Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams (ARC Review)

Title: Our Stop
Author: Laura Jane Williams
Type: Fiction
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Publisher: Avon
(HarperCollins)
Date published: August 13, 2019

A physical copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

What if you almost missed the love of your life?

Nadia gets the 7.30 train every morning without fail. Well, except if she oversleeps or wakes up at her friend Emma’s after too much wine.

Daniel really does get the 7.30 train every morning, which is easy because he hasn’t been able to sleep properly since his Dad died.

One morning, Nadia’s eye catches sight of a post in the daily paper:

To the cute girl with the coffee stains on her dress. I’m the guy who’s always standing near the doors… Drink sometime?

So begins a not-quite-romance of near-misses, true love, and the power of the written word.

⤖ My Review ⬻

Going into Our Stop, I definitely had some expectations around how the story would go. I had a feeling that since this story mainly revolves around the main pair, Nadia and Daniel, missing each other until they eventually meet up. I also had an expectation for how the atmosphere and tone would be. I was wrong about everything but all of the near-misses though. My first impression of Our Stop was that it definitely gave me some Bridget Jones vibes. Nadia was relatable for me because she’s always late even though she tries to be early, is close to my own age, and is also clumsy.

Even so, I didn’t feel very close to her even by the end of the book. I felt a little bit closer to Daniel because he is dealing with the recent death of his father and how to continue living with his grief. So, I clicked more with him emotionally. Despite this, though, I didn’t feel very emotionally committed to Nadia and Daniel’s love story because of how it was told. This is partially my fault because I know that I personally don’t like a plot that mainly revolves around near-misses—they frustrate me! The wait was just too long for me and the focus was too much on their lives apart from each other, if that makes sense. I won’t say any more, because I don’t want to share spoilers. But if you like all of the things that I listed above, you’ll most definitely enjoy this contemporary romance!

⤖ About the Author ⬻

Laura Jane Williams is a writer from Derbyshire, England. Her work has been translated into ten languages in over 15 countries – and counting. She is 33. Laura’s first book, memoir BECOMING, was an instant cult hit exploring her twenty-something heartbreak and finding peace with imperfection. This was followed by ICE CREAM FOR BREAKFAST, based on her thirty-something experience of overcoming millennial burnout through embracing her playful inner child. Her third book is OUR STOP, a novel about almost missing the love of your life, that Laura claims made her see love through a new, more hopeful paradigm. She has just finished writing book four, non-fiction audiobook The Life Diet, and is about to start in on number five – a romp of a story that she lovingly thinks of as ‘Mamma Mia meets Kitchen Confidential.’