I really wanted to like The Lucky Escape, I haven't read anything from Laura Jane Williams previously but I liked the cover and the description got my attention. I really struggled to read this book and put it down multiple times, perhaps future books from the author will suit me more!

The Lucky Escape is a quick, easy read. While it is somewhat predictable and a little fluffy it wasn't the worst book I have ever read. This story does remind one that they have control over their own happiness and if you want something you have to go after it.

Brimming with all the feels I was crying big ugly tears on minutes and laughing the next.
Loved this rollercoaster of a read!

After enjoying the author's debut novel, I was very excited about this romance - and it delivered, for the most part. The characters are likeable, and I very much loved following along on their escape across the globe. Plus, there was good emotional depth to the male love interest, which is always great to see.

The final act of the book falls a bit flat - the main characters makes some erratic, and very questionable decisions which just took me out of the story's flow. Plus, even for a cheesy romance lover like me, the ending was a bit too saccharine.

THE LUCKY ESCAPE by Laura Jane Williams is a fun, fast read that will entertain you & leave you looking up places to go on vacation in Australia. The main character Annie is left at the alter & her heart is broken, so what better thing to alleviate that sudden derailment of her life than to go on the honeymoon with an old friend? And so the fun ensues. Williams has written a good book that kept me turning the pages to find out how it would all turn out. It was a delightful read. Thank you to NetGalley for the complimentary copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance copy.

"When the day finally comes for Annie to marry Alexander, the last thing she expects is to be left standing at the altar. She was so sure he was Mr Right. Now, she has no idea how she could have got it so wrong."

With the synopsis and the beautiful cover, I thought this would be an enjoyable and nice summer read, but boy was I wrong.
The MC is truly bizarre. Like, I cannot even put into words how much her actions throughout the book are weird and unrealistic. Also, the pace of the book isn't good, and I thought the plot was all over the place, as well as the execution. Simply not for me.

Everything about this book screams cute summer beach read, and yet even on that level I just couldn't get invested. The pacing was off, Annie was frustrating and there just wasn't enough substance to the side characters to keep me interested.

The Lucky Escape by Laura Jane Williams was exactly the sort of delightful romcom we’ve come to expect from this author. With well written characters and lots of feels this is a highly recommended read.

Wanted to love this one but from the start I just couldn't get hooked/invested in the main character or the story. It's been a while and I'm working through my back-log on ARCs so thought I better update my reading attempts for this book and try again in the future.

Contains all of the charm we have grown to know and love from Laura's novels. I loved the travel aspects, as I yearn for an escape. Also enjoyed the sex positivity, and the overall optimism of this book. A cute read!

If you're looking for a light hearted, easy summer read and enjoyed The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren then pick this one up.
Annie gets left at the altar on her wedding day but gets persuaded to take the luxury honeymoon to Australia anyway! After meeting an old friend, Patrick, at a bootcamp session she asks him to accompany her on the trip.
I loved the armchair travel to the other side of the world and it was perfect escapism.

Such a cute, and amazing escape read! This was the first book I read from this author, and it definitely won't be my last! I've since read Our Stop and the Love Square and I couldn't recommend them enough for fans of the Lucky Escape. Amazing side characters and even more amazing chemistry. This book doesn't disappoint!

Thank you to NetGalley for approving me to read and review this book. I have given The Lucky Escape by Laura Jane Williams five out of five stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

A great light, easy rom-com that everyone should read at least once. I found Laura Jane Williams’ writing to be humourous, comforting and witty. There were some deeper topics that are tackled throughout this book as well, but overall I thought this was a light-hearted read.

I really enjoyed learning about the two main character in The Lucky Escape: Annie and Patrick. Annie is a strong, loving and smart protagonist; it felt really special to see Annie grow into a stronger, beautiful woman. Patrick is simply a great male character, who I was rooting for throughout this book. He’s such a funny and supportive human who I loved reading about.

Absolutely loved the use of pronouns in this book, there’s a part where they go to a spa and the person behind the desk introduces their self and gives their pronouns. This is my first time seeing the use of introducing pronouns and I definitely think it should be used more, especially to raise awareness, to respect somebody and to promote inclusion. Less assumptions made, I personally would never like to single out anyone or make them feel unwelcome.

The bedroom text scene had me squealing, oh my goodness! Hot, tense and steamy; the slow burn was magnificent and was just what I needed from this book.

This book is such a feel good book which will make you smile ear to ear.

I enjoyed The Lucky Escape just as I enjoyed Our Stop and The Love Square - Laura Jane Williams writes romance brilliantly.

I felt Williams’ writing has really matured with these most recent novel. The characters are genuine and well written and I loved that each character also had their own imperfections which weren’t smoothed over as they so often are in romances.

It was refreshing to read a story with such an independent main character; I particularly enjoyed that even when the “honeymoon” was over there was still plenty of personal reflection to be done by our main character to decide what was best for her.

4/5 ⭐️
(This review will also be posted to Goodreads separately from NetGalley just as not to mess with my dates read or amount of books read this year)

The story started off a little slow for my liking, but I really got stuck in once the pace picked up.

I started off really enjoying Annie’s character and found her to be really likeable. As the story went on, she became slightly less likeable to me, however, this didn’t prevent me from thoroughly enjoying this story.

This was the first title that I have read by this author, but I won’t hesitate to pick anything by her up in future!

I really loved Laura Jane Williams's book OUR STOP, so I was excited to try out another one of her books.

I went back and forth with this one listening to it on audio as well as reading the physical copy. Overall, it was fine! The story didn't blow me away and at times I found it to be kind of slow. I did skim some when I was reading the physical copy. But it was an easy read to listen to while doing chores and working around the house. Since I liked OUR STOP so much, I do think I'll read another one of Williams' books.

Review
I received a digital ARC from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Summary
The story opens with Annie’s college boyfriend finally pops the question everyone has been waiting for. She arrives to find her wedding planner standing on the steps of the church anxiously. Her worst fears are confirmed. Annie was left at the altar.

No explanation, cell phone off, Alexander has completely ghosted her. Curled in bed, Annie replays the scene over and over in her mind. What would make him run off? Why didn’t he just talk to her? Why did he only let the wedding planner know? And what on Earth was she going to do now?

Later, Annie’s generous ex soon-to-be mother-in-law insists she takes the all-expenses-paid Australian honeymoon. It’s already been paid for and getting away could really help Annie get over the breakup. After running into her old theater camp friend, Patrick, Annie invites him to go as friends on her non-honeymoon vacation. Now Annie and Patrick will go on a romantic honeymoon vacation and try not to fall prey to the love in the air.

What I liked
Interesting premise
I admittedly requested this book from Netgalley on the sole premise of taking someone else on your honeymoon. Romance authors tend to stick to the same romance tropes so when I read this book’s summary, I jumped on it.

I was interested in seeing how the honeymoon vacation would turn out with the main character being an emotional train wreck with an old friend she isn’t very close with. Would Annie just float around a pool crying the whole time? Would Patrick just ditch her and enjoy his free vacation? This story could have easily turned very sour, very quickly. Williams did such a great job laying out the story in a way that was still a positive, feel good story.

Strong character growth
I loved the character growth from the protagonists Annie and Patrick. Annie was immature, had low self esteem, and lacked confidence. Patrick was so broken when we met him. He was able to give himself closure from his previous relationship so that he could be emotionally ready to start his relationship with Annie. Watching these characters grow as people, professionals, and as a couple was really what made the book for me.

Another element I enjoyed in this book was Annie’s support system, the Core 4. This female friend group she has has a real Sex and the City vibe to it. It consisted of four various women that were in different stages of their lives, who all took a different path to achieve happiness in their life. The author sprinkled in the Core 4’s lifetime milestones throughout the story to show character growth in all the characters.

The love interest
Patrick was by far my favorite character of this book. Similar to People We Meet on Vacation, I fell in love with the love interest, not the main character. Patrick is kind, true to himself, honest, and lives in the moment. He reminds Annie of who she used to be and encourages her to be herself. Patrick is what kept me emotionally invested in this story.

What drew me to Patrick was his you-only-live-once (YOLO) attitude. After hearing his back story, you understand why he has this outlook on life. With everything that has happened in the pandemic, this mentality speaks to me. While I’ll probably never be the spontaneous YOLO type person, I have started to say yes to things that scare me because you never know how much time you have left.

What I didn’t like
The Protagonist
There was something about Annie I did not like. I had some sympathy for Annie at the beginning of the book because I can only imagine what it would be like to be left at the altar. As the story went on, it was harder and harder to like this character. I found her to be annoying and just could not rally behind her.

Weak character development
There was some discussion about how she lost herself in her relationship with Alexander but then it doesn’t go any further. Why was Annie pretending to be someone else? What is causing her to think she’s not good enough?

Annie’s relationship with her mother was another relationship that wasn’t overly developed. The reader gets a snapshot of offhanded comments with no backstory. Without explaining the why behind how the mother is acting, the reader doesn’t understand why the relationship is toxic.

Are the mother’s comments intended to help Annie to push herself to be better? Is the lashing out a coping mechanisms from her own traumatic childhood? Is the mother just an awful human being? I would have liked to have learned more of the character’s backstories to understand why they acted they way they did.

The slow pace of the story
I was ify with this book at various points of the book. I thought about abandoning this book a few times. The build up leading up to the vacation and the second week of the vacation dragged. In my opinion, the Sydney part of the trip should be cut of the story completely. As a result, the author would have had more time to development the ending (my favorite part). Annie’s career choices towards the end of the book. For me, this book took a while to get going and find it’s groove.

Final Thoughts
⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 3 out of 5.
Overall The Lucky Escape was an enjoyable read. This was my first book by Laura Jane Williams and it was ok, not great. I wished the rest of the book was as good as the ending! I really enjoyed reading Annie go through her self-discovery stories and I wish the rest of the book had a similar feel.

I’m not giving up on this author yet. I do have Laura Jane Williams’ Our Stop on my TBR list and I am hoping this book will resonate more with me.

Thank you Netgalley and Avon Books UK for providing me with a free ecopy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Really really enjoyed my time with this one! The beginning went a little slow for me but once we finally got on that honeymoon - woo! I loved it. Loved the romance between these two and how they connected so much more than just physically. Would recommend to anyone looking for a fun escape.

This book surprised me. The story was more and better than what I expected, a fuller story than its rom-com packaging. This is my 1st read from this author and it's nicely written. Despite the lame marketing of her 2 other books at the end of the paperback (I would like more of a story descriptor than the blow-up of the cover art and a 1-sentence explanation), I'd be willing to pick up another book from Laura Jane Williams based on the strength of The Lucky Escape.

Annie is left at the altar unexpectedly and needs to pick up the pieces of her life. This predictable modern love story wasn’t quite as enjoyable as I had hoped. It ran a little long in my opinion and the last 1/3 of the book made my head spin and seemed unnecessary. The pros: I loved reading about Australia and Antwerp. The author’s details about the settings were magnificent. Annie was pretty likeable and her character’s self development that progressed with the book was great. The cons: I feel the plot itself was a little disjointed and the book could have benefitted from a stronger editor’s pen as there are many inconsistent or unnecessary details. Thank you NetGalley and Avon Books UK for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.