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megek9's review
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warning: slut shaming, cancer, infertility, parental abandonment, death of a parent (*Details below review)
Good for fans of Bridget Jones' Diary!
The Love Square follows Chef Penny Bridges, who must leave London and manage the kitchen in her uncle's restaurant when he falls ill. Over the course of her year living in the countryside, she dates a variety of men and grows to appreciate her family in terms of the people who love her, not just her romantic prospects. I read somewhere that love triangles are rarely truly love triangles, they're more like two men cornering a woman and demanding that she choose, and a love square is no different.
The book starts out with the breakup of Penny and Francesco, one of the men in the love square, before going back to the day the pair met. The pacing was way different than any romance novel I've read recently, so that was really refreshing. The "third quarter break up" happened much earlier in the novel so it didn't feel as predictable, however, I feel like this book would have gone over better if it were marketed differently. Despite being called a love square, Francesco was obviously the end game choice, to the point where the other two men, Thomas and Priyesh, were not very well fleshed out as characters. To be honest, I feel like this book was mismarketed as a romance and would have had more success as a story about a woman's search for herself.
Throughout Penny's interactions with these men, and with everyone in general, her actions do not match up with the things she says she wants. In the beginning of the novel, she's considering using the embryos she had frozen during cancer treatment to have a baby as a single mother using a surrogate. When she meets Francesco, she puts that on hold, and then when her uncle falls ill, she puts both the desire for a baby and her relationship with Francesco on hold to go run his restaurant against her own wishes. One thing I really appreciated was that Penny actually went to therapy to deal with these conflicting desires and her people-pleaser tendencies rather than just having some wishy washy epiphany and magically everything is better.
I also really enjoyed the side characters. Most of the characters outside of the square are LGBT+, and casually LGBT+ at that. Their queer identity wasn't a thing for them to come to, or something for the main character to react to. The characters just were LGBT+, and everyone accepted that. Her uncle's long time husband is dropped into conversation the same way a heteronormative aunt would be, and, aside from a brief explanation of pronounes, a non-binary character is just refered to with they/them throughout.
Overall, the non-romantic aspects were what I enjoyed most about the novel. Penny's desire for motherhood gets wrapped up in her feelings about losing her own mother to cancer at a young age. Seeing her come to terms with that was more enjoyable to me than any of the three men. I also had a lot of trouble with the restaurant scene as a backdrop to this story, but I know that's on me. When I worked in a kitchen, I was so desperate to leave that I forget that it is a dream job for some. If you read The Love Square, not as a romance, but as literary fiction, it can be very enjoyable.
*Content warning details: the main character recovered from cancer prior to the events of the book, but still suffers some physical and mental side effects, including infertility. The main character's mother passed away of cancer when she was young, and her father abandoned her. The main character is slut shamed during the course of the novel.
Good for fans of Bridget Jones' Diary!
The Love Square follows Chef Penny Bridges, who must leave London and manage the kitchen in her uncle's restaurant when he falls ill. Over the course of her year living in the countryside, she dates a variety of men and grows to appreciate her family in terms of the people who love her, not just her romantic prospects. I read somewhere that love triangles are rarely truly love triangles, they're more like two men cornering a woman and demanding that she choose, and a love square is no different.
The book starts out with the breakup of Penny and Francesco, one of the men in the love square, before going back to the day the pair met. The pacing was way different than any romance novel I've read recently, so that was really refreshing. The "third quarter break up" happened much earlier in the novel so it didn't feel as predictable, however, I feel like this book would have gone over better if it were marketed differently. Despite being called a love square, Francesco was obviously the end game choice, to the point where the other two men, Thomas and Priyesh, were not very well fleshed out as characters. To be honest, I feel like this book was mismarketed as a romance and would have had more success as a story about a woman's search for herself.
Throughout Penny's interactions with these men, and with everyone in general, her actions do not match up with the things she says she wants. In the beginning of the novel, she's considering using the embryos she had frozen during cancer treatment to have a baby as a single mother using a surrogate. When she meets Francesco, she puts that on hold, and then when her uncle falls ill, she puts both the desire for a baby and her relationship with Francesco on hold to go run his restaurant against her own wishes. One thing I really appreciated was that Penny actually went to therapy to deal with these conflicting desires and her people-pleaser tendencies rather than just having some wishy washy epiphany and magically everything is better.
I also really enjoyed the side characters. Most of the characters outside of the square are LGBT+, and casually LGBT+ at that. Their queer identity wasn't a thing for them to come to, or something for the main character to react to. The characters just were LGBT+, and everyone accepted that. Her uncle's long time husband is dropped into conversation the same way a heteronormative aunt would be, and, aside from a brief explanation of pronounes, a non-binary character is just refered to with they/them throughout.
Overall, the non-romantic aspects were what I enjoyed most about the novel. Penny's desire for motherhood gets wrapped up in her feelings about losing her own mother to cancer at a young age. Seeing her come to terms with that was more enjoyable to me than any of the three men. I also had a lot of trouble with the restaurant scene as a backdrop to this story, but I know that's on me. When I worked in a kitchen, I was so desperate to leave that I forget that it is a dream job for some. If you read The Love Square, not as a romance, but as literary fiction, it can be very enjoyable.
*Content warning details: the main character recovered from cancer prior to the events of the book, but still suffers some physical and mental side effects, including infertility. The main character's mother passed away of cancer when she was young, and her father abandoned her. The main character is slut shamed during the course of the novel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Sexism, and Infertility
readwithregina's review
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
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