Review: The Lucky Escape

ONE CANCELLED WEDDING

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.

ONE UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTER

After a chance meeting with Patrick, an old friend who reminds her of who she used to be, Annie takes a vow of her own: she’ll say yes to every opportunity that comes her way from now on.

ONE SPARE TICKET FOR THE HONEYMOON

Could a spontaneous trip with Patrick be the way to mend Annie’s heart? She’s about to find out as she embarks on her honeymoon – with a man who’s not her husband…

I have quite a few books on my shelves that are impulse buys. Sometimes they work out and I really enjoy them, and sometimes I end up never reading them before passing them on to somebody new. I had never heard of The Lucky Escape and me and my mum were in The Works and she needed another book for the 3 for £5 deal (RIP because it is now 3 for £6), and I kind of liked the look of The Lucky Escape, so she got it for me. It then sat on my shelf for a year. Not forgotten but definitely in the back of my mind.

Then, I was writing up my post for Top Five Tuesday last week which focused on books with holidays. I added a list at the bottom of my five choices with the ones that were on my TBR and this book fell into that list. As you might know, I had been in a little bit of a reading slump, so I was looking for something to pull me out of it, and after reminding myself of The Lucky Escape, I knew this was going to be the book.

We begin this novel on Annie’s wedding day. She is about to marry her university sweetheart Alexander. She has been building up to this moment for a long time. It was the right thing to do. The next step in their relationship. And then as she arrives at the Church, her wedding planner meets her outside and tells her that Alexander isn’t coming. Annie has been left at the altar.

Alexander’s mother is furious with him and tells Annie that she should still go on the honeymoon that his parents had paid for. It is around the time that Annie is debating this when she bumps into an old friend Patrick. The two of them meet up, get drunk and decide that Patrick will go with Annie on her honeymoon to Australia.

This book was a lot of fun. It was a quick, light-hearted read with Australia as the backdrop for a large portion of the book. As someone who wants to travel a lot but can’t, I always like reading about people travelling to places I have never been to. I wish that they spend more time in Australia and that there was a little more of the story based there. The story started to lose me once they returned to London.

It took a little more of a realistic approach in that the relationship that started whilst in Australia started to falter once they returned to London and their regular lives. This part felt very rushed yet dragged out, and that is just something I don’t enjoy in books. Especially when the first three quarters of the book were quite fast paced. If this had been done a little differently, I might have enjoyed it more. I liked that it wasn’t going to be this breezy relationship that was created whilst on holiday and continued to flourish with no bumps on the return.

Aside from the romantic relationships, we also got a lot of platonic relationships in this book, and a lot of family relationships. I really liked the dynamic between Annie and her younger sister, Freddie. Although there were sometimes where she was written where she felt younger than she was meant to be. I believe Freddie was supposed to be twelve, but there were times where she seemed to be six or seven years old. That was just a picky thing for me though. It still didn’t change how much I loved their relationship.

We didn’t get to see too much from Annie’s dad, and even when he was on the page, he felt very blended into the background which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. He was just a character that was there. Present but not active is how it felt a lot of the time. Annie’s mum, however, lingered on the page even when she wasn’t there. Annie and her mum had quite a few issues that the two of them just communicate about which meant things built and built. Annie felt like a real person and her character was fully developed. One of the things that really showed this for me is that her mum would say one thing, but Annie would think on it for so long and so many years had passed that it then began to mean something different to her. As someone who overthinks a lot, I could sympathise with Annie in those moments, because whilst her mum thought she was criticising a healthy amount, it was hurtful to Annie.

Platonic relationships was something that Laura Jane Williams did really well with this book. Annie had really supportive friends that were always there but not on the page, and I felt like it portrayed real life, adult friendships really well: they are always a phone call away, but they are busy with their lives. They were also all at different stages of their life which again is very realistic. I really enjoyed this aspect of the book.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! I rated it 4 out of 5 stars and I will definitely be reading more by Laura Jane Williams. I really enjoyed their writing style and I have already ordered a couple more of their books, which I hope to read this summer!

Have you read The Lucky Escape or any other books by Laura Jane Williams?

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