The Broken Hearts Honeymoon by Lucy Dickens: ARC Book Review

^{This is a spoiler-free review.}

The Broken Hearts Honeymoon by Lucy Dickens

^{UPDATED: Expected publication April 1st, 2021 (originally July 23rd, 2020) by Arrow.}

My rating:

When disaster strikes, adventure calls…

Charlotte had a plan. The perfect country wedding, followed by a month-long honeymoon in Japan – but when her fiancé starts having second thoughts, she knows there’s no choice but to call off the wedding.

Charlotte isn’t sure she knows how to be single, but she is going to try, starting with taking that trip of a lifetime – alone.

Will she find herself in the hills of Mount Fuji, or in the karaoke bars of Tokyo?

And will she be ready for romance by the time the cherry blossom flowers?

The Broken Hearts Honeymoon is Eat, Pray, Love for the Instagram generation.

^{Thank you to the publisher, Random House UK, Cornerstone/Arrow, and NetGalley for providing me an e-ARC of this book. All thoughts are my own.}

“You never know what can come of having an adventure. It might be something big. So catch every adventure you can.”

When Charlotte’s childhood-sweetheart-turned-fiancé gets cold feet mere weeks before the wedding, Charlotte knows it’s time to say sayonara. But what she can’t seem to break up with is the month-long honeymoon trip to Japan she planned back when she was living what she thought to be her happily ever after. Newly single, Charlotte decides to venture off alone with the hope of finding out who she is on her own – without the man who’s been in her life since she was a kid.

Rather than a love story, this is a tale about falling in love with yourself.

This book is, above all else, very cute. Each chapter starts off with a silly little haiku written from the protagonist’s perspective that sets the stage for Charlotte’s mental state as she travels around and tries to move on from her ex, and the life they had planned together. It’s a sweet story made up of many fun little moments of Charlotte exploring the country of Japan, learning about the culture, and above all else, finding herself.

“Once upon a time, when you proposed to me, you said you’d never leave me. Well now I’m going to try and leave you.”

My favorite part by far was Charlotte’s time staying at the Buddhist temple, and of course the descriptions of FOOD!!!! 😍🤤🍣🍡🍙🍜🍱🍤

Dickens made everything sound So Good, I had serious sushi cravings while reading. I also enjoyed seeing Japan through Charlotte’s eyes. I’ve never been to Japan, and I feel like this novel was the next best thing to actually hopping on a plane and flying there myself! Charlotte is always very respectful of the culture and open to whatever new experiences come her way while there, and I really appreciated that aspect. She was so full of wonder, it made me long to go on an international adventure for myself!

The writing style itself is very simple. I found the narration came across a little immature for a character it was intended to be believed was supposed to be married when all this took place. I also wish there could have been more detail given to the side characters Charlotte met along the way. I didn’t enjoy how whenever anyone else would start speaking about themselves the narration would trail off with a ‘…’ and then the scene would end abruptly.

And while I enjoyed the descriptions of the tour itself, the plot didn’t really hold me for the first half of the story. However, at around the 50% mark there was a shift in both Charlotte herself and the direction her story was headed, and I found myself much more engaged with what was going on, and much more excited to see what happened next. I’m glad Dickens decided to take the plot in this direction, because I feel like it really redeemed her story and made the overall experience of reading it much more rewarding.

Overall, I think this book is a light, fun read – easy to digest and good for a laugh. The highlight of the tale was definitely the descriptions of the country, and seeing Japan through Charlotte’s eyes. I’ve always wanted to travel to Japan, and this story just made me all the more keen to do it! ✈️

“If you’re broken it’s never really the end, you’re never really lost, you can always put yourself back together.”

Have you ever been to Japan? If so, what was your favorite part of your trip?

If not, do you want to go? What would you want to do the most if you went?

Let me know!