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cherryhayburn's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer and Death of parent
elhay03's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Cancer and Infertility
readwithregina's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I really have to admit that I do not enjoy books where misunderstanding and miscommunication play such a large part in the book. with all of the ways people can communicate and clarify, it seems wasteful to have to read as someone goes through so much of the angst when they could be humble and brave and just call.
it must be said that I struggled with the pronoun them/they being used to describe a character in the book; it was a tertiary character but it was a mental gymnastics I hadn't been through before. I hated it at first and almost quit reading and then about 2/3 of the way through, I figured that was the point of the author; to stretch her (I looked it up) readers. it wasn't as funny as suggested, one time was plenty. as an almost 50yo, I found myself to be distant from some of the hip 30 something references that were made.
I will say that grief does complicate things and pleasing people because you think you owe them something is definitely some things I could relate to. this became a "read" book because I won it in a giveaway and knew that i'd be passing it along to someone else.
it must be said that I struggled with the pronoun them/they being used to describe a character in the book; it was a tertiary character but it was a mental gymnastics I hadn't been through before. I hated it at first and almost quit reading and then about 2/3 of the way through, I figured that was the point of the author; to stretch her (I looked it up) readers. it wasn't as funny as suggested, one time was plenty. as an almost 50yo, I found myself to be distant from some of the hip 30 something references that were made.
I will say that grief does complicate things and pleasing people because you think you owe them something is definitely some things I could relate to. this became a "read" book because I won it in a giveaway and knew that i'd be passing it along to someone else.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Sexual content
Minor: Cancer, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Sexism, and Toxic relationship
loudgls89's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I’m not going to lie, I only really bought this book because it’s narrated by Carrie Hope Fletcher, who I really love. She has such an emotive voice and a way of bringing stories to life, so I would probably buy any book that she narrates (there’s nothing worse than a great story ruined by a poor narration).
It took a while for this book to warm up for me, it felt like I’d been listening quite a while before I felt the momentum pick up, but I am glad I persevered because I thought the book was good.
Penny Bridge has been through a lot in life, but it seems like life is finally going well. All that is, except her love life. Penny wants to have a baby, but there’s no-one on the horizon. That is until Francesco shows up and they fall hard quickly. It feels like everything is perfect, until life turns upside down for Penny and things with them end on a wrong note.
After this, Penny falls for another man, and then another. And then Francesco appears back on the scene. What will Penny do?
I thought the story was fun and light-hearted (although with deeper parts to the storyline too), but I didn’t feel an emotional connection to Penny, probably because I didn’t really agree with the choices she was making. It felt like she was just toying around and given that I wouldn’t appreciate that if it was coming from a man, I didn’t like it here either. I don’t know if it was supposed to be a take on female empowerment, but it wasn’t for me really.
What I did like was the diversity of characters in the book and the fact that it didn’t feel forced, and the friend/sister relationships that Penny has are perfect – if anything they should be the highlight of this story, not the men.
I have another book by this author on my shelf (paperback rather than audio this time) and I’m looking forward to picking that up, I liked the author’s style and I’m interested to see what it’s like.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual content, Cancer, Infertility, and Death of parent
fayereadsbooks's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I rather enjoyed this book.
The cast of characters was much more diverse than any other chick-lit book I have read before. Penny's sister has a wife, her uncle has a husband, their is side characters called Charlie who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns (which are used correctly throughout). Francesco is Italian and Priyesh is half-Indian. The kitchen staff were all from different countries: one is Filipino, one is Dutch and one is Polish. Most contemporary books tend to only feature white, straight characters so it was great to see quite a diverse cast of characters. I don't want to applaud the author for doing the bare minimum (diverse characters should be in all books) but this is pretty uncommon in popular contemporary so it was good to see.
To be honest, considering the key aspect of this book was the 'love square', I was much more interested in the life side of the story than the romance. I liked reading about the running of a café and a restaurant.
One thing that annoyed me was the cover of the book. You would expect the cover to show the four characters involved in the love square and most of them are. Francesco has a bike and Thomas has a dog, which both relate to how they met Penny. But Priyesh doesn't look as he is described. He is described in these quotes- "His shoulder-length hair was thick and silky" "My mother is from India and my father is from Coventry. Hence Jones but with brown skin". But the final character on the cover has black skin, short hair and is holding a drink that looks like a slush puppy, which doesn't appear in the book at all. Its a little thing but I just don't understand why Priyesh isn't drawn correctly.
Lizzo is mentioned frequently throughout the book: Thomas is her tour manager, Penny loves her music, they go to her concert. I see how this could be seen as unnecessary but it was okay. In the epilogue, Thomas and Lizzo video call Penny and I just found this so hilarious for some reason. It just kind of happened out of nowhere like it was the most normal thing in the world.
I liked this quote:
"Everyone wanted something from her, and Penny realised she didn't know what she wanted for herself. She'd been so caught up in everyone else's needs and wants and agendas, escaping from herself and making a mess of her life, when what she actually needed was to look inward and figure out what was important to her"
It seems like i enjoyed this book much more than other reviews did. I enjoyed it at time of reading but wouldn't say i'll remember much about it. I would recommend it :)
The cast of characters was much more diverse than any other chick-lit book I have read before. Penny's sister has a wife, her uncle has a husband, their is side characters called Charlie who is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns (which are used correctly throughout). Francesco is Italian and Priyesh is half-Indian. The kitchen staff were all from different countries: one is Filipino, one is Dutch and one is Polish. Most contemporary books tend to only feature white, straight characters so it was great to see quite a diverse cast of characters. I don't want to applaud the author for doing the bare minimum (diverse characters should be in all books) but this is pretty uncommon in popular contemporary so it was good to see.
To be honest, considering the key aspect of this book was the 'love square', I was much more interested in the life side of the story than the romance. I liked reading about the running of a café and a restaurant.
One thing that annoyed me was the cover of the book. You would expect the cover to show the four characters involved in the love square and most of them are. Francesco has a bike and Thomas has a dog, which both relate to how they met Penny. But Priyesh doesn't look as he is described. He is described in these quotes- "His shoulder-length hair was thick and silky" "My mother is from India and my father is from Coventry. Hence Jones but with brown skin". But the final character on the cover has black skin, short hair and is holding a drink that looks like a slush puppy, which doesn't appear in the book at all. Its a little thing but I just don't understand why Priyesh isn't drawn correctly.
Lizzo is mentioned frequently throughout the book: Thomas is her tour manager, Penny loves her music, they go to her concert. I see how this could be seen as unnecessary but it was okay. In the epilogue, Thomas and Lizzo video call Penny and I just found this so hilarious for some reason. It just kind of happened out of nowhere like it was the most normal thing in the world.
I liked this quote:
"Everyone wanted something from her, and Penny realised she didn't know what she wanted for herself. She'd been so caught up in everyone else's needs and wants and agendas, escaping from herself and making a mess of her life, when what she actually needed was to look inward and figure out what was important to her"
It seems like i enjoyed this book much more than other reviews did. I enjoyed it at time of reading but wouldn't say i'll remember much about it. I would recommend it :)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Cancer, Death of parent, Grief, Infertility, Medical content, and Sexual content
heart attack, IVFkatiemack's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This has a promising start with the introduction of Penny as a strong, independent business owner who beat cancer and is striving for better things in life. I even liked Francesco, her Italian-chef love interest. However, it quickly devolved for me.
Once Penny started juggling her love interests and waffling over exactly what she wanted in life, I started to become less interested in her story. The novel ends up focusing more on the underdeveloped interests in the "love square," none of whom were appealing by the end of the story. The length of the book and the inconsistent use of the third-person omniscient POV took me out of the book even more, and eventually I stopped caring who Penny chose.
Also, Williams drops Lizzo in the story in an odd way...
This has a promising start with the introduction of Penny as a strong, independent business owner who beat cancer and is striving for better things in life. I even liked Francesco, her Italian-chef love interest. However, it quickly devolved for me.
Once Penny started juggling her love interests and waffling over exactly what she wanted in life, I started to become less interested in her story. The novel ends up focusing more on the underdeveloped interests in the "love square," none of whom were appealing by the end of the story. The length of the book and the inconsistent use of the third-person omniscient POV took me out of the book even more, and eventually I stopped caring who Penny chose.
Also, Williams drops Lizzo in the story in an odd way...
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent and Infertility
Minor: Cancer
charlottereadsthings's review against another edition
funny
lighthearted
slow-paced
3.0
I decided to pick up The Love Square after I really enjoyed Our Stop, and because once again opted for the audiobook as Carrie Hope Fletcher was the narrator.
I'm not really a fan of love triangle stories, let alone love squares. But there's been many times I've ended up loving books with tropes I often have a dislike for, so I went into the reading optimistically.
Sadly, this book is just okay. Carrie Hope Fletcher did an amazing job of adding life and personality to a story that fundamentally didn't feel like it had that much going on. Wheb I think back on it after reading, I can't recall anything that happens.
I didn't like that when the protagonist's flaws are pointed out that she seeks to work on them, but then in the last few pages ends up living happily ever after with the same person who called her toxic and demanded she get help.
I'm not really a fan of love triangle stories, let alone love squares. But there's been many times I've ended up loving books with tropes I often have a dislike for, so I went into the reading optimistically.
Sadly, this book is just okay. Carrie Hope Fletcher did an amazing job of adding life and personality to a story that fundamentally didn't feel like it had that much going on. Wheb I think back on it after reading, I can't recall anything that happens.
I didn't like that when the protagonist's flaws are pointed out that she seeks to work on them, but then in the last few pages ends up living happily ever after with the same person who called her toxic and demanded she get help.
Content Warnings
Minor: Cancer
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