadia. His metamorphosis involves being open to the uncertainties of a relationship, its joys, and challenges.

Their paths are neatly woven together, highlighting how their relationship assists each of them to overcome their nightmares and accept new things. The writing of Jo Lovett has been commended for its warmth, humor, and realistic characters. Readers of slow-burning romances and inspiring stories are bound to appreciate this book. It is the ideal choice for readers who enjoy Beth O'Leary's and Sophie Kinsella's books.