This is such a fun read, enjoyable and if we are lucky this summer then the perfect “ beach read” . Likeable characters in an unusual situation set it apart from the usual romcom books.
Highly recommend and thank you for the opportunity to read this book.

I enjoyed this book, it was an enjoyable read with likeable characters, think I would have loved this even more if I'd have read this in my 20s!

The story involves 3 housemates (with an awful landlord, we can all relate, yes?!), a new (or maybe even an old) flame and a broken door handle. So far, so Carry On House Share.

I enjoyed getting to know the characters and was rooting for Jack every step of the way.

Would recommend!

Fine is probably my best description. Nothing to scare the horses, a jolly jape of flat mates navigating jobs, relationships and social media. It is most definitely 'of a time', the cohort who used MSN to communicate at school must only cover a few years before the mighty Snapchat and Insta took over. The sort of book that needs a deckchair or a log fire - read, switch off and relax.

This book was a fun, easy contemporary read. At some points I thought the humour was hilarious, the characters were great and relatable, and the plot was intriguing. However, it felt like maybe there wasn’t quite enough substance to the plot to fill the 350 or so pages, and consequently at some other points the book fell a little flat. The MSN drama is great, but I do feel like a more major secondary drama could have helped keep me engaged, as I frequently felt like I was just reading the dull, ordinary thoughts of the characters.

I also think I was expecting this to be a bit more of a romance than it was? There were obviously romantic elements, but in general I wouldn't categorise it as a romantic comedy.

Luckily, all the main characters in the book are likeable which I find seems to be a rarity in contemporary, new-adult-ish literature, so I was very pleased about that! I also loved the setting since I’m very fond of South-East London. Overall it was worth a read, but was not one of my favourites due to feeling like it dragged a bit at times.

I was so excited for this novel as soon as I heard about it. However, I was inevitably left disappointed. I tried to push through and read as much as I could but I had to give up 25% of the way in. Sadly, I feel like the premise of this book was really good but the execution was not fantastic. Despite them being locked in the attic, most of the story was told in flashbacks and it felt like we were given way too much information at once. The author was adamant to give us the whole backstory within the first few chapters and it just felt like a lot. I also feel like there was a lot of unnecessary girl on girl hate in this book when describing other women who aren't the main two. The characters sadly felt a bit two dimensional for me and I didn't enjoy this novel. I really wanted to love it but sadly I did not!

Meet housemates Ellen, Alexa and Jack. They're broke. They're lonely. They're hungover. And things are about to go from bad to worse . . .
Whilst nursing The Hangover from Hell, Ellen stumbles downstairs to discover the kitchen slowly filling with water.
Panic quickly sets in, and the three flatmates find themselves in the attic desperately attempting to switch off the water supply. But when Ben, Alexa's Hinge date from the night before, walks in, the door slams, the handle breaks, and all four of them are trapped.
As the long hours tick by, Ellen nurses her sore head whilst Ben and Alexa really get to know each other, and Jack plans an unorthodox rescue mission.
But soon Ellen wonders if Ben really is a stranger after all. She is sure she knows him from somewhere . . .
Will these housemates ever get out of this attic? Will they survive the wrath of Elias The Evil Landlord? And will Jack please stop live-tweeting this whole fiasco?
Welcome to The Lock In.
This is a hilarious story of housemates and hangovers and friendship and dating as four twenty-somethings discover what The Worst morning-after-the-night-before really looks like . . .
Im going to be quite controversial and say I found this book really hard going and didn't enjoy it at all. The story takes place mainly in a locked attic but felt like there was very little story there. I didn't connect with any of the characters. The premise I thought was brilliant I just didn't feel the author made the most of it

Whilst nursing The Hangover from Hell, Ellen stumbles downstairs to discover the kitchen slowly filling with water. Panic quickly sets in, and the three flatmates find themselves in the attic desperately attempting to switch off the water supply. But when Ben, Alexa's Hinge date from the night before, walks in, the door slams, the handle breaks, and all four of them are trapped. As the long hours' tick by, Ellen nurses her sore head whilst Ben and Alexa really get to know each other, and Jack plans an unorthodox rescue mission. But soon Ellen wonders if Ben really is a stranger after all. She is sure she knows him from somewhere . . .

This is the perfect easy and fun read, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I warmed so much to the characters and loved that the author gave us little backstories for each one. Overall, an easy, light-hearted and enjoyable read. This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

3.5/5.

What happens when three hung over housemates and one near stranger get locked in the attic? Well not that much really. The Lock In is one of a few books I have read lately that have a strong premise that they don’t fully live up to. This should be a pressure cooker situation but it falls flat. There’s never really any drama. The situation between Ben and Ellen that is revealed could and would have happened eventually anyway and it was obvious to me immediately what had happened. Luckhurst aims to build tension through Ellen’s flashbacks but other than fleshing out Ellen who is probably the most well drawn of all the characters it does little to enhance the plot.
The characters are likeable if a bit thin and the issue of loneliness in young adulthood is well thought out. On the whole the Lock In is an uncomplicated read. But why didn’t they just empty the box of wee out of the skylight? And one star alone for the Mystery Jets name drop an excellent band who make excellent music.

An engrossing story about a group of flatmates who get stuck in an attic while their kitchen is flooding.

Great description - would make a good film!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, a delightful read.

I really loved this book.

It was funny and nostalgic and I raced through it in a day (which I don't normally do when reading on the Kindle app).

I loved the different perspectives from the different characters and it was a light-hearted fun read! It was definitely a trip down memory lane for me with the MSN aspect though I don't ever remember us calling them usernames it was always 'addys' which was short for the email addresses.

This is one I would definitely recommend for all the early 90s babies out there as I feel without the knowledge of what MSN was really like (yes to song lyrics, funky font and signing in and out 100 times to get your crushes attention) some people may not 'get' this as much.

I also feel like Jack could've done with 1 or 2 more tweets for his Twitter fame!


A 5 star read from me though!

Once I got into it, I couldn’t put it down!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Meet Ellen, Alexa and Jack. Three roommates who rent a house in London from a terrible landlord who blames them for everything.

One morning, hungover Ellen wakes up and discovers that the kitchen is flooding due to a leak. Desperately searching for a way to turn the water off, all three housemates find themselves locked in the attic when Alexa’s hinge date pulls off the door handle.

I had a brilliant love hate relationship with all the characters as you get to see both their good and bad sides. I found myself really feeling for Jack as the story progressed however I loved Ellen as she was so relatable.

At first I worried that I wouldn’t enjoy this book - I mean how much can happen to four people locked in an attic?! Well let me tell you was I wrong!

The pacing was just right with this book and there was plenty of nostalgia (msn!) and drama to keep the pages turning! This book is definitely a worthwhile read if your a fan of a feel good contemporary book.

Thank you Phoebe Luckhurst and Netgalley for providing me with an advanced readers e-copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and feelings are my own.

I really enjoyed this one! I never really thought the isolated group trope was a favourite, but it has a certain appeal to it. I'd recommend this book to fans of Ali Pantony and Beth O'Leary. The friendship element reminded me a lot of Pantony's Almost Adults and the writing style had something of O'Leary's flair within it.

The friendships and relationships between the group were enjoyable to read - we have decade-long best friends, a new boyfriend and a socially awkward roommate in the mix. I think this combination worked really well, you had a mixture of already close relationships and new relationships being formed. You have this amazing love-hate relationship with all of the characters because you get to see both their good sides and their irate sides as they're stuck in this somewhat impossible situation in a tiny enclosed space. I think Jack was my favourite character, even though he makes some very obvious mistakes. I also have a soft spot for Ellen, perhaps because she might be the most relatable of them all with her foot-in-the-mouth disease.

The pacing worked really well for this book, it felt just the right length with just the right amount of eventful moments. The drama happens around the 50% mark, which I absolutely revelled in because it wasn't life-shattering drama - it was standard, contemporary, teenage years drama which was so full of nostalgia (hello, MSN!) In places, it was a little repetitive, perhaps to be expected with a narrative that takes place in an enclosed space. Otherwise, this book really was great! A feel-good contemporary that navigates the social anxieties of being a twenty-something-year-old... while trapped in an attic with your best friend, her boyfriend who you may actually know, and your socially awkward roommate!

Content warnings: gambling, high school bullying, catfishing.

Thank you to Phoebe Luckhurst, Michael Joseph and Netgalley for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

A flat and a landlord from hell is a fabulously fresh predicament to find flatmates in, that is full of warmth of friendship and is laugh-out-loud funny!
A dead mouse and flooding flat due to a sink issue is what Ellen, Alexa, Jack and Ben have to deal with in the morning and then matters go from bad to worse and they end up locked in as a door handle falls off. It's like a comedy of flat errors. One one hand you can't help but feel sorry for the characters and on the other-hand because of the way it is skillfully written, it's all rather funny. There's also a lesson in there to always have your phone on you and with a high amount of battery charge... They find themselves desperate, which makes it more funny as they try to come up with a plan as to how to get out.

The night before the flatmates are locked in, there is romance in the air and all, right down to the furniture, captures 20-somethings flat-sharing very well. The format of each chapter being named after a character is great as readers get to see their point of views and into their lives, before being locked-in together and during that time.
It is by and large a highly entertaining read that, as it goes on, you can't help but read on and on, quite wide-eyed at some of it, wondering what can possibly be coming next and how on earth they are going to get out and when. The twists and turns and lengths the flatmates go to is laugh out loud funny.
What is also fun is, not just getting to know the characters, but some of the conversations that go on when locked in.

It's perfect for reading with, perhaps a glass of wine or a cup of tea, curled up on the sofa or in the bath after a busy day and you just need some pure escapism.

The Lock In combines three housemates, a flooding kitchen, a Hinge date and a broken door handle as the basis for its plot where ultimately we witness four people interacting from a locked attic.

Whilst nursing a hangover, Ellen discovers the kitchen slowly filling with water. She enlists the help of her housemates Alexa and Jack, along with Alexa's Hinge date Ben, to help switch off the water supply, and instead, the group find themselves trapped in an attic after a series of mishaps. Complete with funny rescue mission tactics, and a box to pee in, there are parts of this story that I did find enjoyable. However, the premise of this all taking place in one room got old pretty quickly as a series of 'nothing' chapters showed. There were no real shenanigans or riotous behaviour that the situation clearly lends itself to, and instead, Phoebe Luckhurst focuses on the backstory of an MSN love story and a Twitter thread as the main focal points which whilst entertaining, weren't really what I was expecting from the story.

Each character voices a different chapter which is a great tactic for finding out each one's thoughts and feelings about the predicament they find themselves in. There were some chapters that were funny, whilst others were heartwarming, and unfortunately, some were just disappointing and didn't really add to the plot all that much. I was expecting this to be more of a light-hearted and funny story, but it feels a little anticlimatic.

I was dismayed to find that following the events of the Lock In, there was little in terms of character development or a sense of moral or lesson learned from the experienced. It appears as those the characters just simply carried on with their lives despite the intensity of the concentrated few hours spent together.

Starting to read: How on earth can you write a whole book around a lock-in that lasted only a few hours?

Turning the last page: aha - that's how.

A terrific read - thoroughly enjoyed

I've was intrigued by the stunning cover (gorgeous colours) and the immediately hook-worthy title and synopsis. This follows three housemates and one of their dates who get trapped in the attic, when the door handles breaks off, and their kitchen is flooding. How will they get out?
The narratives switches from each of the four characters, who are:
- Ellen - in her late 20s, fun and vivacious, but stuck in a menial job.
- Alexis - Ellen's best friend since they met in university. She's a civil worker, responsible and quiet. The complete opposite of Ellen.
- Jack - their housemate. He's tall and lanky, with a somewhat awkward personality.
- Ben - Alexis' date, who previously ghosted her.

The opening set-up was great. The writing was snappy and I adored all four of these sweet and relatable characters. There was lots of humour in the dialogue, and their interactions. Unfortunately the plot slowly fizzles out and there just wasn't enough plot keeping me hooked. There were lots of flashback scenes describing these characters' lives, but story wise it just pulled me out and I wanted more tension and energy in the plot. On the whole not a bad read. A sweet, funny contemporary read.

This was a really bizarre read. There were some chapters of this book that were incredible - the humour, the writing, the character's personalities shining through and the plot being so gripping that it was hard to stop reading.
And then there were the other half of chapters that were just void of anything worthwhile. The characters felt flat, the humor was gone, the writing felt clunky and slow and all the fun and excitement of the plot seemed to just disappear. With such a fun and unique plot idea so much more could have been done with it but the author seemed to shy away from all the interesting setting based shenanigans that could have occurred and instead went for a lot of flashbacks which pulled you out of the interesting stuff to get some fluff of a backstory that had no bearing on the characters now or the plot that was developing.
And then when the end came around and they were finally able to get out, everything just went back to usual. There was no impact or development because of what happened. You could argue that there was for Jack but that was it. Everyone else left basically the same as when it started so the end just felt really flat and deflating. (except for the MSN plot - that was brilliant the whole way through)
Overall not the best read, but there were definitely redeemable instances throughout.

Talk about a book I couldn’t put down! My first day off in weeks and I’ve been curled up on the couch all day with this joy of a book!
The story begins with Ellen waking up to find the ground floor of their house share flooded. After waking her housemates, and an overnight guest, they all congregate in the attic where the houseguest accidentally breaks the door handle, locking them in.
Over the course of time, the story is told by all 3 - Ellen, Alexa and Jack - with humour and interest. Ben is revealed to share a past with one housemate - but which one and why?

I really enjoyed this book - it made me smile and laugh and cringe and inwardly cheer at different points.
Thank you NetGalley for my copy and would recommend to anyone who enjoyed The Flatshare.

Unfortunately The Lock In wasn't really my kind of book - I'm not a big fan of commercial fiction that isn't romance-focused, so it might be that I'm the wrong reader for this book! I enjoyed the nostalgia of the flashbacks and the depiction of London life, but I wasn't a fan of the writing style - it was too distanced for me to really inhabit the characters' minds - and the locked attic scenario wasn't as exciting as I had anticipated.

What a fun read!

Ellen and her best friend Alexa have lived together for the best part of 10 years.
Currently living in a London house share with new comer Jack, the housemates live in fear of Elias, their rude, arrogant and frankly, scary landlord!

One Saturday morning, Ellen awakes with a hangover to find their kitchen is filling with water at an alarming rate and panicked, she alerts the household and they find themselves searching for the stop tap.

Finding themselves in the attic, the three housemates are about to give up and face the warth of Elias when Alexa’s ‘hinge’ date, Ben walks in, accidentally breaks the door and locks them all in the attic!


This story was a light, entertaining read. The little back story plots really added to the tension of the attic and I really warmed to the shy and awkward character of Jack!

I’d love to see a Ben and Alexa follow up story, as I feel I could have read so much more about these
two!