A completely compelling and utterly relatable story. throughout I was feeling all the emotion between Jen / Jenny / Jennifer and Nick. You feel their excitedment, their heartbreak and their love.
It is so well written that you feel like you are right there within London living through the decades, it is perfectly put through as a backdrop.
A l;ove letter to London, not just for love.

this was a joy to read as a londoner. i loved that london was the background for the relationship between jennifer and nick, and i loved them both separate and together and watching their relationship throughout the years.

An enjoyable story that takes you through the years & lives of Jennifer & Nick, from their teenage years discovering London to their adulthood. Each 'episode' was brilliantly bedded in its time with references to music & events, some a little harder to read about with others, stirring strong memories for me.

I really like Sara Manning's writing & the flow of this story but I did get frustrated with the main characters for not just getting on with things. Also I could have happily done without the epilogue as I felt it took away from the story rather than adding to it.

A good read in all & one I'm sure will be loved by many.

Jennifer lives on the edge of London and is on the cusp of adulthood. She is glad to be leaving her difficult high school years behind and reinvent herself in College. Her first class is disrupted when Nick bursts in with his ghetto blaster, definitely not someone she wants to get to know. Over the years Jennifer gets to know London inside out but her life is less easy to navigate.

I picked this book as the perfect pick for reading while on holiday in London but I was so busy I never managed to pick it up. However on the train home right from the first page I couldn't believe it when we meet Jennifer on the Northern Line and it mentioned all the stops I had passed all week! Sarra Manning obviously knows London like the back of her hand as the descriptions were so accurate and I know this because I had been to most of them! From passing the Waitrose at Coal Drops Yard to Kilburn High Street I revelled in reading all the locations. Her book is a definite love letter to London and I felt I was actually there alongside Jennifer every step of the way. Another aspect of the story that drew me in was that it spans the decades from the 80s through to lockdown and I could recognize and relate to many key events that happened. Jennifer's coming of age and the way she makes a life for herself was genuinely compelling. Every time Nick or other friends popped up over the years I was pleased to see them and to see how it would affect our protagonist's trajectory. London with Love is full of heart and I fell completely.

What a delicious book! I loved it! Jennifer has had a tough time at school; never cool enough or pretty enough but she hopes that college will change everything.
Nick is handsome and so cool but also the most pretentious person Jen (new name for big changes in her life) has ever met.
Quickly they become best friends and spend the two years of their A levels inseparable. Listening to music, going to gigs and getting to know each other inside out.
But although they are always each other's best friend life gets in the way.
The big question, as the story takes us through the next three decades; via 9/11 and the London terror attacks, is will their friendship survive and will they ever get together?
A perfect summer romance with characters that eventually feel like friends and events that everyone 'of a certain age' remembers and can relate to.

Really enjoyed this tale of Jennifer and Nick. Nestled in the suburbs of northwest London, their story unfolds over many years. The author writes deftly, the ups and downs of their friendship are well painted. The toe-curling embarrassing moments are so realistic you are there with them, living your teenage years again !

I picked up this book after a challenging historical fiction book that was full of unpleasant characters. This book was the perfect antithesis - warm, funny, and full of people you could imagine you would be friends with (even if one or two of them were idiots!).

For an apparently light hearted book there were some darker moments in modern history - they were well drawn and provided context and experience that added to the story without being too sombre.

All in all a very enjoyable piece of fiction… and took me back to many weekends struggling on the northern line and yes, stranded at Mill Hill East waiting forever for the next train!!

I loved this and, unlike some will they/won't they stories, I didn't find that the outcome was obvious from the start. The fact it kept me guessing throughout was a big bonus, as were the relatable characters and interesting relationships.

I'm not usually a fan of romantic novels but I very much enjoyed this one. I loved the characters and the various interconnecting relationships. It was a lovely story, and being only 2 years younger than Jen, I found the music and other references very relatable.
With grateful thanks to Netgalley, Hodder and Stoughton, and Sarra Manning for my copy in exchange for an honest review.

Ah I really wanted to like this one but at about 10 % I felt my mind wandering. No spark between the main characters at all and it was a bit of a list of eighties pop culture with not too much happening plot wise.

100% a five star read from me!

I have recommended to so many people..

I thought the characters were so great! They were relatable and realistic!

This is the book I was hoping I would get with David Nicholl's 'One Day', only to be brutally heartbroken.

I do love an epic tale of love but, at times I wanted to strangle both of these characters to get their act together! Which is a testimony to Sarra Manning's writing. She doesn't judge her characters, she just works her magic by creating well-rounded and relatable characters and then putting them together to see just how much they keep missing each other.

However the main star of the story is London. Manning evokes London through the 80s, 90s and 00s from broke students to first jobs to middle ages. This is a bit of a Gen X love story through the ages and I am here for it.

London, With Love follows Nick and Jenny throughout different moments in their lives as their paths intermingle from a concert as a teenager to being in the same city amid a terror attack, and all things in between. Through countless partners, and different postcodes and numerous jobs, Nick and Jenny continue to gravitate towards each other and never quite escape the other person’s orbit.

I was a little thrown off by 9/11 appearing the book and felt that it could’ve been handled a touch more sensitively and that a trigger warning could have been included. While I can see Sarra Manning’s intention of showing that amid circumstances like this the protagonists seek out one another as they’re a constant comfort and reminder of home, but it also felt a touch too far in my opinion.

I still very much enjoyed the book but felt that other literary devices or plot points could’ve been utilised to convey Nick and Jenny’s feelings towards one another without using the terror attack as a catalyst for their romance to reach a head

Thank you NetGalley and Sarra Manning for the opportunity to read this book. I have to admit to having to read the reviews to remind myself what the book was about, which doesn't bode well. However, the prompt made me smile as I recalled the fondness of reading the story of the two main characters and how their friendship and love endures every challenge that a teenager experiences through to the recognition as an adult that life constantly throws us curve balls, to ensure that we appreciate what has been under our nose forever...and I really enjoyed how Sarra Manning allows us to sit on the shoulders of her leads and be present for everything... I agree this would make a super film.

Took me a while to get into this book. I did enjoy once I got into it. I will read more by this author

This hooked me right from the start with authentic voices and a believable, realistic story. I was expecting the typical cute-meet romcom. This was so much more.

Jen and Nick meet as teenagers. For Jen its love at first sight, but it seems like Nick has a different type and she has to settle for "friends". We follow their twenty year journey, watching them grow and evolve, sometimes towards each other, and sometimes away from each other as "life" takes over. Underlying the splendid romp through era and fashion, is the tantalizing question of whether they can ever get their timing right and connect in all ways.

The book is set in North London, in the same suburbs that I lived for 10 years. I loved the specific references threaded throughout the book, that made the story really come alive and I could quite literally picture the scene. This made the book very relatable for me, it felt like I already knew the characters.

I loved the characters, warts and all. They were flawed and complexed and again, so relatable. Jen has a traumatic adolescence of bullying to overcome. We see her as a late developer, blossoming in her 20's and reaching her potential. Nick has a more privileged start in life, and takes his opportunities for granted. But beneath it all, he is also trying to find himself.

The "will they, wont they" suspense was artfully handled (normally I find this annoying) and the dialogue and plot turns all believable. I felt like I was reading sometimes real-life adventure and I embraced the roller coaster, becoming immersed in the world. Awesome read and highly recommended!

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book is an absolute gem and stole my heart. What a delightful read and one that will absorb you from the very beginning.

Manning is a remarkably talented author with an ability of pulling you in and holding you hostage until the very last page.

This is a book filled with love, emotion and a range of amazing characters. This is a book that has left me with an almighty hangover and been completely impossible to stop thinking about.

Jennifer and Nick are just completely brilliant and will make you want more. My emotions have been on a rollercoaster reading this one.

If this book isn’t on your TBR it is definitely a must add. It has been a superb read and one that I have been completely in love with and telling everyone to read.

Anyone who loves London will enjoy this book. A perfect summer read , especially for anyone who still feels a pull towards their first love.

I couldn’t put this book down. Being born in 1973, this book had the backdrop of my own life. I loved the way it was written, a love story with the heart break and other life changing events that shapes us all. London, With Love!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was such a stunning story that felt like a love letter to London. It starts in the mid 80s and we follow Jennifer and Nick all the way through until 2022, from their teens to their 50s.

I didn’t realise how much I adore the “right person, wrong time” trope until I read this book. The yearning is always so strong and the slow-burn is beautiful.

I loved the pop-culture references and it was so fun to read all of the small details like the technology changing throughout the years, and having the characters notice the most minute of details change through the years also.

If I were to compare this book to any others, it would be Normal People, the whole “right person, wrong time” gave me major Normal People vibes, just with more destruction and storyline.

I won’t lie, as much as I loved this book, I did have a couple of problems with it. Although I understand why they aren’t there, I wish there were trigger warnings at the start, as the author added real events into the novel, one of the major events that happened I was very close to being involved in and it really caught me off guard.

(Thank you to Netgalley and Hodder & Stoughton for the e-ARC!)

The story of Jennifer from her teenage years to present day is told via the tube stations she uses, the jobs she has, and her encounters with Nick. I enjoyed the 80s and 90s nostalgia immensely I enjoyed seeing Jennifer achieve her goals. The encounters with Nick felt predictable, and I would have preferred an alternative ending. However, I would recommend this as a good read. .