This is a gently humorous tale of three housemates. Ellen and Alexa are best friends and Jack is their housemate. The story starts on a morning after the night before, when Ellen wakes with a steaming hangover. She then discovers that there is water flooding their kitchen. In her panic to find the stopcock, she makes her way to the attic. This is where chaos ensues and all the housemates, including Alexa’s new beau, find themselves locked in the attic.
A great new take on chick-lit and a fun read.

I thought this was a brilliant idea for a book! Phoebe Luckhurst has four characters locked in a confined space for hours, providing a very entertaining book.
Ellen and Alexa met at university and now share a house in London with Jack who they don’t very well, they are also locked in with Ben who Alexa brought home with her from a Hinge date last night. It’s already awkward but as Ellen makes polite conversation with Ben she realises that she knows him from her past, from an event that she has tried to forget. Meanwhile Jack who is extremely shy, has managed to find a tiny bit of signal on his phone and is live tweeting the whole situation as it unfolds. He has never been so popular but he’s not sure what the others will say when they find out.
I really enjoyed this book, I liked how different Ellen and Alexa were and I loved the nostalgia of reading about their time together at university and how their friendship formed. I felt a little sorry for Jack as he clearly needs taking under a wing slightly but both Ellen and Alexa are too wrapped up in their own worlds to notice. I liked how the author flitted back and forth between Ellen and Alexa now and then their teenage selves. I brought back many happy memories of sneaking out on night’s out, alcopops and chatting on instant messenger for hours.
I think I would have liked a slightly less predictable ending but overall I really enjoyed this book. It is a great idea, interesting characters and plenty of nostalgia thrown in.

I keep trying to read this, but find it very difficult so am going to have to give up. Makes no sense whatsoever, obviously not my sort of read, sorry.

Review of The Lock In by Phoebe Luckhurst.
I really enjoyed this book and found it quite a unique story in terms of setting that I haven’t encountered before in a book. A hilarious story of housemates and a date who are very hungover and end up being trapped in the attic while the downstairs floods. Very enjoyable rom com read. Recommend

Rating: 3.5 stars

With the premise of this book being that three roommates plus last nights hinge date are trapped in their attack, I was intrigued as to how the plot would unfold.

The idea felt original and managed to successfully encompass both the friendship and romantic aspects of the story, and whilst I didn’t care too much for the other characters, I absolutely loved Jack. He definitely had me laughing several times and provided great comic relief, especially when the plot became tense.

My only problem is that certain parts of the book felt a lot slower than others, and it made it slightly difficult to get through. However, when the pace did pick up and the drama of the shared history began to unfold, I managed to get through it a lot faster. It’s just a shame the pacing felt so jumpy.

An enjoyable read overall, would definitely recommend to anyone who particularly feels like reminiscing over their old student days!

2.5/5

I loved the premise of this book, but it fell a bit short in its execution. It was a nice enough read, don't get me wrong, but I would have liked to see a bit more in terms of character development. I enjoyed the main plot but was less keen on the MSN/university backstories and found those a bit harder to get through. I loved that it was told from different perspectives, and although that's a feature I usually struggle with, I felt like it added a lot to the scene - particularly in the attic! It would have been great to see more growth after escaping the attic, as I think that could have been interesting to read. I loved Jack as a character, too. I could relate a lot to his perspective, often feeling the same uncertainties surrounding social situations.

A really fun and enjoyable read with some great, humorous characters! The premise of the story was really unique and I loved what the author did with it, so creative. Highly recommend this book to those looking for something entertaining and unusual.

Alexa, Ellen and Jack don’t have a good relationship with their landlord, and that certainly isn’t helped when the three of them find the kitchen submerged in water and themselves locked in the attic with Alexa’s Hinge date, Ben. What could be a fairly mundane situation turns quickly into an emotional rollercoaster as each of them finds themselves in a different situation up there. Alexa’s trying to figure out where she stands with Ben, Jack is accidentally using the time to become a viral twitter star, and Ellen is sure she’s got a past with Ben that is worth holding a grudge over.

Tensions rise in the attic and they try to solve their emotional dramas while also figuring a way out, and what emerges is an amusing rom-com twist on a locked room mystery, with a set of characters who would definitely rather be nursing their hangovers than dealing with the ridiculous amount of things that seem to be going on.

This book is definitely one of the more unique rom-coms I’ve read recently. Whilst navigating love in your twenties in London is actually a fairly common theme for the genre, the dramas and situations that arise in The Lock In are not ones I’ve seen in any other books. It’s a slightly-too-coincidental but just believable enough to be enjoyable story about real characters living real lives and facing amusing and, even somewhat relatable, problems.

None of the characters in this book were perfect, and I really liked that about them. They were completely believable people, with the only potential caricature being their landlord, Elias. I enjoyed the fact that it didn’t feel odd when they made mistakes or got into arguments, because everything they did fitted in perfectly with each of their personalities, and I was glad the story was told from multiple perspectives so that the slightly less likeable characters had their chance to get their side across.

The Lock In is a nostalgic, funny and realistic story of romantic mishaps and navigating love and life in London. With a satisfying resolution, some good character growth and an entertaining will-they-won’t-they romance, this was a fun and easy read for rom-com lovers who are looking for something a little unique.

This was a nice, easy read. It was an unusual plot set over such a short period of time and I enjoyed the characters and how their lives interwove. I would be interested to read more from the author.

This was a light, quick read. The plot was fairly farcical and like a lot of that genre required a bit of suspension of belief to get our intrepid characters into the situation where they are locked in the attic together. Having said that, that’s OK, I don’t mind taking the set up not-to-seriously sometimes.

Of all our four main characters I had a real soft spot for the socially awkward but quite lovely Jack. In some ways he was even a little underused, I felt he could have managed a few more tweets so we got to see a bit more of his true personality shine.

Of all the housemates Alexa was the only one who actually felt the age they were supposed to be, the others all came across as younger despite them talking about using MSN as teenagers (who else remembers doing that, I feel old!)

This was fun to read, if a little mixed in places. The scenes where they were desperately shouting out the window were brilliant and their eventual rescue had me grinning. There were moments though where it felt like opportunities had been lost to add in more humour or drive things forward a little.

I think the blurb is a little off for this book as well. It makes it sound like there is something more going on that what actually is and therefore it sounds more action packed that what you actually get.

Worth picking up for a little bit of escapism but its a firm middle of the road read for me.

This book was a lot of fun. The Lock In follows three housemates - Alexa and Ellen, who have been best friends since university, and Jack, who found the spare room through an online ad and hasn't quite found his feet yet. Oh, and Alexa's Hinge date from the night before; Ben. When all four of our characters get trapped in the attic on a Saturday morning (hungover, hungry, and slightly wary of one another), chaos ensues.

I haven't read a lot of books with the trope of being isolated together for an extended period of time, but the more I got into this book, the more I enjoyed it. With plot twists that made me laugh out loud and characters that I grew to love as we delved into their histories and unique personalities, I'd absolutely recommend this book as a Sunday afternoon cosy piece of escapism. Most notably in the beginning, Jack was my least favourite character. I couldn't understand his place in the story, other than to be a filler. As the story progressed, he became my favourite, and his place was absolutely justified. His quiet vulnerability and character arc was so joyful to read.

I really wanted to like this book, although my taste in book genres has changed as I’ve got older I do still love a good romance chick lit book but I couldn’t get the enthusiasm with this book. I guess with other reviewers I’ve seen I’m not the only one and it’s a shame as I really liked the premise.

The synopsis of this book grabbed my attention. Sadly, upon reading it the book did not live up to my expectations. It took me what felt like an age to read it but finish it I did.

Three housemates find themselves locked in the attic alongside one of their dates from the night before. Downstairs, the kitchen is flooded and there appears no way out.

As I say I was a bit disappointed and even after they are released into freedom from the attic it fell a bit flat with them all just kind of sliding back into their everyday lives.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced read copy of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

The Lock in by Phoebe Luckhurst a fantastic four-star read. I will be honest it took me a while to like the characters and get into the story, but once I did, I loved it, I am so glad I persevered and kept reading as then I got hooked and didn’t want to leave them again. It was great hearing from each character and them having a chapter rather than a couple of paragraphs to get their voice heard was so well done, it really meant that you could get into their head, know what was really going on and what was really under the surface. If you are looking for a great story that will have you locked in along with them then this is the one for you.

A light, fun read, this is around three housemates (and one of their overnight guests) who get stuck in their attic together. The characters are all wonderfully developed and the plot flows well despite all the action taking place in one room.

Really enjoyed this story and all it offered, it was funny whilst also showing some serious elements and all written in a light hearted manner!

I liked the plot of this. There were parts of it that I thought were a bit much and could have been further developed. I loved the setting and main characters but was left slightly wanting.

I read the synopsis for this and thought it was an unlikely event. 4 people stuck in an attic? Actually, when you read the book it sort of makes sense. You can see how it might happen.
I thought it was a nice, light story. I wanted to know what happened but it wasn't complicated. Ideal for a lazy day on the beach or a quick read over a weekend.

A pleasantly diverting light read, capturing the delights of student days, house shares and early adulthood. Some fun moments, plenty of embarrassing ones (but nothing to cringeworthy!) and gave me a chance to reminisce about my uni days, despite being a tad older than the housemates. A fun way of whiling away a few hours.

This book really took me back - to evenings on MSN as a teenager, the agony of making new friends at Uni, the horror of moving into a grungy London flatshare. Not much really happened, and I didn't really feel invested in any of the characters, but a good dose of nostalgia was enough to keep me reading. Mildly funny and engaging, this was a fluffy easy read for an afternoon.

I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.