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BOOKWORM REVIEW: Lockdown on London Lane by Beth Reekles


RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
STEAM: 🔥

TLDR: This book is Love, Actually: Pandemic Lockdown Edition.

A building in London Lane has been locked down because of an infection in one of the apartments. No one comes in, and no one goes out. Poor Mr. Harris, the building manager, has to oversee that these rules are being followed. 

After spending a weekend at her parents, Charlotte is locked out of the building and Apartment 6, which she shares with her boyfriend Ethan. Surely, Ethan can survive a week without her, right? Right?

Imogen had a one-night stand with Nate who lives in Apartment 14. While she tried to sneak out and avoid the awkward morning after interaction, awkward becomes even more awkward when she had to go back to the apartment because of the lockdown.

Apartment 15 has Isla and Danny, a couple who have been dating for a month. They are practically glowing from the honeymoon phase of their relationship, but when Danny had to stay in her apartment for a week, things are not as perfect as they thought.

Serena and Zach have been together for four years and live in Apartment 17. Tension has been building between the two as relationship rot started to seep in. When Zach orders pineapple on the pizza, Serena freaks out and the two are left with a lot of questions about their relationship.

As the maid of honor, Olivia tried to be gracious by offering her place in Apartment 22 for the bride and her other bridesmaids to do some wedding prep. Unfortunately for this introvert, what was planned as a nice afternoon of wedding prep becomes a week stuck with women who have completely different personalities than she does.

As someone who adored Love, Actually, I like the premise of the book and the situations in which the different characters are put in. As the book went on, I found myself more invested in certain character and less in some. I love Ethan's character arc, and I thought Olivia navigating through her extra roommates was entertaining. The pacing of the book did seem off at the times, and it took me a few chapters to get a better grasp of the different characters.

That aside, this was still a fun cute read that I enjoyed for the most part.

** I am voluntarily reviewing an advance copy of this book. Thank you to Beth Reekles, Wattpad Books, and NetGalley for providing an ARC. **

ABOUT THE BOOK

For the inhabitants of London Lane, a simple slip of paper underneath each of their doors is about to change their lives in a hundred different ways.

URGENT!!! Due to the current situation, building management has decided to impose a seven-day quarantine on all apartment buildings on London Lane.

With nowhere else to go . . .

Ethan and Charlotte wonder whether absence really does make the heart grow fonder when they end up on either side of a locked door.

A fierce debate over pineapple on pizza ignites a series of revelations about Zach and Serena’s four-year relationship.

Liv realizes rolling with the punches is sometimes much harder than it looks after her bridesmaids’ party goes off the rails, leaving the group at each other’s throats.

Isla and Danny’s new romance is put to the test as they jump ten steps ahead on the relationship timeline.

And Imogen and Nate’s one-night stand is about to get six do-overs they never really asked for―not awkward at all.

Through make ups, breakups, love-ins, and blowouts, friendships are tested as everyone scrambles to make it through the week unscathed. Amidst all the drama, one thing remains constant: life is full of surprises.


MEET BETH REEKLES

Beth Reekles is the YA author behind the 2018 Netflix smash hit movie, The Kissing Booth.

Beth first published The Kissing Booth on Wattpad in 2010, at age 15, accummulating almost 20 million reads before it was published by (Penguin) Random House in 2012, along with her other YA novels, Rolling Dice and Out of Tune. She has also published a short story with Accent Press called Cwtch Me If You Can.

Her work as an author saw her named as one of TIME's 16 Most Influential Teenagers in late 2013, and shortlisted for several awards, including the 2014 Queen of Teen awards.

She now works in IT while maintaining her career as an author, and runs a blog where she talks about life as a twenty-something and offers writing advice.
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