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A review by jodiesbookishposts
The Love Square by Laura Jane Williams
3.0
The Love Square by Laura Jane Williams
3 Stars
I was given an audiobook on Netgalley for an honest review.
Penny is the classic romantic heroine; she is unlucky in love. Disenfranchised with dating after bad experiences, she has all but given up. Then she meets a guy and sparks fly, but when her Uncle (like a father to her) gets sick and she has to return home to look after the family business, they agree to part as friends. Then she meets another guy, and then another guy. And when the first guy decides to come to her to help, she finds herself in a Love Square.
So … the start of this book was strong. The first third really had the makings of a five-star read. I liked the build up of the first relationship. A lot of effort went into this, it was well developed, I was invested in all characters and excited for the rest. Then the conflict started and it fell apart a bit. The bad side of this was the following two relationships were very underdeveloped, and the third was especially rushed and weak. It made it hard to find any tension in the ‘choice’ the main character must make.
I feel like this was marketed as more of a conflict than it really was. There wasn’t a point where I doubted the direction it would go in and found the conclusion quite problematic. I didn’t want her to end up with any of them. I found all three romantic interests problematic for different reasons. The first I liked and then something that happened really put me off him. There was a little bit of slut shaming going on, which led to a bit of internalised misogyny in the main character. It ruined the final third of the book and really left it as a bitter end.
This had the potential to be a great book, especially considering the surrogacy story line. That felt promising and well handled. If that had been used more, as the main focus rather than a poorly defined love square, this could have been a refreshing rom com.
I wanted to love this as Derbyshire girl myself, there was definitely potential there and will keep a look out for more works from this author.
3 Stars
I was given an audiobook on Netgalley for an honest review.
Penny is the classic romantic heroine; she is unlucky in love. Disenfranchised with dating after bad experiences, she has all but given up. Then she meets a guy and sparks fly, but when her Uncle (like a father to her) gets sick and she has to return home to look after the family business, they agree to part as friends. Then she meets another guy, and then another guy. And when the first guy decides to come to her to help, she finds herself in a Love Square.
So … the start of this book was strong. The first third really had the makings of a five-star read. I liked the build up of the first relationship. A lot of effort went into this, it was well developed, I was invested in all characters and excited for the rest. Then the conflict started and it fell apart a bit. The bad side of this was the following two relationships were very underdeveloped, and the third was especially rushed and weak. It made it hard to find any tension in the ‘choice’ the main character must make.
I feel like this was marketed as more of a conflict than it really was. There wasn’t a point where I doubted the direction it would go in and found the conclusion quite problematic. I didn’t want her to end up with any of them. I found all three romantic interests problematic for different reasons. The first I liked and then something that happened really put me off him. There was a little bit of slut shaming going on, which led to a bit of internalised misogyny in the main character. It ruined the final third of the book and really left it as a bitter end.
This had the potential to be a great book, especially considering the surrogacy story line. That felt promising and well handled. If that had been used more, as the main focus rather than a poorly defined love square, this could have been a refreshing rom com.
I wanted to love this as Derbyshire girl myself, there was definitely potential there and will keep a look out for more works from this author.