Review: What Happens in London by Jen McConnel

Posted June 29, 2015 by Lola in Contemporary, Review, Romance / 12 Comments

LolaReview

what happens in londonWhat Happens in London (Adventures Abroad #1)
by Jen McConnel

Blurb:
Four countries.
Three girls.
Three loves.
One adventure abroad they’ll never forget.

Sarah landed in London, just hoping to leave her home behind and escape her family. But she didn’t plan on falling headfirst into Carson’s arms.

Get ready for a summer of self-discovery and romance in the first of the New Adult novella series, Adventures Abroad!

My Review:
I received a copy in exchange for an honest review

I was really excited to start Jen McConnel her new series. I live in Europe and I though it would be fun to read about girls travelling through cities and falling in love. It sounded like some fun and cute read. Sadly I don’t think this was a book for me. I did like the setting and seeing a bit of London through Sarah her eyes. I remember my own visit to London and I liked the travel aspect. Unfortunately that’s where my liking for this book ended.

The book starts with Sarah working as an au pair and getting fired and then she decides to explore London. The start was pretty good, then she met Carson and things went downhill for me. No matter how hard I tried I did not like Carson and I didn’t feel their chemistry or romance or anything. Sarah met some girls and went out one evening and saw Caron a bit more. I was right there with Joelle cautioning Sarah, but ofcourse she didn’t listen. I kinda liked Joelle, she seemed nice.

I didn’t really Sarah, it’s not that I disliked her either, I just mostly felt sorry for her and that’s it. I also thought it was a bit weird how she was going to explore London, but never really planned things out or thought of the best ways to spend her money and get the most out of her trip, but maybe that’s just my inner planner being scared at the prospect of running around like that.

I got so angry every time her father got mentioned and how he called Sarah fat. I know things like that happen and it makes me pretty angry in general when others call people names because of their weight, but damn he was her father, he should support her not tear her down. Sarah has some issues with her body image, worries about eating and food and has some self esteem issues because of that, which I could understand. I just mostly felt sorry for her. And then Carson comes around and makes her feel special, so I understood the appeal. But I just didn’t like Carson, at all. He gave me the creeps. He lied, acted strange and then was weird with his money (also who has dinner for 300 euro!) and I just didn’t like him and he weirded me out. Then there is the whole ‘I want to draw you’ thing, whcih felt creepy instead of romantic. And he was trying to be romantic and nice, but it rubbed me wrong and I just wanted to scream at Sarah to run the other way.

And then it ends, without any resolution or conclusion and it was just weird how things ended between Sarah and Carlson. And then there was an e-mail and I couldn’t figure out who wrote it or to whom, until the bottom of the e-mail which had a name. I am assuming the last book that will wrap things up, might make more sense of it, but I am not sure whether I want to continue the series.

The whole book feels sorta rushed, I kinda wished the author had make it a full length novel as things just seems to go too fast or lack depth. We never learn much about the characters, beside the obvious things. And Sarah has these mental scars due to her dad calling her fat and worse, but beside that we know little of her and her past. The romance developed really fast and it didn’t really feel like a fling, but not like a real relationship either.

To conclude: I really liked the concept of this series and the exploring Europe plot. I didn’t however connect to Sarah. I felt sorry for her and angry at her father. Carson gave me the creeps in a bad way, I didn’t like him at all. And I didn’t feel the romance, it felt wrong to me and icky and not romantic at all. Some places felt rushed and I just wish there was more time to get to know the characters and learn about them and more time to explore the city and get a feel for it. Just more. The ending felt kinda abrupt, but I am thinking the last book probably ties some things together. This just wasn’t the book for me and I am really sad as I really wanted to like this book.

2-star

You can add What Happens in London to your to-read list on Goodreads

Any good book recommendation for books that take place in Europe?

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12 responses to “Review: What Happens in London by Jen McConnel

    • I haven’t read the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I like the travel plot lines, so I am sorry this book didn’t work for me. And Carson was such a creeper, I am not sure what she saw in him. I think she had pretty low self esteem and Carson made her feel worthwile and I think that’s what their connection was, but I just didn’t feel it.
      Lola recently posted…Review: What Happens in London by Jen McConnelMy Profile

        • It just felt a bit sad and I felt sorry for Sarah, but I just felt like she fell too easily for Carson because he made her feel beautifull, wile he wasn’t the right boy for her in my opinion. I am hoping the last book might resolve some open things, but I am not invested enough to continue the series. The romance just left a bad taste with me and I read some reviews of the second book and it doesn’t sound like I woudl enjoy that one either.

  1. If the author doesn’t convince me there is a romance going on then I get ‘creeper’ vibe off some characters, too. I love the traveling type of romances b/c then I get to experience the settings and I can see why that excited you, but like you, I’m a planner so just flitting about a strange city wouldn’t be my thing. One of my blogger friends, Velvet at vvb32 blog is doing an armchair traveling theme of posts on her blog this summer. She is reading books or watching movies from places around the world and its fun to read her reviews.

    I haven’t read it yet, but for travel romances I have Marilyn Brant’s A Summer in Europe on my wishlist and it might work for you.
    Sophia Rose recently posted…There You Stand by Christina Lee #ReviewMy Profile

    • The romance really didn’t work for me in this book. And the creeper vibe I got off Carson certainly wasn’t helping. I really didn’t get how she could run around the city without a plan, but then again some people don’t mind that. I’ll stop by Velvet her blog, those traveling theme posts sounds fun! I’ll check out A Summer in Europe to see if sounds like somethgin I would enjoy.

    • I guess it was supposed to be romantic, but with the painting her scene, then a scene where he lied and was weird with his money, he just gave me the creeps. It just felt off, which is a shame as I was looking forward to this series.

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