Blog Tour: The Secrets of Love Story Bridge by Phaedra Patrick

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Hi!

I hope this review finds you all well, and that you're finding a way to cope with the current situation. I've well and truly gotten my reading mojo back, so I'm really enjoying the escape into worlds that don't involve quarantines and lockdowns. 

The Secrets of Love Story Bridge was released on April 28th, and focuses on the story of Mitchell Fisher. 

"The lovers who attached their padlocks to the bridges of Upchester might see it as a fun or romantic gesture, but to Mitchell it is was an act of vandilism."

It's single dad Mitchell Fisher's job to cut these locks off the bridges of Upchester - he sees no sentimentality in defacing historic architecture. Only his young daughter Poppy sees through his gruff exterior to the man underneath, still grieving the loss of his wife. 

When a young woman falls from the bridge while attaching a padlock, Mitchell dives in to save her - not realising who she is and that her family have been looking for her for almost a year. 

Mitchell is hailed as a local hero - but can he find the woman? Does he even want to? 

We've all seen the pictures of bridges all over the world covered in padlocks, left by people for a plethora of reasons - to celebrate love, to remember someone, to grieve. In this book, letters are important - we get to read some letters from people who have affixed padlocks to the bridge, and we get to see how letter writing is used by Mitchell as a coping mechanism. 

Image by analogicus from Pixabay

When I read the words "Basildon Bond" on the very first page, I almost had an out - of - body experience - my Nana used to use that paper (and only that paper) to write letters to her sister in America up to a few months before she died. I was tasked with buying it, and in the late 1990s it was becoming increasingly harder to find locally - I haven't thought of that little writing pad in years, and it brought me a feeling of comfort and warmth that made me immediately delighted that I had chosen to read this book. So thank you, Ms. Patrick, for that lovely memory.

Mitchell is a lovely character, we really get a sense of who he is and how he's feeling. He's carrying around a huge amount of guilt, and I found myself rooting for him straight away. I really enjoyed how the book flowed, and I liked Liza a lot - she was fun, colourful, and I felt like I knew her straight away.

I hate comparing authors, but if you like books like Elizabeth is Missing or The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, I think you may really enjoy this. I thought it was a lovely, easy read with lots of emotion and a good storyline.

The Secrets of Love Story Bridge can be purchased via any good bookshop, requested at your local library, or bought via the links below:

Amazon UK
Book Depository

Harlequin
Barnes & Noble
Amazon US
Books-a-Million
Powell's

You can catch up with the author via her website, or social media @PhaedraPatrick.

A massive thank you to the publishers for having me as a part of the blog tour.