The Love Square: The funny, feel-good romantic comedy to escape with this year from the bestselling author of Our Stop

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No, I did not finish the book. I began to skim more and more and it seemed pointless. I didn’t care about the outcome. (I’ve now found some spoilers and I can’t quite believe I wasted my time on reading as much as I did.) Love squares are not a new thing in Hollywood. They’re all over TV these days, and they’ve also become popular in books as well. As complex as they are, you don’t need extra writing skills to write them, maybe just a few tips from seasoned writers. It’s the basics that will help you out! A love triangle is an essential element of love stories and relationships. Characters in love triangles usually have a romantic connection with each other, which shows that they are all deeply interested in one person or the other. Usually, characterization and conflict will be driven by these character interactions to create dramatic tension between them. However, a love square is a love triangle involving one person in the game.

I think this book could have been executed better had time been taking in the first few chapters to fully introduce Penny before any of the men were involved. I also think having three love interests was too ambitious to allow the reader to be on the journey. All in in all it felt rushed to include what could have been incredibly emotive topics in a plot that had a lot of potential. You might not write something similar, but it’s good for you to make the characters involved with each other as much as possible. This means that you have a longer story and the story has more tension and conflict. What Makes a Love Square Work in a Story? The heartbreaking and emotional parts about Penny, losing her parents and surviving against the big battle with cancer are the most realistic and well-written parts help me to connect with heroine. If two of the characters are lovers, think about whether they are happy or unhappy together. You may also want to consider what kind of obstacles will be in their way. After thoroughly enjoying Our Stop I was looking forward to Laura’s latest novel The Love Square, sadly I’m a more than a little disappointed.

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It is the same thing when it comes to writing a great love square or love rectangle. After all, every writer wants to pour their imagination, not just follow a set of rules or guidelines written but someone else. As you might imagine, you can set up love squares in many different ways. The main thing is to come up with a plan, chart the plan, and look for ways to improve the plan by adding layers of conflict, tension, and anticipation.

I was fully expecting this to be funny and find myself smitten with a new book boyfriend, but that was not to be. Penny was not likeable at all and sadly none of the suitors were either. One relationship was covered in great detail while the other two were glossed over. The Lizzo (yes, you read that right – the actual @lizzobeeating) as a character was nothing but cringe. The idea of being berated for cheating while never having defined the relationship was cringe. However, the idea of NOT disclosing you have multiple sex partners was also cringe because while people can do with their bodies as they wish, the people they are doing those things with also should have their comfort levels regarding such respected. Babies fixing everything is the cringiest. Spoiler alert: They don’t. But maybe a serious dose of therapy and perhaps some prescription pharmaceuticals would help Penny out. Laura Jane Williams is brilliant at writing conversation. The dialogue in The Love Square, much like Our Stop, is appealing and charming. As a reader, you thoroughly get to know the characters through their speech. The personalities of each of the characters really shines, especially through the way they interact with one another. I found it really easy to distinguish the difference between Penny’s love interests, her family and her friends. Apart from looking at the genre of the story, you also have to consider the themes, character goals and development, and plots and subplots of your story. Writers and movie producers create compelling love squares by highlighting the complexity of the relationships and the struggle of emotions or unrequited love between the four individuals. There are countless ways to portray this in storytelling. Understand love squares with these examples! A, B, and C are all in love with D! So, it becomes clear from the outset that Penny is unfortunate in love. She has had a difficult life with being ill from cancer and losing her mum to the same disease. Add in the fact that she can’t seem to find Mr Right and Penny is, naturally, rather frustrated. As her circumstances change over the novel, Penny manages to find herself involved with three very different men – all offering opposing relationships. From the beginning there is Francesco, a fellow chef and attractive Italian. Moving to Derbyshire, Penny gets involved with Thomas who is rakish, unpredictable and not at all interested in monogamy. Finally, Priyesh offers a wild but what felt a desperate attraction that obviously does not have any future to it. When the three men eventually meet in the closing chapters of the story, it is naturally very awkward and I found my toes curling at the atmosphere – I just wanted Penny to hurry up and make her mind up!I had assumed that there would be humorous scenes where she bumps into one man while on a date with another, and other romantic comedy situations, but this book only has one or two of these, and the tone was all off. I felt more of a sense of dread than being overwhelmed with the giggles like I was during awkward scenes in her previous book. This had so much potential, it was incredibly refreshing to meet a single, thirtyish Londoner not just looking for the perfect fairy tale ending on Tinder. Penny’s history has been challenging from an absentee father, the death of her mother from cancer and her subsequent battle with cancer herself. The novel explores her search for love alongside her considerations as to whether she’s ready to harvest her frozen embryos through a surrogate to become a parent alone. For you, love squares are equally beneficial because they increase the length of your story and enrich it with new angles, more characters, et cetera. Examples of Love Squares When writing love squares, you want to avoid some common mistakes. Usually, beginners or less experienced writers make these mistakes, but even veteran writers sometimes make them, too.